Double Century 2021

[karma]

46 minutes ago, Titleist said:

The decision to cancel was not the right one. The organisers should have put the risk back to us as participants to decide if we wanted to ride or not.

You need to go and think about your statement. 

Organisers putting the risk back to the teams, could have meant a lot of teams decide to proceed, meaning the risk falls back on the organisers to ensure the safety and medical assistance in the event of an accident. 

Risk and the number of emergency staff/access to emergency services is calculated upfront, and the conditions probably (surely) pushed it out of the range they could accomodate. 

Quote

The weather during the Winelands race in September were much worse and we all survived and finished unmelted…

Yes, and that was probably not the best decision and they got lucky. 

Quote

Saturday to ride. At 12:00 it was 30 deg C. They could’ve delayed the start by 3 hours. 

Then you'd have someone, similar to you, complain it's terrible to force teams to ride in 30 deg heat?

 

Takeaway, the race organisers were damned if they did, damned if they didn't. 

[DieselnDust]

10 minutes ago, karma said:

You need to go and think about your statement. 

Organisers putting the risk back to the teams, could have meant a lot of teams decide to proceed, meaning the risk falls back on the organisers to ensure the safety and medical assistance in the event of an accident. 

Risk and the number of emergency staff/access to emergency services is calculated upfront, and the conditions probably (surely) pushed it out of the range they could accomodate. 

Yes, and that was probably not the best decision and they got lucky. 

Then you'd have someone, similar to you, complain it's terrible to force teams to ride in 30 deg heat?

 

Takeaway, the race organisers were damned if they did, damned if they didn't. 

Indeed, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Making the right call is difficult. It just appears to be easier to make the cancel call now than ever before. As the market we should be querying these decisions to ensure there is integrity in these decisions and not just accepting and regurgitating narratives like sheep. 

 

[Sid the Sloth]

Personally I think the organizers made the right, extremely hard call. It is easy for those of us who are aiming for sub 5 and good results in our categories to complain, because we have some experience riding in the rain and we won't be out there for too long. Unfortunately the organizer has to consider the team who will have 10 riders out there for over 10 hours, with individuals strewn kilometers apart. 

Because we were a mixed team, we were seeded quite early despite having some very fast ladies. We would have been overtaking the whole way up the pass and on the descent which would DEFINITELY not have been fun. Things could have gotten sketchy very quickly. Having a friend pass away a few years ago at a sports event due to lightening strike I was not feeling very enthusiastic when we were up at 5:00.

It is easy to say with hindsight that the event should have gone ahead, as we still did a shorter 160km loop and @Pure Savage did the full loop and didn't have many issues, but the organizers are not just thinking about the fast teams and probably have a lot of other stakeholders putting pressure on them not to host the event (I can imagine both the traffic department and event insurance where not particularly keen)

Thanks to Food Lovers for the epic braai pack, even the vegetarian side was awesome and we felt very spoilt. 

[Jbr]

19 minutes ago, Sid the Sloth said:

Personally I think the organizers made the right, extremely hard call. It is easy for those of us who are aiming for sub 5 and good results in our categories to complain, because we have some experience riding in the rain and we won't be out there for too long. Unfortunately the organizer has to consider the team who will have 10 riders out there for over 10 hours, with individuals strewn kilometers apart. 

Because we were a mixed team, we were seeded quite early despite having some very fast ladies. We would have been overtaking the whole way up the pass and on the descent which would DEFINITELY not have been fun. Things could have gotten sketchy very quickly. Having a friend pass away a few years ago at a sports event due to lightening strike I was not feeling very enthusiastic when we were up at 5:00.

It is easy to say with hindsight that the event should have gone ahead, as we still did a shorter 160km loop and @Pure Savage did the full loop and didn't have many issues, but the organizers are not just thinking about the fast teams and probably have a lot of other stakeholders putting pressure on them not to host the event (I can imagine both the traffic department and event insurance where not particularly keen)

Thanks to Food Lovers for the epic braai pack, even the vegetarian side was awesome and we felt very spoilt. 

????????????

After I crashed in one of the turns at the winelands race I was particularly nervous about overtaking down tradouws pass in the wet with cars coming the other way and even more so knowing people with a lot less racing background would attempt to do that as well.

Also considering the flashes all night and still happening in the morning while driving to the start I thought maybe there was still thunder on the course, moving all wet on a piece of carbon at the top of mountains didn’t seem like the best idea. It’s only at 7:45 when I started driving back home that I realised how unlucky the timing of all this was (despite the forecast being pretty clear that it was going to get better later)

 

Anyways what’s done is done, it’s racing, sometimes you Dnf, sometimes races are cancelled… it sucks when it happens especially if the entry is that expensive + you have to drive and book accomodation for nothing but life goes on !

Edited November 28, 2021 by Jbr

[splat]

54 minutes ago, karma said:

Takeaway, the race organisers were damned if they did, damned if they didn't. 

It's much easier for them to defend a softer more responsible choice than to be organisers of an event where some tragic event occurred.
But they get it in the neck either way.

[Jewbacca]

I reckon they only 'get it in the neck' by a few vocal people.

Most people I know were heaps disappointed and had already moved on by the evening. As they don't frequent bike forums, they get on with life and will probably forget the disappointment quickly.

I'm also pretty sure 99% of them will be right there signing up again in 2022.

It's mostly just the fanatics and those that hang out on socials that want to discuss it, dissect it and condemn things as though it matters. 

The bikehub locals (myself included) are basically cycling Karens

[Danger Dassie]

Often in scenarios like this it also comes down to a broader perspective that provincial and disaster management services have to consider. There may be other areas that emergency services need to attend to because of the weather, that means the priority has shifted from being on call for baby sitting duty, to performing mission critical work in the area. 
Also it isn't just about participant safety, it's about the collective safety of everyone involved.

There are literally dozens to hundreds of backend considerations to factor. Didn't see rocks in the road? Look up. Rock falls above present a higher risk and need to be assessed further. A closed off road for hours with thousands of riders and vehicles would compound the danger. 

But just one example.
 

[DieselnDust]

20 minutes ago, Danger Dassie said:

Often in scenarios like this it also comes down to a broader perspective that provincial and disaster management services have to consider. There may be other areas that emergency services need to attend to because of the weather, that means the priority has shifted from being on call for baby sitting duty, to performing mission critical work in the area. 
Also it isn't just about participant safety, it's about the collective safety of everyone involved.

There are literally dozens to hundreds of backend considerations to factor. Didn't see rocks in the road? Look up. Rock falls above present a higher risk and need to be assessed further. A closed off road for hours with thousands of riders and vehicles would compound the danger. 

But just one example.
 

Yes indeed, and I think I called that out earlier in the week. There was certainly many aspects to consider and each time an event takes place the previous decision becomes a new cancel point.

Outdoor sport in general is racing toward a point of perfect conditions or event cancelled. The more often this happens the more the market will consider the risks of an event not taking place. CTCT already faces the scrutiny of out of town riders contemplating whether the total cost of participation is justified by the now higher risk of cancellation. 

The slope is slippery

[Edereese]

This was going to be my first Double Century. This is my 5th year not being able to do it, the past 4 I’ve had major crashes October/ November. Was anxious as I did not know what to expect. The weather made it even worse. I do agree with the organizers and the call that was made as it’s much harder to deal with loss of life. On the bright side, got myself some nice Velotoze and a long weekend at Caledon Spa. Will be back next year, better and stronger. 

[DieselnDust]

25 minutes ago, Edereese said:

This was going to be my first Double Century. This is my 5th year not being able to do it, the past 4 I’ve had major crashes October/ November. Was anxious as I did not know what to expect. The weather made it even worse. I do agree with the organizers and the call that was made as it’s much harder to deal with loss of life. On the bright side, got myself some nice Velotoze and a long weekend at Caledon Spa. Will be back next year, better and stronger. 

ditto, also prepared well with a Velotoze collection on Friday afternoon

[Kom]

3 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Yes indeed, and I think I called that out earlier in the week. There was certainly many aspects to consider and each time an event takes place the previous decision becomes a new cancel point.

Outdoor sport in general is racing toward a point of perfect conditions or event cancelled. The more often this happens the more the market will consider the risks of an event not taking place. CTCT already faces the scrutiny of out of town riders contemplating whether the total cost of participation is justified by the now higher risk of cancellation. 

The slope is slippery

Outdoor sport or just road racing?

I can’t think of a mountain bike or gravel event being cancelled due to weather conditions.

The risk is put on the entrant to decide on the day what they deem acceptable or not to be at the start line, not a few decision makers who make a binary decision for everyone.

 

Edited November 28, 2021 by Kom

[Pure Savage]

48 minutes ago, Kom said:

Outdoor sport or just road racing?

I can’t think of a mountain bike or gravel event being cancelled due to weather conditions.

The risk is put on the entrant to decide on the day what they deem acceptable or not to be at the start line, not a few decision makers who make a binary decision for everyone.

 

Ummm the all mighty untamed Epic has shortened and cancelled stages before.

[Kom]

6 hours ago, Pure Savage said:

Ummm the all mighty untamed Epic has shortened and cancelled stages before.

Cancelling a stage vs an entire event? Also, when they cancel it’s never due to weather, it’s when an entire regions Medi clinics are overwhelmed with dehydrated riders on the brink of death.

give one example, apples for apples, one day MTB or gravel event that was cancelled because of weather? Karoo 2 coast goes ahead every year come hail or shine, all of them do.

[Shebeen]

15 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Back home and the Weekend has just about percolated...

2am Saturday morning I was hoping I'd get a race cancelled notice. Nothing came through.

At 4:30 I was up making breakfast and getting my kit on. 

At 5:45 we hit the road from Robertson to Swellies.

6:01 the first notice comes in: start delayed a further 30min...

This is not good, it's a prelude to cancellation.

Pull into Swellies and the race cancellation notification comes in

At first the relief that finally there was finality. For much of Saturday I didn't give the race much further thought.

This morning over breakfast I started reflecting on 2021 and realised that cancel culture is well and truly embedded. What this means is that the risk of entry to an event now lies squarely with the entrants.

Now before the Karen's get up on their soap boxes and preach, I believe that cancelling the Double Century was the right thing to do based on adverse weather conditions. 

However we have had strong winds and rain in the past and the event went ahead.

Insurance costs for hosting events under these state of disaster regulations has escalated. Those costs won't come down. When this "pandemic" is over we are to be counting far more costs than we ever imagined. Events are going to be cancelled for far less in future.

From memory, so dates could be way off

2018 Argus, cancelled due to protests and then strong wind. I came home and then just rode the course. It was wild but fine to ride mostly. My feeling was the call was correct for a large race with big bunches would have been very problematic.

2019 Stellenbosch cycle tour. Cancelled due to strong winds/rain. Seemed to be the right call.

2021 DC cancelled due to winds/wet roads. Time will tell,I guess.

 

 

What I do think is required here, is big events need to identify and pay expert weather forecasters. I can scope out internet weather sites nicely, but I know a real guru will produce something with more accuracy. That data is worth gold 48 hours before the gun goes.

 

Anecdotally, extreme weather is becoming more commonplace. It's not going away, this problem is here to stay.

 

[DJR]

7 hours ago, Pure Savage said:

Ummm the all mighty untamed Epic has shortened and cancelled stages before.

And a few years ago day 2 of the W2W got cancelled because of extreme cold, snow (yes, in early November) and rain. The main concern was riders getting hypothermia, that some single track was near impassable to medics on quadbikes and that the rescue helicopters would not be able to fly in the low cloud covering the higher parts of the course.  

[Kom]

12 minutes ago, copperhead said:

Why you so angry? We didn't cancel it!

Whos angry ???? 

I think the debate started from the generalisation made by @Diesel & Dustthat event cancellations will become a general sporting occurrence, my point or really observation is that it’s only road cycling events that get cancelled for bad weather conditions (for reasons I’m in doubt over, but not my fight).