Should e-bikes be allowed in Cycle Tour and other Races

[Wayne pudding Mol]

I have no objection to ebikes in races 

But what I saw today makes me realise that organizers need to adapt to ebike popularity in another way - maybe a shorter course with an early start - the elites will catch them but that’s another problem

if you suck my wheel, that’s within the rules and part of bike riding 

I don’t care if you start in 6D - sitting behind a large man on his pedal assisted ebike as he parts wind is cheating - I saw a lot of this and it’s wrong 

I diced a 20 “strong” group from ladies mile to Simonstown - they kept catching me because they were getting electric assistance - not his fault 

Wheel sucking ebikes is electric assistance plain and simple 

My mate who rode with me was not happy with me refusing to get the help 😂

 

 

[Hairy]

38 minutes ago, Mamil said:

No but they don't like offering a wheel. I latched on to 2 different ones and they both upped pace and dropped me as soon as they noticed my presence.

One turned around as he sped away and smirked.

Latching on a motorised vehicle is cheating

[DuncanDoughnuts]

So its the Non ebikers who were cheating then ? not the ebikers since the non bikers know its not legal to draft a ebiker ...Ban all analog riders I say. 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2022 by DuncanDoughnuts

[tinmug]

12 minutes ago, DuncanDoughnuts said:

So its the Non ebikers who were cheating then ? not the ebikers since the non bikers know its not legal to draft a ebiker ...Ban all analog riders I say. 

 

 

*Riders, quite right, not cyclists. 😂

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, Mamil said:

No but they don't like offering a wheel. I latched on to 2 different ones and they both upped pace and dropped me as soon as they noticed my presence.

One turned around as he sped away and smirked.

 

The smirk certainly is uncalled for ....

 

As for offering a wheel .... ebikers were specifically asked to NOT do this.

 

 

My general observation of ebikes today - having started at 9:45.

 

- MANY couples were one or both were on ebikes.

- surprisingly few carried spare batteries

- about 3 riders on Specialized ROAD ebikes were MOTORING !!!!  Short of a long lunch they would be way under the 3:50.

- "danger" .... initially the group of young development riders showing ZERO road sense were a danger to one and all ....  From Smitswinkel it seems fatique set in, and MANY riders would suddenly turn 45 degrees and cross the road, just carry on straight ... 

- thankfully I did not see any ebikers riding stupidly ... then again, I am hardly neutral on this 

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, Wayne pudding Mol said:

I have no objection to ebikes in races 

But what I saw today makes me realise that organizers need to adapt to ebike popularity in another way - maybe a shorter course with an early start - the elites will catch them but that’s another problem

if you suck my wheel, that’s within the rules and part of bike riding 

I don’t care if you start in 6D - sitting behind a large man on his pedal assisted ebike as he parts wind is cheating - I saw a lot of this and it’s wrong 

I diced a 20 “strong” group from ladies mile to Simonstown - they kept catching me because they were getting electric assistance - not his fault 

Wheel sucking ebikes is electric assistance plain and simple 

My mate who rode with me was not happy with me refusing to get the help 😂

 

 

 

Sadly Wayne this IS the ebikers "fault".

 

We WERE asked (repeatedly) to be aware of people hanging onto our wheel.  We were even asked to pull over and slow down to force these riders ride their race.

 

Can see ALL ebikes starting after 9:00 .... NO "real road racer" should start this late.  Thus negating the impact of drafting an ebike.  

[ChrisF]

Emotionally ....

 

Seeing a husband on his 10th ride starting at 9:45, just to ride with is wife.  That was super special.

 

 

Seeing the "hatred" in riders eyes up Suikerbossie when I passed them .... OUCH !!!  

 

 

We are FAR from "acceptance" of ebikes .....

[Skubarra]

2 hours ago, DuncanDoughnuts said:

So its the Non ebikers who were cheating then ? not the ebikers since the non bikers know its not legal to draft a ebiker ...Ban all analog riders I say. 

 

 

I fully support the idea of banning anyone who drafts an ebike at the CTCT👍

[Kingg]

I didn't necessarily have much of a issue with ebikes but after what I saw today, I.just feel that something needs to change.

Was going past as few people up Chappies while pacing myself and had a mate on a Trek and heard a "passing right" only to give way for a guy on a ebike going up its a descend, we just looked looked at it other laughed. 

And it carried on and on and ON!!

[The Ouzo]

Did not notice many ebikes until just before suikerbossie where all of sudden they were in abundance. 
I think by then the guys were nursing the batteries home as I was having some fun with them most of the way up suikers

[MORNE]

I was z2/3 most of the way cruising with wifey at the back. At suikerbos i was feeling so fresh that i thought i’ll smash up it in chunks, stop, get some video of wifey struggling up it, join her for n few minutes, rinse repeat. I had a full box of matches left.
 At one of my 3 goes some ebikes came cruising up the right -not  super fast, but still way faster than everybody else,  and i thought…here’s my chance to make them look silly for a few 100m. Stomped passed and just as the burn started i quickly pulled over and took the camera out and got some video to make it look like it was nothing haha.

 

[karma]

so...did everyones egos survive yesterday being passed by e-bikes? 

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, MORNE said:

I was z2/3 most of the way cruising with wifey at the back. At suikerbos i was feeling so fresh that i thought i’ll smash up it in chunks, stop, get some video of wifey struggling up it, join her for n few minutes, rinse repeat. I had a full box of matches left.
 At one of my 3 goes some ebikes came cruising up the right -not  super fast, but still way faster than everybody else,  and i thought…here’s my chance to make them look silly for a few 100m. Stomped passed and just as the burn started i quickly pulled over and took the camera out and got some video to make it look like it was nothing haha.

 

 

A gent did that along Chappies as well .... everybody working away hard .... next moment he got out the saddle and BLASTED forward.  As we came around the bend he was waiting camera in hand to take pics of his wife. 

 

[DieselnDust]

16 hours ago, Nick said:

It looks that the provisional ebike results are simple. Less than 3:50 = disqualified and no result on the time sheet. As it stands, the category 'winner' rode a 3:50:25.

Yes but did those who rode under 3:50 declare that they were riding ebikes or not?

if not and they slipped the noose at the checkpoints they would still be classified under general rider results 

[DieselnDust]

14 hours ago, ChrisF said:

Emotionally ....

 

Seeing a husband on his 10th ride starting at 9:45, just to ride with is wife.  That was super special.

 

 

Seeing the "hatred" in riders eyes up Suikerbossie when I passed them .... OUCH !!!  

 

 

We are FAR from "acceptance" of ebikes .....

We are far from acceptance of cyclists too so don’t feel alone in this 😂

[Nick]

24 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Yes but did those who rode under 3:50 declare that they were riding ebikes or not?

if not and they slipped the noose at the checkpoints they would still be classified under general rider results 

Did all who doped piss in a tube at the end?

What's the solution for these types? Stricter checking? Complete ban? Are ebike numbers different? Maybe a further self-checking by riders on route reporting those incorrectly classified.

Is it significant problem that needs addressing? Did it even occur? If so, was it meaningful to anyone else's ride?

Or should we just laugh at their pettiness and move on? I'm going with this one.