How to get more cyclists at Road races?

[City Cycling Athletic Club]

3 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

This is a big risk to the sports sustainability. Something has to be done about because regulating sports and recreation out of existence is the end state. Alan Winde has been going on about his new Mobility Minister. This person sound s like a key stkeholder as well as the ministerfor sports and recreation in the WC. If something doesn't change we're just delaying the inevitable

any event is subject to these rules and regs and it is to protect the participants, the organisers and the public against the unknown ie mitigate the risk. forget about the big events they are encouraged by the city/municipality/country due to the economic spin offs , its the grassroots / amateur events which keep industries alive in the quiet months that are feeling the pinch and this goes for all sports all over the world. the dept of sport only has so much funding available to assist ,the rest unfortunately is financed by the participants. but sports evolve , cycling will evolve , road races will be on circuits - that is how the WP league operate - for e.g why spend R10k on 30 marshals to cover a 100k circular route when you can have a race on a 25k x 5 circuit where marshals cost R4000. WP events have grown , they have a crit series and road season. routes are limited but racing is hard and entry fees are reasonable.

[DieselnDust]

4 hours ago, City Cycling Athletic Club said:

any event is subject to these rules and regs and it is to protect the participants, the organisers and the public against the unknown ie mitigate the risk. forget about the big events they are encouraged by the city/municipality/country due to the economic spin offs , its the grassroots / amateur events which keep industries alive in the quiet months that are feeling the pinch and this goes for all sports all over the world. the dept of sport only has so much funding available to assist ,the rest unfortunately is financed by the participants. but sports evolve , cycling will evolve , road races will be on circuits - that is how the WP league operate - for e.g why spend R10k on 30 marshals to cover a 100k circular route when you can have a race on a 25k x 5 circuit where marshals cost R4000. WP events have grown , they have a crit series and road season. routes are limited but racing is hard and entry fees are reasonable.

I'm glad you mention this evolution as it is this that will continue to spark interest in road racing and for now its WPCycling that's getting it right on all fronts, road and MTb (XCO). The pricing is also right and therefore win win

[Jewbacca]

This is also why CX, XCO and crit racing is so big in most other cycling mad countries.

It makes so much sense, it also gives the family/crowds something to look at a few times without moving from a central spot. Sponsor banners get seen multiple times.

Lap racing is rad. It's mostly here in SA where people expect/demand to traverse as many KM as possible, never mind the logistics involved for all involved, organisers, participants, tech support, family, vendors etc...

Anyway, this has digressed. Getting numbers to the events is not the same as how to make these events more sustainable.... or is it?

[DieselnDust]

38 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

This is also why CX, XCO and crit racing is so big in most other cycling mad countries.

It makes so much sense, it also gives the family/crowds something to look at a few times without moving from a central spot. Sponsor banners get seen multiple times.

Lap racing is rad. It's mostly here in SA where people expect/demand to traverse as many KM as possible, never mind the logistics involved for all involved, organisers, participants, tech support, family, vendors etc...

Anyway, this has digressed. Getting numbers to the events is not the same as how to make these events more sustainable.... or is it?

Rhetorical?

[ChrisF]

9 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

This is a big risk to the sports sustainability. Something has to be done about because regulating sports and recreation out of existence is the end state. Alan Winde has been going on about his new Mobility Minister. This person sound s like a key stkeholder as well as the ministerfor sports and recreation in the WC. If something doesn't change we're just delaying the inevitable

 

There is a national By.Law that governs "events".

 

While back a scaffold structure collapsed and spectators got hurt .... immediate legal action against "council"....

 

They now are very strict in following the letter of the law .... read, covering their ass ...

 

 

It will only get more and more difficult to host events ... all events, not just cycling.

 

 

Sad state of affairs ...

[Jewbacca]

2 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Rhetorical?

Very much so

[Shebeen]

I am on a running whatsapp group and the amount of race discount offers being sent our way is growing.

every second event seems to be giving out a discount in the final weeks of their event, sometimes they want someone to co-ordinate a bulk buy, sometimes it's here is the offer code, fill it in on the entry form on checkout.

doesn't seem to be the same for cycling (maybe on the wrong whatsapp groups!), but if there's a race you like supporting, this might be the year to do it so it survives.

 

[Ozzie NL]

1 hour ago, Shebeen said:

I am on a running whatsapp group and the amount of race discount offers being sent our way is growing.

every second event seems to be giving out a discount in the final weeks of their event, sometimes they want someone to co-ordinate a bulk buy, sometimes it's here is the offer code, fill it in on the entry form on checkout.

doesn't seem to be the same for cycling (maybe on the wrong whatsapp groups!), but if there's a race you like supporting, this might be the year to do it so it survives.

 

I would not be so open about my oddities

[Shebeen]

1 hour ago, Ozzie NL said:

I would not be so open about my oddities

There is even a thread here where we talk about shin splints!

[Frosty]

On 10/28/2022 at 2:52 PM, DieselnDust said:

Every fun ride should have a club category this would tke the form of clubs having teams of up to 8 riders per seeded group and this creates a race within a race scenario. This introduces a tactical element that improves races craft and brings the humble fun ride to mimick a more professional road race type structure. Clubs score points and the top 3 clubs get a nice prize like their team kit paid for by the PPA prize money (flight of fancy I know but work with me....).

A bit late to reply, but this thread popped up again in my timeline.

I sent a proposal to Gauteng Cycling last year, and also posted it on the club's WA group.
Not a single response from the club representatives. So that would indicate, to me, that (1) clubs don't care, (2) members aren't being told about things happening.

I had a few conversations with the Road Commissioner for Gauteng Cycling, but that's about as far as it's got. 

FWIW, the document is attached.

I'll just keep riding my bike, help/coach others to be come better individuals, and enter the events that I'd like to do.
 

Interclub racing group - proposal v0 (July 2022) (1).pdf

[DieselnDust]

2 minutes ago, Frosty said:

A bit late to reply, but this thread popped up again in my timeline.

I sent a proposal to Gauteng Cycling last year, and also posted it on the club's WA group.
Not a single response from the club representatives. So that would indicate, to me, that (1) clubs don't care, (2) members aren't being told about things happening.

I had a few conversations with the Road Commissioner for Gauteng Cycling, but that's about as far as it's got. 

FWIW, the document is attached.

I'll just keep riding my bike, help/coach others to be come better individuals, and enter the events that I'd like to do.
 

Interclub racing group - proposal v0 (July 2022) (1).pdf 150.07 kB · 1 download

Pitched something very similar to an event organiser…

let’s just say things are happening 

[Frosty]

21 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Pitched something very similar to an event organiser…

let’s just say things are happening 

As a race organiser, we can implement it (no problem). The problem comes in ensuring that club members are aware and can form “approved/recognised” teams.

[DieselnDust]

4 minutes ago, Frosty said:

As a race organiser, we can implement it (no problem). The problem comes in ensuring that club members are aware and can form “approved/recognised” teams.

I think the incentive needs to be big enough