[Event] Ronde Van Riebeek

[betaboy]

2 hours ago, Shebeen said:

I have now slept on this and some minor more thoughts.

a)I expect the biggest issue to be the paramedics/delay start of 50miler. If there's CSA rules then you need to follow dem CSA rulz. I guess it might have been first time running an event with CSA so good schoolfees paid right there.

now the easy but oh so improtant stuff to fix

b)100 miler should be 160.934km. for most people 2% either way is not an issue, some people are VERY particular about this.

c)get the locals involved. RK is a massive tourist town, this seems obvious. Our extended family hosts told us the local tourism manager only heard about the event on the thurs when things were getting set up. 

d)weather was awesome. woke up to light drizzle on sunday, which would have been interesting.

e)I feel the race was massively overpitched. a great idea but limited follow through. It's impossible to have a RVV(tour of Flanders) style race here. You need lots of tar and little dorpies with abbeys on a short steep hill. I don't expect that to somehow happen, but the name was basically the only thing RvR and RvV have in common. 

f)waterpoints were adequate. i expected to see some swartland hospitality - get the local Lions club on a braai or something. It was very much organised, efficient but bussed in. Some chow at the final one would have been nice.

g)a host of Ex Belgian pros? are we counting Jaco Venter because, why not?!

h)finish on a track (ok that was close enough, and I can imagine a 1.5 lap is a moere of a mission to organise for timing?)

i)frites? where were the frikken frites? Ardis chips != frites. pancakes is not waffles either, but close enough i guess and not promised.

J)BEER?! Stella Artois from SAB is not the finest Belgian beer.

 

apart from that I am clearly getting old and grumpy, at least my legs are alive still!

 

 

 

A very good day out, but I hope the organisers take notes from all your input!…you gotta have all the Belguim elements in there for sure! I have fond memories of been in Belguim and nothing beats Beer and Frites! And a warm waffle from a street vendor when your fingers are going to fall off!

I think a vote needs to be put forward:

Belguim beers and BrAAi afterwards without fail, add it to the entry and get the Belguim Embassy involved. They can assist I’m sure. You don’t ask, you don’t get!😎💪🏻👍🏻

[betaboy]

4 hours ago, Kom said:

I might have been on the skinniest tyres (38c) out of everyone riding on Saturday, still had a blast on my converted commuter bike 🚴 👏

im just glad my quick release axles survived some of that corrugation 😆

Super brave to hit it with 38! 🫣 

[SEANSTEP]

17 hours ago, Kom said:

Can you elaborate?

Sounds like you were in the 100 miler group, can you share what might have happened to cause the delay to the 50 miler start?

KOM, sorry just seen & it's pretty much been answered. I heard from my 2nd cousin twice removed who heard it from a friend's friend that not enough ambulances as stipulated by CSA which is a fair point by CSA. Let it slide & you're asking for trouble. So it would be to cater for entire event, so if only long route goes off there are enough ambulances on a per person basis. Yep, did long route & like you on 38C.

[KingZA]

At what point do we talk about the riders that took a shortcut after going the wrong way? 🍿🍿

[Bub Marley]

1 hour ago, Shebeen said:

I did the 100, but heard that. Not sure exactly how free entry for next year works, that's a lot of entry budget to piss into the wind and might have been a comment made by someone without the authority to do it. if you get it in writing, then that's different. My opinion based solely on some guys trying to claim their promised "free beer" from the bar, and not winning.

As someone that did the 50miler, I can confirm that person who announced free entries and free beer was definitely the race organiser. I would also like to see if they are going to honour that free entry because that’s a lot of dough to throw away. 

 

 

[betaboy]

10 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

As someone that did the 50miler, I can confirm that person who announced free entries and free beer was definitely the race organiser. I would also like to see if they are going to honour that free entry because that’s a lot of dough to throw away. 

 

 

Do you have the actual recording? We can always ask the CSA for a full task force to investigate the matter! Let’s call it the “ Ronde Free Capture” 🤭🤭🤭 

[Bub Marley]

8 minutes ago, betaboy said:

Do you have the actual recording? We can always ask the CSA for a full task force to investigate the matter! Let’s call it the “ Ronde Free Capture” 🤭🤭🤭 

Unfortunately not haha. I felt a bit sorry for him at the same time being extremely pissed off. He first announced the free entries after around an 30 min delay i think. Then they said it wont be longer than a couple more minutes wait. Another hour passed by and the poor oke was so embarrassed. He then announced the free beers and then literally 30 seconds later the ambulance rocks up. Shame man.

[Shebeen]

1 hour ago, KingZA said:

At what point do we talk about the riders that took a shortcut after going the wrong way? 🍿🍿

oh. geez. I thought those extra miles was not something that the top guys dealt with.

 

Strava tells me there are a few race routes now.

whoops. 

the guys who did the route correctly should have done about 157km, if you missed the phantom sign and turnoff then you would have done more. 

looks like plenty of people retraced their route and went back and did the correct course. 

bit of a stuff up when it affects the guys in the sharp end. over to you CSA

 

Edited May 22, 2023 by Shebeen

[Skubarra]

1 hour ago, KingZA said:

At what point do we talk about the riders that took a shortcut after going the wrong way? 🍿🍿

Well they were following the marshall who also missed the turn-off, is it technically a short-cut if the marshalls gave you wrong instructions? And I am fairly certain they still ended up doing longer than the supposed route

I ended up doing about 4km extra because of the missed turn-off, weirdly after we were turned back to the correct route some of the mid-bunch people also missed the turn-off. Not sure how it happened that people kept on missing that turn-off after it was corrected.

I had a fun day on the bike, I enjoyed the flat fast route and would definitely be back next year (on a gravel bike not a mtb) - think most of the critisisms here should be easily fixable and this event have a lot of potential.

[The itch]

just for interest sake as i am thinking of entering gravel bike races. what was the entry fee , are mtb and gravel bikes mixed in the same groups as well as E Bikes?

[Shebeen]

51 minutes ago, Skubarra said:

Well they were following the marshall who also missed the turn-off, is it technically a short-cut if the marshalls gave you wrong instructions? And I am fairly certain they still ended up doing longer than the supposed route

I ended up doing about 4km extra because of the missed turn-off, weirdly after we were turned back to the correct route some of the mid-bunch people also missed the turn-off. Not sure how it happened that people kept on missing that turn-off after it was corrected.

I had a fun day on the bike, I enjoyed the flat fast route and would definitely be back next year (on a gravel bike not a mtb) - think most of the critisisms here should be easily fixable and this event have a lot of potential.

that is pisspoor, I'm not sure what trumps what - route on GPS, marshall or sigboards. I assume the front bunch stayed together and did their version of the course together.

here's the segment for people who did the correct route, many of whom doubles back to it.

https://www.strava.com/segments/34456345?filter=overall

 

looks like about 20 odd people according to strava missed it

 

 

 

I'm one of the midbunch people. we missed the route because the sign was apparently stolen. This was the info we got from the guy putting a new sign up! Was a crap extra 4kms to do too, but at least it made the ride and actual 100miles.

 

 

[KingZA]

It was very convenient for me as I approached that turn when the leaders who went astray had backtracked and we took the corner together. I could then hang on and race with them till the finish with the occasional stoppage to open farm gates. 😂😂

It's a mess though for CSA and particularly because this forms part of the WP Gravel League. There's now 3 groups of people.

1. Those who did the correct course and rode 157km.
2. Those that went wrong and corrected themselves. Rode anything between 157km and 165km.
3. The top 12 or so riders that didn't correct their/the marshals error rode 160km.

I'm not racing for that WP League so I don't really care but there will be people in the various groups that do care about this.

[B20]

5 hours ago, Anthem24 said:

But that second lady was on an e-bike. Perhaps she had it on full throttle the whole way. So yes, one hopes they have categories that acknowledge that too!!!

Correct it was an e-bike, but a Levo SL with the smaller 36 Watt motor and battery which does not last indefinite on turbo.  It was not the 90 Watt more powefull full Levy version of which there were in the race as well.

It still was impressive for a 64 year old aunti in her first race.

[Skubarra]

23 minutes ago, KingZA said:

It was very convenient for me as I approached that turn when the leaders who went astray had backtracked and we took the corner together. I could then hang on and race with them till the finish with the occasional stoppage to open farm gates. 😂😂

It's a mess though for CSA and particularly because this forms part of the WP Gravel League. There's now 3 groups of people.

1. Those who did the correct course and rode 157km.
2. Those that went wrong and corrected themselves. Rode anything between 157km and 165km.
3. The top 12 or so riders that didn't correct their/the marshals error rode 160km.

I'm not racing for that WP League so I don't really care but there will be people in the various groups that do care about this.

On a aside - which races form part of the WP league?

[Wane Rossouw]

maybe no marshalling, but no road respect either - if a cyclist notices no marshalling, then go single file, surely. 6 Wide is not the answer 100 miler cats!  

[Wane Rossouw]

More riding less moaning - I've seen your results - give the events guys a break. So much negativity on here. I loved the event, so nice to be out and able to ride.