2023 Road Events

[Paulst12]

I think cycling as a whole has taken a beating. First from cost of equipment, then entries and now the element of PADEL which is taking away a lot of interest. Retailers and event organisers need to start paying attention or the sport will start going the way golf did when cycling was on the up-and-up.

 

[ChrisF]

15 minutes ago, Paulst12 said:

I think cycling as a whole has taken a beating. First from cost of equipment, then entries and now the element of PADEL which is taking away a lot of interest. Retailers and event organisers need to start paying attention or the sport will start going the way golf did when cycling was on the up-and-up.

 

 

I spoke to a couple that travel SA doing event timing.

 

Both MTB and road cycling have seen a significant decline in numbers in the last 24 months.  Gravel is the "new thing" and these event numbers are increasing in 2023 ...

 

Most events in the order of 50% decline in numbers !! 

 

Sadly the costs of hosting an event keeps on rising.  

 

 

No wonder many organisers are walking away.  Others are doing some aggressive social media marketing campaigns trying their level best to get the numbers up.

[mecheng89]

On 7/28/2023 at 12:03 PM, Spinnekop said:

I am on the other side of the coin.
I try to do everything.  On average 12 races per year.  
Lots of fun.  I normally go around the potholes by turning my handlebars.  😁
Cars will ALWAYS be there.  I have learned to adopt and just enjoy my sport carefully but to the max.  

But that is just me.

This made made me literally LOL.

I find that bunches in mass start races often don't know how to ride in a bunch, so anticipating their movement leads to the possibility of smashing into a pothole. 

On 7/28/2023 at 2:35 PM, Zeffer said:

This is my calendar for rest of the year - really hoping nothing gets cancelled for whatever reason.

30 Jul - Eastside Crit

5-8 Aug - Mpumalanga toer

9 Aug Rooiwal public holiday

19 Aug - Buffelstrap

20 Aug - Eastside Crit

26 Aug –Dullstroom weekend race (MTB)

2 Sept    Rooiwal or  Beast of the East

9 Sep - Kremetart (yep, best race in SA)

16 Sep - Blue Diamond its a tour now!

24 Sep - Eastrand Classic

30 Sep - Rooiwal

1 Oct - Eastside Crit                        

8 Oct - Satelite Classic

14 Oct Freestate Invitational

15 Oct - Meals on Wheels

22 Oct - Amashova

29 Oct - Germiston Classic

5 Nov - Thswane Classic

11 Nov - Rooiwal

19 Nov - 947 Ride Joburg

Jesus my guy. I wish I had your entry fee and petrol/diesel budget!

Edited July 31, 2023 by mecheng89

[mecheng89]

15 hours ago, Paulst12 said:

I think cycling as a whole has taken a beating. First from cost of equipment, then entries and now the element of PADEL which is taking away a lot of interest. Retailers and event organisers need to start paying attention or the sport will start going the way golf did when cycling was on the up-and-up.

 

I so badly want to start this, but none of my people are interested in joining. The rackets are becoming cheaper, and in my area, you have one of 2 facilities (one of which is still being built). 

Anyone here actually play padel?

[mecheng89]

14 hours ago, ChrisF said:

 

I spoke to a couple that travel SA doing event timing.

 

Both MTB and road cycling have seen a significant decline in numbers in the last 24 months.  Gravel is the "new thing" and these event numbers are increasing in 2023 ...

 

Most events in the order of 50% decline in numbers !! 

 

Sadly the costs of hosting an event keeps on rising.  

 

 

No wonder many organisers are walking away.  Others are doing some aggressive social media marketing campaigns trying their level best to get the numbers up.

This seems to be the case, but entry fees for gravel events are much more than road races. 

GT100 this weekend for example, R900 for the long one. I don't quite know what you get for your R900 (don't BS me with water points). 

Don't even talk about RTTS (that race if you're deep South based is expensive beyond the entry fee). 

[mecheng89]

On 7/28/2023 at 2:35 PM, Zeffer said:

This is my calendar for rest of the year - really hoping nothing gets cancelled for whatever reason.

30 Jul - Eastside Crit

5-8 Aug - Mpumalanga toer

9 Aug Rooiwal public holiday

19 Aug - Buffelstrap

20 Aug - Eastside Crit

26 Aug –Dullstroom weekend race (MTB)

2 Sept    Rooiwal or  Beast of the East

9 Sep - Kremetart (yep, best race in SA)

16 Sep - Blue Diamond its a tour now!

24 Sep - Eastrand Classic

30 Sep - Rooiwal

1 Oct - Eastside Crit                        

8 Oct - Satelite Classic

14 Oct Freestate Invitational

15 Oct - Meals on Wheels

22 Oct - Amashova

29 Oct - Germiston Classic

5 Nov - Thswane Classic

11 Nov - Rooiwal

19 Nov - 947 Ride Joburg

If you have TrainingPeaks or some similar tracking software (Strava Premium), I would LOVE to see your fatigue number as the months go on (genuine request).

[ChrisF]

Monday morning scrambled thoughts ....

 

So I walk in to get an email about an event at the end of August.

Distance - check

Cost - check

Date - .... uhm one week ahead of another event I already entered ... uhm ... I can make it work

Entries close - three weeks before the event .... as much as I understand the logistics for the organisers, I also remember what happened 48 hours ago in Swellendam.  I have always been reluctant to enter early, I will rather wait until the planets align and then enter.  Races which requires me to book accommodation needs to be booked earlier.  But close by events I enter the week before the event ....

 

 

O-well .... it is what it is.

[Frosty]

2 hours ago, mecheng89 said:

If you have TrainingPeaks or some similar tracking software (Strava Premium), I would LOVE to see your fatigue number as the months go on (genuine request).

I’d say Performance (balancing it) over those number of weeks, is more important than the CTL and ATL. 100km events could have 220-280 TSS with one other hard day in each week, making it about 600-750 TSS per week. The short Crits won’t yield much TSS, so it would be done at the end of a recovery week. The rest is all easy stuff, otherwise it affects performance. If performance dips then the TSS will drop too as the high intensity won’t be there to push up the load in an event. It’s not hard to race week in and week out, if your load is managed properly.

[bleedToWin]

1 hour ago, ChrisF said:

Entries close - three weeks before the event .... as much as I understand the logistics for the organisers [...]

Another minor irritation of mine is organisers that close early bird entries 50 weeks before the event. I am usually on board to enter early and I think the early bird pricing system is great, but goodness! Once I've missed early bird entry I hold off until the last minute.

[Jewbacca]

7 minutes ago, bleedToWin said:

Another minor irritation of mine is organisers that close early bird entries 50 weeks before the event. I am usually on board to enter early and I think the early bird pricing system is great, but goodness! Once I've missed early bird entry I hold off until the last minute.

Same... I don't know what I'm doing next weekend, nevermind the 2nd weekend next May!

Early bird entries usually pass me by before I even know the event is happening.

[ChrisF]

53 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

Same... I don't know what I'm doing next weekend, nevermind the 2nd weekend next May!

Early bird entries usually pass me by before I even know the event is happening.

 

Looking back over the last 5 years you KNOW how a little one at home has upended your ability to plan anything in advance.

 

More often than not I have to ask one week ahead of the event if there is going to be some kids party, or some such thing before I can commit to entering an event.

 

 

Fair enough, I have long since made peace with paying the late entry fee.

 

 

Now to see if this event at the end of August updates to allow late entries ..... currently they only have entry until the 12th, no mention of a late entry fee nor option.

 

 

 

I fully appreciate the logistics for organisers.  But I am equally happy to pay the late entry fee .....

[mecheng89]

1 hour ago, bleedToWin said:

Another minor irritation of mine is organisers that close early bird entries 50 weeks before the event. I am usually on board to enter early and I think the early bird pricing system is great, but goodness! Once I've missed early bird entry I hold off until the last minute.

Frosty can confirm this - cash flow. 

[Jewbacca]

38 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Looking back over the last 5 years you KNOW how a little one at home has upended your ability to plan anything in advance.

 

More often than not I have to ask one week ahead of the event if there is going to be some kids party, or some such thing before I can commit to entering an event.

 

 

Fair enough, I have long since made peace with paying the late entry fee.

 

 

Now to see if this event at the end of August updates to allow late entries ..... currently they only have entry until the 12th, no mention of a late entry fee nor option.

 

 

 

I fully appreciate the logistics for organisers.  But I am equally happy to pay the late entry fee .....

hahahaha kids!

I'm also loath to drag my kid and wife around the country doing stuff I want to do that really isn't that cool for them.

I have entered Velddrif 222 Velddrif again this year which I'm looking forward to, but the wife has a cross fit competition on the same weekend. Juggling that involves Gran and whether she has plans too!

I'm also happy to pay 'normal' prices for events. I do so few these days that it doesn't bother me. I mean, the Velddrif 222 Velddrif costs R222.... I will spend more than that at the Engine one stop on sweeties and a pie

[Frosty]

1 hour ago, mecheng89 said:

Frosty can confirm this - cash flow. 

I have no cooking clue, but I would assume it’s cash flow reasons as some service providers require deposits.

[The Ouzo]

18 minutes ago, Frosty said:

I have no cooking clue, but I would assume it’s cash flow reasons as some service providers require deposits.

but surely if you're an established event (lets define established as having held the event 3 or more times), you then know that certain SPs need a deposit, so you work that in and hold onto that deposit from the previous years event.

For me, the early bird entry means the event knows they have x amount of definite entries up front. The clever stats guys will then go x + (something times x for late entries) = total number of entries. and they can plan accordingly. But if everyone is a late entry it makes planning very very difficult.

Thus the reason for early bird entries.

But 50 weeks in advance does seem a bit excessive. (although I normally do enter CTCT as soon as entries open, but that is out of habit from when you had to)

[Frosty]

7 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

but surely if you're an established event (lets define established as having held the event 3 or more times), you then know that certain SPs need a deposit, so you work that in and hold onto that deposit from the previous years event.

For me, the early bird entry means the event knows they have x amount of definite entries up front. The clever stats guys will then go x + (something times x for late entries) = total number of entries. and they can plan accordingly. But if everyone is a late entry it makes planning very very difficult.

Thus the reason for early bird entries.

But 50 weeks in advance does seem a bit excessive. (although I normally do enter CTCT as soon as entries open, but that is out of habit from when you had to)

In all the years I’ve been involved (21 road, 4 Crits, 6 MTB and 1 trail run), we’ve funded the event from normal entries, even kept online entries open until the very last minute. I think we had early bird entries twice (3 months before). We got a total of 10% of the entries, so it isn’t worth all the effort required.