[Event] PPA One Tonner

[Bub Marley]

What was the purpose of having the shorter route go first?

[Skubarra]

12 hours ago, milky4130 said:

 

Rants were a bit premature, both these issues have since been resolved. Live timing is way better than racetec ever was, they then just have to cleanup & categorize everything afterwards which understandably takes time.

Would be nice if there was an option on the view to just see the times of the group you started in, but I guess with the current view you can sort of figure it out.

Anyway, great ride yesterday milky, getting to slip your mixed team for most of the ride really saved my day after I missed my start 👍

[Skubarra]

1 hour ago, Bub Marley said:

What was the purpose of having the shorter route go first?

Other than giving me a little heart attack when I drove to the venue and see cyclists already out racing, thought I missed my start (which I eventually did but thats another story)

[mikkelz]

19 minutes ago, Skubarra said:

Other than giving me a little heart attack when I drove to the venue and see cyclists already out racing, thought I missed my start (which I eventually did but thats another story)

I was on my way to the venue and saw what must have been one of the first, if not the first, 107km bunches leaving. Not even a few seconds later there was a single rider on the side of the road, bike upside down, repairing a puncture.

We I eventually started, we rode past a bunch of broken glass on the shoulder not far from the start, so maybe he was unlucky to get a puncture there.

So unlucky.

[The Ouzo]

13 hours ago, milky4130 said:

he benefits of "live timing" as in your time is immediately available when you cross the line this was never available with racetec.

Actually at one stage, for  a few years, RaceTec would SMS you your result within minutes of finishing.

There were a few CTCT where, by the time i got through the Medal and drinks chaos queues at the finish, i had my results SMS.

Not sure why they stopped that. 

[avatar]

So, lets just remember one thing from the gun, if there is possibly something that can be stuffed up, the PPA will stuff it up big time! I have never liked their organisation of events or the way they approach it and implement it. Oh, they even managed to direct traffic so that someone got hit by a taxi/car! I am not one of those "green" okes but ive now got 4 temp blue boards and 10 of those rubbery mounts lying at home, it is really wasteful, I def do not agree with that system of theirs. The race was fine but the marshals at the start was super irritating as usual and the motorbikes were really really irritating during the race and interfered. 

[openmind]

5 hours ago, avatar said:

So, lets just remember one thing from the gun, if there is possibly something that can be stuffed up, the PPA will stuff it up big time! I have never liked their organisation of events or the way they approach it and implement it. Oh, they even managed to direct traffic so that someone got hit by a taxi/car! I am not one of those "green" okes but ive now got 4 temp blue boards and 10 of those rubbery mounts lying at home, it is really wasteful, I def do not agree with that system of theirs. The race was fine but the marshals at the start was super irritating as usual and the motorbikes were really really irritating during the race and interfered. 

You should try the cup-half-full approach sometime. I think PPA did great all things considered, it's not easy to host a 170km bike race on open roads. I had a great ride on good roads in beautiful countryside. Oh, and bring those rubber mounts to the next race, I'm sure they'll take them back and reuse them. 

[cadenceblur]

Need to set the bar higher 

There were no full road closures ( aware this wasn’t the plan BUT we almost got taken out by a bakkie that recklessly pulled into the road in front of us 

Cars also flying past us on some stretches, hardly a Marshall in sight

A road event with a dirt road as access to parking? And the condition of the road ? 
 

Great staff at the water points but often the drinks were standing in the sun 

But we say yes please and thank you and pay the entry fee , need to take a page out of some MTB events and see how events should be run. 

[milky4130]

7 hours ago, Skubarra said:

Would be nice if there was an option on the view to just see the times of the group you started in, but I guess with the current view you can sort of figure it out.

Anyway, great ride yesterday milky, getting to slip your mixed team for most of the ride really saved my day after I missed my start 👍

Glad we could help, our wheels really fell off a bit towards the end as some okes really went too deep for too long, but rather now than at DC.

[Mamil]

Actually the Marshall on the bike who was with the main body of C did a decent job I thought. Telling people not to spread out across the road. I jokingly told her "Se hom marshall by moet hom gedra" and she said "just trying to keep you alive"

I disagree that ppa events are a complete disaster. There is considerable room for improvement in the parking and venue departments. The timing change is annoying, not environmentally sensitive but maybe there's a good reason for it? So far I don't see it.

I just like how I feel the day after a long hard ride like that ... Head clear, body calm. 

Hopefully the logistics are better next year and the weather as good as this year.

[ChrisF]

10 hours ago, Mamil said:

One aspect in which the chips and the little rubber doodat ziptied to the seatpost agree ... I am the oke putting the curve on the bell curve.

I think I now have about 5 or 6 different timing thingies, half of which are redundant. Just waiting for the day I pitch at some event with the wrong dinges velcroed in the wrong place.

 

At last count I had 5 different timing chips/boards.

 

And many more from events that did their own thing.

 

 

These temporary plastic rubish ... not a fan.

 

According to a gent from Finish Time we will get the permanent boards in our CTCT/Argus race packs.

 

Apparently similar mounting .... really hope reality downs on these clowns before then ....

 

From Varia to saddle bags, etc so many riders have issues mounting these ....

 

 

 

Live timing .... Racetech DID have live timing.  At least their staff at the timing matts had access to direct timing.  They held back until the last rider finished, then uploaded the results (saw this September last year)

 

 

 

From seeding, to paying for multiple temporary chips, to issues with their timing (few weeks back I was one of a couple of riders whose starting time never got recorded) ... this bunch of clowns really need to step up their game, or just step aside

[mikkelz]

Quote

The event logistics are unfortunately out of our control. Please contact the event organizers for all queries. In terms of timing, we have adjusted your start group, from the last possible start group(F) and adjusted your time accordingly.

Reply from FinishTime. 👆

So, because they don't track your actual start time, your first "split" is wherever they set up the first tracking point along the route from the start.

Pretty lame to be honest – RaceTec and as I said previously, other running races that FinishTime has managed, track your start time. At least that way you can get your actual event time, in the event that you drop back a group, or when the organizer is incapable of ensuring adequate entry and parking to the event so that you can start on time. 🙄😂

Edited November 7, 2023 by mikkelz

[mikkelz]

15 hours ago, cadenceblur said:

Need to set the bar higher 

There were no full road closures ( aware this wasn’t the plan BUT we almost got taken out by a bakkie that recklessly pulled into the road in front of us 

Cars also flying past us on some stretches, hardly a Marshall in sight

A road event with a dirt road as access to parking? And the condition of the road ? 
 

Great staff at the water points but often the drinks were standing in the sun 

But we say yes please and thank you and pay the entry fee , need to take a page out of some MTB events and see how events should be run. 

This, 100%.

I just had a look at what the entry fee was: R570 is what I paid. 😂 Not sure if I also had to renew my PPA membership. 🙄 But that is a **** load of money for what we actually got on Sunday.

Honestly, the fact that the start (entry and parking) was such a stuff-up, is below rookie level for such a big event.

[The Ouzo]

43 minutes ago, mikkelz said:

Reply from FinishTime. 👆

So, because they don't track your actual start time, your first "split" is wherever they set up the first tracking point along the route from the start.

Pretty lame to be honest – RaceTec and as I said previously, other running races that FinishTime has managed, track your start time. At least that way you can get your actual event time, in the event that you drop back a group, or when the organizer is incapable of ensuring adequate entry and parking to the event so that you can start on time. 🙄😂

That is the biggest BS response I've ever seen. HTF do they not have mats at the actual start.

[Jbr]

yeaaaah, to be honest, with road racing you shouldn't even need a starting mat / timing, because a road race isn't a time trial, it's the first guy on the line, so weather you start 1st wheel or 100th at the back of the peleton, your start time should be exactly the same.

But this only works if every group starts together, the minute parking causes delays and people are sent on a rolling start, everything falls appart.

I wouldn't blame finishtime, as they did what they were supposed to do : timing for a road race. It's more the organisers failing to organise parking and proper starts. And also, I've only done a couple of races on Finishtime so far, and I appreciate that you get the results right away, and they seem good, when on racetec sometimes I'd finish in front of behind guys in the timing sheets, when I knew for a fact that it was the other way around (sometimes by a few meters). So I strongly disagree with someone saying earlier that racetec was always solid, it wasn't. Regarding the temporary board though, this is beyond stupid. One board for the whole season/forever like with the chips and MTB boards is much better. In a perfect world we would have one number/board and then we don't have to waste time and petrol to go do registration the day before.

Edited November 7, 2023 by Jbr

[The Ouzo]

2 minutes ago, Jbr said:

yeaaaah, to be honest, when road racing you shouldn't even need a starting mat / timing, because a road race isn't a time trial, it's the first guy on the line, so weather you start 1st wheel or 100th at the back of the peleton, your start time should be exactly the same.

But this only works if every group starts together, the minute parking causes delays and people are sent on a rolling start, everything falls appart.

I wouldn't blame finishtime, as they did what they were supposed to do : timing for a road race. It's more the organisers failing to organise parking and proper starts.

but we dont all start in one batch.

So now you've dropped back 4 batches, how do they know this without picking your chip up at the start line.

What about guys that decide to join the race between the start and the first timing mat on course ? They've now ridden less distance, perhaps even skipped a climb.

If we're talking pros, maybe even Elites, then I'd agree with you, but the moment you have amatuers involved you should have a timing mat at the start. Every timed "race" I've done for the last 25 years has managed to do this, why change it now.