[Event] Old Mutual Wealth Double Century

[bleedToWin]

10 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

this type of no drafting rule
 

Yip. Strava uploads show how the team that finished 6th (purple blokes) drafted off of the the team that placed fourth (blue/yellow) for 112km...

[peetwindhoek]

Honest no drafting question: How does one manage this with the number of teams and no full road closure? There’s only so much space, and when teams are fairly evenly matched, it becomes a real challenge without stopping.

At one point, we had three or four teams drafting off us. They were traveling at a very similar speed, so they couldn’t realistically overtake us. Eventually, it just turned into one massive bunch.

[Jbr]

12 minutes ago, peetwindhoek said:

Honest no drafting question: How does one manage this with the number of teams and no full road closure? There’s only so much space, and when teams are fairly evenly matched, it becomes a real challenge without stopping.

At one point, we had three or four teams drafting off us. They were traveling at a very similar speed, so they couldn’t realistically overtake us. Eventually, it just turned into one massive bunch.

They clearly said podium contenders would be watched. If a podium contender is going quick enough to close down a minute on another, surely the pace should be enough that there should be a clean pass. The problem is some teams go bezerk on the descents to close down the gap that opens on every climb, because they know they'll be able to rest for the next 40km in the draft afterwards.

The problem now for the team that is giving the draft that they have to decide if they want to up the pace on the climb to lose the followers or not, at the risk of losing riders. 

My prev DC was in 2019, I think we did a 5:25 time for 19th place, and the entire time we had a motorbike yelling at us when there was drafting (more often than not yelling on the wrong team, but at least they were there). I don't understand the difference between then and now.

Edited November 25 by Jbr

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Interesting reading the war stories. Have to admit that when Mother caught and past us it was at the circle turning left at Robertson and they were leading the bunch at that stage. It looked to me like they had put in an attack and were getting closed down.
Reading between the lines, that's clearly not what was going on 😄

[Jbr]

18 minutes ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

Interesting reading the war stories. Have to admit that when Mother caught and past us it was at the circle turning left at Robertson and they were leading the bunch at that stage. It looked to me like they had put in an attack and were getting closed down.
Reading between the lines, that's clearly not what was going on 😄

You must have been in a pretty dark place buddy 🤣

 

They didn't cheat for a small part of the race

Edited November 25 by Jbr

[The Ouzo]

out of interest, so that I can try and plan for next year, what does an entry into the race cost ?

 

I dont see it on the website.

 

obviously there are the usual logistics for out of towners to take into account.

[HdB]

3 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

out of interest, so that I can try and plan for next year, what does an entry into the race cost ?

 

I dont see it on the website.

 

obviously there are the usual logistics for out of towners to take into account.

It was R14000 for the team, if I have it correctly

Edited November 25 by HdB
Too many zeros

[The Ouzo]

8 minutes ago, HdB said:

It was R14000 for the team, if I have it correctly

Thanks, so add some inflation what what and budget R1250 per person for next year.

[J Wakefield]

Essentially the even has gone from a racing event to a corporate fun event with some teams trying to race. There is no issue with this but then everything must be taken into account. 

I heard yesterday the 12man team even is alive but it's when the last 12th person crosses the line, this may be 2hrs later, it's like a Lets get it done to make it worthwhile. To get 12 across at the same time is a hell of task, 1st or lat team in the category. 

The stops are also not for racing teams. Before there were none, the event was significantly more tactical and harder for racing teams. 

Bring this back? Make it a race team event on the Sunday? who knows but when you have this mix of teams there is always going to be problems and safety issues, however, sitting on my couch in my gown, Ive eaten marshmallows harder than this current DC format from Sunday. 
Still a great event but its changed as expected
 

[Jbr]

6 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

Essentially the even has gone from a racing event to a corporate fun event with some teams trying to race. There is no issue with this but then everything must be taken into account. 

I heard yesterday the 12man team even is alive but it's when the last 12th person crosses the line, this may be 2hrs later, it's like a Lets get it done to make it worthwhile. To get 12 across at the same time is a hell of task, 1st or lat team in the category. 

The stops are also not for racing teams. Before there were none, the event was significantly more tactical and harder for racing teams. 

Bring this back? Make it a race team event on the Sunday? who knows but when you have this mix of teams there is always going to be problems and safety issues, however, sitting on my couch in my gown, Ive eaten marshmallows harder than this current DC format from Sunday. 
Still a great event but its changed as expected
 

like I said earlier, my only reference is 2019, then it was covid year and fastest started first. There was a lot less ***, we did get a little bit because we were in top20 so obviously seeding wasn't perfect. This format is better for the 5 teams racing, but sucks big time for the 300 remaining teams that will start at 8am and finish a 6pm especially on a hot day.

Oh well, still a lekker day out with many many bicycles out on the road and not a lot of assholes in cars/trucks. That's enough to make it a perfect day.

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Stops were brought in as a safety measure to stop teams feeding on the road and having following cars holding up normal traffic.
In the old days it was pretty chaotic, even the back drivers wanted to moer each other, never mind the riders. Strings of cars passing bunches was just downright dangerous.

From a 12 rider (social) point of view, I think the event has improved a lot. Even our backup team had a jol and made new friends in the feed zones.

"Teams that start and finish with all 12 riders, with the last rider finishing no more than 10 minutes later than the first, earn a special medal in addition to their normal finisher’s medal."
 

[bleedToWin]

24 minutes ago, peetwindhoek said:

There’s only so much space, and when teams are fairly evenly matched, it becomes a real challenge without stopping.

If you can ride in someone's slip and match their speed you can ride 20m behind them and match their speed.  

@Jbr and his team caught us early on (we were their 1min carrot). We allowed a clean pass, which means giving up a few seconds but that's the "penalty" for getting caught, then we kept them just ahead of us. They opened the gap on Tradouws, and when we closed it again about 4km before Op de Tradouw I instructed my guys to not attempt the pass, since we're almost on the climb and they climb faster than us.

If Ironman can do it with all their numbers then it's clearly very much possible if the organisers wanted to. I'm fine with keeping the "corporate vibe" alive if the organisers believe drafting is needed for that, but in my view they need to ensure the integrity of the "racing vibe" too.

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Maybe they should let the 10 top teams leave with 10min intervals in between the social teams, would that help with the drafting issue?

[bleedToWin]

1 minute ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

Maybe they should let the 10 top teams leave with 10min intervals in between the social teams, would that help with the drafting issue?

Top 10 teams are drafting off of other top 10 teams. Actively planning where they want to get caught and latch on to get the biggest advantage.

[Meezo]

Just now, BuffsVintageBikes said:

Maybe they should let the 10 top teams leave with 10min intervals in between the social teams, would that help with the drafting issue?

let them leave 1st with the 10 minutes... the rest of us with more expensive bikes and slightly (only slightly) less ego's can continue... but even then there's no silver bullet really.

its a start i guess, a slightly bigger gap and more marshals or commissionaires roaming the fast groups. as i'm typing this i realize that once the fast groups get into the WP's its also tricky then to "track" or "monitor" them as some teams may decide to just grab and go while others may want to sit out the full time given...

[BuffsVintageBikes]

So just enforce the full rest period, so 1st = 1st out