[Event] Old Mutual Wealth Double Century

[bleedToWin]

9 minutes ago, mecheng89 said:

Why 12? Why not 8, like in the pro peloton?

Most SA teams are between 5 and 8 riders, so it would suit the racers and the socials likely.

[bleedToWin]

16 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

start between 7;00 and 7:30 with the fastest seeded team leaving at 7:00 and the lowest seeding racing team at 7:30. This can accommodate up to 31 teams at 1 min intervals

Actually, something like this is the answer. It's not even a novel idea with the racing female teams starting at 6am and enjoying a clean race ever since that was introduced.

[Bub Marley]

It’s so much easier to put together a team of 8 than 12. In 2022 and 2023 I sponsored a team and honestly getting 12 people on the same page in terms of commitment, training etc is a nightmare. And then you always have a last minute pull out in terms of illness etc. 

[Johnny82]

On 11/23/2024 at 4:16 PM, 'Dale said:

What a privilege to roll this event after 10 years of hiatus.

The South African spirit or ‘gees’ at its most beautiful best - from volunteers to the local community welcoming the cycling community, to the tired smiles of my teammates over the spitbraai supper.

 

It was good meeting and chatting to you en-route. We had a lekker time rolling with your group between the support zones 😃

 

Edited November 26 by Johnny82

[DieselnDust]

1 hour ago, mecheng89 said:

Why 12? Why not 8, like in the pro peloton?

the number of riders in a team doesn't matter. Its not even the total number on the road as we're spread out over a long distance.

Bunches form due to the very large disparity in rider ability within a team and overall. The weaker teams want to latch onto faster teams to get a free ride. However I saw much less of this happening this year and I believe the motorcycle marshalling helped.

Smaller teams would put the slower riders at a huge disadvantage and that is the bulk of the field. Also remember that the rules say a team consists of between 6 to 12 riders. It does not say you have to have 12. The 12 only applies if you want to chase the Charles Milner medal.

Overall I don't see anything in the rules that needs drastic changing. The really cool part of the racing is the smack talk leading up to the event and then the strategies at play. With 12 riders here so many options that can be employed

['Dale]

36 minutes ago, Johnny82 said:

 

It was good meeting and chatting to you en-route. We had a lekker time rolling with your group between the support zones 😃

 

Lekka to meet you too, Johnny82. Thank you for the pic. 😃

[Bub Marley]

38 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

 

Smaller teams would put the slower riders at a huge disadvantage and that is the bulk of the field. Also remember that the rules say a team consists of between 6 to 12 riders. It does not say you have to have 12. The 12 only applies if you want to chase the Charles Milner medal.

Overall I don't see anything in the rules that needs drastic changing. The really cool part of the racing is the smack talk leading up to the event and then the strategies at play. With 12 riders here so many options that can be employed

The problem with this is the entry fee remains the same whether you are 8 or 12 people. What they could perhaps do is reduce the entry fee if you have a smaller team.

[DieselnDust]

29 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

The problem with this is the entry fee remains the same whether you are 8 or 12 people. What they could perhaps do is reduce the entry fee if you have a smaller team.

You mean just make it an entry fee per person?

Can work but the financials will play out a little differently then since a minimum profit would be required so;

• more teams might get the nod putting pressure on the road closures. could be a good thing because then cut offs would be strictly enforced.
• takes the pressure off team managers to recruit.
• Charles Milner could be redefined as finishing with the number of riders you start with?

 

But surely if you're going to work twice as hard you should pay twice as much for the privilege....?🤣

[Bub Marley]

18 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

You mean just make it an entry fee per person?

Can work but the financials will play out a little differently then since a minimum profit would be required so;

• more teams might get the nod putting pressure on the road closures. could be a good thing because then cut offs would be strictly enforced.
• takes the pressure off team managers to recruit.
• Charles Milner could be redefined as finishing with the number of riders you start with?

 

But surely if you're going to work twice as hard you should pay twice as much for the privilege....?🤣

Have a price for an 8 person team. Then a different price for a 10 person team and a price for a 12 person team. I think it’s a lot more difficult to manage if you have an individual entry system and then you need to link it to a specific team.

[Pure Savage]

Sho, sounds very Cape Town Southern Suburbs here, trying to make smaller Cliques...

[DieselnDust]

14 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

Have a price for an 8 person team. Then a different price for a 10 person team and a price for a 12 person team. I think it’s a lot more difficult to manage if you have an individual entry system and then you need to link it to a specific team.

But then the organiser will just make the price per person higher for the smaller teams

['Dale]

4 hours ago, Bub Marley said:

It’s so much easier to put together a team of 8 than 12. In 2022 and 2023 I sponsored a team and honestly getting 12 people on the same page in terms of commitment, training etc is a nightmare. And then you always have a last minute pull out in terms of illness etc. 

The lesser the challenge, the less meaningful the achievement.

#CharlesMilner

[Andreas_187]

Don't change the whole race  because the top 5 want to cheat a bit

[Bub Marley]

I dont really care about the top 5 cheating. It’s just easier to put a team of 8 together compared to 12.

51 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

But then the organiser will just make the price per person higher for the smaller teams

It would still be cheaper than paying for a 12 man entry when you’re only 8 people. 

 

This is probably a pointless discussion anyway. I haven’t heard or seen anything that they would even consider something like this.

[Meezo]

9 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

I dont really care about the top 5 cheating. It’s just easier to put a team of 8 together compared to 12.

It would still be cheaper than paying for a 12 man entry when you’re only 8 people. 

 

This is probably a pointless discussion anyway. I haven’t heard or seen anything that they would even consider something like this.

Indeed. While it is harder to put 12 people together it doesn't stop from entering or not entering. As said earlier you only need 6 to get a finish time. If its too expensive, then don't enter.

Otherwise, like the rest of the teams get more people... having 13-14 riders keen is the starting point. Then you enter! The rest will happen as it should

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Or just ban the racing and make it a social team event because I don't hear any social teams bitching & moaning?