The ARGUS 2025 Thread (AKA CTCT)

[Spinnekop]

21 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Real question - how can one change the DEFAULT on Strava to load a ride as an ebike ?  I have to keep changing it manually after each ride.

 

You set up your bike as an e-bike.
And then you link your "MTB ride" as defined by your garmin as connected to your specific bike, in this case the e-bike.

Hope this makes sense.......

[mikkelz]

44 minutes ago, Pure Savage said:

I cannot believe someone went through all these effort and planning... sub 3 on strava... but sit in a car park for 40 minutes. Like even Lance's choices make more sense.

The best (or worst) is: 

3:00:16
Moving Time

So not even a sub 3. 😂

[i24]

Wow an e-bike bun fight. Blink and you miss it! A bunch of posts deleted.

Back to E-bikes: The 3h50 rule and 3A start time rules make sense. But they need to be enforced. E-bikes times times should be filtered and anything that looks like it breaks either of the above should not be published until it has been verified and DQ'd (or not). Remember the E-bike event is NOT A RACE. E-bike times are irrelevant, except perhaps for the individual riders. Perhaps they should be sent directly to the riders and not published all?

But maybe it is time for some more e-bike rules:

• Ban battery "swap stations" and external battery support on the route. Besides anything, the Giant station is on the wrong side of the road. All other support stations are on the left, that one is on the right - which seems a bit dangerous. If you cannot get round on one battery, you should carry your own spares or ride the short route.
• E-bikes should get a different medal. (Perhaps one the size of a coin battery with a plastic coated electric wire instead of a ribbon 😉) That might imply a different finish chute. If the e-bikes had to pull off the route a hundred meters before the real finish it would separate them from the racers in the finish line photos.
• E-bike riders should be banned from shouting "passing right" (or anything else). If they want to pass, particularly up Smits or Chappies, they should wait until there is a gap in traffic and pass quietly without upsetting the racers. (But that is just my own feeling).

For those who want to race e-bikes. I will join you on my EM-Bike, it is a lot of fun too!. I can easily break 3 hours round the course, even on a normal day with traffic, without breaking any speed limits or riding through red robots. I have "sufficient" wattage and no speed limiter device. I can do the whole course without refuelling. A tank of energy juice plus the Chappies toll fee is much cheap than an Argie Entry. The cycle and rider are both licenced (and taxed). I can even legally ride down the M3 on a non-tour day. (But I don't race M-Bikes - that is another story).

Edited 17 hours ago by i24

[Wyatt Earp]

2 hours ago, NotSoBigBen said:

Are you even a cyclist then? 

Nope 

[NotSoBigBen]

5 minutes ago, Wyatt Earp said:

Nope 

The stories I could tell ... 

[Wyatt Earp]

19 minutes ago, NotSoBigBen said:

The stories I could tell ... 

Indeed Big Ben 

Its been decades since we met 💪🏻

[capediver]

1 hour ago, ChrisF said:

 

Did you consider doing the virtual option, just to keep ticking on to the 21 ?

No i didn't, but picture the scene, there I am in the middle of the climb up Smits, the S/O hears a commotion and walks in and sees me sweating away on the treadmill, with a stranger dressed as Borat jumping up and down besides me!!!

[Chingy182]

1 hour ago, Pure Savage said:

I cannot believe someone went through all these effort and planning... sub 3 on strava... but sit in a car park for 40 minutes. Like even Lance's choices make more sense.

A fairly simple "solution" to this could be to look at E-bike rider split times and DQ accordingly.

If you start at 07h30 and find yourself being scanned in Simonstown at 08h30, you have been cycling at approx. 40kph

It might just require a bit more effort from an admin point of view

Perhaps CTCT organisers should better define the parameters as most of these e-bikers pulling this stunt have found a loophole and can point to the fact that they have obeyed the rules by not finishing inside the stipulated time

[shaper]

1 hour ago, ChrisF said:

 

Real question - how can one change the DEFAULT on Strava to load a ride as an ebike ?  I have to keep changing it manually after each ride.

You can use https://www.activityfix.com/ and set up rules based on each bike sensors and will automatically amend after each upload to strava

[DJuice]

4 hours ago, capediver said:

Juice, NO! Unfortunate changes to my schedule had me out the country this year so sadly I had to skip...however, I made up for it .....

Saw Argus organiser Dave Mellors with this one:

And then because I was there.....

Forgot this one.....

And off the bike:

 

Thanks for sharing! 

[Pure Savage]

1 hour ago, Chingy182 said:

A fairly simple "solution" to this could be to look at E-bike rider split times and DQ accordingly.

If you start at 07h30 and find yourself being scanned in Simonstown at 08h30, you have been cycling at approx. 40kph

It might just require a bit more effort from an admin point of view

Perhaps CTCT organisers should better define the parameters as most of these e-bikers pulling this stunt have found a loophole and can point to the fact that they have obeyed the rules by not finishing inside the stipulated time

Luckily the little birdie passes information both ways 😏

[capediver]

1 hour ago, Chingy182 said:

A fairly simple "solution" to this could be to look at E-bike rider split times and DQ accordingly.

If you start at 07h30 and find yourself being scanned in Simonstown at 08h30, you have been cycling at approx. 40kph

It might just require a bit more effort from an admin point of view

Perhaps CTCT organisers should better define the parameters as most of these e-bikers pulling this stunt have found a loophole and can point to the fact that they have obeyed the rules by not finishing inside the stipulated time

More akin to these you often see sign posted: can't be too difficult to manage as there are numerous checks along the way...averages get flagged against classification for e-bike then after a few infractions over the regulation, a "gentle" reminder SMS gets sent to potential offender?

[Mamil]

3 hours ago, Jbr said:

I sat up bottom of chappies after doing a big final turn to try to bring the breakaway as close as possible before the climb, and still went over chappies 31.5kph.

 

Funny that, I went up chappies at 24kmph and nearly threw up!

[Mook]

4 hours ago, Mamil said:

Some of the newer road and gravel ebikes have higher limits - I think the trek domane ebike version gets assist right up to 45kmph - which is bonkers - probably great fun but bonkers nevertheless.

Like a Briggs & Straton on NOS ..................... not going anywhere in a hurry, yet the noise is deafening 😝

[ChrisF]

2 hours ago, i24 said:

Wow an e-bike bun fight. Blink and you miss it! A bunch of posts deleted.

Back to E-bikes: The 3h50 rule and 3A start time rules make sense. But they need to be enforced. E-bikes times times should be filtered and anything that looks like it breaks either of the above should not be published until it has been verified and DQ'd (or not). Remember the E-bike event is NOT A RACE. E-bike times are irrelevant, except perhaps for the individual riders. Perhaps they should be sent directly to the riders and not published all?

But maybe it is time for some more e-bike rules:

• Ban battery "swap stations" and external battery support on the route. Besides anything, the Giant station is on the wrong side of the road. All other support stations are on the left, that one is on the right - which seems a bit dangerous. If you cannot get round on one battery, you should carry your own spares or ride the short route.
• E-bikes should get a different medal. (Perhaps one the size of a coin battery with a plastic coated electric wire instead of a ribbon 😉) That might imply a different finish chute. If the e-bikes had to pull off the route a hundred meters before the real finish it would separate them from the racers in the finish line photos.
• E-bike riders should be banned from shouting "passing right" (or anything else). If they want to pass, particularly up Smits or Chappies, they should wait until there is a gap in traffic and pass quietly without upsetting the racers. (But that is just my own feeling).

For those who want to race e-bikes. I will join you on my EM-Bike, it is a lot of fun too!. I can easily break 3 hours round the course, even on a normal day with traffic, without breaking any speed limits or riding through red robots. I have "sufficient" wattage and no speed limiter device. I can do the whole course without refuelling. A tank of energy juice plus the Chappies toll fee is much cheap than an Argie Entry. The cycle and rider are both licenced (and taxed). I can even legally ride down the M3 on a non-tour day. (But I don't race M-Bikes - that is another story).

 

Interesting ideas .....

 

- Publishing results .... actually publishing the results, then DQ'ing them a few hours later made more of a splash of their sub-3:50 rides.  Also it makes it possible to identify the size of the pool that needs addressing.  Then again, it is just a software setting, their names could immediately reflect DQ ... no bragging rights, no light on their fast times ....

- Ride-park-complete .... As @Me rida my bicycle and various others have stated, the ebike ride is a "fun-ride", it is not meant to be race.  Again, the published data makes it possible to identify the size of this pool of riders .... 29 out of 871.  Is it really worth 29 pages of comments ....

- Battery swopping .... I am all for carrying your own batteries.

- Medals .... your still way too generous ..... After the ride I was outside the B&B with my medal around my neck.  Lady rider in the B&B across the road ... elite rider fresh back from the prize giving ..."So did you win something to earn that medal?"  Okay, we spoke before the race, and there was no malice what she said.  (no, she did not know if was on a normal or ebike).  But jokes aside, some ebike riders have overcome a load of medical issues and just completing it is one heck of an accomplishment .... so maybe a size 2450 coin battery ?

- Shouting .... fully agree !!!  Anybody, and EVERYBODY, starting after 7:00 should be banned from shouting "pass right".  Riders starting in 4E, then proceeding to shout non-stop as they try to do a sub-3 through the heavy traffic may just be ruder than most ebikers .... wait sorry, we are dissing or discussing ebikers here ....

- M-bike ... heck yea !!! The most fun I ever had from Chappies back to town was on R1200R ..... damn, that was FUN !

 

 

EDIT - best use italics in a few spots ....

Edited 14 hours ago by ChrisF

[ChrisF]

5 hours ago, NGM said:

Definitely. I enjoyed reading that.

On a separate note, I don't know if it's the mileage I did leading into the CTCT that has left me with the testosterone levels of a 10yr old but some of the photos of Parent-Child tandems and people towing buggies for kids with disabilities leaves me with a serious lump in my throat.

Anyways, I'm off to drink some whiskey, wrestle a mountain lion and listen to AC/DC.

 

You asked ....

 

Edited 14 hours ago by ChrisF