SA pro Roadies abroad thread

[Shebeen]

1 hour ago, DJuice said:

Can only agree with you.

What is the chance of Modern Adventure getting an invite for Vuelta 2027? 

 

Currently they're still at the bottom of the PRT pile as it's their first season, so might still take another year to build up some points. crucially there are 4 spanish teams and 3 italian ones here, so hard to get those invites.

[SwissVan]

Although his GC stats have been mentioned before Robbie Hunters race stats are quite impressive after 16 years as a Pro cyclist.

Apparently his Swiss residence is at the other end of Lake Zug from where I live (planet Zug)

[Andymann]

I raced a race back in the late 90's in Vanderbijlpark when he had just signed for Mapei.  Our local team was trying to keep up with him and it was like we were riding behind a motorbike.

Had a brief chat with him afterwards and he was really nice - not unapproachable at all.

[Shebeen]

5 hours ago, SwissVan said:

Although his GC stats have been mentioned before Robbie Hunters race stats are quite impressive after 16 years as a Pro cyclist.

Apparently his Swiss residence is at the other end of Lake Zug from where I live (planet Zug)

Includes 10 GT and 15 Classics DNFs. Oke was a total quitter!

 

(Tongue in cheek)

[SwissVan]

2 hours ago, Shebeen said:

Includes 10 GT and 15 Classics DNFs. Oke was a total quitter!

 

(Tongue in cheek)

Well he is a roadie and a sprinter, live to sprint at another race

[Paul Ruinaard]

Robbie Hunter was eventually the enforcer in the bunch - not to be toyed with. From the Woes Rand.

[J Wakefield]

20 hours ago, DJuice said:

Can only agree with you.

What is the chance of Modern Adventure getting an invite for Vuelta 2027? 

We do have @J Wakefieldnot sure how his calendar look. Was thinking the other day, SA local cycling media can do a bit more and celebrate the South Africans that is industry leaders in cycling, there was an article in Escape few weeks back on both John and Mike, separate articles.

With he connections big George has and the invites they have already gotten I their 1st year, I can see them in a GT next year being Giro or Vuelta. 

If you were asking on my personal calendar it is 
Belgium currently aero testing
Tour Romandie from Sunday 
TDF Recon directly after 
Munich direct from recon for something 
home 4 days - camp then
home 5 days back to camp
10 days home into a 2 day Conference 
Direct into the Tour de France

So its not all that galmourous

I can go on about this but really wont and become a semi rant but SA Media does not know we exist or maybe they chose not to know I have no clue personally and I think only they know. It is what it is I guess, but they always claiming SA needs to be put out there but there is radio silence. Like zero. 
I turn down alot of media requests cause I prefer to be on the background and not infront of a camera always - its just my personality and also the Team filters stuff etc which is normal but the amount of European or world wide requests I get in monthly has outweighed anything South Africa has requested in about 13 years. There is limited (3-5) amount of South Africans doing incredible work at the utmost highest level of the sport (higher level than riders) which one would think SA would like to draw attention to for their own sake but instead they seem to worry about some other bull****.
SA cycling is its own worst enemy it seems
 

[DJuice]

29 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

With he connections big George has and the invites they have already gotten I their 1st year, I can see them in a GT next year being Giro or Vuelta. 

If you were asking on my personal calendar it is 
Belgium currently aero testing
Tour Romandie from Sunday 
TDF Recon directly after 
Munich direct from recon for something 
home 4 days - camp then
home 5 days back to camp
10 days home into a 2 day Conference 
Direct into the Tour de France

So its not all that galmourous

I can go on about this but really wont and become a semi rant but SA Media does not know we exist or maybe they chose not to know I have no clue personally and I think only they know. It is what it is I guess, but they always claiming SA needs to be put out there but there is radio silence. Like zero. 
I turn down alot of media requests cause I prefer to be on the background and not infront of a camera always - its just my personality and also the Team filters stuff etc which is normal but the amount of European or world wide requests I get in monthly has outweighed anything South Africa has requested in about 13 years. There is limited (3-5) amount of South Africans doing incredible work at the utmost highest level of the sport (higher level than riders) which one would think SA would like to draw attention to for their own sake but instead they seem to worry about some other bull****.
SA cycling is its own worst enemy it seems
 

@J Wakefieldappreciate your time and feedback! 

Personally have pride in knowing there is South African`s behind all these achievements.

Ps. New TT bike for Remco on the cards🤐

 

 

[W@nted]

In my opinion, the amount of SAFFERS that are actually interested in road racing at the highest level (nationally and internationally) is too few. 

Even on bikehub, there was no discussion, not even a thread on the 2026 SA road champs. Nothing.

If the bikehub audience does not even care about the national champs, why should the media/sponsers and public care about cyclists trying to make it on pro level?

We are mostly interested in the Argus. The biggest/most important road race on earth.

[Eugene Oppelt]

This is rugby country. 🏉

 And definitely one of the epicentres of marathon mountain biking in Feb-April on the calendar. 

[SwissVan]

3 hours ago, W@nted said:

In my opinion, the amount of SAFFERS that are actually interested in road racing at the highest level (nationally and internationally) is too few. 

Even on bikehub, there was no discussion, not even a thread on the 2026 SA road champs. Nothing.

If the bikehub audience does not even care about the national champs, why should the media/sponsers and public care about cyclists trying to make it on pro level?

We are mostly interested in the Argus. The biggest/most important road race on earth.

Years ago pre 2015 when this was still the hub SA and before it became a sales focused classified entity (bike hub SA) there were many members that actively posted threads and discussions regarding local cycling (and other topics). Sadly the post 2015 bike hub SA effect imo initiated the end of genuine cycling forum and the active participation of many of these active posters to what you see today, an online buying and selling classified “forum”.

 

 

[BuffsVintageBikes]

It's very difficult to create a Road Racing culture when everyone is too terrified to actually ride their bicycles on the road. As parents we're hesitant to allow our kids to go training alone in the bigger Cities and as adults, our playground is reducing daily due to risks, be that vehicles, muggings and poor road conditions. IMHO, until these issues get addressed, we'll continue to see it decline.

We might however become Indoor cycling Olympians 😉

[babse]

6 minutes ago, SwissVan said:

Years ago pre 2015 when this was still the hub SA and before it became a sales focused classified entity (bike hub SA) there were many members that actively posted threads and discussions regarding local cycling (and other topics). Sadly the post 2015 bike hub SA effect imo initiated the end of genuine cycling forum and the active participation of many of these active posters to what you see today, an online buying and selling classified “forum”.

 

 

I

[NGM]

8 minutes ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

It's very difficult to create a Road Racing culture when everyone is too terrified to actually ride their bicycles on the road. As parents we're hesitant to allow our kids to go training alone in the bigger Cities and as adults, our playground is reducing daily due to risks, be that vehicles, muggings and poor road conditions. IMHO, until these issues get addressed, we'll continue to see it decline.

We might however become Indoor cycling Olympians 😉

Some well placed advertising. 

[SwissVan]

21 minutes ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

It's very difficult to create a Road Racing culture when everyone is too terrified to actually ride their bicycles on the road. As parents we're hesitant to allow our kids to go training alone in the bigger Cities and as adults, our playground is reducing daily due to risks, be that vehicles, muggings and poor road conditions. IMHO, until these issues get addressed, we'll continue to see it decline.

We might however become Indoor cycling Olympians 😉

Good point regarding the safety issue.

There used to be a virtual racing thread before Zwift took over, I think it got lost in a bikehub data base crash some years ago. Zwift, Rouvy, other similar platforms and some cheaters also contributed to killing it dead 🤪

Edited 20 hours ago by SwissVan

[Spinnaroonie]

On a recent Australian cycling podcast hosted by two competitive riders, they were debating whether cycling has shifted more toward being a social sport. Participation in the CAT racing they usually compet in is dwindling, while mass participation style “fun rides” are growing. They even suggested that KOM chasing is largely a thing of the past. At least for now, fewer people seem to care.

So this might not be uniquely a South African issue. It could be that the sport is going through a bit of a reset (rebuilding its image and participation base after taking a knock).

Hopefully it's like a pipeline whereby growing interest on the social side could, over time, feed back into stronger compettive structures and hopefully more WT level talent and broader public interest.