DC2009 new format

[Marius]

If they have less Feeding zones it'll just force the hand eg. more ppl will get a "stuff PPA" ATTITUDE and hand out bottles from cars imo.

 

The DC as is worked quite well I think. We only stopped twice, did it on 4 x 750ml bottles but more would have been nice, will take bigger bottles next year.

[Mrs Colonel]

hmmm... how would a PPA manned feeding zone work?

 

But yes' date=' I agree 5 or 6 feeding zones is stupid. you only need 1. Hell. we all do the argus without stopping for food. why should we need to stop 6 times on a 200km route??

[/quote']

 

SO you only used 4 bottles on the day then and no more????

 

n stasie wat deur PPA beman word gaan net n gemors wees, ek dink die eerste stop moet wees in Montague, dan weer by die Kaasfabriek en dit is genoeg. Daar is genoeg besighede wat die waterpunte sal en wil sponsor. Ek was betrokke by die reelings van Ceres se DC en dit was baie maklik om van die local mpye te kry om waterpunte te sponsor.

My span wou hulle eerste stop al na 50 km!! en hulle het, dit was frustrerend en baie onnodig.

 

Ps. Kurnel ek het jou en Juffrou van Wyk(ms colonel) by die Cyprus inn gesien, ek is jammer dat ek ooit lelik was met jou.(Ek het ook daar geslaap) En nadat ek jou gesien het het ek besluit om nie weer opgewerk te raak oor jou opstokery nie, sjame man.

 

Why are you saying shame?

[Guest]

This was my first DC (I relocated to the Cape recently), and I rode on a "social" team, I personally think that for most the current format of the DC is exactly the attraction and if this was changed the race would suffer for it.

I would suggest that a team seeding be calculated for each team paricipating (by adding up the each team members seeding index). Then put in a cut-off point to allocate the top say 30 or 50 teams as "Racing teams" - let these teams start first and then start the rest of the field. By the time the "social" teams arrive at the normal stations all the racing teams will be through there will be less conflict both at the stations and on the road. 

 

My 2cents worth but I think if the race format where drasticaly cahnged it would see a serious drop in the number of entrants and sponsors, I think the format is what makes the race so popular.

 

and hey,.....impose serious fines or DQ teams that litter and or abuse the support car roles. (the bike marshals could possibly fill that role !!)

[Guest]

This was my first DC (I relocated to the Cape recently), and I rode on a "social" team, I personally think that for most the current format of the DC is exactly the attraction and if this was changed the race would suffer for it.

I would suggest that a team seeding be calculated for each team paricipating (by adding up the each team members seeding index). Then put in a cut-off point to allocate the top say 30 or 50 teams as "Racing teams" - let these teams start first and then start the rest of the field. By the time the "social" teams arrive at the normal stations all the racing teams will be through there will be less conflict both at the stations and on the road. 

 

My 2cents worth but I think if the race format where drasticaly cahnged it would see a serious drop in the number of entrants and sponsors, I think the format is what makes the race so popular.

 

and hey,.....impose serious fines or DQ teams that litter and or abuse the support car roles. (the bike marshals could possibly fill that role !!)

[Jean-Jay]

Hey Markie

 

Welcome to CT

 

You know what would really be cool is for more long distance races on the calendar, maybe make the leagues do 2 laps of races...

 

 

Very often you see the legue guys ride another lap or ride home anyway.

Racing gets very interesting when you start talking triple figures... high triple figures

 

Imagine westcoast express being 160km -

[intern]

Problem with that TooHot is that people are too scared to do the race....if you take a look at the tough races, support is almost always poor. Was amazed that 1600 people showed up for DC...

[Red Zone]

I think the DC ran very well this year, the only substantial problem is support on Tradouws pass, that section of road should be closed to traffic and have a single PPA water point for those that cant ride 60 km without running out of water.

 

I agree with Toohot I would like to see a couple of longer races, like the old one tonner.

[Hendrik_S]

Foe Fighter and Markie makes valid points. I did the back up for Anderson. I made a calculated decision to rather drive through montagu to the first feeding zone because we started last and i was scared not to get through the traffic in time. It was 40km longer and 30min faster getting there. The carnage of traffic coming thru from behind was dangerous with people trying to feed.

 

It was also difficult to pick up you riders. We used feeding bags to keep the guys from stopping which made it interresting the navigate.

 

If you race the DC its imposible to have only one feed or even two. Our guys kept running out of liquid and we fed 4 times.

 

If you compete socialy you can do it like they do in europe with the cyclo tours having big support stations where you can get anything including mechanicle support.

 

[Aedon]

A problem with closing Tradouw's is that we broke a back spoke in the first 18k's and if we weren't able to replace the wheel,  even at the top of the pass,  we would have lost a team member.

Hendrik S I thought that the rules had been changed to not allow feeding on the go with meusets.

 

We stopped twice and it worked pretty well for us.

[Aedon]

A problem with closing Tradouw's is that we broke a back spoke in the first 18k's and if we weren't able to replace the wheel,  even at the top of the pass,  we would have lost a team member.

Hendrik S I thought that the rules had been changed to not allow feeding on the go with meusets.

 

We stopped twice and it worked pretty well for us.

[Hendrik_S]

Dont know about that. Checked the rules. Saw quite a few teams using them. And you have to use it cause you cant afford to loose 20sec. Think also its a bit safer than stopping cause i saw people who just swerved from the right hand side to left hand side when they saw there back up.

 

If you say you broke a spoke and replaced the wheel did you change that at the feeding zone? Cause technically you are not allowed to change a wheel if its not in the support zone. One of our guys rode 30km on his tubbie to the third zone before he could get a wheel?

[AuctionLamb]

racing teams can have a backup vehicle following them.....

[The Pirate]

The first and last "Service Point" was very well orginized. The one outside Montegu was a bit of a mess and could maybe have been at another spot. But we all felt very save on the road and the service of the road was also excelent ! I agree with intern, most cyclists are afraid of 150km + races, but if the orginization is good and the route is save we might get more people to do such races. Congrats to everyone that finished