Emperors Palace MTB Gripe

[Borriz]

Bliksem! Bitching and moaning over crap!!! A mountain bike race that is to wet? Go do road rides if you don't want to get wet.

Nothing in a goodie bag? Your bike is probably close to R10k, why kick up a fuss because you didn't get R40 worth of "goodies".

I refer back to article in Ride magazine where they detail what goes into a race. Go and read it and stop criticizing people that go out of their way to organise events.

It is thanks to comments like these that races will become a distant memory - cause who would like to venture into organising a race if this is the potential reviews you will get?

[BrendonMyb]

anyone know where to find the photos, looking it up for a friend thats not sure who the photographers were

[benadeja]

I entered the raod race , picked up the goody bag on friday afternoon , and all that was in my goody bag was a newspaper and a pack of Glen Rooibos tee ...

[Radfahrer]

I have to have a laugh at a lot of the comments I have seen.

As a roadie, I have read through this forum how mtb'ers love the mud and the challenge and...and...and (Can't stop chuckling)

 

I will be at next years MTB event with either a cyclocross or front suspension bike.

If this is how soft mtb'ers are, I could bloody win

 

Just before the event I did a "reckie" of the course (Pre-fixed course) with my my son's (9 & 10)on my wife's undersized MTB.  The grass was higher than 7 foot tall in some sections, it had just stopped raining 30 minutes before we got there and started raining on the ride. We waded through water, cut through the grass and had an absolute JOL.

What more must the organisers do, to make a ride more cushy?

 

Can someone (whoever is in control of the rain or have access to the person that does) please get control of the weather.

I have been to Sweat & Gears, leading up to the event and seen Lee literally bleeding, sweaty and full of mud, still with a grin on his face with excitement about this track.

 

Seems to me the only thing that was wet on that day...are the people that won't stop moaning.

 

GET TOUGH....RIDE ROAD

 

[BigGuy]

The Forest 2 Falls at Sabie should be the benchmark for all other races to aspire to.

[nickc]

Agree with you there BigGuy - anyone who has not ridden that one do not know what they are missing - my favourite event.

[pbrizzolari]

I rode the 20km with my brother in law as his first race. I was very disappointed.

 

 

 

We couldn't ride the forest section because of the 40km back markers, for the same reason we also couldn't ride the section before the tunnel. Once we could ride again we started passing people and all was well - until we hit the mud that had had 300 people going through it before us. By the time we got there it was unridable, my wheels were sinking in until halfway up the spokes. So we landed up walking large sections of the loop across the road.

 

 

 

I then really enjoyed riding until we went through the last forest section, not unridable mud but once again people stopping all over the place preventing you from getting any real momentum.

 

 

 

That was my race. I like playing in the mud as much as the next guy, but I think it was just the last straw when combined with having to walk the best parts of the course.

[scotty]

Bliksem! Bitching and moaning over crap!!! A mountain bike race that is to wet? Go do road rides if you don't want to get wet.

Nothing in a goodie bag? Your bike is probably close to R10k' date=' why kick up a fuss because you didn't get R40 worth of "goodies".

I refer back to article in Ride magazine where they detail what goes into a race. Go and read it and stop criticizing people that go out of their way to organise events.

It is thanks to comments like these that races will become a distant memory - cause who would like to venture into organising a race if this is the potential reviews you will get?

[/quote']

So many unhappy riders, perhaps cancel the race in future but then there will be complaints that there's no race.

[Tjokkits]

the weather made havoc and it was clear the organisers worked their fingerprints away to make the route less mushy, hence I think the shorter route. 

Every race has its issues but in the end I had a really good time, thanks to people who are still prepared to put things like this together and despite the high cost of entry I dont think they make a fortune out of this, I dont see how one can do this for the money. 

 

Only thing I would say is get more bike wash facilities and somebody selling boeries while we hang around waiting for our bikes.

I will be back next year if the organisers bother to run this again despite all the stupid bitching

[Bbox]

Cycle lab gave me the wrong number but that was fixed on the morning of the race. Didnt get any goodie bag but dont really care......... I was there to ride my bike

 

Loved it!

[Noneking]

anyone know where to find the photos' date=' looking it up for a friend thats not sure who the photographers were[/quote']

 No official photographers - Cyclingnews had a few guys out but it was for their own use

[The Saint]

Just for all your info.

 

 

 

MTN pulled out as a sponsor of this race at the last minute. You may not know what this means to the organizers but one of those things is an unpainted medal the quickly had to be revamped and the MTN brnading replaced with the white ribbon. So a nice big thumbs down to them. Emperors Palace from my understanding was only a partial sponsor and that literally was just the venue and a few other smaller things.

 

 

 

Wynand and his team did a remarkable job of getting this race together with little or no co-operation from anyone and minimal sponsorship.

 

 

 

Lee worked tireless hours to get the MTB course in a ridable condition. They were still busy prepping that course for you guys at 5am on the morning of the race and fixing potholes at 10pm on Saturday night for Sundays road race.

 

 

 

It disappoints me to see how fickle you are and especially when the facts are not known. My dad always used to say to me if you can't say something nice don't say something at all.

 

 

 

If your biggest concern is a goodie bag rather than the enjoyment of the sport them I am afraid you should rather attend the Farmers Weekly convention. I hear you get a nice little potato sack full of stuff.

 

 

 

I think an apology is owed to Wynand and Lee by all of you who have had nothing good to say. These guys really did put on a great show.

[Trubie]

what did you expect to get out there?

with all the rain we have had, it was obvious that it was going to be muddy.

As already said, the organisers worked their fingers to the bone to get everything race ready and yes it was a mess with the slower riders and and and...

 

as a roadie, this was really really extreme for me, but hey, what an experience, and I'll probably be back for more next time.

 

I would love to get all the bitchers together as organisers of a race - to see if they can do it better.

 

 

[Noneking]

Loved the mud, but I do think the organisers where pathetic. I had to escort 3 children which I passed on my second lap  as they were being harrassed by pedestrians on route. I nearly missed the 40km start because I had to change a tyre and the race started slightly early!

 

 

[pbrizzolari]

To everyone that expects no bitching. You are being unrealistic. We pay to ride in a race that we expect to be well designed and well organised. I personally felt that as the most expensive short course race I have entered it was disappointing. Why should I not express that?

 

 

 

Edit - I just want to make it clear that I do appreciate the work that goes into hosting a race. It is not that I am ungrateful. I just didn't enjoy the race as much as I had hoped.pbrizzolari2010-02-10 03:41:03

[Noneking]

Apologize my a..!! They should be sending apologies to everyone that entered!