Austin Posted February 21, 2007 Share My 2c worth on couple of the posts:1.Here my chance to take a dig at Malcolm as he wins too much...... NOT! Malcolms frustration was echoed by many, including the so called funriders who had to stop and wait for the Elite bunch to go past, only thing was that being in the winning situation, his actions were displayed to all. 2. Cycling gets VERY low public exposure and teams depend on this little bit they do get and have to go for the win. Am sure whoever rode into the lady would be concerned about her well being afterwards. If an Exec from MTN was in the car to see that chaos, it would have been bad PR for the sport of cycling. 3. Cycling recieved the most exposure in the general public when the funride figures were the lowest( during the old Rapport tours). With the increase in mass participation all event organisers geared their marketing angle towards how many participants they will get instead of how many will be watching on TV or reading in the press. We have unfortunately settled to sell our sport to max 70 000 people instead of millions. It is now commonly viewed as recreation and not sport. 4. We could get best of both worlds ( Participation figures and following public) by a little better planning. To diss the Pro's or the funriders is just not on. Races need the Pro's for TV exposure (no elite competive aspect, no Sport TV) and also the funriders for income. The pro's also need th funriders to later on encourge youngsters to tkae over from them 5. I agree that race should be longer and harder, otherwise no Olympic medals. Take the Giro del Capo for example. Although shorter routes, it is going to be much tougher with a lot of climbing and power sections. How do we prepare our top teams for these 140km, though terrain stages: We hold a couple of pancake flat races over 100k's and call them Classics. Then we want our SA Teams to win??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gumpole Posted February 21, 2007 Share I was carefully watching for Jason - unfortunately no TV coverage.Jason next elite race pls try and get into a break so we can see you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRIVETRAIN Posted February 21, 2007 Share hehhhehehhe I love it boys & girls: Drivetrain = Idiot for expressing an opinion ...Death to Drivetrain hehehhehe even cursing me now are we ?? What next? hey listen peeps this is how it goes..I can live with that. Our Pro's worked hard ya ya ya whatever ... they race 100k's because of the orginisers ?? Have these organisers NO VISION ?? NO GOAL SETTING FOR THE RIDERS ?? man now that's idiotic & they should be shot ... poor poor riders ... Talent I hear U say some have ??? wow ok good on them then. Well I'll bow out of this Ranting & Raving about "S/A's best of the best" & resort myself to my own riding & fun racing --- Almost forgot I no longer race because of seeding / licenceing & CSA screwing it up every year & club politics & & & ... again my "opinion on CSA" "DT " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastapouch Posted February 21, 2007 Share My 2c worth on couple of the posts:3. Cycling recieved the most exposure in the general public when the funride figures were the lowest( during the old Rapport tours). With the increase in mass participation all event organisers geared their marketing angle towards how many participants they will get instead of how many will be watching on TV or reading in the press. 5. I agree that race should be longer and harder' date=' otherwise no Olympic medals. Take the Giro del Capo for example. Although shorter routes, it is going to be much tougher with a lot of climbing and power sections. How do we prepare our top teams for these 140km, though terrain stages: We hold a couple of pancake flat races over 100k's and call them Classics. Then we want our SA Teams to win??? [/quote'] I agree with those two - pros should race sperately, and longer/harder than the funriders. So, let the pros, as during the overseas tours, start at 10. Later, longer race, and all the funriders would be finished by the time they do, peace among pros/funriders, better riders for overseas, more exposure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwissVan Posted February 21, 2007 Share It is all about money. If we had the sponsors that Europe had' date=' we would have the same kind of setup ?[/quote'] Not really (refering to road closure and "pro" races), on average Europe does not have the same kind of race scenario like SA, i.e. not as many "fun" riders competing on the same roads at the same time as the pro's.They usually employ a rolling road closure where the roads are closed for a narrow window when the peleton is expected to come through and not for hours like you would have for a race in SA with PRO and NON PRO riders together Also they tend to stay off the main roads which when closed have less effect on the traffic, not like SA where a lot of the major roads are used in road races. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
widget Posted February 21, 2007 Share That's because we have a "funrider" culture in this country. Overseas they have a pro Culture much like our big 3. They are reverred and respected and you sure as hell don't see Boonen getting cut off in a sprint by a father out on a ride with his kids. No, but he gets cut off by a train level crossing in the Paris Roubaix, Jumps the crossing and gets disqualified. How many TDF stages have been interrupted by protesters blocking the road, or cows or whatever?? Many, let me assure you, but like normal folk the riders wait patiently and go on when its declared safe. Problems do arise, its one certainty we can all be sure of, but the differance is how its handeled afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitusTi Posted February 21, 2007 Share Yes but they have laws about what he is supposed to do when that happens, he got DQ'ed for not following those laws. Yes it is all about how it gets handled, I for one don't understand how the organisers of a race can put there participants in a very dangerous situation like this. Is the lead vehicle not in contact with someone? If not perhaps he should be, like the people manning that corner, if those riders had been stopped the whole situation would have been avoided. Kinda like a rolling road closure but for riders on the short route? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwissVan Posted February 21, 2007 Share Problems do arise' date=' its one certainty we can all be sure of, but the differance is how its handeled afterwards. [/quote'] Seems like someone flew off the handle in this case - would be interesting to hear the "lady fun" rider version of the whole debate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
widget Posted February 21, 2007 Share Further to this I find the name calling here by certain members appalling, , "mud slinging should be left to those standing in the mud" - make comments and put your opinion across irrespective of your position on the fence by all means, but lets desist from attacking the person and lowering the whole tone of the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3D4D Posted February 21, 2007 Share I agree with Narra about splitting the race over two days. On the Sat. you'll have the "Funriders" and wannabe pro's and on the Sunday the pro's with rolling road closure. That way I can actually become a cycling spectator and cheer on my chosen team, on on one day and be a participant on the other. I think that is the way some of the one day classics and Tour stages in Europe organise it (SwissVan??) It was also interesting listening to the comments of Darryl Impey on SC last night on his year in Europe. It is the second pro SA rider that gave me the impression that they would rather race in SA because it is easier and they get paid better. Maybe they should make the pro races in SA longer and more difficult. Toughen up our pro's so to speak. Then again I get the idea that it is more mental strength that physical strength required for SA riders to make it Europe. That is why I think Robert Hunter made it into the big time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peloton Posted February 21, 2007 Share It might be interesting how they 'do it' in Europe, but that is not how 'it is done' here. Here we seem to try to get everybody to participate. It creates a unique event / vibe. It uses the opportunity provided by the event for people to get to know their children, their neighbours, their bikes, their cities. I can't think that the funriding young lady would have wanted to find herself withing the leadbunch, with a pace car, motorbikes and tv cameras around her. It only resulted in her having been knocked up... er - I mean down - and she's probably not getting onto a bike ever again. If the pro apologised (having regained his senses), fair enough! Surely a sensible race organiser could send flowers (as well), especially if the incident has been highlighted to it? Even if they don't do it in Europe, we could do it here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groot Lem Posted February 21, 2007 Share There are moves to try and let the pro's ride the Giro?ARGUS stage at 15h00. This short route mixing up was a reason why I didnt enter the 99er.Austin, come and ride the Tour de Boland next year, very safe, no funriders, rolling road closure! No... not you, your team! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brakkies Sport Fotos Posted February 21, 2007 Share Ja Lem, as jy hom nooi moet jy net 'n lantern aankoop, of maybe, maybe terug na die ou swart dukwiel met dinamo en liggie voor concept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gumpole Posted February 21, 2007 Share If the pro apologised (having regained his senses), fair enough! The pro that complained (malcolm) doesn't have anything to apologise about. The pro (Impey or whoever) that crashed into the woman, tried to avoid the crash and I'm sure that if he met the her again would have apologised.. not that it was his fault!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted February 21, 2007 Share There are moves to try and let the pro's ride the Giro?ARGUS stage at 15h00. This short route mixing up was a reason why I didnt enter the 99er.Austin' date=' come and ride the Tour de Boland next year, very safe, no funriders, rolling road closure! No... not you, your team![/quote'] Sjoe, nearly got a heart attack with the personal invite! The guys ride me stukkend on our MTB course here and then they just looking around for new trails! Its a deal for 2008. You give a map of the race to my riders and a map of the wine farms to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortLegs Posted February 21, 2007 Share Firstly; get your facts right, all of them. Secondly, next race go over to Mr Lange and have a chat with him and then come on here apologise for being a tw@ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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