Rant - Nissan Tygervalley 30km

[Jozanne]

I had a great race! Thanks to all the organizers and sponsors! What a pleasure to wake up in your own bed before a race!! YEAH for the local series!<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Lesson             (for all races):  If your heart is set to ride the technical sections... - be early at the start and ride the first 10km like you mean it....

Issue  1           If you are a serous rider - aiming at prize money ? why do you ride the 30km ?  Train a little more and race with the big boys!

 

Issue  2             We must accept that a race so close to home will attract a lot of newbie?s! = congestion!!

 

* When I ride ? I do not like stopping, queuing or talking ? in general I am not very friendly  (some one recently referred to me as that ?psycho bitch? shouting behind him.. ha ha) ?BUT I LOVE  the sport ?love to ride and love to share it with new people..  ?

 

It is VERY important to encourage those people new to the sport to come back ? skills take time to develop!  Races like these are vital in growing our sport., unlike some people ? who prefer keeping this wonderful sport a secret in order to limit congestion ?

 I do not believe in capping participation!! !     I believe that it is VERY important for all of us to grow the sport as much as possible!!!  -

Perhaps seeding is the answer ?perhaps there should be special batch for all new comers?

Perhaps we should think carefully about the race route and the amount of people it should be able to cater for. ( Karkloof can be an excellent example ? having a not so technical shorter race for the entry level rider ! )

 

Issue  3             We need to encourage our Pretoria  MTB community to sharpen up their technical skills..

 

I always recommend my ?newbie? friends to do an X-country race early in the season ? entering them into the sport class at Fountains or  Phambili  else riding at Logwood or  Cycle Lab?s <?: prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Bike Park. This  is good exposure to technical riding. At the same time they get a look at how the AWESOME INSPIRING Elite riders grace the obstacles. None of the ?newbie?s? really enjoys the 1 lap of 7 odd km of technical riding, but after that they never again complain about a race being too technical - or about people asking for track? and passing them on single track.

I really feel the clubs (especially FPC) put in a lot of effort to accommodate and teach new riders at their club rides This is GREAT - Thank You! ? Encourage your new be friends to join the Club ride  for a ride or 2 !! See it as a favor to yourself ? the more we educate the newbie?s ? the smoother your next race will be.

Issue  4             Getting the mountain bike community involved? club members as volunteers  to help alongside the race.. If we all volunteer just 1 race a year ? we can have marshal?s at every bend and turn in a race ? making our races safer and eliminate route confusion ? Lets learn form the road running community !

 

Looking forward to the rest of the series!!

 

[Grapkas]

Don't know much about MTB and only did the 10km with my group of kids but i LOVED it and will definately go to Cullinan on 18 July for the next one!! See you there.

[NotSoBigBen]

1 : Bored Girl beat me to the line in a sprint finish .

 

 - How frikkin slow have you become dude? Must be that MeerHoud of yours slowing you down no?

[dirtrider]

The question should be how fast has Bored Girl become !!!! Can not even get away from her on the technical stuff anymore !!!

[wades]

 I also did the supposed 30km route but ended up doing 36.9km as a result of the chaos on the wrong route. After being turned around from good starting position the front riders ended up being the back riders and had to now fight our way past the new "leaders". Lots of falls on the turn around as the guys were now riding into each other.  How the hell can the guy on the bike get the route so screwed up. If he doesn't know the route don't let him ride the lead motorbike.  The bottle neck in the forest was absolutely ridiculous, resulting in lots of cheating.  This was definitely NOT a route for complete beginners or anyone with no biking skills. This added to the initial chaos as the back markers who were nervous of the single tracks, were on and off their bikes.  There was a lack of literate marshalls at important points eg. the 30/60km split.  These guys were obviously just paid to stand a wave a flag.  Some 60k riders ended up on 30k route.  I also cannot remember seeing a paramedic anywhere along the route. 

This is unacceptable.

 

A great route , but the chaos in the beginning spoilt the race. FPC better plannin for the next race please.

 

 

 

[Pretorim]

Chill bru, read some comments on the previous page...

Also Fritz's comments on another thread re Tygervallei Results, under "Local Racing". I was also done in but sh!t happens. Dont let one person spoil the whole series - BE BACK & I'm sure you'll enjoy!

[Carbon_Kooi]

The route was great but I am not a happy customer. I ended up second in the 30km race, but was penalized for ending up ahead of the lead bike, who got lost several times....interesting. I had a very long conversation with the organisers, who said they must keep everybody happy and must give the guys behind the bike 1st,2nd and 3rd, where is my happiness in that? The same happened to the guy that won the race just in front of me, we rode a whole stretch togehter, passing the lead bike on the jeep track who obviously missed us because the 60km and 30km were riding together.

But I am sure the Cullinan race will be better, I hope they learn from this race and provide something that will make us forget this.

[ConradJ]

 

 

quote wades: There was a lack of literate marshalls at important points eg. the 30/60km split.

 

maybe there are too many illiterate cyclists (those that went the wrong way). as i remember there were nice arrows with 60km pointing left and 30km right...but atleast the fudge was awesome!

ConradJ2009-06-25 02:20:35