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Die Burger - traffic & Racetec


PeterM

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we had no traffic jam at all ... just went past the fruit sellers four way stop and and took the turn we did on the bikes ... 3km longer, but a 60 min shorter ... 

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I was supposed to start in F' date=' but due to traffic left from G, racetec correctly picked that up and matched the time registered on my telemetery, so I feel lucky that I didnt lose out. I was afraid I would not get a time as I didn't go thru the norrow start mats that they normally have at the funrides. They obv had them on the actual start line tho. U guys wont believe how suprised I was to see that I registered a time.  [/quote']

 

Now that is quite interesting. Maybe they used your "standard" F starting time which is only 3min behind your actual G starting group/time (+-close enough?!?).

It could be that if Racetec does not pick-up a start time but has a finishing time, they use your seeded start group as the default time - but I am just speculating now.
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hi guys - i`m also not happy about something - we also started very late due to traffic etc, but no probs in that department - my problems are as follows - we had 2 punchers in the first 30kms - just before the botmaspass we got stopped by the van and were told we are disq because we were 5min behind the cut of, we had to be at the second water station at 10:00 -- he stopped us as 09:30 - aka we had about 30min to get there.. i refused to get into the car as we are only 5min behind and feeling good. i withdraw from the race as he stopped us again "just to give us the rules etc,, WASTING MORE TIME!! well we had to "retire" from the race.... we stopped at wimpy "malmesbury" and rode back rustig... wont be doing die burger again....

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Enjoyed the race - did not have a stellar time due to own rookie mistake. Apart from that, all was good.

 

If you see a 2k traffic jam on the N1 - why not just drive past that turnoff and take the next one, ride though Paarl and simply approach the venue fron the others side?

 

Only complaint I have was tha lack of loo's... they really did not clutter the place with them.

 

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Geez - give these okes a chance!!! You started with the wrong group

so they gave you the wrong time as the quickest way to get the

results out is to assume you started when you were supposed to have.

It's not their fault you didn't plan to get to the race on time...

 

Now don't wet your panties. Give them a call and they will sort it

out (if they haven't done so automatically by now).

 

In the mean time don't slash your wrists. It really isn't worth it...

 

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Geez - give these okes a chance!!! You started with the wrong group
so they gave you the wrong time as the quickest way to get the
results out is to assume you started when you were supposed to have.
It's not their fault you didn't plan to get to the race on time...

Now don't wet your panties. Give them a call and they will sort it
out (if they haven't done so automatically by now).

In the mean time don't slash your wrists. It really isn't worth it...

 

Ha Ha! No more coffee for you ;)

 

My question was - how best to tackle something like this with Racetec. Just to learn from others experience etc before Monday morning and to see if it happened to other cyclists as well. Nothing more, nothing less.  

 

So long, and may plenty of speed be with you in the next race!

 
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I was supposed to start in F' date=' but due to traffic left from G, racetec correctly picked that up and matched the time registered on my telemetery, so I feel lucky that I didnt lose out. I was afraid I would not get a time as I didn't go thru the norrow start mats that they normally have at the funrides. They obv had them on the actual start line tho. U guys wont believe how suprised I was to see that I registered a time.  [/quote']

 

Now that is quite interesting. Maybe they used your "standard" F starting time which is only 3min behind your actual G starting group/time (+-close enough?!?).

It could be that if Racetec does not pick-up a start time but has a finishing time, they use your seeded start group as the default time - but I am just speculating now.

 

Naa, I reckon they definitely picked my starting with G group up, cuz I started my clock as I went under the start banner, and my racetec time was pretty much identical, I dont believe they'll give you a time if you dont go thru the start(so I obv did without realizing where the mats were), it would be way too easy to just climb on the bike 5km before and ride a killer time.

 

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I was supposed to start in F' date=' but due to traffic left from G, racetec correctly picked that up and matched the time registered on my telemetery, so I feel lucky that I didnt lose out. I was afraid I would not get a time as I didn't go thru the norrow start mats that they normally have at the funrides. They obv had them on the actual start line tho. U guys wont believe how suprised I was to see that I registered a time.  [/quote']

 

Now that is quite interesting. Maybe they used your "standard" F starting time which is only 3min behind your actual G starting group/time (+-close enough?!?).

It could be that if Racetec does not pick-up a start time but has a finishing time, they use your seeded start group as the default time - but I am just speculating now.


Naa, I reckon they definitely picked my starting with G group up, cuz I started my clock as I went under the start banner, and my racetec time was pretty much identical, I dont believe they'll give you a time if you dont go thru the start(so I obv did without realizing where the mats were), it would be way too easy to just climb on the bike 5km before and ride a killer time.

 

Yeah, you are right - I thought about it and they must have picked up your chip at the start.

 
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My timing was right, but I'm still pissed off about starting at 6:50 instead of 6:15 like I was supposed to because of the complete misorganisation of the traffic.

I have never been at a cycle event of this size where no measures at all had been taken to help the flow of traffic and was also disgusting to see that Die Burger claimed in this morning's paper that is was an extremely well organised event.
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I saw the traffic was lank bad approaching the venue, so I quickly did a U turn through one of those tar sections on the island and I went back to the other parking area up the road.

So I luckily made it in time.

 

 

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Also got caught in traffic, not too bad though.  Was supposed to start in P, but only started in R.  The have my start group and my friends correct on racetec.

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The traffic situation was terrible indeed!

 

 

 

WRT the timings...

 

Its quite strange. We were a group of 11 cyclists that travelled together ranging from L thru to Q groups. Arrived late cos of the traffic and started in the U group. But all our times were spot on and we were all recorded as U group.

 

My Polar measured a 4h02 and racetec put me at 4h01

 

 

 

One thing I picked up tho is that whether you start at the front of the group or at the back, you start time is the start time givem to the group. Cos I started about 5 seconds behind a friend and we crossed the finnish line side by side and got the same time

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It seems you guys like to critisize the organisers but they did send out an email during the week warning people of the traffic and parking problems.

Hence I made sure I left early and had no problem with either.
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I like to critisize, as it was badly organised - sending an email does not absolve you from taking proper measures.  There is no excuse for such bad organisation for a major event on the South African race calender.

 

Even for a much smaller race like the Engen Dynamic (held at the same venue) they had traffic police at the N1 exits and at all junctions coming up to the venue.  Now there was nobody.  I left home at 5am, which I think was reasonable. 
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Below feedback I got from racetec after I queried my time in the Lost City.

 

Hi<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

Events are timed using the group start time and not the individual start time.

 

Kind Regards

 

Tish Lambert

 RaceTec

Race Office: 0861 846464
Website:
www.racetec.co.za

 

I then asked them about the below statement on their website

 

Timing mats situated on the ground at the start and finish of an event are used to read this signal, and from this calculate a time for each athlete.?

and got the following answer back.

 

Hi

 

The use of group start times as apposed to individual start times is an international standard that timing chip companies use for cycling events. I agree that the FAQs are misleading on our website but this is the way that all cycling events are timed.

 

Kind Regards

 

Tish Lambert

 

RaceTec

Race Office: 0861 846464
Website:
www.racetec.co.za

 

Good luck with your query.

Smoke2009-11-30 05:52:38
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