firewolf Posted June 12, 2010 Posted June 12, 2010 Why can I still not get my seeding on the PPA website. Still getting error 404 message.
Guest Frail4Life Posted June 14, 2010 Posted June 14, 2010 I have sent a email and await their reply.
Guest Frail4Life Posted June 29, 2010 Posted June 29, 2010 Since I started writing this Topic about PPA, PPA has responded to ONE of my Emails. That was the first and only response I received. Then they quickly punt a one sided Questionaire only to show how hopeless they are. I am still to find ONE reason to renew my membership in two days time. David.
Woofie Posted June 30, 2010 Posted June 30, 2010 Since I started writing this Topic about PPA, PPA has responded to ONE of my Emails. That was the first and only response I received. Then they quickly punt a one sided Questionaire only to show how hopeless they are. I am still to find ONE reason to renew my membership in two days time. David. Dont worry.I am also looking for a reason to renew. I suppose I will be bullied into it when it comes to racing season again because we dont have much choice.But for now I am just going to watch if anything plays out of all of this.
MariusL Posted June 30, 2010 Posted June 30, 2010 For R255 per year, i think PPA does a decent job. It's a given, things aren't (and probably never will be) perfect. Thanks for the effort to make PPA more efficient with your legitimate concerns, Frail. Much appreciated.
Marrick Posted June 30, 2010 Posted June 30, 2010 if you don't like it, don't pay for it. As for "newbie's" only being allowed to do short / medium races is like saying you are only allowed to buy a small 1000cc car if you drive less than 20 kms a day. Silly.
Guest Frail4Life Posted July 1, 2010 Posted July 1, 2010 if you don't like it, don't pay for it. As for "newbie's" only being allowed to do short / medium races is like saying you are only allowed to buy a small 1000cc car if you drive less than 20 kms a day. Silly. MarrickDo you not believe in "Progression"? Some cyclists do not ride on a daily / weekly basis. Therefore the experience and understanding on the bike is not the same as a seasoned cyclist. Once a "newbie" has completed say three Funrides he / she may progress to the Long route catergory.for one the FITNESS level will be there therefore the person will be able to complete the route, for two the SEEDING will reflect the persons rating.Some cyclist will achieve this on "Group rides" over a Weekend, some may need more Bunch riding or Peleton riding. As for not liking PPA, It is not about "liking". THIRTY odd years and all we have in South Africa is an excuse for a Cycling notion.Cyclist are still ignored at Stop signs / Traffic lights, let alone been riden off the side of the road.The Bicycle is older than the Car, But where are all the Bicycle lanes? YES there is other options instead of PPA. David
Guest Frail4Life Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 Latest update. For those who may not recognise me. Meeting Mayor Councillor Grant Pascoe, Mayco member for Social Services (Disabled, Destitute, Gender & Social Upliftment) In a brave and triumphant bid to bring attention to the plight of Cyclists, Cape Town resident David Kleynhans has cycled from Cape Town to Knysna and back again � despite suffering from a hereditary vein disorder. This Letter has been Emailed to PPA and some Clubs in the Western Cape. Over the month of May I have tried to come up with solutions to some of the issues around cycling let it be Road or MTB. You may be asking why and who am I to be complaining and making so much noise. I only have one answer. It is MY RIGHT to question when I am not happy. We as a community need to offer our youth of Today a SAFE and HEALTHY sport and way of life. PPA replied in RED. 1. Website up and working? A. Each topic, be it Seeding, Races, Calenders. Have the main Subject on top of the said page. Not right at the bottom. B. The whole Website is lacking, no attraction. C. No headings, headings do not remain on the web page only on the Home page. ( need to keep going back to Home page to look for something). D. News items that are posted on the website, why not send them out to members with the first email for each month. ( I never knew about the Event BEN is hosting on the 23rd May 2010) E. With Events post the Town or Area. (not just a Farm stall or School or Wine Farm). Full complete directions. Yes, all sections are up and running. 2. New Timing Company? Racetec or ChampionChip? New Question 3. Seeding Update, When? Does Seeding need to be redone every month? There needs stricter rules. (If a rider does not ride for a Season his Seeding must move down). Still happens on a monthly basis, unless there was a problem with the event data (not suitable for seeding; not enough participants etc) eg Malmesbury 4. New Seeding system? Seeding system to operate almost the same as the National Seeding. The finishing times at the "Top" Events when all the Pro's are riding must not be adjusted. Who is going to better that Pro's time? That just pushes the weighting index. The groups must be made smaller. With a pyramid scale. Will also keep the groups apart(ie. point 7.) Group Max 50, Total number of riders seldom hit 1500 for the Long route. A equals 20 with 1 official B equals 30 with 1 official C equals 40 with 1 official D equals 40 E equals 40 with 1 official F equals 40 G equals 40 with 1 official H equals 40 I equals 40 with 1 official J equals 40 K equals 40 with 1 official L equals 40 M equals 40 with 1 official And so forth. The seeding system must not be same as for road as it is for mtb. When a "roadie" does a MTB event his seeding should only be updated once he has completed his SECOND MTB event. The same applies when a "dirt rider" does a ROAD event his seeding should only be updated after completing his SECOND ROAD event. David Clarke constantly revises the seeding calculations and indeed did so again after the Cycle Tour 5. Race Number? Why League must use two Race Numbers on their kit? They also need to use a bike frame number. Why not just one number with the frame number? New Question 6. NEW cyclists Must Qualify? First ride one or two Short routes before Entering for a Long? All new cyclists to "ROAD" should first only be allowed to enter short / medium routes until they have Qualified ( shown their fitness ie. Seeding). That is why seeding is done I replied, You are not understanding my point. If I was a "new cyclist" and started doing Funrides I SHOULD only be allowed to Enter a Short or Medium Route and then progress to Long Route. You have "babies" that want to do everything, RUN,JUMP, SKIP when they are still learning to WALK (New cyclists learning to ride / race). 7. Not Allowing Bunches to join, Creating a danger? That was why I was wanting an OFFICIAL or Motor Bike riding with say every second bunch to stop the bunches regrouping. (Seeding point 4.) As the Official does with League Events. If any group or rider rides slowly his seeding will simply go down. You start in "F" bunch, you will finish in "F" bunch but you may be First or Last.Unless your Bunch manages to completely PASS the slow bunch. Care is taken to keep bunches apart, but you cannot lengthen the gaps between starting groups any more than we already do as it will take too long to get some road events out. Sometimes bunches simply ride negatively/slowly and then you cannot prevent the next bunch from catching. League bunches that have officials with them, are not allowed to join and are policed as such 8. Official vehicle or Think Bike for every third bunch? We already have the Think Bike Officials riding with most groups, just give them the Authority where necessary. To keep the bunches apart just like the Officials would do. No. Traffic authorities are very specific on this, and has indeed advised us that we need to cut down even more on support vehicles for league events. The support vehicles simply cause too many traffic hazards; cyclists need to be self-supportive, or get picked up in the official sweep vehicles if they have mechanical problems. PPA cycling marshals also assist 9. More respect for Think Bike? There must be less contact between cyclists, not forcing one another over the line or into the dirt. Just because the OFFICIAL is on a Motor Bike means we can do as we please. Yes sure WE want to Race but consider another ones safety too. No they do not get a salary as such, but a R300 contribution per bike gets paid to ThinkBike to cover their fuel etc costs. Most cyclists are very appreciative of the difficult work they do. PPA carries these costs in order to assist with safety at events. 10. Cyclist Banned for White Line / Accidents? Those names need to be posted somewhere, there is no point in a rule if I know I will get off with a cheap excuse and sorry I will not do it again. In the end those who have the accident are not always the one going over the line or riding like a "Tjop". Yes they do get disqualified and a report will be presented as to many were DQed in the last season, after due disciplinary procedures are followed. At last count these were more than 100. We can perhaps include this sort of info in the emails to database. 11. Cycle Accidents caused by "new Cyclist" wrong seeding? All accidents should be noted and investigated. Some cyclist are too scared to ride in a bunch, sometimes too cautious. Always riding on the brakes. Does not mean they are inexperienced or careless. None 12. Finish SAFETY? The finish to be on a deserted side road, Dual carriage road with one side closed to traffic. In the final 5 KM there should be zero traffic. Police and marshals should be made aware that we will be approaching at 50kmph plus and be competing for one square meter. DO NOT WARN CYCLISTS TO SLOW DOWN DUE TO FINISH LINE or TIME MATS. This is a Race and we are going to SPEED until the last Second. New Comment. 13. Demarcated parking areas, not at the Road side? Parking areas are always a problem, people will always arrive late and park anywhere. When organizing the Event enough consideration must be put in place for Parking and Security. The issue has been addressed after Simonsvlei and has not occurred again. The onus is also on cyclists to obey parking and other marshals. Having said that, no parked cars at Simonsvlei actually interfered with the finish line and did not cause any accidents (Why must there always be Bloodshed or Trauma before people take notice? This mistake takes place at every Event. Simonsvlei Event was very unfortunate.) 14. Water tables, not at 10km! But at the last 10 / 5 km? New cyclists should not be cycling the Long route. (Point 6) They should manage the first 30km. With organizing the Water Points, there is no need for a table to be placed in the first 30 / 40 km. More care in placing the tables every say 25 km after the first table. The main problem is that cyclists run out of water in the last 10 km of the Event. Organisers try to keep costs and entry fees as low as possible, and adding more water points would add more costs. A 750ml bottle of water should last a cyclist more than an hour / 25km. We also recommend that cyclists carry two water bottles, which should be enough to almost complete the Cycle Tour. If cyclists stop and fill up at all water points, then they should never run out of water. In hot conditions, additional water is delivered to water points and marshalling and sweep vehicles normally also carry additional water. Coke and Powerade cost money, which would again add to the entry fees, which organisers try to keep as low as possible � Coke sponsors only the cup at the finish, anything else needs to be bought 15. More short route options If possible? Make use of the Long route as a base and offering a Short and a Medium route. If there is Short route options we will be able to tag the whole family along. Wife and kids do not want to / CAN NOT finish 40 / 50 km. They only cycle once maybe twice a month. yes. Most routes already use the short route options in the area and there are not necessarily more routes available. In some cases, organisers have tried shorter routes but, due to lack of participation, gave those up again as they were not utilized sufficiently and added to overall event costs - More routes mean more marshals and traffic, more water points and logistics, i.e. increased costs 16. Do we need a Day Licence? This point needs to be used in all PPA marketing. That is where the gap in the market is at the moment. Not enough kids, wife's, families support the cycling Events. Showing the cost ie. discount for the Short routes needs to be highlighted. PPA members and cyclists who belong to any club or affiliate of CSA, do not need to pay any day license fees. For non-members, CSA has agreed that no Day License is needed for UNTIMED routes, which you�ll see in the email to database every week � some short routes are not timed and for those, no Day License is needed. 17. Events? Hosting Events on the Calender in all Suburbs, not just the Southern Suburbs or Northern Suburbs or Worcester, Rawsonville. Having an equal amount of Road and Mtb Events for a season. Also an equal amount of Events on a Saturday as to a Sunday. For work commitments some people only get Saturdays off or Sundays off. New Comment. 18. Commuting. What improvements have been achieved in the last year / 6 months? When will (example) Marine Drive ie. Bike Lanes be completed? QUOTED from PPA website, "The Cape Town CBD to Milnerton Bus and Cycle path is under construction. This is a very good sign, as it is the first well-designed cycle path in Cape Town. It is set for completion on 30 March 2010, as will be an extension to Blaauwberg Road." New Comment. 19. Development. What active role does PPA play in Development? When moneys is paid to Development Projects does the Public reap the benefits, is there enough Development / involvement from the Public? At different times PPA has handed out Helmets, Lights, ect. Is there any benefit from this? QUOTED about the Cape Argus Cycle Tour. "David Bellairs, co-director for the Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust (CTCTT), which organises the race, said the Cycle Tour was about generating money for charity and for the development of cycling. "Last year we gave away R5.8 million to charity and for the development of cycling." said Bellairs. New Comment. 20. Good clean encouragement for Performing Cyclists? Let it be assisting Top Cyclists / The New kid on the block, go to Olympic Games. Forwarding details to Companies wanting to do Sponsorships. New Comment. 21. Bike muggings / Bike jackings and Safety? Creating more awareness towards public Safety. New Comment.
Guest Frail4Life Posted July 11, 2010 Posted July 11, 2010 PPA have offered to set up a meeting to discuss the "issues".
Dicky DQ Posted July 11, 2010 Posted July 11, 2010 I read this and say WTF. 1. PPA is there for social riding developement. We have continually been fighting with PPA to keep the leauge racing going, but as you probly know they don't want to do this. Why? because of all the K@K that they get as well as all the requirements that keep changing from council's side. 2. If you want racing do the CSA races (the few that there are) and follow all their extra rules. Fortunatly a lot of them have been relaxed of late. Remember the issue with not being able to race in kit that had branding on it without paying them for the right? Ag this is a waste of time.............. If you are not happy with the current systems use your democratic right and don't do the PPA events! Organize your own and see what you end up with. I am not defending PPA in any way or form, yes they can do better, but at least they are doing something.My 2C's
Woofie Posted July 12, 2010 Posted July 12, 2010 PPA have offered to set up a meeting to discuss the "issues".Nice.I hope that it goes well.
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