Lange and "FUN Riders"

[SwissVan]

 

Road Cycle races 101:<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Item #27 Comparing boerwors to bratwurst.

 

SA - has an over abundance of ?fun rides? (+/- 100km distance' date=' single day), which can be ridden by pro and fun rider alike, but not suitable for development of existing pro level riders, great for beginners / weekend warriors.

 

Europe ? has an abundance of pro or licensed amateur races (120 km ? 280km distance) and tours (multi stage / days), not so great for beginners / weekend warriors but ideal for pro?s and aspiring pro?s.

 

Don?t know exactly what Malcolm said, but sounds like he hit the nail squarely on the head.

 

Perhaps some sort of calendar control limiting the amount of races and pooling of sponsorships to create better quality races for all?

 

 

[/quote']

Organising races in Europe aint easy either.  Lots of work with little money is often the case, but the volume is made up with local criteriums in/around towns where the municipalities help out with admin/police because it promotes their town.  Every little bit helps.

 

Also a lot of crits happen in the middle of nowhere/industrial parks where people race HARD.  No picturesque roads, no safe corners, no goodie bags.  Just good hard racing.  SA lacks that, but I don't see it changing when people don't see the difference between funriding and racing.

 

What I've seen here is that if you want to race you need to take it serious, i.e. longer distances, higher speeds with more racers competing for the top positions.

 

If you want to do "fun rides" then there are some "Volksrennen" in summer but mostly you do that kind of riding with your club, on your own or with friends. Fun riders are not really well catered for here, but there are still millions of them out cycling every day, only diffs is they dont do races very often if at all.

 

 

 

 

 

[pastapouch]

... and here we go again, with the money side of things! Whats happening with all our licensing(whichever of the 4 options u take) money, the race entry part that goes to CSA/CGC, the yearly amount that you pay.... OOPS, WRONG PLACE

[SwissVan]

 

 

Perhaps some sort of calendar control limiting the amount of races and pooling of sponsorships to create better quality races for all?

 

 

 

This is where the problem lies Swissvan! Then everyman and his dog wont make money out of the fun riders. Funrides has become an easy way to make money and raise funds.

 

So reading between the lines CSA and provincal authorities are not controlling the race calendar in a manner that promotes pro cycling.

 

This is not all doom n gloom as it does benifet the beginners, average rider and competitive age groupers.

 

 

[Wyatt Earp]

 

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<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" ="Msonormal"><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-: EN">Perhaps some sort of calendar control limiting the amount of races and pooling of sponsorships to create better quality races for all?

 

 

 

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This is where the problem lies Swissvan! Then everyman and his dog wont make money out of the fun riders. Funrides has become an easy way to make money and raise funds.

 

Sooooo Scalpel, are you saying that as a funrider yourself you are tired of getting milked ?

[Scalpel]

I am but a mere funrider! You would know!

[SwissVan]

I am but a mere funrider! You would know!

 

LOL at the Fun rider who features on the full page USN adverts.

 

 

[capeofstorms]

Phil Ligget was making a comment when he was out here. What he said was the reason why cycling is so big in this country is because the way it is structured

Apparently cycling is bigger here than in Europe. The mix of "pros" and funriders conributes to the big turnout at cycling events.

If the "Pros" are complaining get CSA to set up their own race calendar and leave the PPA to run the funrides. I bet the "Pro circuit" won't last very long

 

[mallo]

There is no interest from the race organizers to increase the distance for the Elites all they want at the end of the day is the profits milked from the funriders. Good example is the Dome 2 Dome changed from 116km to 95km sorry excuse of road conditions.

 

 

 

Sad fact is CSA is doing nothing to get the organizers to increase the elite race distances hence they get away with it.

 

 

 

Simple suggestion to CSA get these organizers to increse the elite distance or pay a premium equal to 50% of the profits generated from the event.

 

 

 

CSA themselves should be hosting at least one event per province during the calendar year which will generate the required funds to keep the races going and NO you do not need to appoint an events company to run these race when you have able people within the provinces to partner with and forget about the VIP hospitality area as they munch all your profits.

[mallo]

No need to split the races all that is required for the Elites to have a longer circuit than the rest of the bunch, to ensure there is no congestion at the end when the Elites come in they start after all the funriders has departed which will also give the funriders the opportunity of watching the Elites finish their races.

[WillG]

SA's pro's are at a completely different level to the average "fun rider"

Think we need to view comments in context and from their perspective.

 

Joint goal would be to create a safer and better cycling community for all concerned , catering for all levels of competition or recriation

 

Hunter,Vroom and Augustine are good examples of potential unleashed

 

 

 

 

[DRIVETRAIN]

No wonder I've stopped racing long ago - all races. Yet like U say CSA is interested in generating profits from the "Fun Riders" & the cash cows go back time & again, enter races and pay exhorbitant fees for what....? shorter distances and some poorly organised races...etc. They ain't gettin my money !!!

 

Pro's: ? what pro's ? no stage races, guys riding against each other for a 100k event & what does that prove? If M.Lange had the opportunity to race overseas & came back he has no reason to complain, tho' I get his point on longer distances and Pro events...well sad case me thinks about cycling in SA.

 

[FrancoisO]

SA's pro's are at a completely different level to the average "fun rider"

Think we need to view comments in context and from their perspective.

 

Joint goal would be to create a safer and better cycling community for all concerned ' date=' catering for all levels of competition or recriation

 

Hunter,Vroom and Augustine are good examples of potential unleashed

 

 

 

 

[/quote']

Where is Augustine?  Do not see anything?

[TCRCARBON]

It would be interesting to see how our pro's cope with 200km plus events.  There is a big gap between the local scene and international scene and only a handful of our pros really measure up.

 

Think Robbie Hunter, Burry Stander and the like who are performing amongst the best in the world.

 

Burry was 13 minutes ahead of the 3rd rider at Karkloof with Kevin Evans  second about 3 minutes back.

 

That is a huge gap by pro standards indicating that the rest of the pro field are not quite up to scratch.

 

That said cycling has moved forwards over the past few years and the top races really are becoming world class events.  Where SA is unique is that we have such a large field of fun riders and "league/age group" riders who also compete weekly and it will be really difficult to separate the two.

 

I quite like the fact that I can compare myself directly with the top fish in our pond.

 

Our local "pros" need to accept that they will always be racing in and around the fun riders and remeber that they were once also just weekend warriors with ambitions!

[scotty]

Our club hosted a longer race distance for elites, also hosting 2 events for the CGC champs

 

Go Wheelers

[Mr. G]

Agreed- would it be difficult to add 50-100km on to most of our fun rides for the pro's?

[Wyatt Earp]

I am but a mere funrider! You would know!

 

 

 

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LOL at the Fun rider who features on the full page USN adverts.

 

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Yip, as I said funrider.