December 2017

[luques]

http://www.cycling4freaks.com/radsport/december2017.pdf

[Pokemon Club]

Lately had a discussion:

"Ok, after designing the Campeonato... should I really invest the effort to design a December Tour?"
- "Well, C4F desperately needs a fantastic December Tour. Just look at the bullshit others are presenting"
"Yes, yes, but will people vote for a second tour of mine?"
- "Mimimi. Get rich or die trying, Gipfel."
"But there are no ideas. I put everything into Andes."
- "South America?"
"No. I mean, I put everything into Andes."
- "Latin America?"
"We have that every year again. Boring."
- "Africa?"
"Too complicated. Much research needed. Don't have that much time."
- "Australia?"
"Pah, each December the same stuff"
- "So what now?"
"Not sure. What do you think of .... ?"
- "Of what?"
"SPIH?"
- "SPIH !"
"SPIH !!!"
- "SPIH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

....
....
....

- "Ehm, Roby is going to kill you."
"Fuck it."
- "You sure? Many people have trouble with him."
"Okok, let's name it SPIH Nostalgia to give him comfort."
- "Yes. And give him some copyright."
"Alright, alright, everything for the Donkey."

So, after the most famous December Tour - SPIH 09 - I proudly present SPIH 17. We will hop over 13 islands over 13 days. It will be 1 ITT, 3 Flat Islands, 5 Hilly Islands and 4 Mountain/HC Islands. In total 1,880km and 19,830 meters to climb.

SPIH2017.png

Stage 1 - Huahine Nui (ITT) - 26km - 290hm - 26min
We start with a hilly individual time trial, which will be important for the favos because the south pacific does not provide for super long mountain finishes. But actually only the first half is hilly (between -11% and +9%) and then it gets flat (between -1% and +1%).


Stage 2 - Raiatea (Hilly) - 125km - 840hm - 71min
Typical island stage. Mostly flat with a few hills. Last hill is +6, +8 at km 118. Ideal for a hill sprint or an attack.


Stage 3 - Tahiti (Hilly) - 179km - 1460hm - 105min
Already a first test for the favos mountain skills. Belvedere de Taravao is 3, 7, 7, 4, 6, 11, 7. But with 20km to the finish line a hill sprint is most likely.


Stage 4 - Niue (Flat) - 102km - 290hm - 63min
Really flat but as it is a super short stage and ends with a -4% km, some action is possible.


Stage 5 - Upolu (Hilly) - 137km - 1620hm - 98min
Now it gets really hilly with Mount Fiamoe. However, the last sieb-km is km81, so this might actually become a mass sprint.


Stage 6 - Savaii (Hilly) - 193km - 1250hm - 104min
Mostly a flat stage but the last km could provide some attack. The last hill is +3, +5, +3, +2, +3


Stage 7 - Tongatapu (Flat) - 120km - 160hm - 71min
Simple short flat stage on Tongatapu. Action is guaranteed because a rest day follows, but should be quite easy for the sprint teams.


****************************************************************
REST DAY
****************************************************************

Stage 8 - Vanua Levu (Mountain) - 203km - 3220hm - 119min
Week 1 was rather flat, but now the action begins with lots of hills and sieb-km. The short mountain arrival is a +3, +3, -1, +6, +1, +8, +6


Stage 9 - Viti Levu (Mountain) - 136km - 2720hm - 88min
Monasavu goes up to +17%, so this is going to hurt. However, we have 30km from the mountain top to the finish line. Those 30km are hilly, including some sieb-km >6%. But again you need a very strong team to gain time here.


Stage 10 - New Caledonia (Mountain) - 219km - 3860hm - 140min
New Caledonia provides the most mouintaneous stage with 3860hm to climb. The final in Poro is 6, 8, 7, 7, 9, 9, -6 , -9, -7, -9, -11, -7, 0, 0, 0, -1. This stage should go to a climber.


Stage 11 - Malaita (Hilly) - 128km - 1650hm - 128min
This short hilly stage includes only a few sieb-km, the last one is at km112. So the question is hill sprint or mass sprint. Or an escape after 3 Mountain stages?


Stage 12 - Guadalcanal (Flat) - 170km - 720hm - 170min
Before the final stage, riders can regenerate on this flat stage, which should be safe for sprinters.


Stage 13 - Bougainville Island (Mountain) - 141km - 1750hm - 87min
The last stage has the one and only HC-Mountain, which might bring the final decision. Pangunga provides 3, 6, 4, 7, 8, 11, 11, 15, 17, 12. With 20 km to the finish line it is not easy for the climbers, but this should give some time to them. The last 5km are 0, 12, -2, -1, -2.

[Pokemon Club]

[Robyklebt]

Anybody knows if the parenthesis in the stage names at SPIH Nostalgia 17 cause the finance bug or not?

[luques]

Should be no problem, curious to discover it.

[Coroncina2]

5 edition on dicember tour could be too many to avoid small group of 4-5 players.
Especially 2 evening editions 22 to 24 will divide players who play in Europe after dinner.
There will be a big group in the morning because there is only one edition at 9pm. Then do not come and say that there are fewer teams in the evening than in the morning.
9 - 15 - 19 - 23 could be better
PS: for me no problem to play 23 or 24
PS2: I'll wait till march to see if I could make a nice team for GT. I don't care play fantasy or small races without any chance on the game (9 riders even if real GT will we played in 8,and we know till month).

[Coroncina2]

5 edition on dicember tour could be too many to avoid small group of 4-5 players.
Especially 2 evening editions 22 to 24 will divide players who play in Europe after dinner.
There will be a big group in the morning because there is only one edition at 9pm. Then do not come and say that there are fewer teams in the evening than in the morning.
9 - 15 - 19 - 23 could be better
PS: for me no problem to play 23 or 24
PS2: I'll wait till march to see if I could make a nice team for GT. I don't care play fantasy or small races without any chance on the game (9 riders even if real GT will we played in 8,and we know till month).

I'm talking about numeber of edition. 5 times are not bad for very main tour (Giro 55 teams, Tour 61, Vuelta 51). Fantasy Andes make 45...
1 time for moring, early afternoon, late afternoon, dinner time, are ok. 22 + 24, in my opinion are 2 edition for same kind a people. one among 22 23 24 could be ok.
Maybe more editions are more chance for all to win something and restrict competition.
You can see my team and know that I don't care much about dicember tour. So no reason for me to defend "my times".
BTW seem from partecipation of GTs it's not "my times" that need to be defended.

[Pokemon Club]

There is less people playing during winter, but I don't know if cut some editions will really help. IMO some people don't want to waste their time to win race point for fantasy race.

@Luques : what to do the whole December with free-races ?

[luques]

There is less people playing during winter, but I don't know if cut some editions will really help. IMO some people don't want to waste their time to win race point for fantasy race.

@Luques : what to do the whole December with free-races ?

Single races or also tours?

[Pokemon Club]

There is less people playing during winter, but I don't know if cut some editions will really help. IMO some people don't want to waste their time to win race point for fantasy race.

@Luques : what to do the whole December with free-races ?

7

Single races or also tours?

Tours also. Only fantasy races, christmas approach and participation was really low. Lets try and see if it gives a boost or not