The Ouzo

I think this is the issue. Strava wants to push the premium packages. Currently you can have a free package and link it to any of the better analysis tools out there and there is no need to pay strava stupid money. So they are losing premium subscribers.

there is still some fast sections after fourways, and the predominant wind is pushing you home. also there feels like there are chances to recover between the climbs this way round, where it used to feel like climb after climb with not breaks in between to recover.

opposite direction was a hard slog from start to finish

you should, the new route is cool. you get to ride the highway, in the fast lane, in the opposite direction, at speeds higher than most motorised traffic see during rush hour. You then get to cycle around Kyalami Race Track, followed soon after by leafy old suburbs and a house that always goes all out with the Christmas decor for race day. A couple of not so lekker bits, a challenging climb past the zoo, the iconic Mandela bridge and then back on highway closed off for our exclusive use.

I saw a guy very early on in the race (before we even got to the highway), RD hanging off the bike.

very chuffed that I'm part of the sub 3 crowd for once.

turns put its probably not the nutrition that caused the gut issues, looks like I picked up some stomach bug. Not sure how and where though, but between the sweat loss through the ride and the constant visits to the loo yesterday afternoon and evening, I'm 2kg lighter than I was an saturday.

Our team started in D, the goal, Sub 3. we made lite work of the first half, pulling huge bunches along with us. second half we slogged a bit and the team got split up, but we all crossed the line in under 3. was a good day out oh and I think I got my nutrition wrong, been having gut issues since I came home

would love to see what the average finishing time is between the older routes and the new route

the new route with the hills at the end , to me, is much easier than any of the previous routes. I think mainly because there are actually less hills.

most of the time the stuff in the goodie bags are samples or freebies from sponsors. We like free stuff. But this years goodie bag should rather have not been, not sure what everyone else got but all that was inside mine was a bottle, surely they could have gotten some other sponsors to chuck in some expired chocolate bars and some skin care samples ? Its like they didnt even try.

I want to ride through the night sometime in the future. Have done a sunrise to sunset ride, would like to do a sunset to sunrise ride, there is something very different about riding alone in the dark.

we never entered as a team, as such we were all seeded as per usual individual seeding rules. there were only 2 of us though that were seeded further back than group C, everyone else was C and above. We tried as individuals to get reseeded but were not successful, but one of our members went to the expo today to fetch all our numbers and managed to get us all moved into group D.

what groups are we all starting in ? My team managed to get put together to all start in D

according to my results on the portal, they had just over 9000 finisher for last years full distance,

thats drastically down. I wonder how many choose to do the shorter route rather and how many are just not doing it

1998 was my first one, results are on racetec still as of this morning.

you say its on racetec ? I've just checked and I can still get into racetec

I think if you have some sort of proof then you can go to them to have it rectified. I've got 1 race missing from my tally (they have me as doing my 20th on sunday where I have it as my 21st), I've got the pics from the missing race, but I could never be bothered gathering all the info and getting it sorted.

my boss found me lying down under my desk, he didnt understand, now I'm fired.

this thread is enough for me to cancel any plans of coming down there in March. Frightening

I think each fitter has their own theories and experiences, you can probably got to 3 different fitters and get 3 different fits.

It was Richard that got me to make the changes similar situation, I really should be on a smaller frame than what I have.

I think it is as what was said above, depends on teh bike geometry. I went from 110mm to 80mm stem and at the same time went from 440mm to 420mm bars on my road bike I cant say I feel the twitchiness you describe.