SeanMort

We rode tandem in B group, the only tandem in the bunch, and you would think that riders that qualify to ride in this bunch would know how to ride competently for a start, let alone ride with a tandem in their midst. My pilot is a seasoned track rider, and at times he needed to gently nudge people back onto their line with his elbows and helmet, and said to them that he couldn't use his hands at that stage for the job as he dare not take them off the handlebars. Some riders co-operated, some took exception. At this level of riding you should be experienced in this sort of bunch behaviour and not overreact like a 2 year old. I've been in plenty of vets races where we're riding elbow to elbow and very seldom do riders panic and get hysterical. It's simply not enough to just be a strong rider, you've got to have some bunch skills and tone down the macho stuff. Being faster through momentum on the flats and downhills, but not at the front of bunch, meant we constantly had to feather our brakes to scrub off speed. Some riders behind us got a bit vocal then. What did they think we should do ? Carry on riding into the riders ahead of us ? We really wanted to be up front where we could be most useful, but riders were guarding their bunch positions across the road. We managed to crest Edinburgh Dv, Boyes Dv and Smits' in the front 3rd of the bunch, and we did our turns on the front, but it seems like some in the bunch wanted us to do more, just because we were a tandem. We didn't mind being on the front, in fact we love it, but we also needed to recover sometimes, especially from hill efforts, because it's so much harder for us. At one stage we flicked our elbows for riders to come through, I then looked back, and saw the elbow flicking carrying on down the line like a Mexican wave. Funny thing was that their uncooperation caused the bunch to split in the drag towards Sun Valley, so we found ourselves chasing on the front again. We never did get back to the lead bunch and rode up Chappies with our B group lot, where we lost most of them. We expected to get dropped at this point, and had considered beforehand that from here we would largely be on our own until the finish, where we crossed the mats on 3H07. This was our 1st Argus as a tandem pair, and our 2nd race together after Bay City. We would have liked to have been in the racing tandems category, as we would have had a better result, but got put in B after the organisers averaged out our seedings. I normally ride pilot on a tandem, with the other half as the stoker taking the brunt of the inane comments, but she is also well versed in how to get rid of those riders who like to make "the usual" comments and thereafter, having nothing much else in the way of pleasant conversation to make, choose to go silent and sit on our wheel. Her favourite thing to do for the "comment makers" is to get out her cannister of sunblock spray and start to apply it liberally on her arms and legs, with plenty of choking overspray blown into our draft. We also like to gear up and ride little rollers out of the saddle, leaving them behind to ponder their comments, as she is an amazingly strong rider in her own right. We have been in plenty races where riders have engaged us in good, enjoyable conversation, and have thanked us for the help. So it's not everyone. I must say that I have only experienced these silly commments as a stoker on one occassion, and that was from a fellow club member whom we then dropped like a hot potato.

My advice is to get all the tandems onto the front at the start and stick behind them until Edinburgh Dv kicks up, then "assist" them up to the start of the Blue Route, then stick behind them. Keep this up, until the finish in Greenpoint, "assisting" where possible in lieu of wheel-sucking, and you could get your PB. Then finish it off by buying the tandem riders a few nice cold one's and some boerie rolls because by that time they will need to be rewarded

There was a club photographer at the event and as/when they upload the pics to the club website gallery then you can view/download there. The website is www.citycyclingclub.org. Pics haven't been uploaded yet. Also please note that it's City Cyling Club and has no affiliation to the City Cycles shop in Canal Walk.

Looking at a pic in our club newsletter of the event, the Dunlop Cup that City Cycling Club presented to David Garrett at the Klein Joostenburg race last year is about half the size of the one in the pic.

My better half and her dad will be in H on a tandem. Not sure what kit they'll wear, either red City Cycling Club or green/white kit we had made for our recent DC tandem team. If it's the green/white kit then it will have their names on the back somewhere. They did an easy 3:23 last year out of L group for their first Argus on a tandem, so they want to improve on that. As for me; I'm in B bunch on a tandem with the same partner you saw at the Bay City race.

E bunch caught the main D bunch just before Simonstown as we all had to slow up while Mr Ryan O'Connor and his tjommies/fan club decided what the front of the bunch should do next. Should they carry on giving him a "helping hand" or should they let someone else set the pace. Lot's of bitching going on from riders trying to get things moving.

We had fun, adventures and all. My pilot is a seasoned trackie, so he's less used to races where you have to turn left or right (probably also used to riding without bottles too). Yesterdays race was our 3rd time on the tandem as a pair, and our first race together. Also my first race as a stoker as I normally pilot.

Then traffic tjop he shall be then We did find ourselves riding into a bit of wind for the most part, but we kept our heads down. I've seen that Cannondale model around and it is a looker. There is also another white tandem owned by Louis Scholz, the name of which escapes me now, but the thing weighs 11.5Kg !! Compact double front chain rings with belt drive pilot/stoker cranks and carbon everywhere. He rode in our DC tandem team and ate the hills for breakfast, but the downhills and flats weren't so kind against the heavier tandems with bigger cranks. Still a performer though.

Hey yeah, I remember speaking to you at the finish Yep, that was us, in City Cycling Club kit. We were a little stuffed at the finish, and famished as hell, but that's what happens when you only have 2 bottles of plain water, 2 gels and roll of Super C's between you in a race. We saved the gels and Super C's for OKW

We had a bit of a lonely race yesterday on the tandem. Decided to do the race only on Friday, so we entered on the line at the race venue. Got there a little late and battled to find parking. Then it appeared that I'd had left my water bottle at home , so my pilot offered to share his two bottles of water. Then it was a mission to get to the registration table and get entered in time. All our own faults of course, but we didn't get too serious about matters . We had aimed to start in the tandem category but by the time we got to the start line we only found H group ready to go, so we hopped in with them. The bunch started off with the usual haste but after about 300m we found our legs and gears and rode well off the front, taking a few riders with. A short while later we dropped our chain and had to stop to sort it out, leaving our followers to their own devices and wheels to suck. Having got the chain sorted out we saw that the main bunch was still not on us, so we hustled to try catch up with our beneficiaries ahead of us, but then my pilot missed the Boyes Drive turn by about 50m We did an about-turn and then joined the back of the main H bunch as they turned onto Boyes. We rode up the start of Boyes with them and then rode away from them at that point, surprisingly taking no-one with us. From there we cranked a solo ride to Simonstown not seeing much in the way of official riders. Just before Simonstown we caught up with our beneficiaries who had no doubt latched onto some F/G etc riders, creating a nice little bunch. In no time at all we were once again pacing at the front until just before cresting Smit's. Thereafter we found some bigger gears, got our heads down, and rode away, alone again, for ages, passing lots of riders, including lots of casual riders. Not until Sun Valley did we start to pick up some more riders, who found some nice spots on our wheel .What are tandems for eh ? Then, as we were about to leave Sun Valley, a traffic cop decides to stop all the cyclists at the lights to let cars through It's just not that easy to bring a tandem to a dead stop from +30kph in 20m !! Somehow we managed to slow down enough to avoid being squished. Then onto OKW we ventured, trying to pace ourselves as best we could. Half-way up we were passed by our earlier beneficiaries, and then a little while later, towards the top, quite a few more of H group passed us. Cresting OKW was quite a relief, but we didn't plan on resting yet as the finish line was still a little way off. We descended OKW like a rocket, passing cars and other riders, and trying not to overheat the rims with braking too much, or at all. The last few bumps home were uneventful, but we kept our speed up and went over the mats on 2H37, which we were not unhappy with, considering that we would have probably finished 2nd or 3rd had we had the benefit of being in the tandem bunch, and not dropping chains and missing turn-offs

We had a cheater in our club some time back. Used to cheat in just about every race he entered, including the Argus. In this fashion he managed to get a PPA C seeding and entered to ride in Vets for almost 2 seasons. In the 2010 Argus he started in C bunch, and we in D bunch passed him at the side of the road just after Hospital Bend. He was then passed on Suikerbossie by VA bunch and waited somewhere thereafter to hop into C bunch again and claim a fantastic finish time. He didn't know about the additional timing mats he needed to cross en-route, so was challenged by the officials. He denied all charges but the officials DQ'd him and banned him from entering the Argus for a while. In the league races we would always see him drop off the back of the bunch, take the short route option if there was one (or get friends to transport him to a convenient hook-up place, such as in the 2010 !-Tonner) and re-join the race to claim a good finish time. His early attempts at cheating saw him finish before the Elites sometimes . He tried to be smart enough not to rejoin a breakaway bunch and always seemed to finish with, or close to a chasing bunch. On one occassion during a vets race, having seen him drop off the bunch early on, I was in a chasing bunch about 5min off the breakaway and we came across him close to the finish. He joined our bunch and sat at the back. We all knew that the race was done and dusted at this stage, so it there was no big sprint for the line. Doesn't he decide to come sprinting from the back, almost takes out a Daikin rider in the bunch and raise his arms across the line. We all looked at each other with the same thought ... "what a tjop !" Embarrasingly though he was riding in our kit On several occassion we raised objections with the league organisers and the PPA. Finally he was called to a disciplinary hearing with the PPA, and we all presented evidence from many different races. He denied all wrong doing. On balance of probability the PPA banned him. Interestingly the online entries portal still accepted his subsequent race entries in the fun-ride cat's . You have to ask yourself why, why, why ? We'll never know the answer though. Probably has a Walter Mitty-like personality with a BIG ego to feed.

I had issues with my T3D when I first set it up. The speed readings were erratic and it just did its own thing. So I went and bought new batteries for the watch and all the devices. No more issues.

So ... how did things go yesterday with rider skills, marshalls etc ?

I have mixed feelings about the existence of the league-lite Stars racing category and the criteria applied to qualifying. The stated reasons for this racing category existing are for riders to improve their PPA seedings and to improve their racing skills, presumably to fast-track the performing riders to big league if they want. All well and good, and a good initiative from the organisers, but the problem as I see it is that the qualifying criteria needs a rethink. It's early days for this racing category and no doubt the organisers will hopefully fine-tune it. I don't believe that a rider with a seeding of D/E would benefit too much by being in this bunch if some of them already qualify for a big league cat, or would most probably improve their seeding by simply starting in their normal seeded group. Judging by the results, the Stars group performance equated to the F groups performance. So the riders that probably benefited most were from F-I. Perhaps entrants need to be vetted with more detail and not simply chosen on PPA index. Perhaps they also need to have completed a certain number of recent recognised races to qualify ? As the Pirelli slogan goes ... "Power is nothing without control"

Easier for the marshall's directing at intersections ? Less riders taking the short/long route by mistake ... or accidentally on purpose ;-)

Very true. Interestingly most of them do participate in our club races. We have had Charles, Uwe and Brian pitch at a number of events. In December Brian Ireland lost a win on an 80Km club road race to one of our rising stars. Last year Uwe killed us on the Burgundy crit, but had another unknown City rider hot on his wheel, and Charles is the master of the Malanshoogte climb, which we use for a regular club event. As a funny aside, Uwe missed the start of one of our recent crits due to his DI2 having a flat battery :-)

I always pre-hydrate with about 750ml plain water well before a race starts. Most races I use 1 waterbottle of 32GI, and then still have some left at the finish sometimes. When racing on the tandem I keep my waterbottle in my centre back pocket and the stoker passes it to me when needed. I find it easier than reaching down to the bottle cage.

Ok cool :-) Next time we have a club event like the Century City Festival Crit or other race event we'll put your club on the list. We normally open up entries to all clubs and MC2 club always pitches up. See you on the road somewhere.

Bit of a bolshy sweeping statement in my opinion. From merely looking at passing City Cycling Club groups it seems you can assess racing/riding/performance/ability with certainty. Almost all large CCC groups comprise of social/fun-riders that don't enter races, nor have that mindset. Outriders has a larger proportion of higher seeded riders than CCC, but I'm sure the club does have enough quality members (see below, to name a few) to put a team together if we really need to. Don't be so judgemental. CHARLES SOLOMON ENZO LEZZI PAUL JACOBS UWE SCHMIDT STUART ANDERSON ROBBIE SETTON FRANK SMITH BRIAN IRELAND MIMMO CUTINO ZAC ABEL RICHARD DE VINK LUKAS KRUGER THEO SCHMEISSER

Since riding a tandem in races the past few months we've got used to people wheel sucking off us, particularly on most flat sections where we are a bit faster. We really don't mind, as most riders thank us for the help, and it would be a wasted wheel other wise. On downhills we mostly ride wheel-suckers off our wheel as we can easily get to up 85kmh. Yesterday we started in a group of 4 tandems, inc Moolman Welgemoed & John o'Connor who left us in the dust from the start of Hel's. From Hel's until the finish we rode mostly on our own, occasionally catching small ABC/league bunches and helping them to bridge to other small groups. We had Tredoux Odendaal from RSA Web for company on our wheel for a lot of the way as he too let the small groups go and was just using the race as a training opportunity. Just before the turn onto the R304 we went past Welgemoed and o'Connor who had a flat (turns out they had a total of 3 flats). The last stretch to the finish into the wind we decided to conserve our energy and wait for a bigger bunch to sit in with, but none came past. So we finished comfortably on 3:10.

This is my take on the cycle path ... It's fantastic to have the use of the cycle-lane facilities that we do have, and that the cycling community were not ignored in the planning process, as so often happens in other cities. Perhaps its design is not perfectly suitable for all cycling situations, but it suits the purpose to a great degree, especially for the cycling commuters. There are times when I choose to use it and times when I choose not to. These moments of choice always revolve around ride purpose and reasonable risk to self, from both cars and potential muggers. I/we didn't use it at 5am this morning as we were a training bunch riding at a tempo pace, and we figure that the dynamics of our purpose don't include dealing with cycle commuters, poles etc along a snaking narrow path in the dark. That's a recipe for disaster, and then I'll bet there will be another thread on the Hub complaining about training groups using the cycle path The road traffic at this time is also minimal and there is enough of a hard shoulder for a bunch to ride on. Being in a bunch in this situation also gives us more visibility than a solo rider. If I have to train solo for the same purpose at this time then I would choose another route away from traffic, or ride on the cycle path if it's for example a recovery ride. On the occasions when our club rides out to town on a Sat or Sun morn for a 7am ride, then we use the cycle path from a safety point of view. We have in the past had a club member mugged on the cycle path past Paarden Eiland, and I have had a puncture on it too (can happen anywhere). We all have a choice ...

Anton OBerholzer aka Beast of the East, or AOB1 on the Hub.

Opsite Flexigrid or Tegaderm covering from Clicks or Dischem is all you need. Don't let the roasties dry out or form a scab. Clean up roasties and apply the covering. Leave it on for about 5 days and recover thereafter if neccessary. You can shower/bath with the covering with no hassles.

Minimising your drag into the wind is very significant but weight borne momentum, more especially downhill, also plays a small part.

Wheels and drivetrain are where it matters most imho. Your bike can be too light, especially riding into windy conditions. I rode in a DC tandem team recently where there was a tandem that weighed just over 11Kg (unbelievable but true), and they used a lot of energy to keep up on downhills and into the wind.