hunterza

Yup, nobody asked me for my finishtime board

Great ride, thanks! Very impressed with the organisation, and especially the fact that orderly parking was organised at the field on Bethanie Rd. Was concerned about the parking but it was super smooth, at least for me.

Looks like quite a nice option for March/April/May. But this comment on their site (https://app.staylive.io/cycling/calendar-roadcycling) - "* Flanders Classic (Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Gent-Wevelgem, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Scheldeprijs, De Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold Race, Brussels Cycling Classic) available in the following countries only: Albania, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Greece, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan." reduces the value rather considerably Maybe March + May?

The route changes are a bit of a pity. I never found that crit circuit at the start particularly dangerous - just *very* hard right at the start if you were in a group that was pushing the pace (all the times I can remember!). And the end up Odendaal was always very memorable and challenging, although the ending crit circuit through the suburbs felt a lot more dangerous. I'll still ride it and, I'm sure, enjoy it - but it does feel like it has lost something. I suppose it's quite likely that the organisers didn't have much of a choice here though...

Well there is some tracking - https://racemap.com/player/cape-hope-500. And presumably some sort of backup. The route looks interesting enough - apart from the fact that you get back to Cape Town at about 350kms done, only to be sent to the blockhouse and silvermine and signal hill before finally being allowed to finish at 470/480kms!

Yup, I enjoyed Zwift, but still only used it for 2-3 months at a time as it felt expensive for what you were getting. With the increase, I can't see myself ever paying for it again - I'll just use the free 25kms per month. To be fair, I suppose if you're earning in Euros or Dollars, maybe it hits a little less hard.

Still looking for two more people to join a group if anyone's interested. If you're on the fence and haven't tried Rouvy, it's definitely worth a try. I enjoy exploring real routes and their selection is great. I also find it more immersive than some of the alternative 'real video' options, like Fulgaz, or just YouTube, as your avatar is always visible, and there are other cyclists around on the more popular routes.

Hi, @Sloggy and I (and possibly @mecheng89) are keen to start a Rouvy group subscription, especially now that Zwift has gotten very expensive. The Rouvy group subscriptions are really very good value - 32.99 Euro for 5 people per month - so around 6.60 each = ~R130-R140. A yearly subscription works out to even cheaper - ~R110/month. So probably less than half of other platforms like Wahoo Systm, and less than a third of Zwift. I know there are free options like MyWhoosh and Indievelo, but I like the variety of Rouvy. I normally do workouts up one or another of the many mountain passes they have available, and otherwise just do zone 2 cruising exploring other areas. I think the plan would be for each of us to commit to say 4 months on Rouvy, then transfer one (or more if you like) month's payment to the one we choose to administer the account. Once the money has been collected, the subscription is started, and we each make sure it is working well. Then before the end of the month, we transfer the remainder of the 4 month period to the person paying, and the subscription remains for those 4 months. After that we can decide whether to continue or stop as a group. I normally switch platforms quite regularly, but the group subscription may make it worthwhile to do a year's subscription for the equivalent cost of like 3 months of Zwift. DM me if you are keen, and we can use a whatsapp group or similar to arrange the rest. We only need 2 or 3 more, but if there is sufficient interest, perhaps other groups can also be started. The only restriction I am aware of on Rouvy's side is that it seems that you can't change groups more than once a year.

I would also be interested to join a Rouvy group

Pure maltodextrin (I get from Takealot) is great for this. It adds carbs without affecting the taste much at all. I used to add fructose as well but there was a real limit to how much I could add as it gets really sweet. Now I use something like energade for flavour and sodium etc., and just add about 80g maltodextrin in a 750ml bottle.

And 1A looks like over 400 to me! Could it just be that the organisers are trying to cram a larger field into the same starting window so that the 42km route can start at 10?

Yes, same here. I would have ridden this, but had thought it had been cancelled when I heard nothing about it. You would have thought that they could at least have emailed previous participants a month or two ago to let them know that it was happening. Or added an event page to bikehub. Or anything...