tombeej

Accuweather predicting pretty stiff 40+ kph WNW winds on Sunday. Windfinder for OR Tambo International is showing similar results (actually 50+ kph by lunch time): http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/Johannesburg_or_tambo_airport We're still a few days away, so the forecast can still change dramatically. But for now, we should be planning for a bit of a blower.

More on echelons: http://www.thetallcyclist.com/2013/02/echelons-and-you-riding-smart-in-the-crosswind/

Another one:

An echelon is basically a rolling pace line, with the only difference being that it's not straight but angled off away from the direction of the wind. That's because the slipstream is no longer directly behind the rider in front of you, but now off at an angle (you often need to almost come alongside a rider in a strong crosswind). We've had some info posted already on this thread, but here's a video of a group of amateurs (like us) working their own echelon. Not super slick, but you can see how they're rolling. The wind is coming from the right, so the front guys stick to the far right side of the road in order to allow as many people as possible in the group to benefit from the side-on slipstream. The riders that swap off and come to the back, do so on the windward side. This is to give the riders moving up the gift of a bit of extra side-wind protection. If a group is too big (like ours is becoming), you eventually run out of road and the guys on the wrong side are what's called "being put into the gutter". Not a good place to be. So we'll probably have to split into smaller bunches with strong riders in each one to organise the echelons properly.

The weather forecast will start to become more accurate now, as we get closer to the day. At the moment, looks like a sunny day but we might be in for some wind. I think we need to start talking more about the technique of riding in an echelon....

Added

Sorry I'm going to miss it. I'm driving up on Saturday morning from KZN.

Good idea bud. I'll see if I can buy some large white self-adhesive stickers and write down name tags for everyone, then bring to the race and people can stick them to the back of their shirts if they like.

Added to the list

doeffels, eddyr and Ryan's dad added to the team 32 in the I-Team now. Hell bells.

OK then, here are my thoughts on the downhills... Since we’re not racing uphill (which is where time is always made up in racing) we are going to have to get back that lost time elsewhere. And that means on the flats and downhills (except the super-fast ones like Jan Smuts past the animal prison and from Hyde Park to the bottom). On those long super fast downhills we just give each other lots of space, keep to the right of slow riders, but keep your hands off the brakes (I’m guessing the ones on the front will probably have to spend quite a bit of time yelling at slower people to move to the left as we bomb past). But on all the other more gentle downhills we continue as if it’s flat: we keep it tight, don’t let gaps form, and again stay off the brakes. We’re really going to have to fly if we want to wait on the climbs but still beat our goals. If you’re not used to being in a bunch at high speeds then time to grow a pair (ladies exempted, of course!): pick out a pair of your favourite big boy pants for race day and come ready to ride. For people who aren't used to going high speeds in bunch, a tip is to sit just off to the right of the line of the person in front of you, about a shoulder width or so. This gives you the ability to look past the person in front just enough to see what's happening while still benefiting from the slipstream. It also means that if the person in front suddenly brakes or has an emergency, you won't go flying into them and you always have that little bit of room to quickly exit to the right of them. Using the wind to brake: Sitting slightly off to the right also allows you to 'brake' using the wind if you need to (no, I didn’t say break wind!). In bunch racing, brakes are bad. You learn to try and stay away from them as much as possible. That's because braking causes sudden little speed differentials in the group, and that causes crashes. It stops the group going along at the same pace (and also starts the concertina effect that splits bunches). If you're in the middle of the bunch, braking is unavoidable in the slipstream of others, you just feather your brakes as smoothly as possible without any grabbing. But when you're in the pace line or on a gentle downhill following people, don't brake but rather move out into the wind, sit up and open your chest to catch as much wind as possible and you'll be amazed how effective this is in slowing down. If you're trying not to lose the wheel in front of you on a long gradual downhill and the person in front is pulling, it becomes a little dance of tucking behind them for the draft, then as you get to close you drift out into the wind to slow down. And then as they're starting to pull away again, drift back in behind and tuck into the draft. If you get it right you can go down a long hill like this without ever having to pedal and barely touch your brakes, while remaining safely in a pace line. The only thing here is that others mustn’t think they can just fly up to close the gap you’ve supposedly opened in the line. You haven’t – you’ve just drifted slightly to the right to catch a bit of wind – and you’ll soon be drifting back in once you’ve scrubbed off a bit of speed. Last thing: you’ll have some very experienced racers in the team. Watch what they do and try to emulate the way they ride. It’s amazing how fast these guys go while still making you feel completely at ease, touching elbows at 50+ kph. We’re asking them to wait on the hills, but I won’t be asking them to wait on the rest of the course simply because we're afraid of going fast. They will be going for it on those sections. All you have to do is make sure you don’t lose your nerve and lose the wheel in front of you. Simple

Just the little glance left and right to make sure there's no-one busy overtaking you, esp. on the inside of a corner...

I was hoping someone else would answer, because I'm giving myself a complex sounding all school mastery at the moment. Time for me to step into the background, I think. Maybe the GCN guys can help:

Yes, people need to be honest with themselves and if the pace of the whole group is clearly too much for them, it will be up to them to say "I'm out" and let the group go.

Ja, ja. You are one of those guys who knows exactly how many calories there are in a bean sprout

Staying hydrated and going to be early every night doesn't mean a magnum of wine for dinner and passing out on the couch...

I was thinking something along the lines of this. A cable tie (not as big as this one) straight out the back - horizontally - with the yellow tag on the end.

Yebo, half the battle on Sunday will be won if you come with the right attitude. I proved this to myself this year when I arrived at a race not really wanting to be there, so decided that this will just be a hard training ride. Well, I couldn't hold onto the wheels, my legs were burning in the first 30km and the pace seemed way too hard. I limped home about 10 min behind my original target time. A month later I was racing against the same people and because it was a race I'd been looking forward to the whole year as one of my big goals, I was so up for it - I couldn't wait to get going and do some real 'suffering'. That day I was leading those same people over the climbs into the final 30km of the race and finished strong. I'm not sure how many people have read up on Noakes' central-governor theory, but I am definitely someone who believes it exists. Here's a good article, well worth the read: Fatigue: Mind over muscle. So the message is: in the corniest Yankee tradition, come to the race on Sunday ready to kick a$$. Come ready to suffer, look forward to the mental battle in the last 24km. If you come with the right attitude, you should expect to get a much better time.

My original plan was always to ride for the guys in I batch, doing super domestique duties and trying to work for them to give them their best times possible, whatever they turn out to be. As people started joining from other (higher) batches, it morphed somewhere to the goal being all about the sub-3 target, and I'm getting concerned that the original goal of just giving our time to ride for our fellow Hubbers in 'I' is getting a bit lost along the way. I made the promise to them that I was coming to help and to ride for them, that I'll never just ride away from them if they're too slow for me, but if we all stick close together, share the workload in the pace line, and not leave others behind, we can get a great time. That hasn't changed for me, and I'm sticking to that promise. I'll be with them to the finish line. When I talk about waiting at the top of climbs, I'm referring to the front of the bunch not just hammering on to get their sub 3 hr pace, but only to take their foot off the gas long enough to allow the rest of the group (that will be all strung out, esp. on the longer and steeper climbs) time to catch up and we're then ready to start pulling hard again. If we just ride off and leave people behind, then what was the point of dropping back to this group in the first place? I'm concerned that a few of our teammates in I batch are reading some of these posts from stronger riders and thinking to themselves, "well, that immediately counts me out then. I was never going for sub 3 and now all these fast guys are joining and I don't stand a chance of keeping up so I'm not so crazy about this idea anymore." That's definitely not what I was hoping for this thing. The message to the faster riders dropping back to join the I-Team remains: we are forfeiting our own ambitions and goals for the race to help our teammates smash their own targets. This is all about them, not us. So if that means the group is only good enough for sub 3h15 then so be it. Talus (and maybe Patch as well), if you're going for a second lap and you're concerned about not getting back in time for the last batch going off at 10h28, all I hope for is that you guys give us your full support for the first 70km (i.e. the bottom of the Witkoppen climb). That means doing the work on the front at a good 3hr pace, but always to keep in mind that we're doing this for the teams goals, so we're not leaving people behind. We can easily make up the time again on the flatter sections, but only if the group stays together. And then, at 70km you can check where we are and if you think we're going too slowly for you, you are welcome to turn on the afterburners and head off from there. If you can just give us that first 70km it would be hugely appreciated from everyone, I'm sure. Last note: even if we come in at 3h15 that means you still have 8 minutes before the last batch goes off. So if we finish in 3h05 or 3h10, you've still got masses of time to get back to the starting pens. Hope you'll join us! But if you want to stick to your original plans, no problem at all - completely understandable .

Is that you, Tony Martin? We would have about an hour headstart on you - you're going to need some of this stuff to catch us

You're a legend, thanks

Add you to the list

Somewhere in the back of my mind is an idea lurking to make this a more permanent project. In other words, have an I-Team for every race. Doesn't matter what batch is selected, it just stays The I-Team (Because there has to be an 'I' in 'Team' ). We'll see if this idea has legs beyond the 94.7. If not, no worries, it was fun while it lasted. But if it does, we could start looking at I-Team shirts and whatnot. But we'll see how this all plays out....

Ok, added to the list. Have now removed the 'undecided' list.

Sorry, Bored Girl, didn't realise you were in too. Added to the list .