Alliesmeister

Hi all, about a month ago I finally bought the bike I was asking you guys about at the end of last year. So I thought I'd share an update and say thanks again for all of the advice! I ended up buying the Titan Valerian Comp Alloy - there was nothing remotely comparable for a Shimano 105 alloy roadbike at this price point. And I'm enjoying the upgrade on so many levels. I decided the additional price for a carbon frame equivalent bike wasn't worth it for my use case and not regretting it at all. Frame size is a much better fit for me with the bike feeling a lot more agile and more comfortable riding on the hoods for long periods. Also feels like the effort I put into the pedals translates much more efficiently to the wheels (I think better frame size, geometry and shorter wheel base all help with this). Shimano 105 - smoother shifting than I was used to. 52/36 chainring (exchanged for the default 50/34) - helps so much on the flats, not spinning out anymore. 11/34 - easier gears allows consistent cadence up climbs instead of grinding. 28mm tires (I tried replacing the standard 25mm with 30mm but they were dangerously close to the frame at the rear so the 28mm official clearance makes sense). See you at the CTCT next week 😉

🤷🏼‍♂️ Browser is being funny and not allowing me to clear my message or emoji at the start... 😅

I couldn't have put it better myself i.t.o. why it's on a Saturday and not a Sunday (without having any inside knowledge whatsoever other than being born & bred in Durbanville 😊). See also the Durbie Dash held annually in October, that also continues to be held on Saturdays. I also prefer Saturday races because it leaves the rest of the weekend for recovery/relaxing but that's just personal preference. Where I do agree with @Paul Ruinaard, is w.r.t. the dangers of cars and riders mixing in the one lane meant to be open to traffic. At every road race where I see this happening (not unique to the 99er) I wonder how one could address this. I think this is primarily a rider behaviour problem and not race organisation (perhaps it's the race equivalent of running any and all red lights regardless of safety/respecting other road users? But that might be a controversial opinion... 😄) That being said, could more emphasis be placed on repeatedly communicating to riders (eg. ahead of the race and on race day) that they are never to use the oncoming lane? Or perhaps even going to the extreme of threatening DQs where this isn't adhered to? (very difficult to marshal/enforce but if the threat itself discourages some from doing it that would already be an improvement). You would think this is common sense from a self-preservation perspective yet some people are clearly willing to take much larger risks with safety... Yesterday I saw an example of multiple riders in the left-hand lane shaking their heads and saying/asking "do you want to be hit by a car?" when a large group caught up to us and rode into the oncoming lane for an extended period with cars passing them in the yellow lane, before they merged onto our side of the road and caused 3 bikes to go down.

Waves filter is now active on the FinishTime website.

Normally there is a wave filter as well, but sometimes that only becomes available a while after all the rest of the results and filters.

Perfect weather as you guys said. Thanks for the effort in putting on a great event to all involved! Had an enjoyable race myself. Group H was going well until +-34km's in when the leading riders of J & K caught up to us (I think). Many of them went wide into the oncoming lane on a descent / rolling hills with cars having to drive in the yellow lane to avoid them. And as they then tried to merge into the already very full left lane, 3 riders who were already on the left got squeezed and went down a couple of bikes ahead of me. I fortunately managed to brake in time but there was a couple of nasty falls with 1 or 2 bikes that went over the first guy who fell. It all felt very avoidable if people had just applied more caution in overtaking/merging with an already large bunch. This is Group H/J/K after all... I really hope those who crashed are alright. It looked like it was mainly the guy who went down 1st that struggled to get up. Needless to say I lost the bunch at that point, but I was a bit disappointed at how few of the riders stopped to check on those who went down. There was a couple of us and then some cars behind us who also stopped.

Amazing! Thanks Nic. Looking forward to that pristine piece of tar near the end 😁

Interesting. Looks like your 45 mins earlier target finish time means more of a back wind on Old Malmesbury & Adderley whereas for mine it becomes more of a crosswind (especially on Adderley). Still low wind speed though.

Weather forecast looks promising 34 hours out with not a lot of wind expected:

I received a 99er email at 16:30 this afternoon. Perhaps they are sending it out in batches if yours hasn't arrived yet.

Updated PPA road seeding is out for the event.

Ah, okay. I must have been too tired to notice him! 😅

I didn't see any photographers. I assume if there was, they would have been at the top of Bothmaskloofpas or at the finish line.

Thanks!

First time I'm riding the Winelands - is there parking on the Primary School's grounds or where's the best place to park / approach the venue from? CC: @Winelands Cycle Race