Skubarra

technically you are not allowed to move a group or 2 earlier? And then just a general, flat route & good weather - so unless you have a really bad seeding or no seeding at all the 99er not the best race to up your seeding no matter where you start, usually a penalty on how the seeding index for this race is calculated.

Heat and high pace made this a pretty tough 100km... Also smallish field so it was easy to find yourself isolated doing a solo ride. "Free" beers & hot dogs at finish were a nice gesture. Great gravel roads surfaces, can't believe we don't have more gravel races in the area.

Last year it was on the wednesday

Glad you can finally admit your irrationality during those times 😉 But seriously, those debates were pointless in hindsight - but at the time helped one process everything that was happening

Parking at Boland Stadium - you will see the directions as you get into town

Kalbaskraal road doesn't have much of a shoulder but its fairly quiet. A decent option to cycle to Malmesbury

6h13 is an amazing performance (even in perfect weather!) - well done! Next up the Sub-6?

First 40km completely different to previous years - much easier, more flowing - an improvement over the previous route imo and probably win you easily 20 minutes over previous years + save the legs a bit for the last 50km Weather was also as perfect as you could ask for in January, around 30 degrees in the Kloof and low 20s on the Groot Brak side with a light breeze & drizzle to cool one down. So overall you should have been about 40 minutes faster Saturday compared to the previous "standard" Attakwas. I finally got my sub 7 despite being undercooked and overweight compared to previous attempts but I'll take it 🤣

The long distance would be the official seeding ride. They might use the shorter distance with a penalty for your seeding, or if you are very lucky without a penalty or not use it all. They are not super consistent in this regard from year-to-year. So I would say to be safe ride the long route, its not a particular difficult route and should be good training in the lead-up to the Argus.

I'm not worried about the Oudtshoorn side.... But I see the predictions are changing, rain moving to Friday night. So might be a bit slippery & muddy but can live with that 🙂

Fair point - I'll take rain & mud over the heat everyday.

You gotta be kidding me - just when I thought I broke my Atta bad weather streak. What does it take to get normal weather in that area? Groot-Brak predicted weather for Saturday Would still take the rain & mud over 40 degrees plus heat

I remember from previous races people starting and then waiting just a few 100 meters beyond the starting chute for their buddies in the later group. So it might be that unlike road races the organisers are not keen on people dropping down to a lower seeded group. But I'm sure the registration people will tell you

I have slightly mixed feelings about that wall climb they cut out - a lekker challenge but I always felt the effort you put in to get up there causes damage that bites you later the day.

Yep for once I (seemingly) didnt jinx the weather - should be my 1st Atta in normal weather in 4 attempts... Form is not quite there and carrying too many christmas kilos but banking on that 4km they cut out to get me under a sub 7 🤣

Please give us feedback on the outcome, if they give you a good deal I will take that route when my Garmin inevitably breaks down within the next 2 years...

I feel your pain, R820 for a bike ride is not cheap. The reality though is that the cost of hosting events ballooned over the past few years - red tape, insurance, ambulances, traffic etc. Would have been much easier to rectify if it were the organisers taking fat profits but unfortunately thats usually not the case. I still love doing events but at +-R1K per entry there is no way I can afford to race every other weekend. Would be interesting to see how viable hosting "small" cycling events will be going forward.

That would be way more discount than they offered me the last time I tried that route, but that was a few years back so maybe things changed.

I'm really not sure but that might just be a better deal than what you could get directly from Garmin... Januwory a real sucky month for bike equipment to fail 🙈

cwc still had some end of range 530s on discount in December, bought one after the start switch on my old 530 decided to stop working and its not as trivial to fix as a broken screen... Not sure if the special is still on

tx sure - normal license = csa membership in this context, ie you dont need the racing license to ride wp champs on saturday

As I have it you would not need a racing license for WP Champs, a normal license would suffice. Racing license only really applicable if you want to go to nationals.

seeding is out...

Not sure about the dowhill from Paarl Mountain through Spice route - that might not be open to public or you might need a day pass from Paarl Trails. You might need to go via the Paarl Monument if you want to stick to public roads. The rest is fine 👍

Assuming you refer to the gravel sections on the eastern side of the route - those are all public roads