IanJ

I would be keen for a JHB day if your company wouldn't mind us coming along. I could probably bring 4-5 others as well.

We just beat you guys then, I was in VM (started together with VB) and finished in 2:55:05, my son was in A and just beat me in 2:54:21. We actually rode together for a bit when A caught up to VB/VM but then I pulled ahead up Chappies. Well done to you and your son and good luck in trying to keep up with him in the future.

I just wanted to thank the organisers, marshalls and especially Captain Slow and the other helivac marshall that were with Cat3. You guys did an awesome job in controling the race, the traffic and also ensuring that no slower riders jumped into our bunch as we passed them. The "A bunch" that we caught were a group of about 20 that had been dropped by the main A bunch. Well done to all. :clap:

Ok so if I do 5 SA Active events I will get 15000 base points plus 5000 bonus and if I then do an assesment I will get no base points and up to 7500 bonus points. That is what I thought. Thanks.

Cool thanks, Diamond here we come

Can you still earn points for the fitness assessment if you have the individual max 15000 base points from SA Active events?

I will put my head on the block and say that if the Tour does ever happen again it will remain in the Cape area. The Giro has happened there for a long time with no major incidents. Johannesburg and it's residents don't deserve a race of this stature.

Just a few comments: 1) I am a member of one of the clubs that responded to the call, at very short notice, to provide marshalls along the route yesterday and today. Of all the clubs in Central Gauteng Cycling only 3 provided any marshalls and most of those were from a club in Soweto. Yes it is unnaceptable to expect clubs to respond at such short notice but surely we could have done better? 2) Yesterday Stage 1 was controlled entirely by Tshwane Metro who seemed to have done a very good job of controlling the roads. Having said that they only had a very short piece of road (Cedar and Witkoppen) to control bringing the race into Johannesburg. 3) The method of operation was that the Metro cops secured an intersection before handing it over to a Think Bike Marshall or stationary marshall and then rolling through to the next intersection. The roads were closed for all through traffic and traffic from front and back until the last rider and sweep had passed. 4) Today we stationed ourselves on Sandton Drive at the corner of Alice Lane near Sandton City. From what I saw there were just as many Metro Cops and Think Bike marshalls as yesterday. Some Metro Cops did not seem to know the route and asked us which way the route went. We were assisted in securing the intersection by several Think Bike marshalls and with a few exceptions motorists were fairly patient and well behaved. 5) The problem seemed to be caused by traffic already in the route ahead of the race which could not be cleared before the race got to the backup. This would indicate that full road closure would have been the only way to run this route. Having said that I doubt motorists would have tolerated full road closure for 2-3 hours on a Sunday afternoon on such major roads. 6) I might be wrong but the way I read the story about the Metro Cops "disappearing" was that it only happened once the race had been officially stopped i.e. the riders and race convoy was left to fend for itself to get back to Monte Casino from Sandton. This is also inexcusable but is different to what is being protrayed about them deserting the race whilst it was still in progress. Certainly the major blame has to be laid at the feet of the race organisers but I think there were lots of contributing factors which have to be taken into account.

Jeez but you Southerners can complicate things, what's wrong with deciding on a route and everyone that wants to comes along and rides it. If someone drops off we stop and wait for them.

Careful there, I am an old toppie with a RHR of 38, so it is very easy to keep my HR down Of course if ND comes along then BigS doesn't stand a chance he will blow his HR monitor.

Ok so back to the serious stuff, Slave wants to break the group into 2 and make a "race" out of it. I say no ways, if we do a group ride it is a group ride and we ride together, if some get ahead then they stop and wait for the others. There is a time for racing and competitions and a time for enjoying a ride in the countryside with fellow cyclists and I see this ride as one of those. Everyone agree?

No problem, we can do slow (but from what I have read here there are some serious racing snakes in your bunch), not much happening after Argus so will be taking a bit of a break anyway.

We would be keen to make the great trek from the north to join if you guys do this ride. Is the DC thing still happening? If so it could be a good kickstart training ride.

We decided as a group so rather just ask them to DQ the whole group. I don't think it will be a big problem in the future, the start of R4S is very fast so there is no chance of breaking up the bunch. This was compounded by the tandems giving the A bunch guys a tow so that they caught us very early. In another race they would start catching back markers from Cat 4 but the groups would be a lot smaller. As I said the majority of the front of Cat 4 (where the racing was taking place) where the same guys that raced 50-59 last year so theoretically there should be very little difference to last years racing. There were some people who maybe shouldn't have been in a Cat race at all but I think they would be dropped quickly. I think one thing they could do is introduce a minimum seeding to get into any category ie. Cat2 = <8, Cat3 = 8-11, Cat 4 = 11-15 anything above 15 goes back to open seeded. Another wierd thing is why allow 10min gaps between licenced bunches and then only 6 before A bunch and tandems? I don't see the logic there.

Not sure if you guys realise that quite a few of us in Cat4 did drop back and then continued racing once there was a gap. We actually went to protest and to ask that the entire group be DQ'd as there could not have been a fair result. The mistake was combining the A bunch with tandems as the speed was very fast especially on that fast downhill drag to Alberton, this meant that the combined bunch caught us very early in the race when both bunches were still huge. The front of the Cat4 bunch consisted mostly of what was previously the vets 50-59 Vets group. We initially sat up when passed by A bunch/tandems but then Cat4 guys came from the back of our bunch and jumped on and we eventually had no choice but to go with them. The difference was that when later asked to drop back by the marshall quite a few of us did but some selfish riders didn't which led to the disqualification. I was very dissapointed as I was feeling strong and had actually been out on a 10km solo break for the 10km before Rondebult so was looking forward to a good race.

The Drongo - That would be 'always write him a long letter'

Did they mention anything about saving a Mavic Cosmic Wheel? I know of another guy who's bike is there but not sure of the model. Seriously, I hope everyone is ok there.

Yeah then we can have a criterium MTB race at Groenies.

I believe that the planned developments will not affect the section of the farm used by the MTB community. We also need to get back there more often, I was there for Diepsloot Dare and as you say that new single track by the river is great.

Interesting thread. I was one of the first to try 32GI when it came out earlier this year and have been using it ever since, I ride road and MTB in the licenced Vets (50-59) category. My experience is that it is perfect for long sustained rides at a moderate intensity but I find that when racing at high intensity it sometimes does not give me enough of a kick to respond to attacks and sudden increases in pace. I also use Whasp Kiwi gel during a race, 1 serving after 1 hour and 1 with about 20km to go for the finish. I also started experimenting recently with a combination of 32GI before (including carboloading the previous day) and for the first half of a race and then switching to another product for the second half where the pace inevitably increases. This combination seems to work well for me. There is no doubt that for long endurance events at a moderate intensity 32GI would be perfect I just find that at race intensity you need a bit more of a kick.

I took my bike there but wasn't worth it, you can ride 1-2km up and down the roads in town but try go anywhere beyond and it is just thick sand. As you know all the roads in and out of town are sand so you don't have much choice.

I managed to get it right once during the Lost City race. I carefully measured the chain after putting it on the middle chain ring and the middle of the rear cassette. I then removed the wheel and joined the chain. I put the chain back onto the cassette and then had to force the wheel back in to the drop outs to maintain the tension. if it is still too loose remove the wheel again and move it up to the next biggest gear on the cassette and try again. It will only work if you have it fairly tight and running fairly straight. Good luck.

Question out of interest. Would that be because that is where most power is created in the pedal stroke?

The plot thickens: "There's a noticeable bulge in the seat tube on the Project Black frame that doesn't appear on the Roubaix SL2" Still don't think it is likely though.