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Notably one piece of equipment that is very rarely reviewed on Bike Hub seems to be shoes. Given the opportunity to muck about with a pair of Fizik M3B mountain bike shoes, I was ready to get ankle deep into the task.
With the various race reports that I have done I prepare a template a head of time with the various criteria that I use to rate the race but after only 20 minutes into day one of the Imana Wild Ride I knew that anything I had used before would just not work for this event.
The KASK brand of helmets, as worn by Team Sky, is fast growing in popularity and I had the pleasure of donning three different models from the KASK stable over a number of weeks.
The attention created by various diets, controversial or not, has seen a definite shift in attitudes to food types and eating habits. Natural, unprocessed foods are becoming more popular and Raw Revolution got my attention recently during a multistage MTB race. They are one of the nutrition companies trending towards a more natural nutrition option for athletes, so I was quite keen to try the product when it was offered.
Just about everyone knows TomTom for their car navigation systems but they have now started poking around in the sports watch market. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with the TomTom Multisport Cardio watch.
Friend of mine just went through Noordhoek and the following signage was erected:
Cycle Tour
City/Noordhoek
(via Ou Kaapse Weg)
06h45 15h30
Sun 8 March
So i take it it is OKW M3 to finish...
That sign was erected for vehicles to use OKW during the race, its been up for a week.
@Kimbles it is and it does ;-)
@JoshK I was happy with the tyres but if that's the only problem you have with the bike then awesome :-)
I was recently given the opportunity to ride a Bianchi Methanol FS 29 for a few weeks and after months of riding my 29er Hardtail in multiple stage races I was very well dialed into my bike, and so thought it would a great time to compare rides.
The RE:CM Knysna 200 held this past weekend not only saw some incredible riding and great results from the pros, but also showed off 200 km of some of the best mountain biking routes in the country.
Spain’s Mario Mola captured his first ITU World Triathlon Series win in dramatic style in London, pulling out a perfectly time sprint to hold off training partner Richard Murray in the final 100 metres of the race.
Mola was quiet throughout the swim and the bike in the sprint race in Hyde Park before coming to the front as part of an eight man lead group at the start of the 5km run. But as others tried to break the field early, including both Alistair Brownlee and Javier Gomez at different stages, Mola waited patiently until the final finishing chute. It was Murray that reeled in Brownlee first, but then had to contend with Mola on his shoulder. As they exhausted everything in the dash to the tape, it was Mola that found that extra level to claim his first career series win in a total time of 49 minutes and 46 seconds.
“I try to do everything that’s possible in every race,” Mola said. “Today I was lucky to be fighting at the end. I’m very happy. I’m sure that people have enjoyed the race here at home.”
It was the second consecutive podium place for Murray, who collected bronze in Yokohama. The final place on the podium was reserved for a new talent in Portugal’s Joao Pereira.
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“It was an incredibly hard race! It’s the first time I’ve been on the podium since 2010 so obviously I am very happy about that,” Pereira said. “When I saw Ali go for the sprint I thought ‘just go for it’ and with about 10m to go I managed to catch him. It was so hard but the opportunity to get on the podium was so amazing I just gave it everything.”
A regular on the WTS circuit for the past two seasons, Pereira had recorded consistent a number of top-10 results, including a 10th in last year’s Grand Final. But this year he proved he is one to watch on the Road to Rio, outsprinting Alistair Brownlee to claim his first series medal.
Earlier in the day, a very speedy swim saw Richard Varga, Dmitry Polyanskiy and Aurelien Raphael get out of the one-lap swim with a handful of seconds to their advantage. But a massive school of men behind them that was headed by Jonathan Brownlee, Javier Gomez and Alistair Brownlee quickly shut that lead down early in the bike.
In an effort to create distance between themselves and running speed devils Mario Mola and Richard Murray, half the pack pushed the pace to split the men’s field on the first two laps of the bike.
But with a determined Murray at the helm of the chase, that lead had dwindled to just six seconds allowing for them to bridge up on the third of four bike laps.
That put all the major contenders back into the lead group ahead of T2 and it didn’t take long for the same five men that put on a show in Yokohama to hit the front. Except this time, Portugals Joao Silva, Joao Pereira and Australia’s Ryan Bailie joined them. Together that group of eight set a scintalling pace for the first of two short 2.5km laps. While various tactical moves played out over the next 2.5km, the podium didn’t unfold until the final 200m metres, where Mola entered history as a WTS winner.
Mola’s win also marks a changing of the guard in London, as previously only Gomez and Alistair Brownlee had been victorious on the Hyde Park course. It’s been more than 18 months since a man other than Brownlee or Gomez has topped a World Triathlon Series podium. Mola’s gold also brought to the end the best winning streak in WTS history for Gomez, who had been unbeaten since last year’s Grand Final. However his sixth place was enough for him to keep his lead in the Threadneedle rankings.
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Javier Gomez may have claimed gold at the Cape Town leg of the World Triathlon Series but the golden boy on the day was Richard Murray who showed incredible character to grab 5th place.
Murray who was the highest ranked local for the event exited the swim a bit lower down than he had hoped while Henri Schoeman had a super fast swim shedding his wetsuit in 2nd place and Wian Sullwald mixing it up with the race favorites a few seconds back.
On to the bike and Richard Murray was stuck in the chase group that pushed hard to pull the lead group back but a super flat course saw the time gap remain around the one minute mark throughout the 8 laps.
Race favorites Gomez and Brownlee left T2 together as expected, immediately hit the front and ran together until around 7km where Gomez upped the pace leaving Brownlee behind.
Known for his run strength Richard Murray gave everything and passed nine athletes to finish in 5th place overall with a 10km run time of 30:07, finishing just over a minute behind Gomez.
Richard Murray‘s gutsy performance on the day was great to watch the spectacle of Gomez and Brownlee fighting it out on home soil was special.
It was awesome to watch the huge amount support from Capetonian’s and the cheering was deafening as spectators leapt to their feet on the grandstands each time a South African athlete passed through on their laps. The resounding roar as Richard Murray came through the finish will be something he will remember for a long time.
A great event to watch and seemingly very well organized; as for Cape Town….well she showed off to the world with a windless beautiful day that was perfect for triathlon.
1st Javier Gomez (ESP)
2nd Jonathan Brownlee (GBR)
3rd Dmitry Polyanskiy (RUS)
4th Mario Mola (ESP)
5th Richard Murry (RSA)
---------------------------------
15th Wina Sullwald (RSA)
17th Henri Schoeman (RSA)
44th Wikus Weber (RSA)
48th Eddie Van Heerden (RSA)
I have seen several cases similar to this including my own, Cool Heat were swift to replace.
Suppose I should ask the guys who make it, but does anyone know if there are plans to get some down to the shops in Cape Town?
Hey, CycleLab in Tokai has stock.
I was recently given a bottle of Smoove chain lube to try out while I was training for the Cape Epic, this is a locally made product by Spoke Works in Pretoria. I am told that the guys at Spoke Works have been working on this for a few years to get the product refined and working to their satisfaction.
Thanks everyone for the support and positive feedback.
This is a bit of a weird week, the elation of the finish still hanging around, the return to normal life is a bit of a downer........ oh and just so much free time on my hands.
Will be back on the bike on Saturday. :-)
So the final day of the Epic had arrived and so had the rain again, however this didn’t do much to dampen the mood on the start line.
Its getting a little harder to wake up each morning now as fatigue on body and mind is setting in, it was around 12 degrees this morning too which made it even more difficult.
It seemed like everyone was on go slow on this misty morning as we entered chute C again today. We were one of three teams ready for the day to start and the move to Elgin.
Hey Guys, thanks for the support, Team name is Swiss Club / Flux Communications number 326.
With the route profile that resembled an ECG reading stuck to my cross bar my partner and I headed to start chute C again, a much lighter mood today with lots of joking.
If I actually manage to get myself GoPro savvy I might actually get some pics, apparently this is too HG for me. :-)
Stage 3 arrived and riders walked around the campsite a bit more lethargically today as we prepared for the long haul to Greyton.
Any free massage packages for Absa Cape Epic 2020?
in Absa Cape Epic
Posted
I’m using Beyond Performance, I think they have availability,
admin@beyondperformance.co.za