-cK-

I'm aware of that and yes my PPA membership is paid. I've entered this event online and even got the PPA discount for an active member so yea I'm a bit ticked off regarding this as you can probably see. I've paid everything yet have nothing time wise to show for it. I've lodge my query and I'm now waiting to see if they will respond to it as I've yet to receive any word from them regarding my first query on the 16th regarding my first event that was also not recorded...Sent them a mail requesting feedback ASAP so lets see...

Yea that climb was not nice at the end. And what gives this is my second race that my time isn't reflecting on racetec. Lodged a query for the first event have yet to hear from them besides the acknowledgement of the query now this one also doesn't show my result. Not happy, will have to log another query it seems as I've got my time from my Garmin to proof but this sucks

Gear all prepped and standing ready to get loaded early tomorrow morning to hit the road.

There are some other photos here as well https://www.facebook.com/LagoonCycleChallenge/photos_stream

Thanks will check on it later in the week then

If I signed up with PPA and bought a Racetec chip this morning before the race will or should my results be included? My Racetec chip do show linked to my name on their site but my results ain't up or is it a matter of PPA still needs to activate my membership first perhaps?

Yea weather turned out awesome. Had a blast with my first go at the 80km race. Aimed for a sub 4 hour time being on my MTB ended up with a sub 3 hour Just ticked off at the weather man that said the wind direction would be southerly but ended up being northerly by my count as it felt like a head wind on the last stretch home when the wind started to pick up a bit. Still enjoyed it

Considering doing this event, will see...

Yea I get what you're saying, give me anything but strong winds and I'll ride with a smile but not gale force winds. Only saving grace would be that it would be from the rear nearing the end, that is if the direction holds. Got caught out on to big weekend rides in the past over here where the wind should have been from the rear but turned on me resulting in a full on head wind 90% of a 80km ride. Not fun But that's the gamble right

Well if it is in a southerly direction then it will be in your face from the start until the first turn point then it should be helping you along until the next turn around and from the back when you loop back at the end. That is on the 80km route.

Did the 35km last year doing the 80km this year

I also did the "42km" again this year. The only saving grace was that I had done this race last year and had half an idea of the route. PS the route also ended up last year at 47km not 42km and that was without the detour due to the rain. I also believe you are refering to the arrow that showed that you had to go left over a little bridge thingy? I caught a big group of about 6 or so blokes coming back and if it weren't for them I would have missed that faded arrow. Why the organizers didn't put a arrow board there boggled my mind as they had some of them on the route especially with the rain that fell that was the least they could have done at key turning points. I did however passed all three water points (I think). The first one I believe was at the first split board of the 35/50km route, thou you would not have noticed it as there was just a couple of water bottle placed on the table and I think by the time we blasted past there they were still unpacking. The second one was at the top of a hill that leading down a decent with a sharp 90 degree right turn that I think joined up with the 35km route again as I caught a bunch of rides there as that road was just sludge. Then there was the one you found. I came in knowing the distance would be more than 42 but ja didn't expect to do nearly 60km. I think what was the cherry on the cake here was that the PPA was actually involved this year and you would have expected a higher level of commitment on having things go smooth but ja as a non-PPA member and Funrider I still managed to enjoyed myself despite all the hassles as stated above as I finished somewhere within the bunch of PPA guys B) I actually took the details of the bloke that finished just before me that was a PPA member to see where I ended up unofficially and I actually crossed the line "8th" if I was to be timed by the PPA. Personal goals checked

I've done the 42km MTB last year and going to do it again this year. Was my very first event I've entered and enjoyed it. I can't comment on the road race side but the MTB was good and for only being in the saddle for over a month and a half before the race it was challenging for me so I'm aiming to improve on my time over that of last year Oh and the bonus is there is a Sunday race/fun ride for the MTB blokes as well and I'm doing both again.

To my knowledge you must OPT IN for such offers to be valid. Also nice touch by them to charge you if you don't want to take the package Big no no!

Saturday - SAS Nature Reserve View at the top http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/20130922_121021.jpg View from the top http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/SASLookout.jpg Today - "Silhouette" sunset grab from helmet cam http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/vlcsnap-2013-09-24-00h07m54s11.png

RANT ON! So after having another incident today with a car that was just to close for comfort I'm astounded by the ignorance of this driver! If you look at the clip below you will see the driver is 1) on the wrong side of the road 2) totally ignorant of other road users What you don't see in the clip is I first tried to get the drivers attention indication to move to the correct side but as the car came closer you wouldn't believe me but the driver was fiddling with something on the passenger side/glove compartment and not even looking at the road at all. My question to the driver of the car is this, what if I wasn't paying attention either and didn't move so far left I almost had to go up on the pavement or even worse I was coming down there with my car you ignorant #$#$#%#%@%$#^$%#$ Sitting here I think that I should have smashed the damn driver side window, maybe that would have gotten the drivers attention Just one more reason I hate having to ride on tarmac getting home from my dusty gravel roads when I go mountain biking Anyways RANT OFF: http://youtu.be/ekpqSdNi2Sk

So after doing a "local" MTB event/race and being asked by the organizer when I would like him to arrange another one to be held in the summer it got me thinking. What is the best time of the year to arrange events? Hence the poll. Also note that this is from the view point of "local" MTB events in the West Coast region as there is a serious lack of events close to home for us. Inputs from you all (local and aboard) would be interesting to see what will motivate you to attend an event in our area (or why you won't/don't consider the West Coast for an Event venue) and at what time of the year. My idea is to gather some input that I can pass on to the organizer that did the Hopefield Fynbos event to see if he might not be able to get something going as he really seems to like doing this type of stuff

The above is just some of the moments get them all here: http://s260.photobuc...ynbos challange

Like a champ http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/314.jpg Our gopro editor - Thanks for the Recap clip http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/322.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/412.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/416.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/53.jpg And for those who think it was a ride in the park these photos says otherwise http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/63.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/66.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/67.jpg

Some Finish line shots http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/177.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/182.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/200.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/206.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/222.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/231.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/252.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/259.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/284.jpg

Some pre-race moments http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/124.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/125.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/112.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/109.jpg And their off! http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/138.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/146.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/165.jpg

A special thanks to Willem Schoeman for organizing the event http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/2.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/85.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/121.jpg His daughter who took the photos http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Hopefield%20MTB%20Fynbos%20challange/186.jpg

I've asked the organizer but as it wasn't an "officially" timed event he could only give me the top 4 finishers of the 46km which are as follow: 1st Danie Marais - 1h50m 2nd Charl du Plessie 3rd Craig Casey-Hughes 4th Willem Calitz - 2h12m aka cK I'm busy gathering the photos from the organizer's facebook albums and will filter through it as there are literally hundreds of them 433 to be precise

F'ing A! Congrats mate way to go doing it on home soil no less

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Paternosterturn.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/Rainbow.jpg http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/wacza/MTB%20Stuff/20130901_102649.jpg