JA-Q001

OK, so I have a new toy. I bought a Garmin Virb Camera. I have a 64 gb card in it and the battery is good to last my entire race. I will be recording the entire VA race, editing it a bit and then will look at loading it to YOUTUBE. (My first youtube video!) The nice thing using the virb is that my HR, power, speed, cadence and route is displayed. If this goes well Ill record all my VA races and upload them.

Does he race elite?

Jaa, Im punching above my fitness sometimes. My FTP tests are always low, so I guestimate a correct FTP with racing numbers, currently set to 305 after Wilro. Seems the breaks in Amashova was harder than the ones n Wilro.

Thanks, I know Mike so well and then I misspell his surname.

Good numbers. The same will be true for Satellite classic. My numbers for the race: 77kg NP - 324 Ave - 282 Hit above 1200 about 6 times IF - 1.067 TSS - 257.2

I tried not being biased, but the two crossing the line both ride the new TOKEN C50 carbon clinchers.

With the Amashova being one of 'the' classics to win, we always see a good number of competitive riders showing up, this year was no different with even a current 35-39 Grand Fondo World champ in the bunch. The normal danger people were there, Complete Cyclist, Northcliff, Token and quite a few other teams were represented, not forgetting all the local strong men. The VA field was smaller than other years, with a notable size difference to the VB bunch lining up on the opposite lane. The chatter on the line was nervous. A lot of the guys had toured down and was sharing their exploits of the previous few days cycling. As the start gun fired you could feel a calmness in the bunch, no surges and no attacks, it felt strange. The first attack came from Dana Coetzee, halfway up fox hill, with no one really interested n chasing, he kept a good lead up the climb, but as soon as the roads flattened out the pace picked up and he was reeled in. A few more attacks followed, but nothing really sticking, no one was willing to let anyone go, but no unnecessary energy was to be wasted with keeping the pace high. The next succesfull break thet got away was One solo Northcliff rider, Martin, that was shortly after joined by one TOKEN rider, Jacques Greeff. The finally snapped the elastic through Camperdown and build a good lead heading into Inchanga. With the hills looming the bunch became nervous and the pace picked up, a fierce pace was set on Inchanga, reeling in the two leaders on the downhill towards Bothas Hill. The pressure was kept on the front leaving only about 20 riders up front heading to Hllcrest. On the drag towards the M13 off ramp Jacques (TOKEN) opened a gap again and was Joined by Pieter Avenant riding in the colors of Clover. The pushed hard on the M13 opening a good gap, but the bunch was sniffing the finish already and decided that the pace has to rise again, catching the front two just after Fields Hill. Some of the riders shed on Bothas hill worked hard on the M13 and got back too the front group at this stage, creating a sizable group as the bunch headed towards 45th cutting. It is here that Martin Hillerman (Local) saw his chance and went of the front. The bunch was hesitant, leaving Martin hanging in front. As the bunch went through Tollgate another rider, Pierre Knoetze, joined Martin up front, making the bunch work extra hard to close the gap. Heading into the finish straight, the bunch was passing some elite riders, leaving the catch extremely late. With the smell of victory in their faces, Martin and Pierre was passed with 50m to go. If that wasnt exciting enough, the current World Champ took the line honors with a Photo Finish from Matthys Koekemoer (TOKEN), with Mike Hewan (Complete Cyclist) rounding out the podium. Well done to Deno Van Heerden (Bluff Meat Supply - Performance Bikefit), Matthys Koekemoer (TOKENwheelsSA) and Mike Hewan (Complete Cyclist) with their respective podiums and thank you to all the guys for making this another competitive and fun race. Photos from www.cyclenation.co.za

Ja, we had a bit of a warmup ride up Foxhill. I can write a small report here?

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/163293-are-you-an-ass-confessions/?source=lfp

Laasjaar se mtb was nogals goed, mens het later vir die stukkies grondpad gehoop.

Sheesh I can pull an ugly face ????

Wonder about the pricing, but seeing the 520's price, guess it will be around R 8000. ($ 500, works out to almost this)

But, if it really does require a lot of red tape to get your product introduced into a country (not just SA), then eliminating it is better for both the company and end user.

Well, maybe its bottlenecks like this that makes Shimano not want to go wireless?

Can anyone help me with the vitality drive sensor? Mine does not want to link to my phone at all?

Must say, they did not dissapoint. The new singletrack towards the floating bridge was super fun. The bridge did not dissapoint and different distances did not interfere with each other. This was truly the most fun marathon in the Gauteng area for me so far this year. Oom Piet was sapping at the end, but wasnt a super tough climb. Thank you for a great event.

Ja, its a tough one, but doable, just keep your front end light and try keep a bit of speed. I rode the whole thing on my HT last year, it took me 9 minutes and I ht my knee on one large rock at one left turn, but I just thought Id rather ride it than walk it.

If you have a Shimano 11sp RD and you start running out of time, you can use a set of 9spd shifters as well, they have the same pull ratio. Only drawback is that you will only have 9 of your 11 indexed. Otherwise I have an old 8spd set that can be set to no indexing for the rear, so you can use it with any cluster.

Sound cool, Ill try and convince my teammates to maybe join.

I understand what you are saying, but can you honestly say you enjoyed it? Not the chalenge, the polle itself. Maybe I should stop blaming the route and start training again.

Ok, I know Im a roadie and ride a hardtail, but that new downhill after the top of the monster was seriously anoying and no fun to ride. It hurt me more than the climb. Otherwise, good organisation as always. Just wish they would learn that if they added new graspolle, then dont advertise it as new singletrack.

I Think timing and reputation is against it at this time. For next year a lot more people can plan a team for this and as soon as it starts building a reputation of being a worthwhile event, it will grow. I dont think anybody expected it to be sold out in 30 min for the first event only announced 2 months ago. But the people that can support t must, this is the only way to encourage the organizers to keep at it and try and go bigger.

I think I would have enjoyed it more if I was fitter. I did the marathon and the speed for the first 50km was nice and fast. The thing that tapped my energy was the freshly cut grass on places. Riding a hardtail at those times reminds me to check my tyre pressures before the race. The one steep climb, think it was the 3rd last one, just kept on too long for me and when I lost balance I decided to walk till were it flattened off. Must say, I saw a lot of grimising faces on that climb and this was from the A bunch riders around me. That last downhill was great fun, but I had overdone t and cramped in my calf on one corner while unclipping to try and counter balance. and after that my legs just said this is enough. But, really well organised, great waterpoints, fantastic scenery and great venue!

Just to brag and mention. This girl of mine had more guts than brains and did the marathon, on her 26er alu hardtail. I wont menton all her picnic stops and her bad tan she got, but she finished in 5 and a half hours! Well done Nellie!

Does anyone have problems logging onto the garmin connect site, to upload rides, at the moment?