Trelawney

Elevation climb for the 70 km ?

Know the feeling ! Took me a while to decide to enter this one after the vG experience of 10 days ago, it was as tough as I remember my previous experience from three years back, so was not sure my sense of humour needed further testing ... but, what the heck, have just entered the 70 km ... off to say some prayers ...

Got an elevation profile for last year's Hakahana ?

And does anyone know how Hakahana compares to today's 70 km ?

I did my first vG event three years ago, the 70 km and swore I would never do it again, too technical, no respite from the technical stuff at all and it was damn hot. Which is why I did the 70 km again today ????It was somewhat cooler than the previous event but none the less technical. Having upped the technical skills a bit this year I coped much better but was well reminded of why I decided to never do another ! Funny how time fades the bad memories, wonder if I'll enter next year.

I loved the Tweet from Fritz yesterday saying that he did the pre-ride for the 70 km and he was 'half broken' ... am consoling myself that he obviously pushed it too hard ????

I last rode the Trailseeker at vG's three years back and it was when they ran out of water, when they filled my backpack at the bottom of the rocky descent after the satellite hill, their water was pretty much empty. It reached 45 degC in the direct sun at 11.30 that morning which is why I assume they have moved it from November to September for this race. I did the Dinokeng race yesterday and finished close to midday and it was 35 degC in the direct sun, just hate these late winter days :-)

Having ridden it recently and comparing my GPS track to the one posted, it looks like it goes down from the Greek Church to the dip and then sharp left back up the hill on the Jou Bliksem section.

Comparison of the 1st and 2nd events in this series. - Red : 11 May 2013 - White : 7 Sept 2013 I really enjoyed today's event, not quite as technical as the previous one because of the change in how we got down off the mountain but a great workout with enough technical stuff to keep me happy.

I've used a Geoff one, got a Speedy to weld it up, will see if I can get some pics to post tomorrow.

Can you walk a bridge like that ? I would far rather ride it than walk it.

That was quite a flat section anyway, looking forward to it. You riding it Mike ?

If I compare elevation profiles, a lot of it looks the same. Very cryptic on their web site though, in fact quite bizarre, different route sections are shown without any overall profile, assume access issues when they recorded them. And, of course, different does not have to be worse, maybe it's even better :-)

And the map from May 2013 is further up the page.

The one from May 2013 (Race 1 in the series) does not look too different from what is on their website for the 7 Sept race. Was about 960 m elevation climb.

I see the batch starts are now up to ten minutes apart, am expecting to be in batch D or E so can have a lekker long lie in therefore !

OK,thanks, got it.

Is that not the section I did a tuck and roll on two weeks back and we delayed you this week when I walked it to work out what the hell I had done ? still couldn't determine the best line but, as you say, just gotta keep practising.

So which bit is Daggapad ? Where does it start and end ?

For the 70 km, I see they have also added the second hill after the concrete strips, so no descent and a turn to the right but rather a left turn, up the hill and down the more hectic and twisty turny section to the river. Did this last week with Swift01 and friends, thanks guys for the sneak preview of that section ! Hope it doesn't bottle neck though, it was quite a tight section with only a few riders around, let's hope the ten minute batch intervals and concrete strips spread the riders out !

OK, have entered, anyone else ?? Or am I doing this one alone ??

Magic, looking forward to it ! Have just finished work, so that's eaten into beer drinking time ;-) think I need to be fresh for those concrete strips though, couldn't imagine that with a dull thud going on inside !

OK, thanks, that's great to hear, what time are you planning to start ?

Anyone riding vG's this Saturday ? Am looking to join anyone who knows the area well, looking for 60km+ at medium pace ?

This was the 70 km route, finished around 73 km.