how was your karkloof

[Benjamin]

That 60K ride is a proper mountain bike route. Big climbs, cracker flowing single track, some seriously technical single track and downhills , like the drop down from the top of Larry loop back to the river. No place for the gentle! Seemed to be quicker than last year, maybe dryer track? All good.

[nigelhicks]

I had an awesome weekend ... 12th overall in the Enduro on sat and then 32nd overall in the 40km ...

 

You guys can keep your climbs ... the Enduro concept is BRILLIANT ... chilled ride up the hills then PINNED down the best singletrack in the country for like 18minutes of hardcore racing. Was amazing ... big up to Stu Berry and the boys for awesome organisation again

[Skott5]

You guys can keep your climbs ...

 

Like the 7km climb to the top of Lebanon ..

 

But coming down the other side of it made the climb worthwhile. Had clear track from about halfway down, and gave it Horns. Made me smile the rest of the way home ..

[nigelhicks]

Like the 7km climb to the top of Lebanon ..

 

YIP ... man that's a **** climb! hahahaaha

 

Hey does anyone know where we can check for pics from the weekend???

[tommy two shoes]

They 60k is a perfect course, everything you need in a good challenging yet enjoyable ride. So much better than the hill2hill. Just bummed I got stuck in a long line of traffic on the final downhill home. Some guy in front of me was braking around the burms! Must have been a roadie! Think this enduro concept is growing on me. Will have to try do it make a weekend of it next year.

[nigelhicks]

They 60k is a perfect course, everything you need in a good challenging yet enjoyable ride. So much better than the hill2hill. Just bummed I got stuck in a long line of traffic on the final downhill home. Some guy in front of me was braking around the burms! Must have been a roadie! Think this enduro concept is growing on me. Will have to try do it make a weekend of it next year.

 

Come do the enduro this weekend at Cascades ... you can enter on ROAG - choose the "

CSA-KZN MTB All Africa Challenge"

 

 

and then enter the enduro - its gonna just be a piss around like the karkloof one was! Awesome

[Stretch]

They 60k is a perfect course, everything you need in a good challenging yet enjoyable ride. So much better than the hill2hill. Just bummed I got stuck in a long line of traffic on the final downhill home. Some guy in front of me was braking around the burms! Must have been a roadie! Think this enduro concept is growing on me. Will have to try do it make a weekend of it next year.

there were three of us in a row of equal pace going down there - all you heard was woosh woosh woosh as we hit those berms . There was one section where there were mini camel humps and you could almost jump and hit the berm. Managed to also get some nice air where that photographer was!

[Li Mu Bai]

Caerus. I can't for the life of me work out how small group of riders got lost and the 795 other riders did not. Yes it was very well marked."

 

Yup I must agree, route marking was fine, enough marshals. no idea how group A could get lost, sheep following the blind? Oh a marshall was at fault.

 

Berg Man. When you register with ROAG you give your location so they don't have to go through all the entries.

 

Umm, they specifically requested on the info page of the Karkloof website that if you were not from KZN that you send in your latest race results so that they could seed you. They did this for me, and followed up no problem at all.

 

As mentioned, it is the best 1 day ride you can do and that is appreciated and it is understood what it takes to put on an event of this size and nature. If they don't need the out of towners to do the race then continue that way. The us vs them gap will remain and we will just isolate ourselves more and that is to the detriment of the sport. If sports like running and canoeing can get a single seeding system in place why cannot cycling? Every excuse i hear is about different course, different field strengths, different numbers and different timing systems. Running has all these problems and can get it right and canoeing has some of these problems and can get it right. CSA needs to make decisions that will take cycling forward not keep it in the dark ages. The Mr Price Karkloof organizers cannot be held responsible but as members of CSA they should be pushing for change that will make there event better and easier.

 

Next time read the entrance info and follow the requested procedure and you wont have seeding issues

 

my 5c worth: didnt need any crap soaps and flyers in a goodie bag - the T shirt was great, neat design, not bad, plenty of sizes if you got there early.

Organization was very good. the race was delayed by 30mins to accommodate cyclists on their way to the event, trapped by an accident on the highway. They sent up the race helicoper to go and physically see what the accident impact was prior to making the delay anouncement.

The route - Fantastic, the bear runs were terrifying, hectic drop offs at times - best rode on a 150mm travel bike. Awesome single track, better than Sani2C (or on par), took lots of concentration, roller coaster up and down, berms - just great. very little flat farm road to take a breather on, but very enjoyable physical ride.

The KZN vibe is chilled, enjoyed the whole event.

.

Edited April 23, 2012 by Li Mu Bai

[Beer4Recovery]

This was THE BEST 40km I spent on my mtb EVER!!!!! First time riding the Karkloof Classic, and I will be back soon to ride the trails. I can't believe there are such great trails out there in SA!

 

Arrived there @ around 7am. LOTS of parking & registration was a breeze. Announcements was loud & clear and repeated constantly to keep riders informed, even when you thought you missed something you were always updated. The batching worked brilliant! Never have I seen such great organisation, the start of the batches were on time, down to the second. (thus no congestion on the trails - something the Gautengers can learn from)

 

All in all, a brilliant race & great experience! Was blown away by the singletrack, superb organisation, quick and efficient registration, queues moved quickly for food, great event shirt (not a goodie bag filled with useless crap we usually get), friendly people (must say the KZN riders are more chilled and friendlier than the high-strung Gautengers, made me enjoy my mtb'ing even more) and beautiful scenery, all for R120.

 

Well done to the organizers! I will be back next year & I can recommend this race to everyone out there!

 

 

**The last time I spent R120 on a event, it was a mission to find parking, queues to enter the event area, congestion at the starting area & on the trail, riders swearing at other riders for skipping the queue, riding through 'rubbish dump' areas, and 3-4km shorter route than advertised, rip-off bike wash & poor catering.

Edited April 24, 2012 by FuelEX

[Li Mu Bai]

anyone know where the results are published? karkloof website and Mr Price Heroes still have not been updated?

[Benjamin]

anyone know where the results are published? karkloof website and Mr Price Heroes still have not been updated?

Roag.co.za under results.

[Stretch]

anyone know where the results are published? karkloof website and Mr Price Heroes still have not been updated?

 

it was apparently finishtime - www.finishtime.co.za - and yes, they are under your results on the ROAG website

[Li Mu Bai]

it was apparently finishtime - www.finishtime.co.za - and yes, they are under your results on the ROAG website

 

thanks