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Gravel travel - was it a RANt or a rave?


Cassie

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Maybe i'm blind, but did not see much on this topic...

 

I just happen to be in the Wellington forests (Hawequa area) when I stumbled upon some MTM routemarkers...and folowed them...next thing 15min later the lead bunch of rides came throught (helicopter and all!!)

 

Was great to see the best of SA's MTB cyclist up close and personal!!

 

Who won? At that stage ~87km mark there was a bunch with (6-man)Evans; George; Knox and some others looking very strong. Could not pick a winner from them...

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Route = Rave

MTN = Rant. For a R235 entry fee, no goodie bag, no cameras allowed, closest I got to see a helicopter was when they carried the doors past me at the start.

I dont see myself doing an MTN series ride again. No value for money. Will go to Welvanpas any other day and pay me R30 day fee and spend another R30 in the shop.

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Route = Rave

MTN = Rant. For a R235 entry fee, no goodie bag, no cameras allowed, closest I got to see a helicopter was when they carried the doors past me at the start.

I dont see myself doing an MTN series ride again. No value for money. Will go to Welvanpas any other day and pay me R30 day fee and spend another R30 in the shop.

 

agree...that sounds p!ss poor... For a national sponsor...they should also come to the party? or is this the race organiser's (Dirtipia?) fault?

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I thought is was very good, excellent course, well marked, bit of everything, no projected MUD.

 

Got a free nissan towel and a huge medal for the cupboard, drank 10 free 32gi's bought some pinotage and called it a day

 

There were some leisure riders on the course which made overtaking in the singletracks risky but most moved over except one grumpy old guy.

 

Other than that it was close enough to home, the weather was perfect and my legs are still broken... what's not to like?

 

The singletracks were great by the way!

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first i thought that the entry was really expensive, but after the rase i thing rave all the way, the route was awesome, the medals look allot better then at some of the ppa events and its the worlds biggest mtn bike series, were as a pro you can earn uci points, why must we in the cape always complain about everything, watch the highlights on tv from the rest of the events and the thousands of entries they get and compare it to some of our ppa events like the only 60 entries for the long route at some events i have been...i rather pay more for a proffesional fee to it then drive 160km for only 60 - 150 people riding.........please mtn and nissan, bring more of these events to the western cape. Kevin evans himself said on his blog that this was one of the best tracks of the whole season

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RAVE!!!.Very nice ride and well organised. Like the others here said, nice medal and towel....will pay the money with a smile next time.

:thumbup:

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40km on Sunday

 

Route = Rave

Water Points = Rave (Bar Ones, 32Gi, Coke, Water, Bananas)

Social = Rave (wine tasting, seating, tents, bar, food, etc.)

Entry Fee = Rant

 

I'm normally not one to moan about entry fees, but this felt like a rip-off. Two regulars from our group of friends didn't enter because of the high entry fee.

 

And of course it has nothing to do with the fact that my wife beat me for the first time in a MTB race blush.gif, and that nogal the day after she ran her second half marathon in sub-2 clap.gif. Guess I'd better start running. sad.gif

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to be fair the no camera rule is probably by request of the farmers who allow land access. and they don't want every

tom ******** and harry traipsing all over the property after replaying the routes.

Edited by Tarmac's Revenge
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I must admit that Medal is of superb quality....I loved every thing.....entry was a bit expensive, but receiving such a awesome medal...towel and awesome cycling I loved it all!

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to be fair the no camera rule is probably by request of the farmers who allow land access. and they don't want every

tom ******** and harry traipsing all over the property after replaying the routes.

Apparently that is a UCI rule?

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to be fair the no camera rule is probably by request of the farmers who allow land access. and they don't want every

tom ******** and harry traipsing all over the property after replaying the routes.

 

Wouldnt that be GPS rather than a video?

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I didn't appreciate them only telling me at the startline to take off my GoPro. This could have been communicated early on the website and theHub, but the rest was simply amazing.

 

I prefer well orginised events over Kerkbazaar rides, even if they cost a bit more. Lets hope that some of the money gets used for developing an already awesome trail.

 

Last weekend I just made it to cut-off on the PPA Koringberg ride. I felt like a back marker (even though half of the riders were out on the field). Saturday I felt like a champion, even though I came in more than 2 hours after the winners.

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Fantastic route on the 70km (although I see about 130 riders did not finish ?) Maybe the 70 was a bit too hectic for them - and some technical bits too, will be back next year - great event !!

I assume the Sunday distances did some of the single track we did so they should have had fun too.

BUT

 

why did I get a medal with the Karate Kid on ?

 

post-1291-0-54242700-1314638637.jpg

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Fantastic route on the 70km (although I see about 130 riders did not finish ?) Maybe the 70 was a bit too hectic for them - and some technical bits too, will be back next year - great event !!

I assume the Sunday distances did some of the single track we did so they should have had fun too.

BUT

 

why did I get a medal with the Karate Kid on ?

 

post-1291-0-54242700-1314638637.jpg

Seek the answers on here

http://www.diemersfontein.co.za/

The subtleties of branding on the medal seems to be lost on some. I thought it was done tastefully. Goes down well with the Diemersfontein Pinotage after the ride.

Edited by MorewoodMad
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