[Event] Carnival City Macsteel National Classic 2012

[Skaap]

i had a steady race in AL till 80km when my hamstring decided I must not cycle any more..

 

Dankie Ferdi vir jou hulp! Ferdi het my weer terug na start geneem.

[Superfly1]

What great race!

 

very well organised, marshalled and i love the signs telling you how far still to go...

 

a little tougher than i expected with the undulating terrain (i got popped off the back of the lead A bunch just outside heidelberg) but happy with my time none-the-less @ 2hrs33min

 

*only gripe is that the start/finish was a little far from the parking for the spectators (my old man at 63 with his bum hip couldnt watch the winners sprints etc... same story as last week at the burning dale)

 

but ja, otherwise a great event. Congrats to the organisers!

 

I must have finished with you then! I got dropped with that crash in AL in the dip at about 50km mark. Had to leave the tar to avoid hitting the rider on the ground. I chased the AL pack in a solo effort and caught up about 2-3km later being completely wasted. While sitting at the back trying to recover there was the break just before Heidelberg (where you got popped) which I saw too late and did not have the energy at that time to chase for a second time. Had a good hard ride with the other 7 guys back to the finish and still managed a 40km'h avg.

[Minion]

^{and that includes you BL2077.}

If you were so inclined, you could find out who it was on the web link posted earlier in the thread.

 

I'm not the biggest fan of the route for this race, but it is certainly one of the best managed and marshalled races in SA. The SMS with race times was a nice touch. Well done to the organisers - your efforts are the reason I keep on doing this race.

[W@nna-BE]

well done guys! great race!!!

saw a couple of accidents after the finish, ppl just want to stop right after the mats, the poor guy was having a hard time getting the ppl to move over

[Pusher]

First time I've done this race and a big thumbs up to the organisers, marshals and the involvement of the local Metro.

 

Coming across a female rider in a rather big bunch talking on her cell phone was a first for me! Thankfully she ended the call when I suggested it wasn't a good idea and she could cause problems for the riders behind her.

[riaanb]

I must have finished with you then! I got dropped with that crash in AL in the dip at about 50km mark. Had to leave the tar to avoid hitting the rider on the ground. I chased the AL pack in a solo effort and caught up about 2-3km later being completely wasted. While sitting at the back trying to recover there was the break just before Heidelberg (where you got popped) which I saw too late and did not have the energy at that time to chase for a second time. Had a good hard ride with the other 7 guys back to the finish and still managed a 40km'h avg.

 

You were on the Bianchi, right? I was kinda sucking your wheel and helping a little on your "solo" effort back to the group. Also couln't hold the wheel after coming back to the group and cycled to the end in the 7 man group to finish at 2h33. I was in the blue i-Intelligence kit ont he Spez.

[Audible Anarchy]

I must have finished with you then! I got dropped with that crash in AL in the dip at about 50km mark. Had to leave the tar to avoid hitting the rider on the ground. I chased the AL pack in a solo effort and caught up about 2-3km later being completely wasted. While sitting at the back trying to recover there was the break just before Heidelberg (where you got popped) which I saw too late and did not have the energy at that time to chase for a second time. Had a good hard ride with the other 7 guys back to the finish and still managed a 40km'h avg.

 

luckily i narrowly avoided that rider going down in the dip and held on through the chase back to the bunch. It was at around 65kms as we were leaving heidelberg that i was dropped. Rode solo for round 7/8 kms when you guys picked us up at around the 75km mark.

 

Was a good effort to keep the pace high, thanks to the 3/4 guys that were actually working on the front (especially the gentleman in the edenvale kit / sram deepsections) and not just getting towed along until 500m from the carnival gates.

[dracs]

I ran some number thorugh Excel (love playing with numbers..)

 

The early starters per batch:

AL : 28

BL : 38

CL : 50

DL : 24

EL : 12

FL : 7

GL : 2

HL : 5

IL : 6

TL : 1

VA : 0

VB : 2

VC : 0

======

Tot:175 (Excluding %A %B &)

 

Note: I'm using the published (pre registration) seeding, not sure how many got legitimate re-seedings (although the batch sizes stayed the same....)

 

Please do not allow early starters to spoil races generally well run!

50 early starters in C is crazy but believeable... i noticed plenty of F's and G's around in the early part of the race but funny enough not so many later on.... Also noticed a bunch of guys with the numbers folded so the Alfa character is hidden - dodgy.

 

Great race though - top notch organsiation. Had a nice ride in C although the pack was concertinering like crazy early on - surprised there weren't more falls. I made a rookie error on the run into home - wasn't well positioned and lost my wheel on that last little hill about 3km out as got some fun riders between myself and the pack. Still, happy with a 2.46.

[Spinnekop]

I had the privilege to go race with the youngsters in $ bunch.

 

Wow!! The organisation was perfect!! The bike marshals were the best I have ever seen and matches up with some of the tours I have done i.e Giro and Mauritius. Absolutely stunning!

Thanks for keeping us save guys!!!

[Joe Low]

I went off in E and had a good race. Just made me laugh that a stray water bottle on the road was treated like some kind of Al Quaeda device & always caused a commotion. I ran over one, but it didnt go off.

[scotty]

I went off in E and had a good race. Just made me laugh that a stray water bottle on the road was treated like some kind of Al Quaeda device & always caused a commotion. I ran over one, but it didnt go off.

Looked like you were enjoying yourself.

[Groggery]

Rode CL and the extra riders from FL, GL, HL and other lower groups definitely made their presence felt in the first 7 km with 2 crashes caused directly by them. I was just behind the second one (the guy hit the wheel in front of him and looked like he went down hard) - fortunately the guy next to me and myself avoided it by riding across the grass verge onto the other side of the N17 (a la Lance Armstrong). Hope all those people who started in an earlier group when they weren't supposed to do in fact get DQ'd ...

[riaanb]

luckily i narrowly avoided that rider going down in the dip and held on through the chase back to the bunch. It was at around 65kms as we were leaving heidelberg that i was dropped. Rode solo for round 7/8 kms when you guys picked us up at around the 75km mark.

 

Was a good effort to keep the pace high, thanks to the 3/4 guys that were actually working on the front (especially the gentleman in the edenvale kit / sram deepsections) and not just getting towed along until 500m from the carnival gates.

 

What kit were you in?

[Audible Anarchy]

What kit were you in?

 

Cycle Lab - Blue / White Silverback

[Kallie.]

This was also my first Carnival race, very well organised and well marshalled. Thanks to all involved.

 

There were a few crazy motorists who blatently ignored the marshals, the DL group almost came to a stand still quite early in the race when some clown in a bakkie didnt stop when told to do so. I also saw a tannie driving up the finish shoot.

 

Well done to ChampionChip for getting the results up so quickly (and correctly).

 

Thanks to the front guys pulling the DL bunch along!! I wish I could have helped out in front but I was just fighting to hang on to the back especially after turing left at Nigel towards Duduza.

 

Overall, a great race and I will definately be back next year.

[Superfly1]

You were on the Bianchi, right? I was kinda sucking your wheel and helping a little on your "solo" effort back to the group. Also couln't hold the wheel after coming back to the group and cycled to the end in the 7 man group to finish at 2h33. I was in the blue i-Intelligence kit ont he Spez.

 

Hi - I was in the red/black spez with Lab kit. Yes you were on Gerhard's (Bianchi) tail. I chased just behind you guys.