Frosty Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 First road race in almost a year - won't count 94.7 as it was a coffee stop ride on a MTB towing a cooler box full of frosties. I had a lekka rustige ride around Midvaal, with time for some chit-chat with a few others along the way. Started in the EL bunch, with friends, in the hope I could drag them along to finish as close to 3 hours as possible - 3:10 and 3:17 not a bad return for them - next mission is to get them to build up the confidence to ride IN a bunch and save some of their over-enthusiastic energy for later in the race. Glad to see the Road Rangers (Safety Marshals) patrolling the route and assisting where necessary - a real benefit to cycling in Gauteng.
Frosty Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 rode B bunch as a training ridewent down in a crash with 5 others at 50 k'scant blame the race, organisers, trafficit was just rider error1 x broken arm, but bike just fine 6 of us came down at about the 50km mark in the B bunch.Trubie & I were two, don't know the other 4 guys.2 of the guys were in serious pain and were waiting for the ambulance. While we were getting our wounds cleaned an ambulance came in with a lady that looked in pretty bad shape, she was taken to hospital. I have some road rash and the bike needs a little TLC.When we eventually got going again from our little 'incident' at 25k's in the CL lot a lady was still lying on the side being attended to and she looked in quite a bad way (elbow/ankle looked horrible)Hard luck guys, hope you heal up quickly and back on the bike sooner than later.
slowpoke Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 To all the riders who went down, heal up soon. The elite guy didn't look good while the medics were sorting him before loading him up :-( a cyclist down issomething us Road Rangers hate to see. The lady who went down a little later just a short distance further down that road also looked very eina. I was patrolling the section from the first water table to where the long and short route's split. Thos were the 2 bad crashes in my section, but there were also a fair number of "fall off's" amongst the later riders... The race is clearly a bit tougher than it used to be. It was definitely easier to patrol and get impatient vehicles past on the new, quieter, route. Thank you to all the cyclists who moved over to make it easier to get trucks/cars past you. To the others... "eish, when will you learn?????" *sigh*
dracs Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 Thanks Slowpoke and the other marshalls - great job yesterday!. I punctured after 5km and lost C Group, and was too slow repairing to catch D or the social tandems. After a 40k solo effort the E group leaders caught me and I rode the rest with them... The marshal riding ahead of them in the latter stages was fantastic escorting trucks and other vehicles safely past the bunch, and once or twice having a chat with guys who had wondered over the white line Its funny, I recall thinking just before I punctured that C group was likely to stay a big bunch on this route and a crash was almost inevitible at some point, so having cursed for 95km about my bad luck, in hindsight there are much worse things than a puncture. Heal up Trubie and others...
Daideron Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 Was a nice race and well marshalled, heal quickly Trubie and Cyclewizz. Sorry to hear about the injuries.
Zatek Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 (edited) I rode in D and have to say we passed some big groups in the first 37km. I was surprised that everyone managed to get past without any accidents (best of my knowledge) had to stop after 67km, second bottle was way to sweet and had to call for George for assistance. Joined a couple of riders (mostly CL numbers) and rode to the end. Started my sprint 300m - 400m before the finish and managed to get away.Some other riders had some close calls with oncoming traffic. Well marshaled and will be doing this race again next year. Edited January 30, 2012 by Zatek
Prozac Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 To all involved in a crash, I hope you heal up soon!I started in AL and after 22km I found myself at the back of the group just as the group picked up pace on a small incline. Fought with 2 or 3 others to get back in the group to no avail.After the left turn a few km on a slow puncture . . . made the race a training ride.I saw something : 43-44 km in while on my solo stretch before B caught up with me I went past a rider with a flat and I ask if he needs assistance (He said his okay) 3-4 km later a black Q7 with yellow trailer came past with this rider on fixing his tyre . . . Dropping him off and the oke carried on with the race . . . not allowed ? . . . but as AL we are all “fun riders” , I guess ?) His number disappeared so I take he got a DNF and decided to do a “training” ride to the finish .Stuck with B for a while, saw the crash . . . and finished the race.Managed a 3h02 . . . good training !
jmaccelari Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 Brilliantly organised. Parking no problem, good route on quiet roads. The marshalling and bike marshals did a fantastic job. Route marking good. You could see it was DA municipality since the potholes had been fixed. The road surface was stunning. Yep - I was impressed!
Trubie Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 thanks all fo the wishessure all will be fine in no timeno racing though till at least Wilro/Bela Bela
IMPI Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Good organized race, the big bundles were a lit bit scary!
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