jake the snake Posted February 26, 2012 Share Hi, just want to test the water.... What did you guys and girls think of the level of difficulty of the "new look" course? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kosmonooit Posted February 26, 2012 Share Testing, tough & hard work. The readings on my pleasure meter were dipping very low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustAgar Posted February 26, 2012 Share A lot tougher than previous rides by comparison. Definitely one of my single toughest days out on a bike. Keen to hear other views... Possibly designed to impress international "Pros" ...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jake the snake Posted February 26, 2012 Share I believe there should be a balance between challenging and pleasure! I broke my seat post after 68km and could not continue, picked up by the mountain rescue guys. While in their vehicle I could listen to the emergency calls on the radio....too many "emergencies”! Must say I did not enjoy it... The story is that they are trying to host the Marathon World Champs for woman....Hope they are not trying to build a reputation for the toughest race... I did the Trans Draak (210 km and over 3000m of climbing) and the Sabie where ten times tougher!No one that I spoke to were impressed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwv Posted February 26, 2012 Share It was really tough. I held back on the first big climbs and when i hit that tecnical climb at around 50 km I could see a lot of guys went out to hard and underestimated the toughness of the course. I did the Barberton ride also and the Sabie was in a different class and the times shows it. generally much slower. But enjoyed it really. I did it on a 29er and I think it made a big difference especially on the flats and downhills. But was also a very tough day on my mountain bike.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jake the snake Posted February 26, 2012 Share Glad to hear I did not suffer alone.... Word of advice...carbon seat posts are light but not as strong as they should be... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHIL BUYS SPORTS Posted February 26, 2012 Share Definitely the toughest one I've done so far, heard beforehand they removed the sawmill climb from last year so I thought it would be easier, ya right...... I have have major respect for the guys that finished the Ultra, never mind raced it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mellow Posted February 26, 2012 Share ahg, the second last(i think) water point alone made it worth the effort Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bees Posted February 26, 2012 Share The Last time i did the marathon at Sabie was in 2004 and i can remember that i really suffered way back then. i got such a big freight that i didn't marathons again. i kept on doing half marathons until the end of last year and decided that this year it was time redemption. Boy was i in for a surprise. Well i surely missed the memo that said :"the trail was changed and was going to be alot more challenging." i think like alot of people saved themselves for the "mambo switchback" only to find that they would have had to save alot more for what was coming. It was really hard and the temperature really took it out of alot of people.......it was scorching or i was overheating. i lost my sense of Humour @ about 60km when i saw a lady take a naste fall in front of my eyes. NOT FUNNY! I have never seen so many people hanging around the water points.......they were either very thirsty and tired, or enjoyed the conversation. i Think there was alot of DNF's Anyway i didn't get my redemption............ it was really a tough race Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River Rat Posted February 26, 2012 Share Definetly one of the toughest days in endurance events I've experienced. Luckily I entered the Sabie as a training ride for Sani and I never pushed it otherwise it would have been a lot tougher had I pushed at any point. Those hat pushed on the early climbs really suffered later on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoatBoy Posted February 26, 2012 Share ahg, the second last(i think) water point alone made it worth the effort :clap: :clap: :clap: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoatBoy Posted February 26, 2012 Share Commenting on the topic of tough - I thought you had to work for every bit of the 74.3km! No "free" climbing even the flats were rather bumpy and the downhills had a lot of ruts so the downhills were rough and intense. Pleasure factor also goes when total time at the end reads 6:50... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Gazza- Posted February 26, 2012 Share Damn that race was tuff, I also did the trans drakensberg 210km and found this years Sabie far Harder!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zook Posted February 26, 2012 Share I thought I was holding back. However, I did want to ride up the whole mountain. Man, that hurt me later. Try 7:50 for the marathon! From about 50 to 65km I walked anything that was vaguely tough looking and only got some spirit back in the last 10km. The sense of humour did not come back, though. Last time I did the Sabie 80km in 2004 I did 5:45ish and thought that was slow. Now I have a new platform to measure pain by. Agree, it was spiced up for the UCI okes. If the UCI is back there again next year I'm going nowhere near the race unless I'm a lot fitter. Edited February 26, 2012 by Zook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuludog Posted February 27, 2012 Share damm it was the hardest day i ever had on a mountainbike! very challenging in terms of fitness and skills.i think if you finished you can call yourself a mountainbiker? superbly organized and a great vibe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kona Kula Posted February 27, 2012 Share It was brutal. I expected it to be tough but I don't think I was quiet ready for that. All in all though it is still an awesome race. I heard a rumor about that 2nd last water point! Like an idiot its the only one I never stopped at. Fail!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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