[Event] NISSAN TRAILSEEKER #3 Down & Dirty

[Squier]

After following this thread, quite a few valid suggestions but I feel Fritz came through with his statement as to what went wrong and where they can improve. There are however a few things we should keep in mind:

 

1. This is the biggest mountain biking series in the world! After speaking to Hennie from buycycle.co.za and hearing how a few Europeans had been down for some of the series races they were dumbstruck to the numbers the Nissan Trailseeker draws. In Europe when they have a 350 participant turnout for a race it's a seriously big deal.

 

2. Take a look at the total Nissan Trailseeker experience, it's Gauteng based for the majority of SA mtb'ers. The sheer logistics and planning that goes into organizing these events, the sponsors, the online ease of entry, seeding replies and now even result replies.

 

3. Requesting 1500m of climbing in Gauteng is a tad much especially in Irene, guys need to understand there can't be 10km of single track, zero bottle necks, awesome descents, water points with prawns and champagne....

 

4. You don't wanna be held up make sure you do well and get a better seeding... Yes it will always be a series where they can learn from mistakes and plan accordingly, but give them that...

 

Finally I think we need to be appreciative of Advendurance and their efforts, enjoy the fact that there is an excellent World Class Series for us to take part in year in year out, riding along world champs and Olympians!!!! What more can you ask for?

 

That's the thing. There are very few places in Gauteng where you'll be able to do that amount of climbing without having to repeat hills. That's the reason why we have to drive out to Breedts to get some climbing into our legs.

[jcza]

im doing that one!!! be good to meet you there..

 

Hope to make it, just getting permission from the missus. See you there!

[jcza]

That's the thing. There are very few places in Gauteng where you'll be able to do that amount of climbing without having to repeat hills. That's the reason why we have to drive out to Breedts to get some climbing into our legs.

 

If we can't have vertical metres then add kilometres! Make it 90 or 100km. My point is that the race is too easy. Similar to Babbas, just a flat out sprint.

[Maldino]

 

 

If we can't have vertical metres then add kilometres! Make it 90 or 100km. My point is that the race is too easy. Similar to Babbas, just a flat out sprint.

 

Then you not riding it fast enough.... I believe Burry tweeted yesterday his legs were sore from the race. Avg 30km/h then see how easy it is? Lol

[martinsnyman]

Dunno what Burry's problem is? I did the 10km in under 4 hrs and my legs are fine?????

[jcza]

Then you not riding it fast enough.... I believe Burry tweeted yesterday his legs were sore from the race. Avg 30km/h then see how easy it is? Lol

 

Had to save myself for the D2D on Sunday

[militarac]

Howzit

 

I started in C batch and we had few small bottle necks next R21 ramp,tunnel under R21, wooden bridge (2-3 riders) river crossing but i just went trough water.

 

On Endomondo i had 3.06 time and aver speed 22,than i got email saying i am DNF??????????.

Also need to include stops as time on Endomondo stop as you stops probably 5-10 minutes extra and that youngster scan my board at finish and i ask him is it ok and he say it is.

 

I done this one last year and we only had 1 bottle neck at river crossing ??

 

I send email to queries about DNF to them and still waiting for response?

[sometime]

If we can't have vertical metres then add kilometres! Make it 90 or 100km. My point is that the race is too easy. Similar to Babbas, just a flat out sprint.

 

Any marathon MTB race is as hard as you want it to be. If it's flat then go flat out the whole ride and tell us you still think it's easy? Anyone who rode that race at 85%+ of max heart rate will tell you that it's not an easy race - same as any race where you get out of your comfort zone and stay out of it the whole race regardless of altitude gain or distance.

[jcza]

Any marathon MTB race is as hard as you want it to be. If it's flat then go flat out the whole ride and tell us you still think it's easy? Anyone who rode that race at 85%+ of max heart rate will tell you that it's not an easy race - same as any race where you get out of your comfort zone and stay out of it the whole race regardless of altitude gain or distance.

 

I doubt that anyone completed the race at 85%+ but this is not a discussion about heart rate zones. My point is that due to the number of riders and the nature of the course one can only improve so many places due to congestion. Clearly the series is very popular because it is easy.

[sometime]

Plenty of people would

I doubt that anyone completed the race at 85%+ but this is not a discussion about heart rate zones. My point is that due to the number of riders and the nature of the course one can only improve so many places due to congestion. Clearly the series is very popular because it is easy.

 

Plenty of people compete at 85+% of max. FWIW I rode this race at 86% of max so I did not find it easy at all.

 

You can improve places by being faster and avoiding the congestion. I went from being a top 150 finisher last year and being caught in congestion, to being a top 100 finisher this year and no congestion.

 

Maybe this is semantics but to me these races are accessible to more people (which is what the promoters want) because of the relative lack of distance and altitude but that's not to say they're easy.

[jcza]

Plenty of people would

 

 

Plenty of people compete at 85+% of max. FWIW I rode this race at 86% of max so I did not find it easy at all.

 

You can improve places by being faster and avoiding the congestion. I went from being a top 150 finisher last year and being caught in congestion, to being a top 100 finisher this year and no congestion.

 

Maybe this is semantics but to me these races are accessible to more people (which is what the promoters want) because of the relative lack of distance and altitude but that's not to say they're easy.

 

What was your time?

[G-Unit]

 

Haha yeah it gets a bit hot but not to bad. You shoulda said hi. I'm harmless.

 

I was right on the other side of the pen, and thought that I'd come say howzit afterwards. I never saw you after the start, since I'm a heathen who runs 30 gears. :-) Hopefully see you at VG.

[sometime]

What was your time?

 

Sub 2h50

[jcmeyerSS]

 

 

I was right on the other side of the pen, and thought that I'd come say howzit afterwards. I never saw you after the start, since I'm a heathen who runs 30 gears. :-) Hopefully see you at VG.

Haha classic. Woulda killed for one of those 30 gears. I had a shocker of a race. Bad gear choice saw me spinning. Those long district roads are soul destroying for me. I ride MTB for the tech stuff. Was gonna pull out due to shear frustration at the water point after the railway line, but I caught a family member from A batch having a really bad day and decided to pull her to the finish. Then spent 40 min chatting in the line (singletrack) by the broken bridge.

So was not a happy camper by the time I finished. But soon cheered up by Eldron, rouxtjie, eyecandy,MTB barbie and JCZA. Nothing beer and jagger can't fix

[jcza]

Sub 2h50

 

Well done, that's a strong ride!

[typhoon]

Sub 2h50

 

Was quite interesting that from position 100 to 142 (2h58) where i finished was only 6 minutes...

Should've peddled harder *mumble*