AMASHOVA

[ricochet_rabbit]

The only thing I'll be attacking is the beer tent at the finish!!!

 

note to self....no point in racing to Durban...beer tent only opens at 10am.

[Roadpilot]

If some of you are in group A, what are the times you finishing in? Had a great race today! Finished 3h 40, pretty stoked. Don't know if I passed/ was passed, but I built my self a speaker mount so I can ride and listen to my tunes at the same time! Best choice I made hahaha!

[tommy two shoes]

My folks saw an attempted bike hijacking at about 1:30 just after fields hill near the steel mill. They saw 3 guys run across the highway to try take a bike from one of the backmarkers, unfortunately they couldn't stop and help out so they were not sure how it ended up. Hope the backmarker is okay!

[ricochet_rabbit]

If some of you are in group A, what are the times you finishing in? Had a great race today! Finished 3h 40, pretty stoked. Don't know if I passed/ was passed, but I built my self a speaker mount so I can ride and listen to my tunes at the same time! Best choice I made hahaha!

 

started in A & rode 2:45. think the front of the group rode 2:39/40.

[HappyMartin]

What a day on the bike. In the start pen 5 min to go and I am fiddling in my pocket and find a key. I'm wondering where a key came from when I remember it is the only key for the support vehicle that has followed us from Joburg on our ride to the Shova. I pop out of the VC start pen with 10 minutes to go and haul back to the B&B to give the key to the driver then on legs tired from the 500km tour race back and get into the pen as the race starts.

 

Needless to say I get dropped before the timing mats but struggle on and slowly my legs come back. Start making good time and picking off the slower guys in the VC group until at the 40km point the cable for my rear derailler rips out. I wrap it around my seat stays and carry on with just an 11 at the back. Big hills for an 11 even cross chaining on the small blade. Decided there and then I'm never going to buy a ss. Stuff that. I nearly had a flipping heart attack up those hills. Wasn't made more fun by the bloke that tried to explain to me that I should use my gears or the bloke that told me power training on a 10% climb in a race was a stupid idea. If I had have had a spare breath in my body I would have cursed them good and proper.

 

Don't want to see a road bike for a while. Pissed with rain and headwinds riding to PMB and all I want is to ride my 29 with all those lovely gears.

 

Just need to get over Hekpoort on Saturday then it's the Berg & Bush thank goodness. Road riding can be very challenging at times

[Motard660]

I also did it on a mountain bike and was indeed load and load of fun. That person that siad it is downhill all the way must be shot!! All and all, great event and on my to do list for next year again.

 

How does the Argus and the 94.7 compare with the Amashova?

[Falco]

How does the Argus and the 94.7 compare with the Amashova?

 

IMO there is no comparison between the Amashova and the other 2.

I did my first Amashova yesterday, it was an OK race, but not one I would rush back for. The 94.7 is much better, and the Argus is much, much better.

The Amashova is tiny in comparison to the other two, the atmosphere is nowhere like the other two, parts of the route are a bit iffy from a road quality point of view.

I hope the story about the attempted bikejack on a backmarker is just that ~ a story. If it's true, it's a piss-poor reflection on the organisers for leaving the poor sod out there to look after himself.

Not worth the 1000+km of driving as far as I'm concerned.

[Seadog]

IMO there is no comparison between the Amashova and the other 2.

I did my first Amashova yesterday, it was an OK race, but not one I would rush back for. The 94.7 is much better, and the Argus is much, much better.

The Amashova is tiny in comparison to the other two, the atmosphere is nowhere like the other two, parts of the route are a bit iffy from a road quality point of view.

I hope the story about the attempted bikejack on a backmarker is just that ~ a story. If it's true, it's a piss-poor reflection on the organisers for leaving the poor sod out there to look after himself.

Not worth the 1000+km of driving as far as I'm concerned.

A bit unfair that....You can't really blame the organiser's for the state of the nation. How do you police 106 km of road and 10 000 cyclists against hijackers?

[Bronabee]

I think i saw cyclwizzz standing on the side of the road next to a white car. It looked like him....he was in the process of taking his top off... yellow cycling top?

[Keyser Soze]

So what was total climb for yesterday's race?

[Falco]

 

A bit unfair that....You can't really blame the organiser's for the state of the nation. How do you police 106 km of road and 10 000 cyclists against hijackers?

 

It's called a sweep truck.

Btw, there were only 4600 riders in the 106, not 10000.

Btw2, when last have you heard of a bike-jacking in the 94.7 or the Argus? It's route related, the organiser picks the route.

Anyway, like I said, I hope it's only a story.

[Falco]

So what was total climb for yesterday's race?

 

I recorded 1220

[Seadog]

It's called a sweep truck.

Btw, there were only 4600 riders in the 106, not 10000.

Btw2, when last have you heard of a bike-jacking in the 94.7 or the Argus? It's route related, the organiser picks the route.

Anyway, like I said, I hope it's only a story.

The sweep truck is the sweep truck, not an anti hijacking unit. The incident happened on the m13 highway in the middle of Pinetown, and the route has followed that road for years. It's hardly a poor choice of route on the organiser's part Falco, and they cannot be at all places at all times to prevent a random hijacking by thugs. There are incidents at all races, and that doesn't make them poorly organised.

[HappyMartin]

I thought the race was well run. Road surface was OK. I think dealing with the road surface is part of racing. Have you seen the crap they race on in Europe? It's not like narrow village lanes with cobbles or anything.

 

Much prefer it to the Argus. More interesting route but then I grew up in Natal so may have a prejudice. I don't care about support one way or another. My favorite race is the 94

[Cyclewizz]

I think i saw cyclwizzz standing on the side of the road next to a white car. It looked like him....he was in the process of taking his top off... yellow cycling top?

 

Was probably me. I stood on the side of the road for 1:40 :angry:

[Aurora]

I thought it was well done yesterday.

The road surface wasn't the best in certain areas but hey, go look at the European races - they are so much worse.

The course is much better then the 94.7, atleast you can go to the beach after you finish unlike in JHB.

The organizers do what they can with what they have and i think they do a good job every year with hardly any sponsors to help.

 

What you must all remember is the road cycling scene in KZN is nowhere near as big as in Jozi and CPT so our numbers are not huge which also means that sponsors are harder to find. They did however cover up a lot of the pot holes during the week in time for the race which is good to see.

 

In terms of accidents I did see a few on the route and one or two at the finish but havnt heard of a bike jacking on yet.