Bestmed Jacaranda Satellite Classic 2012: 20.10.2012

[Agteros]

Did the 92k in 2:51 despite some mechanicals. Weather was good. Marshalls were great. Some horrible bunch riders, but all and all much easier than I expected (only 900 odd metres climbing). Should have gone harder but I had a mechanical in the first 600metres and was chasing the bunch all the time. Vrekpoort was nice but far from a killer ( at my slow speed of course!). Will definitely be back. Now for a nice Mtb race...

AM was very nervous! I got dropped on little Hekpoort, nearly got to the front of AM at the top of Hekpoort but then they put the hammer down and were gone. I only had another 50m to catch up. Rode with the second AM group to the finish. I do not recall seeing motorbike marshals, but the manned intersections were awesome!

Edited October 20, 2012 by robox

[HappyMartin]

Did the 114km in 3:19 with VC. It was bloody murder. Attack after attack and my legs just not there. Need to rest I think. Was predictably shelled on Hekpoort AGAIN!!!

 

Berg and Bush next week. Enough road already.

[W@nna-BE]

Did a 3:38 in BL .

Thanks to BestMed guys in BL!

 

Was hoping for a sub 3:30 but reasonably happy

[rattlesnake]

Dropped from VA at 70kms in, boys were angry! Rode last 50kms alone.... 3:14, live to fight another day.

[Frosty]

AM was very nervous! I got dropped on little Hekpoort, nearly got to the front of AM at the top of Hekpoort but then they put the hammer down and were gone. I only had another 50m to catch up. Rode with the second AM group to the finish. I do not recall seeing motorbike marshals, but the manned intersections were awesome!

Was a bit of a concern at time with cars over taking and perhaps underestimating the size of the bunch. Did you see that bakkie swerve off to the dirt on the oncoming side?

[Brightspark]

Well we had to stop for nearly an hour with 17kms to go , we had to wait for a helicopter to move a seriously injured cyclist . Lets hope they adjust our time.

[MtbBarbie]

Loved the route today!! Did a 4h25 on the 114km, DL... Happy with that for my 3rd road race!

 

Quite a lot of riding alone, but it wasn't bad!

[Agteros]

Was a bit of a concern at time with cars over taking and perhaps underestimating the size of the bunch. Did you see that bakkie swerve off to the dirt on the oncoming side?

Saw it, it was hectic! The start/finish area needs a lot of work. First suggestion would be to move the parking area so it is NOT on the route. Coming in towards the finish a few of us were squeezing in between a truck on the left and oncoming traffic on the right. Not ideal at all (being VERY polite!).

 

A darwin candidate at some point swerved HARD into the bunch, shortly before oncoming traffic went past. Can only guess that he was on the wrong side of the road. Trying to rescue himself he nearly took out a whole group of guys

[Jeri]

I did the 94km today, was a good race, heckpoort hill was a toughy.

Anyone know what happened to the injured cyclist that was air lifted? Shame! I also had a moron over take me at 50km per our down a hill and then slammed on brakes.... Not cool! Could have had a serious accident, luckily I managed to do some mountain biking on the rocks to save my life! Really hope he is okay?

[crasher]

I enjoyed the route and the ride

 

Ended up with 3-42 which was much better than I expected

 

The BL group was the biggest group I have ridden in so far and there were a few scary moments

I still need to get used to riding in such big groups

Edited October 20, 2012 by crasher

[Agteros]

The BL group was the biggest group I have ridden in so far and there were a few scary moments

I've noticed a trend of BL becoming quite big with a lot a AL guys falling back (I'm one of them from time to time!). Easy to pick up an AL seeding with a flat event, not race/train for a few months, be seeded in AL, know you are out of your depth and then fall back to BL or lower.

 

All of this tends to make BL a bit of a mega group

[HappyMartin]

I had the oddest thing happen to me today in the race.

 

Going past Pecanwood there are a number of rumble strips and it all gets a bit distracting. Being in a big group I managed to dead centre a pothole just before a rumble strip. I felt my bottle give a little hop so once I had everything back under control I looked down and my bottle was semi out of its cage and a little precariously balanced but it was UPSIDE DOWN.

 

It must have done a flip and dropped back into the cage. It was still full and I hadn't used it at all up to that point.

[Jeri]

Times weren't adjusted. Bleak!

[crasher]

Has anyone heard how the cyclist who crashed is doing?

[Jeri]

Nope, hope all is okay?

[Falco]

The organisers need to have a serious rethink about the route and/or start group size. AM was hair-raising at times, with cars and trucks trying to get past such a big group. Especially within the first 30k's, and again in the last 10, the road width and heavy traffic make it quite dangerous for big groups of cyclists in those areas. I think restricting group size would be a good start, but the start/finish area is always going to be a problem. Not to mention that there were no motorbike marshals ~ wtf was the story with that? I'm still trying to work out what my 200 bucks entry fee actually bought. I hope the airlifted cyclist is OK, but that brings me to another point ~ I didn't see a single ambulance or paramedic anywhere on the route. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention and I missed them, but I'm pretty sure there weren't any apart from at the start.