DC Arrangements

[Groadie]

This was my 4th DC - and I must congratulate the organisers on an event very well run. The email communication leading up to the event was thorough and informative. And they managed to put together a great ride despite flooded roads and farmworker violence leading up to the event. The neutral zone at Ashton was well numbered for the support vehicles, so there was none of that normal chaos of playing "spot the support vehicle" amongst the other 250 vehicles.

 

So well done to the organisers - it was a great event.

 

Also well done to the winning team (NuWater). How the hell did they manage to do a 5:12 in those conditions? Truly amazing riding.

[Icycling]

This was my 4th DC - and I must congratulate the organisers on an event very well run. The email communication leading up to the event was thorough and informative. And they managed to put together a great ride despite flooded roads and farmworker violence leading up to the event. The neutral zone at Ashton was well numbered for the support vehicles, so there was none of that normal chaos of playing "spot the support vehicle" amongst the other 250 vehicles.

 

So well done to the organisers - it was a great event.

 

Also well done to the winning team (NuWater). How the hell did they manage to do a 5:12 in those conditions? Truly amazing riding.

 

I will second this - I have not done the Dc for about 4 years due to how bad I felt after that's completely dehydrated and just not in a good way! This year even with the bad wind and rain - it actually was quite fun. I really thinking know that you had 30min to recover at 110km was a huge benefit to all the teams!

['Dale]

I was impressed too with those personalised messages and management of the most trickiest of circumstances.

[splat]

This was my 4th DC - and I must congratulate the organisers on an event very well run. The email communication leading up to the event was thorough and informative. And they managed to put together a great ride despite flooded roads and farmworker violence leading up to the event. The neutral zone at Ashton was well numbered for the support vehicles, so there was none of that normal chaos of playing "spot the support vehicle" amongst the other 250 vehicles.

 

So well done to the organisers - it was a great event.

 

Also well done to the winning team (NuWater). How the hell did they manage to do a 5:12 in those conditions? Truly amazing riding.

 

That winning time blows my mind. Incredible strength into that wind.

 

And the organisation of the event was great. After putting in so much effort to sorting out various big issues, the weather was the biggest factor. Well done!

[Velouria]

While the free 30 minutes offers a welcome break when you're suffering like crazy, it does change the complexion of the race quite significantly. It essentially becomes two races to stop the clock - one of 110km, and another of 90kms. Speed and efficiency at the feed zones are no longer rewarded, and I suspect that if the weather is better next year we'll see a sub 5 hour winning time. For the future of the event, the changes are a welcome innovation.

 

That said, it certainly is safer, particularly from Op de Tradouw to Montegu with the lack of backup vehicles. Imagine the carnage on the road if there'd been vehicles in the mix with that wind and rain.

 

Well done to the organisers for putting on the DC this year - it might have been testing for us cyclists, but I think the conditions, both in the run up and during the event, had them checking the contingency booklet a lot!