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[Event] NISSAN TRAILSEEKER #2 Cullinan


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Posted

 

 

Yes, it they listen...

 

From my side, please keep the route away from churned up eroded 4x4 trails. And shooting ranges. Otherwise, no complaints, enjoyed the ride.

 

If you don't like or are not into technical descents, keep away from the Van Gaalens marathon in this series, that is amongst the most rad I have experienced, but awesome route it must be said.

 

ps I got 79 km on my GPS for the marathon

 

Is the VG trailseeker route all rideable, or are there portages and queues?

I've heard it's tough.

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Posted

To the guy who helped shorten my chain to a single speed, thanks very much.

 

To the organisers who left 20 foot of electric fence on the track just after the lion cage climb thanks for helping destroy my derailer.... let me say that if i hadnt taken it to the side after if was caught up in it, then more riders would have been in my situation. good thing i was up with the front guys!!!

 

I havent done this race for a few years, and the route has been changed considerably since then. Cant say I enjoyed having to wait at the water crossings and the cliff sections. We rode hard to get there in a break, and that was all nulified by stopping. Same applies for when the race met up with the shorter distances. Have to agree with rattlesnake that it defeats the object of working hard in a race to have it all undone by waiting....

 

Thanks for moving the wire aside Paulie.... Otherwise a few other riders might have had an even more miserable day too.

Posted

i did this race (70km) for the first time, and thought a sub 4 would be realistic after checking out the route profile. MAN!!! was i mistaken, not event HTFU helped me yesterday. At the 30km mark i was doing 21km ave. after that it just went south, thought Ok maybe a 4:30 is more like it. After the 1st HikeAbike i was in a really dark place, and then I very quickly lost my sence of humour at the 70km mark and realised we were no where near the finish line. the worst was the last few km's more HikeAbike sections.

At the finish i swore i would never do this race again. But MTBing pain is like childbirth you tend to forget the pain once you recovered, and i'll probably be ther next year for retribution.

I do think however, that they could have found an easier way around some of those HikeAbike sections. Maybe even a chicken run around the hill which is rideable but longer for the non-racing-snakes. Most can ride those inclines but the loose rock just makes it impossible. Maybe somehow grade a 1m section void of loose rocks, would make the challenge a lot more doable.

Posted (edited)

Is the VG trailseeker route all rideable, or are there portages and queues?

I've heard it's tough.

 

There is serious rocky descent about 1/2 way, I've only walked it but others here have ridden it. No waiting by the time I get there. Don't try it if you don't have the skills, you can hurt yourself easily. Its difficult to stop and get off when you change your mind, as I have learnt :o

 

I now have a collapsible seat post, that really helps in getting your weight / COG back.

Edited by kosmonooit
Posted

Let me start of by apologizing for my previous post about the moaners . I suppose we all are looking for different things in races . It is unfortunate that we can not all be pleased all the time . Like the Crater Cruise race , I did it once and said never again as it was a dirt race for roadies . Even though I never returned to the race , much to my surpise they still fill up their entries !! :eek: I think I was maybe lucky with the Cullinan race not having difficulty with bottlenecks and slow riders even though I caught a lot of the 40km riders . But I must admit if is not my type of race anyway , not enough climbs (ridable) and way to little single track . I am sure I will still do it again anyway .

Posted

It was a truly enjoyable race.

I also experienced holdups when reaching the 40km & 20km riders, but they moved over or held their lines whenever I requested (a please and a thank you go a long way). Admittadly, some considerable time would have been saved had they not been there.

I started in Batch H, and managed to catch Batch C riders, so obviously I had a lot of people to pass. This caused some mega holdups on the singletrack sections, but every rider out there made an effort to move over for me. Thanks to everyone that did that, it makes the riding a dam sight more enjoyable when I don't have to get off and push because someone else can ride a technical section

Where the hell was all this game everyone is talking about. I think I might have seen an ant at the 56km mark, but that's about it. Giraffes, Wildebeest, Lions.......dam I was maybe a little too focused!

 

It is very difficult to cater for every rider possible in a race of this magnitude. I personally would have preferred a much more technical track, steeper rockier descents, more churned up jeep track, tight switchback single track....we are after all mountain bikers and not roadies.

XCM is extremely popular in SA due to the fact that not a massive amount of technical ability is required, I feel however, that we cannot progress if we are not challenged. We can also definately not produce the world class cyclists that we do if we didn't have races that challenged us. (ok, that long rocky climb was a bit much for the fun riders, but they did keep left for those that could climb it).

 

I too suffered with the extra 4.5kms, but I have not yet entered a race where the advertised distance is exact. How often in life is every challenge as hard as expected. Admittadly a heads up would have been nice, but would not really have reduced the suffering at the end (for me anyway, mega cramp sesh last 29kms).

 

I didn't hang about at the end (cramps were excrutiating), but the finish line festivites and setup was quite spectacular! Well done to the organisers.

 

Thats me signing out, I gotta go get this crap smell out of my shoes from that swamp pit crossing........ or maybe I should leave it there for the fond memories......

Posted

I enjoyed the race too. I think in large part because I missed my J starting block for the 70, and ended up going out with the 20km B group. 2km in, I was told I was on the wrong route (by another rider) so i headed back to the start to confirm the route. I was on track. Just past the graveyard, the 70km markers were already gone, and I had a suspicion that I'd missed a 70km split about 1km later. so backtracked 1km where I located the traffic cop who confirmed that 70km riders had crossed the main road earlier. I thought I was on track from there on. only to take the 10km split and add an extra little loop in. first 20kms of the route (26km in my terms) i didn't see another rider (except for 2 choc riders and another walking back with a bust rear wheel). The most eventful part of that section was riding through a farm yard and being bulldozed from 1 side by a great dane while another pitbull'ish dog had a nice bite of my calf (post-race tet shots.. Yay!)

 

1st tail ender was caught in that lovely Navara rock garden. 15 down by the 2nd waterpoint. Took the time to take in some decent scenary. Total lack of bottlenecks until about 35km in. Having been off the bike for 2 weeks due to flu, which I recovered from just in time, i was more than happy to finish without cramps or hitting a wall, with a 4h20 for 81.4km. I wasn't crazy about the last few kms with numb feet due to that marshy water crossing.

 

Overall, really enjoyable ride and greatful for minimal bottlenecks with my starting strategy. Some nice chats with other riders along the way too. I got a literal sense of what a Trail Seeker is about :)

Posted
Same old same old it seems. Last few years there's been hardly any of the races that hasn't been plagued by the same problems mentioned on this thread moan and groans. I'd rather spend my money on riding at Groenkloof with the family.

Fixed.

 

Musta been me and Etienne doin the 20km. From our perspective it was HECTIC with the 40s and 70s together. Very unfair on a 8 year old to have to be SOOOOO careful to keep left and not swerve - I understand you chaps are all racing for personal bests but jeepers,the poor kids are doin this for FUN!!!! THANKS TO ALL THE CHAPS CHEERING HIM ON, he got 3rd Nipper boys! I would not mind the 20 starting AFTER the 40, this will solve half the problem until the routes join again...

Mega kudos to you for taking your boy out - I'd live to do that with my boys sometime, but fear that they are not fit enough for even a 10k yet :) Congrats on third place as well!

Posted

I enjoyed the race even though I need to replace my chain after all the sand mixed with the lube. I went for a sub 3h especially after I managed a 3:05 on Trailseeker1 and TS2 was classified as a flat&fast one as well. Well I did not manage to get the sub 3h :whistling: but I did manage a sub 5h :clap: I just started to fast and had nothing left in the tank on the last 15km.

 

Personally I don’t mind shorter distance riders on the route. I sommer pass them through the bush if I have to or I’ll pass left after politely informing them that I’ll be passing.

 

One criticism/request I have thought is that organizers please make the climbs ride able. The climb at 60km was just not ride able. My legs were stuffed after walking up there and started cramping soon after.

 

A possible solution to the shorter distance riders joining the longer distance is to host the race over two days like the MTN series. That way the racing snakes can race and the shorter distance riders can enjoy the scenery that the longer distance has to offer also they don’t have to worry about getting out the way of faster riders. This is not ideal and posses many other challenges.

Posted

Very tough race...super fast out the blocks.

 

Huge BRRAAAAPP session.

 

Eish I think regardless if you started in A Batch or J Batch for the 74,8km is was tough.

Insane pace for the first 30km made all the top pros blow up this last couple of sketch loose rock climbs.

But saying that...we need more of these races n Gauteng!!!

 

Bring it on!

lol...got my worst position in 3 years. Still top 20 and highest heart rate ever. Says something for the level of the guys in the top 10 and the standard of the guys racing at higher intensities out there.

 

 

 

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