Lost City ...

[epoh]

 

 

My Lost City Race report: The Chase.......

 

I did not move to the front right away and sat in the middle/back of the group to warm up. Thought it was very flat and didnt need to warm up eh!

 

So not too long into the race there was a crash that happened just in front of me. I hit the brakes and skidded into a guy in front of me with two other people falling on top of me. Not sure how, but I managed to remain standing in all of this. My bike scored a few scratches ! The one mofo fell on top of my right leg and gave me a dead leg.. One guy apparently broke his collar bone. Ouch! Thank God I survived that crash :-)

 

I looked up and there goes the peloton...I struggled with my leg and thought for a moment I am going to abandon.. no way catching that group in this wind. Stuff that I chase, anyways not fun closing a gap with one leg that doesnt wanna work..After quite an exhausting chase me and some other guys managed to pull most of the crash survivors back into the leading group.

 

So I moved to the front, was a bit of a mission, after the crash everyone then wanted to ride in the front. It did not last long...

 

There was one point in the race where you turn with hectic wind from all sides and then a lekker short climb. The guys went hard around that corner and opened up a gap, i was sitting in the gutter trying for dear life to catch up.. they got away and I was so tired by the time we hit that short climb I just could not get back on.. too much chasing eish!

 

I was stuck again between the breakaway and the guys that got left behind..I waited for the chasers and tried to get something going to catch the break.. I did not get much help from the guys unfortunately, Cyclelab and New Horizons had people in the break so I accepted their strategy to sit and let the other people do the work. Hmmm... not good! I was the only TCS guy on the day so I thought stuff it I will give everything to catch the break and if I bonk so be it. When you go so hard that you want to throw up you must know you are riding hard :-)

 

A couple of times I would go mega hard and when I look behind me I lost contact with the rest of the guys in the chasing bunch lol! Was anyone in that chasing group? Why not help a brother out? Thanks for the club 100 guy that made a few turns. We want to beef up the A bunch riding so I will accept the guys that played out their strategies to let me work. Afterall I did not have to  I wanna get stronger so stfu all

 

Mission accomplished, we caught the break about 15km from the finish  and I finished 22nd in the peloton. There was just no way I would have attempted to sprint, too dangerous and not worth it.

 

Overall I did not enjoy the race, too dangerous. Nevertheless, a good work out

 

It was good meeting everyone and also people I havent met.

 

Perico dude, did you make it to the start?

 

Let's ride hard again at Monte Casino

 

 

[Dicky DQ]

Did they change the route? I did it last year and it was flat. I should know I hate climbs.

So watcha all complaining about it not being flat?

[Chilli Pepper]

So I survived my first licensed race!  It wasn't too bad - the wind made it more difficult.  Got dropped between 30-40km from the start, decided to just enjoy the race after that.  Cycled with Michelle for a bit and hooked up with Snapshot at about 50km and finished with her.  Slowpoke came cruising by taking pics about 10km to the finish.  And saw Cruxpearl and the TCS Vito at the first turn left.  Could've maybe finished in a better time, but decided that I needed to enjoy it more than having a better finishing time.  It's not like I was going to win....   

It was nice seeing Slowpoke again and to meet Amateur, Altie(?), Snapshot, Michelle, Jason, Epoh.  Doret and I went looking for the "Hub get-together" but couldn't find it.  We were cycling around the parking area until someone told us the race was finished and we needed to get off our bikes...

[Perico]

Hey epoh

 

 

 

Good ride dude. I had a nightmare of a ride. Firstly I was late, so I

had to plead with an official to let me into the start pen. I finally

managed to sneak in to join right at the back of the bunch just as the

corny pre-recorded voice did the 10 second count down.

 

 

 

When the gun went off I was stuck on the outside right, and to make

things worse some guy fell on me when he tried to clip in. Then when we

turned the corner I saw the main bunch flying down the road. Not sure

what the back end of the bunch was thinking but they seemed to be out

for a fun ride.

 

 

 

You guys had about 200m on me by the time we hit the main road,

and  the wind was pumping. I put in a hard chase on my own with no

one else interested in helping and finally caught the back of the main

bunch just before the turn to Pilansberg. I was already knackered...

 

 

 

...then the crash. Just as I get on the back the guys go down. I was

right at the back so missed the action, but by the time I went passed

you were already up and away making a break for it. I tried in vain to

try and get on the back of the group but that was the end of my race

basically.

 

 

 

Got into a few smaller groups, catching and passing the ladies, then

they decided to turn up the heat and caught us again. Then our group

got split up. By that time I was finished from all the chasing and

pulling on the front.

 

 

 

I had a seriously crap race and by 80km resinged myself to just trying

to finish. I have never been in an A bunch race where the field got so

split up. I must have spent at least 15km on my own during that race

fighting the wind. Anyways, Montecasino has my name all over it!

 

 

 

See you all there!

 

[bobbie]

felt like I had spotted a whole bunch of celebs at the Lost City race... all the people I had been reading about on the Hub with Cruxpearl and all his team! I was way too  to say hello to you guys, but you really all look like you have  the "team spirit" thing going for you.  Lots of laughing and comeraderie at the finish! awesome stuff!

[Sonic]

Seems like there is a lot of info on the rest of the race so I will give a little bit of feed back from the C?s

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Well I started in the third row getting there nice and early, little did it help, as soon as we eventually got out the gates the line was in single file and boy were they in a hurry, I tried to stay as close to the front of the bunch as possible, but it seems everyone else had the same idea so I was getting over taken by everyone and there auntie, I slowly got pushed further back into the bunch, and true as hell on the first climb up to the left turn the bunch split, so I used everything I had to get across to the front guys? I made it just. As soon as I joined they accelerated again and the 3 guys in front of me got dropped and I again went around them to catch up with the break, by now my right leg was telling me to get off and walk  , it has been really tight the last few weeks.

 

 On the downhill after the first left was I got dropped . I soloed for the next 5km until a bunch of about 4 or 5 riders caught up, myself and a club one hundred guy set the pace for a couple of km?s. We caught up with a kid in CSC kit riding restricted gears, and a didata dude. The CSC guy helped set the pace a bit, but the didata guy didn?t seem to want to help, whenever he went to the front he would slow down to around 20km/h eventually I got annoyed and attacked him and the CSC kid came with. We got to within about 1 km behind the break but I just couldn?t seem to get across. Passed a lot of B riders. We turned left into that wind  the CSC kid tried to get across to the bunch, not sure if he did, but I soldiered on and got caught by some B?s (I really don?t like wind).

 

The didata guy caught up eventually, in a bunch (he hadn?t been working) and as he joins he attacks? I was not impressed  I got onto his wheel and refused to work, we turned right and the wind was behind us ? I sat behind him for a while as he was still doing a good 40km/h, I went to the front when the speed dwindled, but he tried to get passed me again  I don?t know what his problem was but once I got to the hills in the middle I attacked him again and rode him off my wheel. I never saw him again, but I was now alone  I soldiered on as before and over took a lot of people I quite enjoyed myself for the last +-45km I time trailed to the end passing tazman (nice BIKE) to finishing in around 3 hrs and some secs.

 

I quite enjoyed the race? sure it would have been much better if it weren?t for the wind? I will be back next year; I just hope the wind isn?t

 

Thanks for all the support at the end, I needed it when that fun rider decided to sprint me for 27562341 place  actually wait he was only doing 70km

 

(first attempt so pls don't blow me out the water) 

[slowpoke]

just to put some perspective into sonics post, i caught him when the didata guy had decided to do some work, then i went ahead to stop and take a photo. next thing along came sonic all alone, smiling happily, peddaling as if it was the start of the day, looking as cool as a cucumber, all alone having made the didata dude look as if he'd found a reverse gear on his bike!

[wonduhboy]

ok so all this talk, but no photos - Crux, SP any pics?

I take it Jason is on a long weekend with Michelle, so not race report from him yet...

[scotty]

Congrats to Michael Pepper from Germiston Wheeler's 13th overall

[slowpoke]

i was using amateurs' camera so the few pics i took are with her... she needs to download and post them....

[Chilli Pepper]

Maybe the lens cracked.... I did warn you SP....

[Jason]

wonduhboy, just goy back... my race report and pics will follow

Stay tuned for scenes from a next survivor... i mean Lost city report.

[amateur]

Sorry guys, forgot the camera at home.... (I would forget my head if it wasn't attached) will try to remember to bring it to work 2m and download them.

 

Chili - that pic of you is really cool.

 

SP also got some nice ones of some of the TCS guys. 

 

[snapshot]

amateur ek sal graag die fotos wil sien wat slowpoke geneem het. snapshot2006-08-29 02:04:21

[Wannabe]

Dunno who read my post on Lost City being dangerous, but here goes again.

Started in B, kept in the first third of the bunch, not going too fast at all, but with cyclist's all over the road. Cycling was a "stop/start" affair with the front guys in no hurry, and the guys at the back in a hurry. Round about 10km into race (just after second climb), something happened at the front that caused the guys to bunch up. A cyclist behind me went over the white line just as a Taxi came from the front (driving ON the white line, where else?) Next I heard this sickening thud, and bicycles going down.

Got a huge scare and decided that self preservation is more important than a good time. Sat up and let the whole bunch past. Not long after this Emergency vehicles came from the front at a great rate of knots.

By the time we turned right on the Thabazimbi road I was at the back and only then did I get my wits together (at one stage contemplated turning around). Started pushing again and caught the guys one by one.

The wind did not bother me that much and caught and passed a number of guys.

Finished in 3:08. Not happy with time, but very gratefull to have made it in one piece.

Will not ride this race again, period. TOO DANGEROUS!!!

Org's should consider staging it on the Sunday, as the roads are a lot quieter then (knows this for a fact as we train the route on Sundays only)

 

Don't know if any other Hubbers was in B bunch, and knows about this incident.

Wannabe2006-08-30 04:51:07

[Chippy]

Wannabe, I was at the front of the bunch for the first 60 odd km.The guys at the front that were working  kept the pace around 30 to 35km/h mark. I'm not sure what caused the group to bunch up. I can tell you that there was little cohesion in front in the first 20km. I too will probably not ride the race again.