pe to plett - any feedback

[amoryns]

Before giving my own...thoughts out there after the race?

[hayleyearth]

It seems like it was tougher than people thought it would be?? So there hasnt been much said as many are still recovering?

 

That is why I didnt do it, knew it wouldnt be as easy as Sani2c.

 

So share with us all the small detials please...

and how many will do it again?

[jaxtun]

MUCh tougher than Sani having just done Sani, wind was cruel at times, too much portage Day 4... not so lekker going down that rocky cliff with a bike, some beaut scenery of course and some good bits in the forest, fair amount of district roads - I didn't mind as gave one a chance to sit in a group and recover but some people hated all the district roads!! First year still so obviously a lot will be fine tuned - will say more after a few more day's recovery :-)

[Terence Hope]

A pure roadies mountain bike race, lots of open district and tar road, bunch riding etc, so cannot really be compared to other mountain bike races in my opinion like Sani or 3 towers or berg and bush etc. It was a good tome out on the bike though, just shy of 400km's and just over 6000m of climbing (very different to their advertised figures), but again, first year, so good effort by the organisers I think. Food was good, campsites were brilliant. Would I do it again, probably, if they add more single track and less road and cow paddocks (riding over ALOT of grass hurts!)

[amoryns]

Not enough water points. distances not as advertised...results very sketchy on 1st day. way too many district roads. 2showers for all the women...mmm not nice

 

at least there were 10 minutes on each stage of some breath taking scenery.

 

this was tough...and we apparently did the easy one...good luck for next year..its basically a mini epic

 

will we be back...i doubt it

 

we have so many stage races in this country, surely mike and his team could have taken some notes from them

 

anyways..rant off. good luck to them for next year

[jaxtun]

A pure roadies mountain bike race, lots of open district and tar road, bunch riding etc, so cannot really be compared to other mountain bike races in my opinion like Sani or 3 towers or berg and bush etc. It was a good tome out on the bike though, just shy of 400km's and just over 6000m of climbing (very different to their advertised figures), but again, first year, so good effort by the organisers I think. Food was good, campsites were brilliant. Would I do it again, probably, if they add more single track and less road and cow paddocks (riding over ALOT of grass hurts!)

I agree food was great and super campsites.. but hell those grass paddocks were the pits!!!!

[Sharkie 2]

Can't please all

[Stevief]

Wow doesnt sound like the peeps had a good time, good to know as i was planning on riding next year looks like i will do another stage race, the Dr Evil this weekend could be a good bet

[Jocklaw]

The organiser was reckless. He's a motorcyclist and it showed. There was not one single warning, slow down, caution, 3 arrows or danger sign on any of the days, and believe me , there were some very dangerous sections. The route was superbly marked so there was no excuse for not having warnings.

 

There were bottlenecks at the start of days 1 and 2 which should have been avoided.

 

I would agree with the comment above that it was more of a roadies MTB event, although there were some enjoyable descents, notably the Devil's Staircase on day1 and the descent into brakkeduine on day 2. The single track canopy on the Plett side of Nature's valley was magnificent.

 

Lots of hand shuddering riding on kikuyu over rough ground.

 

The wind on days 1 and 2 ? It's the coast, accept it. Next year it could blow east!!

 

Day 3 was a district road ride through farms and tar, not at all enjoyable.

 

Day 4 was the most enjoyable, even though we climbed Bloukrans and Nature's Valley passes on tar.

 

There were not enough toilets and they were not well serviced.

 

The food was pretty good considering the logistics.

 

It was a tough race, nothing at all like Sani. We finished in the top 50 teams and averaged 5hrs 15 on per day.

[amoryns]

The organiser was reckless. He's a motorcyclist and it showed. There was not one single warning, slow down, caution, 3 arrows or danger sign on any of the days, and believe me , there were some very dangerous sections. The route was superbly marked so there was no excuse for not having warnings.

 

There were bottlenecks at the start of days 1 and 2 which should have been avoided.

 

I would agree with the comment above that it was more of a roadies MTB event, although there were some enjoyable descents, notably the Devil's Staircase on day1 and the descent into brakkeduine on day 2. The single track canopy on the Plett side of Nature's valley was magnificent.

 

Lots of hand shuddering riding on kikuyu over rough ground.

 

The wind on days 1 and 2 ? It's the coast, accept it. Next year it could blow east!!

 

Day 3 was a district road ride through farms and tar, not at all enjoyable.

 

Day 4 was the most enjoyable, even though we climbed Bloukrans and Nature's Valley passes on tar.

 

There were not enough toilets and they were not well serviced.

 

The food was pretty good considering the logistics.

 

It was a tough race, nothing at all like Sani. We finished in the top 50 teams and averaged 5hrs 15 on per day.

 

the bottlenecks were quite frustrating. walking over that bridge (think day 2)...was horrible

 

this race has so much potential..maybe farmer Glen should go and give them a hand

[Jocklaw]

the bottlenecks were quite frustrating. walking over that bridge (think day 2)...was horrible

 

this race has so much potential..maybe farmer Glen should go and give them a hand

 

Yeah, day 2 having a neutral zone for 5 ks, racing for maybe 4 ks and then coming to a halt and having to gingerly walk over a crumbling railway bridge made no sense.

 

Day 1 , the Baakens Valley has such great technical riding, better use could have been made of it.

[Terence Hope]

Anyone know where we can get the pics of this event?

[Sworks20]

I never did this event but 9/10 people said they really did not enjoy it and will not be back due to many reasons but they all mentioned how wrong can an organiser get their route profiles wrong?

 

The 10th person I spoke to never finished and went home and rode in Lebanon for 2 days instead.

[amoryns]

I never did this event but 9/10 people said they really did not enjoy it and will not be back due to many reasons but they all mentioned how wrong can an organiser get their route profiles wrong?

 

The 10th person I spoke to never finished and went home and rode in Lebanon for 2 days instead.

maybe should have done it as well

[Jocklaw]

I never did this event but 9/10 people said they really did not enjoy it and will not be back due to many reasons but they all mentioned how wrong can an organiser get their route profiles wrong?

 

The 10th person I spoke to never finished and went home and rode in Lebanon for 2 days instead.

In fairness to the organiser, he advertised 7000m of climbing over 4 days, so going in, we knew it was going to be a tough ride. His mistake was having profile cards distributed to all riders which were hopelessly wrong, and compounded his mistake by announcing at the first 2/3 pre-stage briefings the wrong climbing meterage, which was out by about 500m each day.

[Red Cherry Events]

I did PE Plett and it was Tough. But you dont go to race to have a holiday you go there to be broken at the end of each stage, to fight for survival during the race. Its not an easy sport and PE Plett is not an easy race. Its a race that you will leave being thankful that you finished it though