Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge 2014

[jaxtun]

His tan says he spends a lot of time in three quarter broeks

[Wyatt Earp]

His tan says he spends a lot of time in three quarter broeks

Looks like a mof to me.

[Jay_B]

He is just a tjop... see his fb photo...

 

SDT.jpg

 

haha

[rouxtjie]

Looks like a mof to me.

yip, voel-liefhebber

[JJDT]

Speaking of routes and climbing. How would you rate this route compared to the very old route (pre-2006) where you would ride Witkoppen past North Gate and the climb to the water tower on Boundary road.

[TK-Sp3cialiSt]

Self centred person... Kind of guy that drive a merc amg/bmw m/audi s and thinks the world revolves around him and owe him a favour

[Deshark]

That's not a bad time.

 

The same thing happened to me in 2012. I was sitting under the N1 bridge (old start) and was sweating bucket loads. We hadn't even started yet.

 

I was dropped on all but one uphill - some days it happens, other days are great. That year was my worst experience on a bike.

 

Agreed. My worst cycle race in a very very long time. Good seed but very late start. Heat while waiting in the starting / waiting blocks took its toll. Road surface was bad, one of the spokes broke and my rim wobbled and I limped back to the finish (suffered that last 30km's)...

[Deshark]

If you parked at Leaping frog it was even closer, Next year I am leaving home at 4:30am not 5am as the traffic was Shyt when I got to william nicole.....

 

I think the ruling on the traffic issue is not neccessarily HOW EARLY you arrive but WHERE you PARK. You can park close to the finish/start but that will mean you would need to wait in line with a lot more cars. I say, park further away (downhill preferably, so that when you finish, you free to your vehicle)...

[djvr]

The day started off very bad.  Approached the parking from Centurion side on the N14. Came to a standstill 3.2km from off ramp. It took me 2.5 hours from there to the silver parking. After having sorted out my wife's starting group at the expo, we missed her group by 1 hour. Eventually got going in group HH.  The day did not end to bad with my wife doing the new route 45min quicker than last year. 

[Frosty]

Regarding the Argus-947-which-is-harder debate...

1. Take the wind out of the equation, so weather conditions are (more or less) equal;
2. I think it depends on your own experience, and your ability to ride on a rolling course (947) vs. a longer course with longer (but less amount of) climbs - at a race pace;
3. You need to consider your peak form at the time of both events, so you're comparing efforts realistically;
4. Did you put in the same effort at both rides;

I think the 947 is a harder ride, given that most many people struggle on uphills. There are more uphills on the 947, meaning less time to recover between these uphills.

 

Also, the Elites complete the Argus in 2:30-2:35 for 108/9Km (Argus), vs. 2:21 for the 947 (94Km) - and you can't say that a 4Km/h difference in average speed is because of tactics. The Argus is a faster route, and therefore a little easier (terrain wise).

[Skubarra]

Regarding the Argus-947-which-is-harder debate...

1. Take the wind out of the equation, so weather conditions are (more or less) equal;
2. I think it depends on your own experience, and your ability to ride on a rolling course (947) vs. a longer course with longer (but less amount of) climbs - at a race pace;
3. You need to consider your peak form at the time of both events, so you're comparing efforts realistically;
4. Did you put in the same effort at both rides;

I think the 947 is a harder ride, given that most many people struggle on uphills. There are more uphills on the 947, meaning less time to recover between these uphills.

 

Also, the Elites complete the Argus in 2:30-2:35 for 108/9Km (Argus), vs. 2:21 for the 947 (94Km) - and you can't say that a 4Km/h difference in average speed is because of tactics. The Argus is a faster route, and therefore a little easier (terrain wise).

 

Not sure where you get your winning times for the Argus? Last 2 years it was close to 2h40 in relatively good conditions so the average speed is roughly the same for both races

 

Secondly, on your point 1 - You can NEVER take the wind out of the equation when talking Argus 

 

The way I see it, 94.7 more difficult route, but the wind and 15km extra make the Argus slightly more difficult, especially for the middle & backmarkers.

[Paul Ruinaard]

Speaking of routes and climbing. How would you rate this route compared to the very old route (pre-2006) where you would ride Witkoppen past North Gate and the climb to the water tower on Boundary road.

The race used to be Joburg's toughest rather than safest.

 

So the initial routes were quite tough. It came from Megawatt park round via Midrand to where we started and then back up William Nicol to the middle of town. Then home. They moved the start a number of times to Kyalami and around from there to other venues aka sponsors, so the route needed to accommodate those interest (including Jhb Central and the mayor)

 

When the road closure came they went to safest route and when the numbers picked up they couldn't get that volume of cyclist through, they introduced the highways, (for the love of anything sacred I still have no idea why anyone  wants to cycle down a highway).

 

SO in that time there have been some major changes to the course. The first ones were real muthas. From the central of town out has normally been quite easy but getting in to town has always been a challenge.

 

I reckon this route has gone back to the old toughest format....

[Paul Ruinaard]

Speaking of routes and climbing. How would you rate this route compared to the very old route (pre-2006) where you would ride Witkoppen past North Gate and the climb to the water tower on Boundary road.

The race used to be Joburg's toughest rather than safest.

 

So the initial routes were quite tough. It came from Megawatt park round via Midrand to where we started and then back up William Nicol to the middle of town. Then home. They moved the start a number of times to Kyalami and around from there to other venues aka sponsors, so the route needed to accommodate those interest (including Jhb Central and the mayor)

 

When the road closure came they went to safest route and when the numbers picked up they couldn't get that volume of cyclist through, they introduced the highways, (for the love of anything sacred I still have no idea why anyone  wants to cycle down a highway).

 

SO in that time there have been some major changes to the course. The first ones were real muthas. From the central of town out has normally been quite easy but getting in to town has always been a challenge.

 

I reckon this route has gone back to the old toughest format....

[Andymann]

The race used to be Joburg's toughest rather than safest.

 

So the initial routes were quite tough. It came from Megawatt park round via Midrand to where we started and then back up William Nicol to the middle of town. Then home. They moved the start a number of times to Kyalami and around from there to other venues aka sponsors, so the route needed to accommodate those interest (including Jhb Central and the mayor)

 

When the road closure came they went to safest route and when the numbers picked up they couldn't get that volume of cyclist through, they introduced the highways, (for the love of anything sacred I still have no idea why anyone  wants to cycle down a highway).

 

SO in that time there have been some major changes to the course. The first ones were real muthas. From the central of town out has normally been quite easy but getting in to town has always been a challenge.

 

I reckon this route has gone back to the old toughest format....

I would agree with you.  I've ridden most of the route variations and I remember the '99 and '00 ones ended with a lap of Kyalami up the mineshaft - reminiscent of what we had yesterday.  It would be interesting if one of the data gurus put something together which incorporated all the routes over the last 18 years.  Maybe they can take it past Teazers again.  Those waterpoints were always popular....

[Frosty]

Not sure where you get your winning times for the Argus? Last 2 years it was close to 2h40 in relatively good conditions so the average speed is roughly the same for both races.

Short answer: I checked my results from the only time I did the Argus (2007 and 2008). There was hardly any wind in those two years. Also, Boyes Drive wasn't part of the route back then.

 

That means the Argus has had fairly good weather for 50% of the events in the last 8 years.

 

Secondly, on your point 1 - You can NEVER take the wind out of the equation when talking Argus  

Based on the last 8 years, there's a 50/50 chance of good weather for 2015. With the route cutting out Boyes Drive, and good weather the, Elite times could drop back closer to 2:30-2:35.

 

The way I see it, 94.7 more difficult route, but the wind and 15km extra make the Argus slightly more difficult, especially for the middle & backmarkers.

Agree

[Sven137]

Firstly, not sure what makes them heroes, secondly we need to determine why some people do a second lap.

Thirdly, nobody criticised the cows as a whole, but I did raise the issue of a few rotten apples that could spoilt it for the rest.

 

I rode two laps for a cause, my friend works for a company that said they will be happy to give some money to the Midrand SPCA and if I do a second lap, they will double it up.

I rode in a manner I believe to have been gentlemanly and had numerous chats with some of the folks at the back.

I never shouted for a gap or screamed that I was coming past on the right or left.

I did on one or two occasions utter a friendly warning just to make some riders know that I was about to pass.

 

So as much as you try and push everyone who does a second lap in to the ego driven stereotype you tried to paint, you happened to fail at it quite miserably.

As much as we have over bloated ego cows, we also have two lappets with the same attitude, but then again as I said, a few bad apples .

 

 

Everyone was wearing charitable shirts apart form a few that had the Political message "Free Gaza" shirts which kinda upset me a bit as this challage is not about politics..

 

A few Bad Apples