Urban MTB Assalt

[Peach.]

Awesome event

The route was great.

There were a few small glitches that im sure will be sorted for the next one but on the whole it was really fun.

smaller groups at 5 min intervals would have been better.

 

The 2nd water table was a big fail but you cant blame the organizers for that, the water table did not cater for the riders they knew were coming and they should have made a plan instead of just ducking.

 

The bell is awesome, perfect for my bike

 

Luckily I managed to start in E but even there the riders were battling with the simplest of "tech" sections. Im not sure how they got into E batch.

 

this was by no means a normal MTB race and was always advertised as such

I paid R400 for an entry with subs and i would gladly pay it again to ride that route with that much work and organisation put into it.

 

Ill be back next year 

[Karooryder]

 

One person's technical is another person's tame.

 

Man that's so true...think that should become The Hub's motto or someting!

 

Re. the race - it is what it is and different skill-level riders will grade this event differently. Yes, after riding a few MTN Ultras this race was less technical IMO...heck if hayleyearth thinks it was "easy" good for her. But let's remember that any event, created for THE fastest growing participation sport in the world (precisely because it's so accessible and doable...) will in all probability not be able to provide for everybody's whims. Having said that, allow the organizers to take from this maiden event good and bad to plan an even better event next year. 

 

I reiterate: it is what it is. As for me, I had a lekke lekke time on Sunday!   

[Mar]

Was an awesome race, bottlenecks and all! Was nervous going in to the race, but had loads of fun. And loved the idea of the bell, something different.

 

Imagine what the spruit is going to be like this weekend with every tom, dick and sally having a bell....

[Wyatt Earp]

Man that's so true...think that should become The Hub's motto or someting!

 

Re. the race - it is what it is and different skill-level riders will grade this event differently. Yes, after riding a few MTN Ultras this race was less technical IMO...heck if hayleyearth thinks it was "easy" good for her. But let's remember that any event, created for THE fastest growing participation sport in the world (precisely because it's so accessible and doable...) will in all probability not be able to provide for everybody's whims. Having said that, allow the organizers to take from this maiden event good and bad to plan an even better event next year. 

 

I reiterate: it is what it is. As for me, I had a lekke lekke time on Sunday!   

I don't think she has done an ultra, but I could be wrong.

Yes, Patches nailed it perfectly with that and many of us have said the same thing before, that is what it really boils down to.

[Peach.]

i think it was an awesome ride and thoroughly enjoyed it. Have to say think the stormwater and tunnel is not such a good idea - saw one oke who probably fractured his hip - a life changing event. It was slippery here and a fall here unpredictable. so hopefully this will be made safer for next year. otherwise an excellent ride. i found all the riders patient and courteous.

 

 

Yes he did break his hip, he went in for an opp yesterday afternoon.(Edit, Opp moved to Tuesday)

Unfortunately this is the harsh side of the sport, If you ride chilled and safe you will most likely be fine, If you push hard and race things go wrong very quickly and this could have easily happened if someone crashed in a rock section.

If you were cautious it was safe. The racing guys are always pushing the limits, look at any XCO or DH race.

 

 

for the rider who crashed (no names)

Speedy recovery, I hope he gets back on the bike soon.

He has been racing MTB for a good 20 years 

Edited October 13, 2014 by Peach.

[HollardJUMA]

Was the no championchip, no result rule enforced? ( I did not do the race, but heard that there were some manual results captured becaue some of the "upper echelon" riders did not have chips)

 

Would like to hear a response from Andy please.

 

Morning!

 

Let me ask the organisers for you...

 

--Andy

[HollardJUMA]

You forgot the most important part...the Oreo's

 

Chocolate Oreos! Even better

 

--Andy

[Jracer57]

I reccon a bell is prety cool, atleast you can use it.

Sure, if I wanted to deliver ice cream too. I'm upset because u also introduced a friend to mtbing and it was his first race and 1st time riding 52km. A medal goes a long way to saying "I achieved something" and a bell can't be hung on a wall or reflected on years later.

[Robodog]

Well in that case, strange why the organizers would put that figure to it...900 short!

 

Well done for manning the stand post them packing up!

Thanks.

 

We weren't set up for it. It was quite a mission pouring water for hundreds from our one tiny table. And then fixing bikes in between. But us Swampdogs pull together when needed so we soon found many hands helping out.

[Escapee..]

I don't think i have ever seen and heard so many people fall as yesterday.

 

Route was a lot of fun with nothing really technical (I am a roadie so that says a lot) but I saw some people getting off their bikes to get up a pavement 

 

Couple of bottlenecks here and there but nothing crazy.

 

Just after the Red Bull water point a guy went over the handlebars, he was okay but got a big fright. Stood with him for about 10 minutes and had a good laugh at the guys going down there.

 

Still plenty of drinks/water at the second water point, but I was lucky enough to get there quite early.

 

Nice cold beer at the end and a dodgy bell that doesnt work but who cares!

[Vangar]

Well, technically we were not a water point - we were a Birzman tech zone - but the BOS iced tea people ran out of their juice at about 10:30. So they packed up and sent the scouts home. We then gave all of our personal water, fruit juice, coke, (beer and Jaeger was reserved for our Swampdog riding buddies ) to the desperately dehydrated last half of the field.

 

This was while Duncan and in his WWII Russian military bike with sidecar and my other half rushed off to clear the shelves of about 70 x 5 litre waters at every retail shopping centre in a 5km radius. Although it wasnt our responsibilty we just felt that it needed to be done. I'm sorry about the few hundred we had to turn away while this unplanned shopping spree happened. I hope you made it to the finish.

 

Just a few notes:

I let guys know that there was water in the scout hall loos, an 80m walk away, but no one I talked to was desperate enough to take 5 minutes to go and fill their bottles there.

 

You use bottles on the Spruit? Really? Most bottles and bikes I saw or worked on were covered with vile smelling substance of unknown origin.

 

The most common mechanical was an apparent lack of air in tyres. But seriously guys no tyres should be 2.5bars. It is just way too hard...

 

The many people whose bike's we sorted and wanted to know where to find us again - we are opening a bike workshop (with coffeshop later) across the road from Fratelli at the Spruit's Trailhead.

 

@Robodog, sir you and you're better half saved my ass with that juice and a smile, would not have made it to the end otherwise. Wish I knew about the scout hall toilets! Being my first time on the spruit. Thank $@#%@#$% my back bottle had a cover and the camelback ones squirt. I saw so many punctures along the route it's not even funny.

 

Just a question, when you ride your bike and train to get fit for a race, how many water points do you have along the way ?

 

@Wyatt.....good point. Lesson learnt is to only rely on myself in future.

 

i think it was an awesome ride and thoroughly enjoyed it. Have to say think the stormwater and tunnel is not such a good idea - saw one oke who probably fractured his hip - a life changing event. It was slippery here and a fall here unpredictable. so hopefully this will be made safer for next year. otherwise an excellent ride. i found all the riders patient and courteous.

 

This was the best part of the race for me. From the anecdotal evidence I saw is that Crossmarks on the front plus slippery surface equal guaranteed fall. I almost kissed the ardent on mine(if not for the spruit mud) 

[HollardJUMA]

The road bike finished, http://Instagram.com/p/uC14BSS0yk/ and he is sleeping http://Instagram.com/p/uDt5tDy0-o/

 

SERIOUS!?

 

Wow. Props.

 

I gather he's the type that pulls TWO ice cream bikes on 94.7?

 

--Andy

[patches]

Sure, if I wanted to deliver ice cream too. I'm upset because u also introduced a friend to mtbing and it was his first race and 1st time riding 52km. A medal goes a long way to saying "I achieved something" and a bell can't be hung on a wall or reflected on years later.

 

yeah totally! I wear my medals to work. I only have 4, so at least 1 day a week people see me wearing the same one twice, and it's rather embarrasing.

 

How the heck am I supposed to wear a bell to work?

 

But seriously, I remember my 1st mtb race, and I don't think it was the medal that kept me coming back for more. Enjoy the bell!

[Pusher]

A bell how can they give us a bell...I kept walking about trying to see where do I pick up my medal...stupid bell is in the dustbin now

Use it next time you ride the Spruit!

[Escapee..]

Yes he did break his hip, he went in for an opp yesterday afternoon.(Edit, Opp moved to Tuesday)

Unfortunately this is the harsh side of the sport, If you ride chilled and safe you will most likely be fine, If you push hard and race things go wrong very quickly and this could have easily happened if someone crashed in a rock section.

If you were cautious it was safe. The racing guys are always pushing the limits, look at any XCO or DH race.

 

 

for the rider who crashed (no names)

Speedy recovery, I hope he gets back on the bike soon.

He has been racing MTB for a good 20 years 

 

It happened about 5 minutes before I got there. He was in a lot of pain.

 

That green algae/moss was insanely slippery and I saw about 10 people in front of me fall because of it.

 

Nothing to do with pushing the limits, after so many people fell there, everyone was very cautious but many still went down

[beanz]

I did this event for the concept of it, and with the huge effort put into the route, I reckon it was well worth the entry fee. I was fortunate to have a D batch start time, so no serious bottlenecks to speak of, but I can imagine how they may have been a problem later on.

The riding itself was a huge amount of fun, and I was amazed at where the race went. To enter into the stormwater drain at the parkview golf course and come out at zoo lake was pretty rad. They could have lit the place a bit better, or at least warned us to bring our own. Negotiating the slippery sluit and all the ramps and scaffolds was an interesting "technical" challenge that most of us are not used to, I wasn't surprised there were some casualties.

Next time I'll carry a camelbak for this one - with the gunk that ends up on your bottle, I was worried about getting sick. Just had the dribblies last week from the 3 towers, so I don't really fancy a repeat this week.