Urban MTB Assalt

[Karin]

I am sure I got a old Urban Assault medal somewhere . Swap ? I never got enough bells !!

 

Thanks, but his sister claimed the bell! Sorry.

[Karin]

Also handed bottles of water when I finished, just after getting my bell, came in around 12pm having started in T batch

 

Whilst we were waiting for prize giving, they brought a bakkie loaded with water around and started handing out. The problem is that by then hosts of cyclists were in already and really parched. The burger truck send someone off to go and buy crates of cold drinks which they started selling but soon ran out.

[Bluebull15]

So my feelings on the event are a little mixed. The route really could have been awesome but this is not the first mass mtb event ever organised and some of the delays really were unacceptable. It took me 2hrs and 30 minutes to finish the 22k and more than half that time was spent standing next to my bike. I dont care what anyone says thats doesnt point to much planning and in the moment isnt a whole lot of fun.

 

That said - there needs to be a survey at entry time to assist with the seedings. As an example - I had to get off my bike behind about 10 people coming out of the cemetry at the corner of Judith street. I mean really if you cant manage to ride through a meter wide gate and get down a 6 inch pavement drop off I am not sure you should be entering this ride. And if you are then you should have the option of electing a specific start group. Many of the people getting off their bikes looked very apologetic and if they could elect to ride with a group of similairyly skilled riders I am sure they and everyone would enjoy the experience more.

 

For the organisers one big plus point was the start / finish venue. Easy to get in. Easy to get out. Despite all the people. Overall the organisers will probably get a second chance from this rider because I still had fun despite the waiting - but it does need to be addressed.

 

However - the thing that made me mad enough to get an account and make a post on this forum was the amount of riders that show no respect for their fellow competitors. At a number of the queues people just rode past, squeezed in the front - knocking over marshalls and other riders in an attempt to just ride through. Guess what.... probably half the people or more standing in a lot of the queues could ride the  drop offs or bridges that were causing the bottleneck. We would all love to be riding. But there is a queue - deal with it. By being the guy who thinks he is better and cool enough to ride to the front and barge through the traffic you are making the problem worse.

 

If the queues are unavoidable next year I really hope there are some extra marshalls on the route - it probably wouldnt matter much but on principle these riders race numbers should be noted and they should be disqualified.

[Mar]

So my feelings on the event are a little mixed. The route really could have been awesome but this is not the first mass mtb event ever organised and some of the delays really were unacceptable. It took me 2hrs and 30 minutes to finish the 22k and more than half that time was spent standing next to my bike. I dont care what anyone says thats doesnt point to much planning and in the moment isnt a whole lot of fun.

 

That said - there needs to be a survey at entry time to assist with the seedings. As an example - I had to get off my bike behind about 10 people coming out of the cemetry at the corner of Judith street. I mean really if you cant manage to ride through a meter wide gate and get down a 6 inch pavement drop off I am not sure you should be entering this ride. And if you are then you should have the option of electing a specific start group. Many of the people getting off their bikes looked very apologetic and if they could elect to ride with a group of similairyly skilled riders I am sure they and everyone would enjoy the experience more.

 

For the organisers one big plus point was the start / finish venue. Easy to get in. Easy to get out. Despite all the people. Overall the organisers will probably get a second chance from this rider because I still had fun despite the waiting - but it does need to be addressed.

 

However - the thing that made me mad enough to get an account and make a post on this forum was the amount of riders that show no respect for their fellow competitors. At a number of the queues people just rode past, squeezed in the front - knocking over marshalls and other riders in an attempt to just ride through. Guess what.... probably half the people or more standing in a lot of the queues could ride the  drop offs or bridges that were causing the bottleneck. We would all love to be riding. But there is a queue - deal with it. By being the guy who thinks he is better and cool enough to ride to the front and barge through the traffic you are making the problem worse.

 

If the queues are unavoidable next year I really hope there are some extra marshalls on the route - it probably wouldnt matter much but on principle these riders race numbers should be noted and they should be disqualified.

 

That's my biggest, if not the only, gripe I have. Everybody is doing the same race, just chill and wait....

[Bobbo_SA]

That's my biggest, if not the only, gripe I have. Everybody is doing the same race, just chill and wait....

 

Problem was there were some legitimate reasons for this, the 52km groups were held up so long that the youngsters doing the 22km (and up front) were really struggling to get past the masses, for them it was a race and they had a real chance to get into the prizes.

 

After the 22km split there was no excuse for this blatant lack of respect for the rest of us that were capable and willing to ride the tech stuff but couldn't and had to accept it.

[Escapee..]

So my feelings on the event are a little mixed. The route really could have been awesome but this is not the first mass mtb event ever organised and some of the delays really were unacceptable. It took me 2hrs and 30 minutes to finish the 22k and more than half that time was spent standing next to my bike. I dont care what anyone says thats doesnt point to much planning and in the moment isnt a whole lot of fun.

 

That said - there needs to be a survey at entry time to assist with the seedings. As an example - I had to get off my bike behind about 10 people coming out of the cemetry at the corner of Judith street. I mean really if you cant manage to ride through a meter wide gate and get down a 6 inch pavement drop off I am not sure you should be entering this ride. And if you are then you should have the option of electing a specific start group. Many of the people getting off their bikes looked very apologetic and if they could elect to ride with a group of similairyly skilled riders I am sure they and everyone would enjoy the experience more.

 

For the organisers one big plus point was the start / finish venue. Easy to get in. Easy to get out. Despite all the people. Overall the organisers will probably get a second chance from this rider because I still had fun despite the waiting - but it does need to be addressed.

 

However - the thing that made me mad enough to get an account and make a post on this forum was the amount of riders that show no respect for their fellow competitors. At a number of the queues people just rode past, squeezed in the front - knocking over marshalls and other riders in an attempt to just ride through. Guess what.... probably half the people or more standing in a lot of the queues could ride the  drop offs or bridges that were causing the bottleneck. We would all love to be riding. But there is a queue - deal with it. By being the guy who thinks he is better and cool enough to ride to the front and barge through the traffic you are making the problem worse.

 

If the queues are unavoidable next year I really hope there are some extra marshalls on the route - it probably wouldnt matter much but on principle these riders race numbers should be noted and they should be disqualified.

 

 

So the organiser's should have given everyone a skills clinic and also a couple of lessons in manners and common decency?

 

If you are seeded in the later batches, you are going to wait. 

[CraigCCW]

My two cents worth on the 22km that I rode yesterday.

 

Due to injury I only entered the 22km, and due to the numbers that entered the event, I expected there to be alot of bottlenecks. There were only two major ones, and I did not find them to be too bad, all the other riders were in good spirits which made the bottlenecks quote entertaining.

 

My only gripe was with the scaffolding sections, I often attempted to ride up them, but at the last minute had to dismount because of someone stopping dead in front of me. It would be nice if the had some sort of a partition up the scaffolding, and could use that to separate walkers & riders, one on the left, the other on the right. Unfortunately most of the other riders don't seem to get the keep left pass right rule. Organizers could possibly investigate some sort of rubber mat on the "walkers" side, that scaffolding with MTB shoes is very slippery.

 

Overall it was a really great race, lots of fun, and a very different experience with the storm water drains and scaffolding.

 

I am really looking forward to this race next year, thanks to all involved in setting up a really cool race.

[btnelson]

I've uploaded a few videos from the day.  Some cool footage in the drains and tunnel. Sadly I forgot to record going down the Oxford Road bridge which was good fun!  

 

Glad I did the event but thought some of the more sever bottlenecks could have been avoided with better planning. 

 

Playlist : JUMA 2014 - Jozi Urban MTB Adventure

 

JUMA 2014 Part 1 - Start

JUMA 2014 Part 2 - First Tunnel

JUMA 2014 Part 3 - Fast Downhills

JUMA 2014 Part 4 - Storm Water Drain Steps

JUMA 2014 Part 5 - Anatomic Stormwater Tunnel

JUMA 2014 Part 6 - Oxford Rd Bridge Congestion

JUMA 2014 Part 7 - Emmarentia Water Crossing

[Mar]

Thanks for the vids...

 

There were so many people with punctures!?

[word]

WHAT AN AMAZING EVENT!!! Loved it

 

I expected bottlenecks and was astounded at how few there actually were (granted I was off in the D batch).

 

As for the water bottle issue - I planned in advance and rode with a camelback so that I would not have to contend with crap on the water bottle nozzle.

 

My only gripe was the route markings at the start. The front group of D flew out the blocks and we all went up left and along the fence line. I remember thinking that it was a bit dumb to have such a technical piece early on in the ride as it would cause a huge bottleneck only to discover at the bottom that it was not part of the ride and we all went from being in the front of the bunch to the back. Hey, **** happens - was not the end of the world.

 

Lesson for next year - take my own light for the tunnels. I will DEFINITELY be back.

 

Well done to Hollard and the organisers and thanks for the bell. Love it

[word]

I went flying up it, really easy with more than enough traction! Unfortunately the marshals wouldn't let us ride down, and we had to walk/slide down. This was pretty scary for me! My shoes (Gearne carbon) had zero grip! Would have been safer to let us ride down

Are you thinking of the correct bridge? I flew up the OXFORD road bridge (and we had no issue riding down the other side) but the RIVONIA road bridge (linking School road) was too steep for me to ride up. The ride down was more subtle and totally safe.

[Bluebull15]

 

So the organiser's should have given everyone a skills clinic and also a couple of lessons in manners and common decency?

 

 

The organisers dont have to give anyone lessons in common decency. That particular point was specifically aimed at bad mannered and arrogant mountain bikers of whom there are more than I thought.

 

 

If you are seeded in the later batches, you are going to wait.

 

I dont really accept this. The people seeded late pay the same money. They should get the same experience. If you cant offer the same experience to everyone then limit the entries. I am not sure much science goes into the groupings for the 22km riders anyway. The bottom line is there were just too many riders on the course.

 

 

Problem was there were some legitimate reasons for this, the 52km groups were held up so long that the youngsters doing the 22km (and up front) were really struggling to get past the masses, for them it was a race and they had a real chance to get into the prizes.

 

I guess that makes some sense. But thats something I guess the organisers can learn from for next year.

[Bobbo_SA]

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

 

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/141792-unwanted-medals/?hl=medals

 

There are enough unwanted medals from an initiative like this to be worthwhile, I personally think the bell was a better idea than a medal that would just hang around on a hanger in the back of the cupboard

[RockCoach]

So the organiser's should have given everyone a skills clinic and also a couple of lessons in manners and common decency?

 

If you are seeded in the later batches, you are going to wait.

 

That's an idea. Since I'm going to be running my skills clinics more formally from the new shop next year. We can introduce a skills rating for everyone who does a skills evaluation or skills course (there are now a number of avenues for skills clinics around) and the boffins can combine this with your normal race seeding...

[RossW]

I was handed a couple of these

I'm still paying the price for re-hydrating with these. Went down like mothers milk at the time though.

[Letum911]

Are you thinking of the correct bridge? I flew up the OXFORD road bridge (and we had no issue riding down the other side) but the RIVONIA road bridge (linking School road) was too steep for me to ride up. The ride down was more subtle and totally safe.

All the bridges, except for the one that was closed off, I cam across I rode up. I just used momentum and pumped the suspension pretty hard at the bottom