aQuelle Tour Durban 2015

[quintonb]

Well done to everyone. Was a perfect day for racing. Was downgraded to AL like lots of people where. Had a stormer of a day on the bike and was probably on line for a 2.45 until some a*#hole in our bunch decided to try and take our whole bunch down. How I managed to stay upright is a miracle. 1 foot unclipped and almost got high-sided, landed on my saddle hard and ended up breaking the clamp on the seat post. Rode the last 15km with no saddle. To the idiot from Lenasia cycling club who caused all the havoc, learn how to ride in a bunch please.

[Frosty]

Anyone know what the problem was regarding the licence issue?

VA (12), VB (12), VC (25), VD (22)... that's unheard of and disappointing.

[Dude Crush]

I am taking a slow ride in from Umhlanga at about 500am. You free to join me if you want a warm up

Thanks Man... I actually left umhlanga at 5:20 and beat the road closures. Managed to get there early and warm up on the track for a few mins... What a nice vibe early in the morning!

 

Had a good ride in BL, but we miscalculated the last few km and 10 of the 60-70 odd in the bunch managed a sub-3. I was 20secs shy... And still had 1 match left. Was saving that for the last 2km of the race that didn't exist... I recorded just over 101km on the garmin.

 

Anyway, had a fun time out, stayed safe but almost wiped out on that nasty second-last bend! Happy with that for my first TD.

[MooToo]

Had an enjoyable ride in BL after been reseeded by TD from VD. Still confused about the license not valid issue by the CSA young lass. Tried hard to split the bunch on the Queensbourgh climb and it work, about 15 of us got away. Picked up a massive bunch of AL wheel suckers toward the end and Boom, crash on the second last corner. Managed a 2:50

Enjoyed the race and thanks to the 5-6 guys that made it worthwhile.

[Harryn]

I had a fantastic ride in CL, I loved every minute this race.

 

Thanks to Tom's inspiring post on how to handle the M7, I showed it much less respect than last year, and though I still got dropped early, I put in enough effort to shave 11 minutes off my last year's time. Thank you, Tom!

 

I landed up on the M4 in a massive group strong MTBr's who were doing the cyclocross. There were about 4 or 5 roadies with me in this very twitchy and (surprisingly)) fast bunch in which I never felt comfortable. A guy 3 or 4 bikes to the right of me came down hard, I am sure he must have taken down quite a few with him, hope all ok. After that the bunch got a big fright, and the speed dropped noticeably. I was relived when the MTB's left the road for the bush.

 

The highlight was my family waiting for me at the side of the road at the turnaround circle, with signs with my name of them, and dates and bannanas. I felt like Chris Froome on the Champs Elysess!

 

The low point was the 2 idiot cars who forced themselves onto the M4 on the way back, and soon realized that it was not clever thing to do. We had to compete for space with these cars the whole way, as both sides of the road were crowded bicycles. They suffered just a bit abuse for their stupidity - they were a real hazard.

 

I enjoyed the chirps with the short distance guys as we passed them - it was just a chilled happy atmosphere. Finished on 3.43 which I was v happy with as I was going for sub 4.

[tombeej]

Well done Harry 

[Veebee]

As expected, the m7 got me bad. I took my time up as I didn't know what to expect. Was hoping for about a 4 but ended up at 4:39. Now to come back stronger next year.

 

And the elevation, what's up with that? My strava showed 1300m +

[Ranga]

That's strange. My Garmin showed 883 meters which i think is correct cos it is in line with what others got on Strava.

 

Well done to all the guys in the front of AL batch who worked well together. We managed a time of 2:39. One or two little scary moments along the way but otherwise all good.

 

Perfect weather for the race and fantastic organisation once again and a big shout out to the Metro Police for manning the roads.

[waynoah]

Totally bumbed with licensing issue and lack of assistance and directionless advise however awesome race to all,OH and M7 next year friend I'll be ready... BIG lesson from AL front riders... strong climbers there. Some scary moments along the way with Lenasia Cycling Club rider all over the road taking out 2 riders and causing the pile up on the second last corner... besides that some killer climbs for sea level riding, happy with 2:55 1st time round... till next year

[mazambaan]

Nice ride, beaut weather, well organised, a few choppish types weaving about needing a frim "stay away' hand, at least one crash and a car or two but manageable.  Some fast fellows on those fat MTB tyres!

[Firozfx]

Im a mtber that dusts off the road bike for races only. My second TD. Last year came in at 3h33. Was a bit worried about the pace in BL. I got 2h53 in the emperors race which is probably why I started in BL. Usually start in the second half.

 

I planned to get dropped on the m7 so started near the front and slowly worked my way backwards up the climb. Took 9 minutes off my time on the ascent from last year. Then we grouped and rode out the m4. Got dropped again by the sibaya turn. I just cat climb due to smokers lungs. Gave it up 2 and a half years ago but damage was done by smoking more than a pack a day for 18 years.

 

I eventually ended up pulling a group to the turn. From there had some cramp and pushed through. Lost the group again on a small climb. Grouped again on the m4 with 3 guys. We each took a turn at the front.

 

Came in at 3h10. 22 minutes faster than last year. Next year I sub 3 it.

 

Lesson learnt. I need to put on a mtb saddle on this bike because I hardly ride it. My rear is still tender. [emoji1]

[tombeej]

That's strange. My Garmin showed 883 meters which i think is correct cos it is in line with what others got on Strava.

 

Well done to all the guys in the front of AL batch who worked well together. We managed a time of 2:39. One or two little scary moments along the way but otherwise all good.

 

Perfect weather for the race and fantastic organisation once again and a big shout out to the Metro Police for manning the roads.

 

We weren't the front of AL (I finished alongside you). A small break went away early on the M7 and the winner of AL got 2:36.

 

Edit: the Compendium boys did a very good job on the front of our bunch. I did the odd turn when the guys were rolling through nicely, but that team were almost always on the front.

[tombeej]

The M4 blacktop was submline. 

 

But the road surface before you get there is not good. The M7 climb is the worst. Because it's the main arterial route for all the trucks leaving the container terminals at the harbour, it's made of concrete. The separation cracks on those concrete sections all run straight up the road in the direction we go, and are wide enough to grab a thin road tyre, and there were some real close calls in my bunch. Hopefully by next year some decent road repairs would have been completed by then.

[Grease]

The M4 blacktop was submline. 

 

But the road surface before you get there is not good. The M7 climb is the worst. Because it's the main arterial route for all the trucks leaving the container terminals at the harbour, it's made of concrete. The separation cracks on those concrete sections all run straight up the road in the direction we go, and are wide enough to grab a thin road tyre, and there were some real close calls in my bunch. Hopefully by next year some decent road repairs would have been completed by then.

 

...and what was with all the signs on the left of the road??? Lots of blokes had close shaves with those! As for the uneven surface...MTB the answer

[StevieL]

One of the shining features for me yesterday was the quality of the road surface. (Maybe coz I'm used to GP roads). I think the only shyte bit was that industrial area that smelt like a brewery, the rest was brilliant. I'll definitely be back next year. Durban is fast overtaking CT as my favourite city in SA. Clean, great beaches, well organized races and to top it off the climate is top notch with warm sea water...

[MPantani]

Well done to everyone. Was a perfect day for racing. Was downgraded to AL like lots of people where. Had a stormer of a day on the bike and was probably on line for a 2.45 until some a*#hole in our bunch decided to try and take our whole bunch down. How I managed to stay upright is a miracle. 1 foot unclipped and almost got high-sided, landed on my saddle hard and ended up breaking the clamp on the seat post. Rode the last 15km with no saddle. To the idiot from Lenasia cycling club who caused all the havoc, learn how to ride in a bunch please.

Hi There,

 

first I would like to apologize on a personal level for what happen on the day to you and whoever got impacted, I want to assure you that I had no attention on my site to harm you or anyone else.

 

but please take a fair view on what really happen hear and you will see that I was accused unfairly by one of the rider who was very far from what really happed, the same guy was fighting with another rider at the finish line.

 

I always respect other riders space and I always ask for a space before taken a line, for nearly 80km of the race I had no incidence but as I mentioned put yourself in my place and see how you will feel when everyone coming down on you accusing you by something you never do and this is during a race and you will see how you will feel.

 

I was also unfairly sored many F***'s from you and someone else which I did not response to as matter of respect to myself not allowing myself to sore back at anyone, we all there to

have fun and compete in a respectful  manner.

 

I believe it's un acceptable for you to call me *#hole this is not acceptable, it's really sad to see people do that and act this way, it's very regrettable for me to deal with such people.