aQuelle Tour Durban 2015

[khm4252]

It was my 1st Tour Durban and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I am not sure whether I rate it better than Amashova but it is definately different and great fun to ride most of the route which I constantly ride on the weekend.  It was sad to see the field so small.  I don't understand how the Amashova gets double the entries and it is more of a mission as it starts in PMB and ends in DBN. 

 

It was such an amazing weather day.  Wow!  Autumn in Durban is truly the best.  The roads in general were also amazing.  Organizers seemed better than Amashova but the signs were in bad positions and the watering station at the 2nd Umhlanga turnoff was in a bad spot when riding towards Sibaya. 

 

I decided to start in DL with mates which was a bad idea as I left them at the start line and could not find a bunch the entire ride.  I would if I could have taken 15 minutes off with a good bunch.  Would a 3:23 in this race be equivalent to a 3:50 in the Argus?  What is the difference in climbing metres between Argus and Tour Durban?

[MPantani]

Appology accepted.

 

I do however feel you need to look inwardly and admit fault.

I also feel you should take this as one of those lessons in life and use it to improve your riding skills.

You were sketchy for most of the ride and that was the reason for the abuse.

You also need to remember that your action inpact others around you.

I have been racing/riding bikes for 28 years and fully understand that these are the risks we take. 

I take Sundays race as one of those unfortunate days on the bike and move on, but I would really highly recomend that you hone your bunch riding skills and learn from the weekends race. 

Its all about life lessons and what we can learn from them.

You are fairly strong but lack skill, learn that skill and you will see your riding improve and people will tend not to be so abusive towards you.

 

What is done is done, I dont hold anything against you, but please learn form what happened over the weekend and improve yourself.

No hard feelings man.. 

Thank you very much for accepting my apologize, it's really highly appreciated.

 

I'm only riding for 5 month now and really love the sport, I totally agree with you that I still got lot to learn and I'm hoping to do that without any one else expense, and for sure there is a very valuable lesson for me to take away from this weekend.

 

I wish you and all riders to be always safe and enjoy cycling for many years to come.

 

once again Thank you,

[tombeej]

Thank you very much for accepting my apologize, it's really highly appreciated.

 

I'm only riding for 5 month now and really love the sport, I totally agree with you that I still got lot to learn and I'm hoping to do that without any one else expense.

 

I wish you and all riders to be always safe and enjoy cycling for many years to come.

 

once again Thank you,

 

Only riding 5 months - that means you have good potential.

 

Now you need to practice being safe in a tight bunch.

 

When you are riding even by yourself, always try and be 100% rock-steady and never swerve/move off your line (even when riding with 1 hand and drinking from your water bottle or eating something). Practice cycling along the yellow line and see how long you can stay there without coming off. Also practice being very steady at very slow speed (walking pace in a car park) - no wobbling, no twitchy front wheel - use your whole body to keep your bike still. Practise taking your bottle out, drinking, and then putting it back in the cage without looking down. Also practice this while riding on the yellow line. Practice, practice.

 

Remember: when you are racing, you must ride in a way that all the other guys are trusting you 100%. They must feel safe riding 5cm next to you at 40km/h. If you are twitching/making too many little movements left-right, or swerving from one wheel to another wheel, then they will get very upset and stop trusting you. Watch the other guys in the bunch who are experienced: you will see them being as still as a rock on the bike. When you ride next to them you know they are not going to suddenly swerve their bike into you - even when they are taking a drink.

 

If you want to move to another wheel, always first look behind you to make sure. If you want to 'push' into a long pace line, move up next to a rider and ask him to allow you in. Don't be afraid to constantly communicate to other riders around you - lots of talking is good!

 

Good luck with your training.

[ScottCM]

Fill in their survey and help them improve

 

http://www.tourdurban.co.za/page/2015-race-survey

[Frosty]

Fill in their survey and help them improve

 

http://www.tourdurban.co.za/page/2015-race-survey

The SUBMIT button doesn't work - after sliding the unlock graphic.

Did this happen to you?

 

[Dazshell]

The SUBMIT button doesn't work - after sliding the unlock graphic.

Did this happen to you?

 

submit button.PNG

Worked fine for me.

[ScottCM]

The SUBMIT button doesn't work - after sliding the unlock graphic.

Did this happen to you?

 

submit button.PNG

 

Worked fine for me, however the screen does come up with a brief thank you note and then the screen stays the same as if you are still completing the survey. 15min i received an email thanking me for filling in the survey

[Frosty]

Okay - just got a thank you email now.

 

Would be better if they put the "thanks for completing the form" in a different colour or after the submit button. Or maybe it's just me?     

[SL7]

Big assumption on my part, but it looked like a full licence was required to race. Cost R350 plus membership fee of R120.

 

The Herald is going the same way for 2016.

 

Prize money was up for grabs in all the racing categories and overall winner in the short route.

 

I have a spread-sheet of the prize money if anybody is interested.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alfa147GTA]

Great event. Also finished in that AL group that did 2h39. Saw the group beak up going up that big hill. Front group, then another group and then about 10 of us chased to get back onto that second group. Thanks to all that helped, it saved us a lot.

 

From there it was pretty casual, good pace, nice group as well. I also reckon we would have gone faster if it were not for the ladies. But in honesty, we shouldn't get in there way.

 

I got caught up twice in the end, the  first was just a few km's short of those two horrible little corners. The grouped move over from the left hand side to the right. I was near the front and we got squeezed against the pavement. Poor chap in front nearly came down, he stayed up, but I got stuck behind that. Chased back on to the group and just as we went around that first corner, that accident happened in front of me and the barrier bounced into the way a little. No hard feelings and hope you guys are okay.

 

I must say one thing though. I have ridden AL quite a few times now and I thought that group that finished in 2h39 was excellent. The group rode well, allowed you space, there was good synergy I thought. So often, people think they doing the Tour de France and fight for the smallest gap or take chances, but I didn't get this feeling on Sunday. I really enjoyed and respect to this group.

 

So much can be said for good ethics whilst riding and I see it far to many times where crashes are totally avoidable if only people rode with respect. 

[Alfa147GTA]

 

 

Prize money was up for grabs in all the racing categories and overall winner in the short route.

 

I have a spread-sheet of the prize money if anybody is interested.

I am. 

[Frosty]

Great event. Also finished in that AL group that did 2h39. Saw the group beak up going up that big hill. Front group, then another group and then about 10 of us chased to get back onto that second group. Thanks to all that helped, it saved us a lot.

 

From there it was pretty casual, good pace, nice group as well. I also reckon we would have gone faster if it were not for the ladies. But in honesty, we shouldn't get in there way.

 

I got caught up twice in the end, the  first was just a few km's short of those two horrible little corners. The grouped move over from the left hand side to the right. I was near the front and we got squeezed against the pavement. Poor chap in front nearly came down, he stayed up, but I got stuck behind that. Chased back on to the group and just as we went around that first corner, that accident happened in front of me and the barrier bounced into the way a little. No hard feelings and hope you guys are okay.

 

I must say one thing though. I have ridden AL quite a few times now and I thought that group that finished in 2h39 was excellent. The group rode well, allowed you space, there was good synergy I thought. So often, people think they doing the Tour de France and fight for the smallest gap or take chances, but I didn't get this feeling on Sunday. I really enjoyed and respect to this group.

 

So much can be said for good ethics whilst riding and I see it far to many times where crashes are totally avoidable if only people rode with respect. 

You would have gone faster if more people helped with the pace making. "Pretty casual" would imply the effort required to sit in the group was less (aka, wheel suckers - not necessarily you as an individual, but the group) and the group wasn't working hard enough, or sharing the workload - and that's a reality in many groups, not only the AL group.

 

Ask some of the VA/VB's that we (VC) passed on the route. The officials allowed them to sit at the back of our group of 10 as long as they didn't interfere with our race. Two of my friends were in that small group and they said it was also a casual pace - because they didn't have to do any of the work up front. They had a free ride for at least 40Km.

 

edit: grammar

[Alfa147GTA]

You would have gone faster if more people helped with the pace making. "Pretty casual" would imply the effort required to sit in the group was less (aka, wheel suckers - not necessarily you as an individual, but the group) and the group wasn't working hard enough, or sharing the workload - and that's a reality in many groups, not only the AL group.

 

 

Absolutely correct, but lets face facts Gerald, every group basically consists of 80% wheel suckers, in one way or another. Of the events I have done, all the work is done by the minority.

 

I went to the front on one or two occasions and also on a few hills. But I don't like sitting in the group, I don't trust sitting in there so I normally ride on the side of the group. I sat right up in the front the last 13km until I got caught up against the pavement.

 

Just for interest, I did the Emperors race two weeks back, I started CL due to late entry and I can honestly say myself, my teammate and one other guy for the first 70kms did all the work. Only after that did one other guy come and help. It really was like a three man TT and then a four man TT from 70km onwards. Last 3km's we were swamped, by then our objective was done. None of us wanted to win CL, we just wanted a nice ride and chose to sit in front. If our objective was to win, then we would have sat in the group and marked break aways - not likely in CL I guess. First time I ever rode there. My point is, we didn't care about time or placing, if we come 20th or 50th, didn't matter, we chose to ride upfront.

 

This brings me to my conclusion, what is your objective for the race? If it's time, go to the front and help where you can, if it's for position, ride tactically. But if you can't ride up front comfortably, then don't go up there and cause a nuisance. Just my opinion.

[SL7]

I am. 

Don't know how to upload a spreadsheet. Anybody? Can email it. Email address?

[MPantani]

Only riding 5 months - that means you have good potential.

 

Now you need to practice being safe in a tight bunch.

 

When you are riding even by yourself, always try and be 100% rock-steady and never swerve/move off your line (even when riding with 1 hand and drinking from your water bottle or eating something). Practice cycling along the yellow line and see how long you can stay there without coming off. Also practice being very steady at very slow speed (walking pace in a car park) - no wobbling, no twitchy front wheel - use your whole body to keep your bike still. Practise taking your bottle out, drinking, and then putting it back in the cage without looking down. Also practice this while riding on the yellow line. Practice, practice.

 

Remember: when you are racing, you must ride in a way that all the other guys are trusting you 100%. They must feel safe riding 5cm next to you at 40km/h. If you are twitching/making too many little movements left-right, or swerving from one wheel to another wheel, then they will get very upset and stop trusting you. Watch the other guys in the bunch who are experienced: you will see them being as still as a rock on the bike. When you ride next to them you know they are not going to suddenly swerve their bike into you - even when they are taking a drink.

 

If you want to move to another wheel, always first look behind you to make sure. If you want to 'push' into a long pace line, move up next to a rider and ask him to allow you in. Don't be afraid to constantly communicate to other riders around you - lots of talking is good!

 

Good luck with your training.

Thank you very much for the valuable advice, highly appreciated.

 

For sure I will take it into consideration.

 

Training, training and lots of training.

 

All the best.

[Frosty]

Don't know how to upload a spreadsheet. Anybody? Can email it. Email address?

Zip the file first, then use the Advanced option, after you have clicked on reply, to upload the file.