Sani2c 2016

[MooToo]

Nothing to moan about.. except we didnt have any good coffee on the adventure, only at start of day one.

coffee not ricoffy or nescafe

Anyone know how bad the oke fell on the last day of the adventure?

the oke that went down in the first 2 km ?

Jacksonville Coffee at Day1 and Day2 of the adventure ( had to pay for it, but also at W2W)

[Ham]

Ok GREAT event, this is my 9th start and 8th finish.

 

Only 2 gripes:

 

1. Day One showers.

2. The boxes and the shuttled cars being so far away from each other. Still would give up my jacket, rain jacket and T Shirt to get a bag we could keep.

I have done 4 w2w. Trust me, once you have 3 bags you have enough. Just dump all your stuff inside your sleeping bag and be on your way. Works just as well.

[FCH]

first one, was great. even the cold shower morning of day one was ok.

could have done with more than a bun and one fried egg for breakfast after waiting in line for 20 minutes at day 1; but Farmer G was visibly more upset than us about it- so all good.

[splat]

I am so flipping angry that i have absolutely nothing, fokol, nada to bitch about...

That's good to hear!

 

Last year's event attracted a lot of moaning and negative comments.

Either things have improved, or people have all settled down a bit this year.

[Zook]

I think they're racing around the cradle, being served wonderful meals by their butler on every lap.

 

(Sometimes I race around the cradle, before anyone gets offended in-between mouthfuls of caviar)

[Skubarra]

That's good to hear!

 

Last year's event attracted a lot of moaning and negative comments.

Either things have improved, or people have all settled down a bit this year.

 

No large corporate group this year blocking everyone else on the Umkomaas descent?

 

Remember that caused a lot of moaning last year (justified though..) 

[Wannabe]

No large corporate group this year blocking everyone else on the Umkomaas descent?

 

Remember that caused a lot of moaning last year (justified though..) 

 

 

Having done the "Umko Drop" during the J2C this year, I can understand peoples frustration of being blocked by a corporate group. I too would have been very upset about it.

[Speeltyd]

We went down Umkomaas on a Tandem (Trail). Were slower than the group around the hairpins. Tried to get out the way as much as possible, but did not always succeed.

So we ended up holding up riders behind us.

Not one complained or moaned though!

Great bunch of people in the middle group of the Trail!!

[davetapson]

Having done the "Umko Drop" during the J2C this year, I can understand peoples frustration of being blocked by a corporate group. I too would have been very upset about it.

 

There's a simple solution to this - drop back, let the folk in front of you get ahead and then the track is yours.  Also takes the pressure off them and they will likely actually go faster overall.

[Wannabe]

There's a simple solution to this - drop back, let the folk in front of you get ahead and then the track is yours.  Also takes the pressure off them and they will likely actually go faster overall.

 

Did not have a problem during the J2C, everybody was equally slow going down.   

 

But not really the solution, 'cause then you are holding the people behind you up while you let the guys infront go ahead, and causing them the same problem you encountered.

Edited May 19, 2016 by Wannabe

[davetapson]

Did not have a problem during the J2C, everybody was equally slow going down.   

 

But not really the solution, 'cause then you are holding the people behind you up while you let the guys infront go ahead, and causing them the same problem you encountered.

 

Actually no, you go down smoothly, the guys behind you get to go down smoothly as well.

 

I've never had anyone complain and I've done it this way a couple of times...

[Wannabe]

Actually no, you go down smoothly, the guys behind you get to go down smoothly as well.

 

I've never had anyone complain and I've done it this way a couple of times...

 

 

Only because I was not behind you.... 

[Skubarra]

There's a simple solution to this - drop back, let the folk in front of you get ahead and then the track is yours.  Also takes the pressure off them and they will likely actually go faster overall.

 

I wasn't there but I understand it was a large group that started before/behind Batch C(?)

 

They neither had the technical skills nor the trail etiquette not to create a big cluster%$ck of a bottleneck on the downhill.

 

I can only imagine the frustration of racing day 1 to get a good seeding on day 2 only to be be held up by a group of golfers who are not even doing the full race.

 

So your simple solution would not have helped, but the good thing is that Farmer Glen seems to learn from little mishaps like this and not repeat them.

[davetapson]

I wasn't there but I understand it was a large group that started before/behind Batch C(?)

 

I was just talking about in general.  You don't have to ride on the guy in front of you's arse and then stop when he stops - if you can see he is not confident, drop back enough to allow him to do his thing and enough space for you to do yours.  In practice, 10m is usually plenty.

 

The group D thing last year was a bit of a balls-up, but not as much as has been made of.  Sure, they may have been annoying on the drop - just due to the number of them, it would have made my plan difficult to do (I'm assuming - I wasn't there when they were).  

 

We did run in to them from time to time, but just overtook them and got on with it - they didn't materially affect our ride in any way.  That said, I am glad that sponsor groups have now been moved to later batches (not that we're batched anywhere near the front of the race).

 

I reckon that the sponsored riders should be batched as the rest of us are.

 

If they want to make a group batched start, then they all go into the batch of their lowest batched rider / alternatively a later / last batch.  

 

Those sponsored riders who don't want to start in the group batch (and there were a few this year) can start in whatever batch they were batched for.

Edited May 19, 2016 by davetapson

[davetapson]

I've done the drop both clear and congested and inbetween.  Clear, it's an awesome run, but feels like it's over in seconds - you get to the bottom and wish you could do it again.

 

Congested, do the drop back thing, look around, take the corners clear (as you have the space to), look around while you roll down to the next corner and just enjoy.

 

Both ways are good.

[hboli4]

Rode my first one (and first stage race) this year (Adventure) and loved it. Probably the best riding / trails I have ever done (which is probably not that difficult when you stay in Bloem).

 

We were part of the Supergroup teams (we paid our own way but did ride in their sponsored kit) and the issue of what happened last year was addressed at a 'kick-off' function a month before the event. Farmer Glen was present and they acknowledged that it was a mistake regarding the mass batch start last year and it was stressed that everyone must start in their seeded batches. To my knowledge this was adhered to. 

 

Within the batches the guys were encouraged to stay together if they wanted to.

 

My partner does not like heights so we took the Umko drop quite slow (when next to the drop-off) and tried to move over and give space where possible. He even let guys pass on his left and moved over as far as possible to the right after 'negotiating' this with the guys behind him.

Edited May 19, 2016 by hboli4