EmptyB Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 Anyone who didn't have route problems...didn't do it myself this year but not very good feedback?
TheDaveMan Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 I did 36 km in the half marathon.Started in G batch. Didnt have any problems with route markings or marshalls I did however come across "the gate" but is was open. But it only by a fraction (wide enough for one bike) I found it strange, or maybe it was a different gate.
_Pat_ Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 On a completely other note. If anyone picked up a joule gps around the third bridge after the hot spot, please let me know. Thanks
BarHugger Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 Anyone who didn't have route problems...didn't do it myself this year but not very good feedback?Yip.......those with bike problems..... .......like a bent hanger :-(
EmptyB Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 Yip.......those with bike problems............like a bent hanger :-(Sux man, did you finish?
BarHugger Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 Sux man, did you finish?Nope......WP2......dropped the chain too much in the koppies after WP2.......and then my humor.....saw WP2 on the return.....and took a bow. Had some lekker beer curtousy of the owners of the lodge while waiting for the ride of "shame". Should have listened to Karma after the "knaterflater" start to the event.....had however a good walkathon section.........
Rudi Pollard Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 Hi guys, this was certainly the most disappointing race in my life. Did 87 km's instead of 70 with an official average on record of 14.6 km per hour. Bad markings and untrained officials. You can not get any worse than this. Is it still worthwhile to support Advendurance?How did you manage that. Route markings on the 70 was perfect according to me. Clocked in at basically exactly 70km........
Joeboy69 Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 The surprise hint is that people are surprised at the disorganization. The response from the organizers on Facebook could be copied from a few years ago. Hi Frans and Pembi members (thanks for tagging us Carl Scholtz)We really strive to host world class events and no one is more disappointed than the Advendurance crew if things go wrong, as it did on Saturday. I will briefly respond to Frans Verwoerd comments:- Distance: It is impossible to lay out a Trailseeker route (or any MTB race around Gauteng) to an exact distance and that is the reason for the profiles, booklets and start briefings. We try to get to within 5% - 10 % of the distance, but can not ride the route in one go prior to race weekend, since we traverse 30+ small properties and have to open fences and gates to make the route work. We do plot it with Google earth, but that does not take elevation changes into account and it is never as accurate as a GPS. This is very different from our events in places like Dullstroom, Clarens and Sabie where there is fewer but bigger properties to traverse. - Marking and marshaling: We believe it was well marked and marshaled, but we experienced 2 mayor problems yesterday. 1) Metro police arrived way too late to manage the road crossings, which meant that we had to pull 4 key staff members from the route to go and manage dangerous road crossings on the Cullinan - Bronkhortspruit route, which in turn meant that they were not available for other work (such as refueling water points and marshaling splits). 2) Our lead motorbike for the 40km broke down on an early morning route check and it meant that we had no lead bike for the 40km race. 40km A&B batch issue - We did not intend a split at the problem area, but rather a switch over between routes, which would have eliminated any confusion, but my route manager changed the marking after the last 70km rider instead of after the last 40km rider which meant that he sent the first 2 batches of the 40km riders unto the 20km route at that point. This was a big issue and it was 100% our fault for which we can only apologize. We reallized it and corrected the markings, but too late for the first 2 batches. 70km E&F batches that did 78km - We are not sure what happened here, but I don't think it was a marking issues, since batches A to D went on the correct route. I will investigate more, but really suspect that one rider took a wrong turn and everyone followed him. I can comment more after our debrief tomorrow. - Waterpoints - I agree that we should never run out and this is unacceptable and once again apologise. We doubled up on our winter event quantities, and had plans to service the points really quickly, but some staff was stuck at road crossings which made it challenging. I know that these issues should not occur and we will definitely try to avoid this from happening again. We believe that there is a need for good MTB events close to Gauteng, but these events are by far our most challenging to organise, due to the small properties and many people using the roads around the routes. Thanks to everyone who supports the series! We will lift our game with the organising in 2016!
EmptyB Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 Nope......WP2......dropped the chain too much in the koppies after WP2.......and then my humor.....saw WP2 on the return.....and took a bow. Had some lekker beer curtousy of the owners of the lodge while waiting for the ride of "shame". Should have listened to Karma after the "knaterflater" start to the event.....had however a good walkathon section.........Hope the beer made up for the sense of humour failure...don't blame you for that!
bertusras Posted November 2, 2015 Posted November 2, 2015 Video recap of what happened: Battery was kaput about 3 hours in, so I didn't catch any of the last fun singletrack sections
Hennie VR Posted November 2, 2015 Posted November 2, 2015 I was also in the C batch. Except for that one marker I think the route was well marked with the red tape and occasional boards. I finished very close to the advertised distance. One complaint though was the last 5km where all the distances merged into one. That sandy road was terrible and having to dodge the less experienced riders that rode shorter routes was a nightmare. The heat almost killed me!
Vlakvark T Posted November 2, 2015 Posted November 2, 2015 G batch 76 km. Just one fault on the markings - perhaps somebody turn it - you will never know.
NelAndre Posted November 2, 2015 Posted November 2, 2015 Did the Marathon in D Batch and ended up doing 80km.Turned around with riders from as early as B batch. We all got the route split wrong, that arrow definitely pointed straight and not right. Enjoyed the race though and the water points were well stocked when I came past. Most guys also kept their sense of humor despite the heat and the extra 30 minutes in the saddle. I cannot complain about results as I am no threat to a podium, maybe the racers will not be happy about the route issues.
bertusras Posted November 2, 2015 Posted November 2, 2015 The thing about that route marking though, it definitely said straight, but it just felt wrong as you had to leave the trail, bundu bash over some dirt and catch up to a trail on the other side. (Maybe I actually have this mishap on video, I'll go look)
Vlakvark T Posted November 2, 2015 Posted November 2, 2015 According to my Garmin the max temp during Hakahana was 40.5 degrees and Saturday during Cullinun it shows 42 degrees.
CMK Posted November 2, 2015 Posted November 2, 2015 Video recap of what happened: Battery was kaput about 3 hours in, so I didn't catch any of the last fun singletrack sections Unfortunately, this video is not available in your country because it could contain music from UMG, for which we could not agree on conditions of use with GEMA.
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