[Event] Swartberg100 Gran Fondo

[Marius]

I recon I'd need more than 6 hours, depends how many roady bikes there are and of course if I can manage hang onto a wheel with my 32 blade on the mtb. Wonder if I should go bigger...afraid of those 25km long climbs, I recon I'll need the little blade.. 

[Jocklaw]

I recon I'd need more than 6 hours, depends how many roady bikes there are and of course if I can manage hang onto a wheel with my 32 blade on the mtb. Wonder if I should go bigger...afraid of those 25km long climbs, I recon I'll need the little blade.. 

I think that if you can handle technical climbs with a 32, this race with gravel climbs should be fine on a 34. 

 

On the other hand, with 160/2800 I can't see anyone but the pros setting off at race pace, so maybe a 32 will be fine anyway.

 

I'm thinking the race must be a bit easier than the Atta which has similar climbing, pushing on 5 hills (for me). The extra 40 ks can't be too much of an issue with it being on easier riding terrain.

[eddy]

I think that if you can handle technical climbs with a 32, this race with gravel climbs should be fine on a 34. 

 

On the other hand, with 160/2800 I can't see anyone but the pros setting off at race pace, so maybe a 32 will be fine anyway.

 

I'm thinking the race must be a bit easier than the Atta which has similar climbing, pushing on 5 hills (for me). The extra 40 ks can't be too much of an issue with it being on easier riding terrain.

 

 

I too have walked hills on Atta. There is NO shame in doing so. If everyone walks, so can (and do)  I.

 

But what about if others can ride and I must walk ? That is really embarrassing.

 

The problem with Swartberg Pass it that other people will be riding it, because all of it is usually ridable, albeit in granny gear (and I am still talking old fashioned 3x9 granny gear) and I am doing it on a CX bike with a compact road crank and a 30 tooth big cog.......

 

But how far is 8 km to walk in any case ?

 

 

ps. having ridden both routes, I think that this race and Atta are very different beasts and difficult in their own ways.

Edited April 8, 2016 by eddy

[Skubarra]

 

But how far is 8 km to walk in any case ?

 

 

ps. having ridden both routes, I think that this race and Atta are very different beasts and difficult in their own ways.

 

Don't think many (if any) mid-bunch riders will walk that climb. More a long gradual climb where the Atta climbs were sharp & steep

[Underachiever]

I think that if you can handle technical climbs with a 32, this race with gravel climbs should be fine on a 34. 

 

On the other hand, with 160/2800 I can't see anyone but the pros setting off at race pace, so maybe a 32 will be fine anyway.

 

I'm thinking the race must be a bit easier than the Atta which has similar climbing, pushing on 5 hills (for me). The extra 40 ks can't be too much of an issue with it being on easier riding terrain.

I've done the Swartberg Pass twice during the CPT and a few times during training, and the last 3 km of the pass should not be underestimated even if it is less technical.

 

It gets lekker steep, so for a Cx bike with a 36x32 you might be planning for some walking, especially if you have burnt too many matches earlier on. 

Edited April 8, 2016 by Underachiever

[eddy]

Don't think many (if any) mid-bunch riders will walk that climb. More a long gradual climb where the Atta climbs were sharp & steep

 

 

 

It gets lekker steep, so for a Cx bike with a 36x32 you might be planning for some walking, especially if you have burnt too many matches earlier on. 

 

I have ridden Swartberg about 15 times or so, and whilst the hills are very different to Atta, the last bit, which we will hit at about 140km is very steep and as I am on a CX bike with max 36x30, I suspect that I will be doing a bit of walking.

 

At some point walking will be as fast as riding and a bit easier..

 

But then again, the mid bunch riders will be far ahead of me.

Edited April 8, 2016 by eddy

[Patchelicious]

Damn this is starting to sounds like such a cool ride!!

[DJR]

Please excuse the long winded read, it is mostly from a standard 5 school project I did zillions of years ago. If you are not a history buff you'll be bored stiff, sorry. It has been modified and added to over the years for various other purposes, but the facts remain the same.

 

 

The Prince of Passes

 

The Swartberg Pass linking Prince Albert, in the Great Karoo, and Oudtshoorn, in the Little Karoo, was the last of the big Cape mountain passes built by Thomas Bain, and undoubtedly his masterpiece. He built altogether 24 major and minor passes (some say 18) and so opened up the connections for trade and transport to integrate the economy of the Cape Colony. This probably had an effect at least as great as the rail connection between the Cape and the Transvaal. (The very last road he built was in my own backyard, over Kloof Neck, linking Camps Bay with the Cape Town city centre.)

 

Thomas was the son of Andrew Bain, who built Bains Kloof pass near Wellington, as well as 8 other passes. Thomas was born in Graaff Reinet in 1830 and entirely educated in South Africa, mostly schooled at home and by working as an apprentice with his father on road building projects from a young age. At one stage the colonial powers that be doubted his qualifications, or rather the lack of formal civil engineering qualifications from a good old institution in mother England. Thomas simply went on to build roads better than anyone else and eventually he was recognised as the master! He died in 1893 in Cape Town.

 

Initially Bain could not build the Swartberg pass because he was too busy with the passes through the forest between Knysna and George. Someone else (John Tassie) got the Swartberg tender and started building from the Northern side but went bankrupt in the first year before much was achieved. Construction came to a halt until Bain took over (thank goodness) and it resulted in one of the most beautiful mountain passes anywhere in the world. Today it is a treasured National Monument and protected from alterations and tarring. Work started in 1881, Bain took over in 1883 and it was completed and opened on the tenth of January 1888 with a fitting 21 gun salute. For many years thereafter the pass was a toll road. Initially the cost was 4 pennies a wheel and 1 penny per animal. The toll was levied on the Northern approach road where stables and fresh horses and mules were also kept. If you carried a heavy load, you could hire extra horses, mules or oxen to add to your team, just to get to the top of the pass. There you would then unhitch the hired help and send them back down to the Toll house. As far as I know, this service only functioned on the Southern side of the pass, I presume because it was steeper than the Northern side. I’m not sure what they would have charged a bicycle and rider. Three pennies perhaps?

 

The Swartberg pass was designed to accommodate laden horse drawn carts and wagons and that meant mostly sticking to a relatively shallow gradient (below 1:8). Horses cannot get up very steep roads like ox wagons. Thank goodness for that, because today that also makes it ridable on a bicycle. Keep in mind that the design and construction predates the invention of the motor car with well more than a decade. The pass was further meant as an alternative route to Meirings Poort, which was very prone to periodic flooding and wash aways which closed it for weeks or months. The Great Karoo farmers needed a reliable road to deliver produce and fetch goods from Mossel Bay which was their harbour. Regular smallish freight steamers operated up and down the coast from Cape Town. In the opposite direction, traders needed a way to transport goods into the interior. It was a period of rapid growth for farming and mining in the interior and food, fencing, windmills and equipment was needed all over. When the first cars reached this part of the world, in the early 1900s, and tried the pass, they really struggled getting up it and often over heated. Brakes also often failed on the downhills. It was only a few decades later that cars managed to improve enough to make the pass a reliable route for them.

 

The Swartberg Pass was built before dynamite or mechanical machinery. Large rocks that needed removal were heated by making a fire on and around them, then cooling down by pouring water over it, causing it to crack and break up. Hard labour, hands, picks, shovels, spades, sledgehammers and wheelbarrows were the tools that built that road. The retaining dry stone walls were built entirely by hand and without any mortar. Friction and weight holds it together and today the walls are as solid as they were when new. Convict labour was used and it is estimated that around 250 convicts worked on the project. Records of food supplies suggest a larger work force. Many died in the process, some in snow and rock falls, but records are unclear on the numbers. They were housed in stone and corrugated iron buildings and guarded around the clock. The ruins are still there to see. The ever presence of leopard made sure that not many attempted escape into the surrounding wilderness.

 

For well over a 100 years the pass fulfilled its design function and was never closed due to flooding, except twice in most recent decades. That is because the approach road from the Prince Albert side was changed about 30 years ago and that is the part that washed away in a flash flood. On both occasions traffic was simply diverted back along the original approach road which survived unscathed. Thomas Bain clearly knew his stuff! On the other hand, the pass is closed quite regularly in winter because of snow and ice, but normally not for more than a few days at a time. Ice in particular can pose a serious danger, especially on the Southern side where the road is in shadow and remains solidly frozen and extremely slippery for longer than on the Northern sunnier side. In the 1930s the pass was graded for the first time with a mechanical grader, a hybrid tractor-grader specially built for the task of getting around the sharp hairpin bends.

 

Today the pass is almost exclusively used by tourists. Modern transport routes and methods have changed and the pass now mainly serves as a route linking the surrounding towns to a wider beautiful tourist route in the Southern Cape. The local municipalities of Oudtshoorn and Prince Albert are jointly responsible for the upkeep of the pass. They realize the value of the route and mostly do a good job of it. This is the kind of route I would not mind turning back into a toll road again and ploughing that money directly back into the conservation of this jewel. Say, a penny a wheel and a penny per animal?  

[Cal Naughton Jr.]

Entered and ordered my 28mm from CRC. Just hope my frame has enough clearance.

Used to live in George so I know Swartberg all too well - probably the coolest pass in the country. Hats off to the organisers for having the balls to start this event (the first for SA). I can see this becoming as popular as an Attakwas/Karoo2Coast for its unique format. I've been taking my road bike on the gravel roads of George for the past 2 years to spice up training and rode the Flemish cobbles last year - trust me, cobbles are way worse. Being said, I'm yet to be made aware of a 20km cobble climb or descent. Will be hairy down Swartberg with anything less than a CX bike/knobblies.

[Cal Naughton Jr.]

The problem with Swartberg Pass it that other people will be riding it, because all of it is usually ridable, albeit in granny gear (and I am still talking old fashioned 3x9 granny gear) and I am doing it on a CX bike with a compact road crank and a 30 tooth big cog.......

 

But how far is 8 km to walk in any case ?

 

I think you should be fine with that provided your tank isn't empty at the foot of the pass. Seeing that guys are saying its regraded, it should make those steep kicks hurt a little less.

 

If it makes you feel better I'm running a 53/39 and 11/28.   

[eddy]

I think you should be fine with that provided your tank isn't empty at the foot of the pass. Seeing that guys are saying its regraded, it should make those steep kicks hurt a little less.

 

For it to hurt less they will need to grade about 1000m off the top.

 

You are a brave man to tackle it on 53/39

[SSCC]

Entered and ordered my 28mm from CRC. Just hope my frame has enough cleareance

It's usually the brake calipers that are the problem not the frame. I've used 28's with Ultegra brakes but could not inflate them past 70psi or they would rub. It also depends on the manufacture as some tyres are wider and taller then others.

[@BigJohnSwan]

[Underachiever]

I think you should be fine with that provided your tank isn't empty at the foot of the pass. Seeing that guys are saying its regraded, it should make those steep kicks hurt a little less.

 

If it makes you feel better I'm running a 53/39 and 11/28.   

You are either incredibly brave and strong or a bit daft!!!

[Oakley360]

Quite an interessting read DJR. It is almost time for us to cycle to the top!

 

Can not wait

[Prince Albert Cycles]

There are no 20 km climbs on this route.