[Event] 947 Cycle Challenge 2016

[DaBombBikes]

Saw a guy on a de Rosa being out in ambulance. Not sure of condition. No other bikes around so assume they carried on.

Red and black Pinifanina with Zipp 404s by any chance? Might be seeing our customer today if its the same bike! Hope he is alright!

[Fat Boab]

Congrats to all!

 

A mate of mine rode and finished 15 mins faster than he felt he was in shape for, but what do the statisticians say about the impact of the route changes on last year's course time?

[IceCreamMan]

Red and black Pinifanina with Zipp 404s by any chance? Might be seeing our customer today if its the same bike! Hope he is alright!

Iirc bike was blue. Size large.

['Kaze Pete]

Most people I've spoken to have taken chunks out of their time from last year...good stuff!

Looking at my past results, times, overall and age category positions, also taking my current fitness levels and training history into account I'm quite willing to state that yesterday was a lot easier than past events (2014 & 2012 specific). One of my first thoughts after finishing was that a lot a people will improve their times / have a very good race this year.

 

This year I was 2 minutes slower than 2 years ago (2 minutes faster then), however I slipped just over 400 overall positions to just over 1200th compared to 2014. Same with with age cat results; slipped 60 odd to just over 140th.

 

Comparing 2016 to 2012 (different start venue) but my times are less than a minute apart, I slipped just over 160 positions overall, however I improved about 30 positions in my age cat (two different age categories over this time span)

[shaun gregory]

Love the name.

 

If the other 2 had managed to join the group I guess the name would have to have been Evo instead (as in Super Six Evo )

 

The Six Quick Stix?

 

:-)

[Fat Boab]

The Six Quick Stix?

 

:-)

 

The Styx Six? Invulnerability guaranteed!

[shaper]

New route is also shorter so should also help people times.  My garmin recorded 92.4kms and a few of my mates also had similar recorded distances.

[hilton_]

Hit my target of a sub-3, so I'm chuffed ????

 

Some thoughts...

• Loading was better than last year, but still a mess
• For all the threats about chips and numbers and QR codes, I saw more than a handful of riders able to sneak in with either no chip or no number
• Kyalami was fun but literally blasted whatever bunches had been formed to smithereens
• That U-turn onto Carr was less than ideal
• CoJ could've made more of an effort with the road surface (Randburg CBD is embarrassing and dangerous)
• That final distance marking at the last Steyn City circle ("6km to go") seemed very suspect
• On the whole, organisation an improvement on last year!

Edited November 21, 2016 by hilton_

[Vetplant]

New route is also shorter so should also help people times.  My garmin recorded 92.4kms and a few of my mates also had similar recorded distances.

Yep, definitely shorter, I clocked 92.6km.

 

What I still find interesting is the difference in elevation between the various recording devices. Mine shows elevation gain of 1293m. Whereas everyone else on my Strava feed recorded elevation gains of 1400m or more.

 

100m difference on 1400m is a 7% error, not insignificant.

[shaper]

Yep, definitely shorter, I clocked 92.6km.

 

What I still find interesting is the difference in elevation between the various recording devices. Mine shows elevation gain of 1293m. Whereas everyone else on my Strava feed recorded elevation gains of 1400m or more.

 

100m difference on 1400m is a 7% error, not insignificant.

Mine on Edge 520 - (92.4km) 1383m, mate on 920XT - (92.5km) 1245m, another on Edge 500 - (92.8km) 1449m !!

[CatchMeIfYouCan]

Started in J. Was quite far back in the start pen. There was no group, it was basically solo for most of the way. Eventually some fast guys from L caught me at Cosmo City and they pulled me to Steyn City where I was dropped. Guy had the name "Porra" on his number... nice guy and super strong! 

 

Official time - 3:10. Super chuffed and hopefully with a better seeding next year I'll be knocking on the door of sub 3!

 

Event was well organised although I am happy I rode to the start, the traffic looked pretty hectic on William Nicol. 

 

 

[TheBritishTwit]

Completed the race this year after giving up last year just before the lion park...

 

Managed 3:47 which is 4:45 quicker then my 2014 time.

 

Really wanted a sub 3:30 time, but was chuffed with what I got.

[NotSoBigBen]

Just an observation after sitting around at the finish for quite a while waiting for my son and his fiance to finish .... it would appear that Pinarellos are becoming like Specializeds .... every second person has one?

[Connection]

Did anyone see a pitbull running amok on Heartbreak Hill on the R55? Looked like it actually attacked someone! And it looked like the kind of dog that you REALLY don't want to mess with! ????

 

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[Dogs]

 

Have to admit, the fact that we did this really helped us and just goes to show that working together does reap rewards in the end.  That being said, sticking together did prove challenging at times but I do think that each and every person of the Fantastic 4 helped each other in some way or another and I just personally want to say a biog thank you to both Grant and Claus for their assistance today. 

 

 

Thanks Guys and Gal - nice meeting you and it definitely helped me squeeze in below the 3:30.  

[Paulst12]

It was 500m shorter than last year but more climbing and 1398m vs 1365m in 2015
The route imo was much better, and safer. Going through Jhb centre was never appealing with people running across the road etc.

Kyalami is just such a great track to ride on, and i wish they would open it up for afternoon riding again  ... it also made that fast descent much safer for the masses as you didnt have people going down there out of control.

One critisism was at the finish past the medal table, people were shouting at the cyclist to move on because there wasnt space for incoming cyclists.... put the coke table further away then. There was almost an altercation because the official basically bumped people over who were waiting to grab a coke.... and that was for the front groups when hardly anyone was coming in yet.

Overall i think its great. Also really good to see so many people taking part. What a fantastic day, and a big THANK YOU to all involved and to the sponsors.    
 

Edited November 21, 2016 by Paulst12