Dgas Posted January 29, 2017 Share This was the scariest race I ever done, never saw so many riders going down, broken wheels and punctures. Where was the road markings did they forget.I rode in D. ( missed my A start time) first 10km into the race a few bikes went down behind me no idea why, I was on the front pulling the group, we were doing at least 45kph when the riders went down.With about 5 km to go on the long drag uphill towards the end, a few riders went down just behind me, caused by our group getting past the slow riders from the short distance. The slower riders were halfway across the road. We were doing 30 plus, the short distance riders a lot slower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26er Posted January 29, 2017 Share This was the scariest race I ever done, never saw so many riders going down, broken wheels and punctures. Where was the road markings did they forget.I agree,will never do it again..just not worth it..I have never hit a pothole beforeToday I went through two of themWe had about 4 proper crashes and about 6 flats in AL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_roadie Posted January 29, 2017 Share Terrible race. Next year I'll be there on my MTB if I ever do it again. Hit 1 of a thousand potholes holes about 8km in AL batch and punctured. Guess I should be happy the wheel didn't break. Managed to finish with BL where basically no one wanted to do any work except for the last 1km that resulted in a crash. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pieterlab1 Posted January 29, 2017 Share Did it on my MTB, was a lekker ride. Suspension took care of the potholes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mecheng89 Posted January 29, 2017 Share I wasn't feeling very confident coming into the race, so I wasn't expecting a blistering time. That said, the pace in A batch was manageable, but the discipline was bad and the race tactics were peculiar. Like some said earlier, knarly crashes, unusual number of punctures, pothole infested roads made it a challenge/ But one above all were the "+" bunch of boys. Man alive, they managed to keep up, but their skill and general awareness wasn't up there. They also took more risks than I would, but why? Very almost shoved a kid off his bike for basically scrumming through. 2h21 time round about, happy with the result of my holiday training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pusher Posted January 29, 2017 Share Condition of the roads was appalling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s14phoenix Posted January 29, 2017 Share I rode in the AL massacre. Scary does not cover it. Nearly went down at the finish line crash. Broke 2 front wheel spokes in the process. I am sorry and grateful for the guy I leaned against preventing my fall - it was completely involuntary. The whole race was full of holes making things very dangerous. I have never seen the carnage I saw today. I hope everyone that went down have a speedy recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatek Posted January 29, 2017 Share Va had a serious crash 300m before the end. Luckily had enough time to go off road in the veld. Had to walk the lost 300 - 200m. Hope they are ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JA-Q001 Posted January 29, 2017 Share Must say. This race is beter organised and run than many other races, including more expensive ones like next weekends. The road condition is bad, but the organisers did what could be done from their side, rainy conditions and heavy trucks murder roads. The lack of windy conditions actually meant more riders could keep up, making bunches larger. For some reason the larger the bunch, the lesser the thinking. Most potholes were marked clearly enough or visible enough that people could warn and avoid, but its more important to stay in 20th place than to indicate a pothole, meaning the guys behind gets it by surprize. Common desency between cyclists would have prevented 70% of the incedents. Lets hope the wind is back next year to toughen up the route again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JA-Q001 Posted January 29, 2017 Share Oh and VA only 3min slower than elites, what were they doing on this easy route, discussing Impeys bike? Best coffee stops for weekday training? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay_B Posted January 29, 2017 Share I wasn't feeling very confident coming into the race, so I wasn't expecting a blistering time. That said, the pace in A batch was manageable, but the discipline was bad and the race tactics were peculiar. Like some said earlier, knarly crashes, unusual number of punctures, pothole infested roads made it a challenge/ But one above all were the "+" bunch of boys. Man alive, they managed to keep up, but their skill and general awareness wasn't up there. They also took more risks than I would, but why? Very almost shoved a kid off his bike for basically scrumming through. 2h21 time round about, happy with the result of my holiday training.The juniors in AL I feel was a big mistake, they hid away and then moved to the front with 2km to go, which is all fine most guys do that however they don't have the gearing to keep up with the pace leading up to the sprint and in the sprint and then they became slow moving road furniture. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffK Posted January 29, 2017 Share The juniors in AL I feel was a big mistake, they hid away and then moved to the front with 2km to go, which is all fine most guys do that however they don't have the gearing to keep up with the pace leading up to the sprint and in the sprint and then they became slow moving road furniture. Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkThe juniors (actually u16) and 70 other guys just tagging along Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s14phoenix Posted January 29, 2017 Share The juniors (actually u16) and 70 other guys just tagging alongI think due to the group size there was not a lot of options other than to just tag along Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 29, 2017 Share The juniors (actually u16) and 70 other guys just tagging alongThey now known as U17 from this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridr Posted January 29, 2017 Share VA was horrible. Remembered within 5km of the start why I said I was never going to do this race again after the first time I did this route a few years ago. There were no road marking warnings like on other races where they at least spray-paint green and pink warnings before potholes (although, then they would have had to spray paint the entire 95km....). Crashes, punctures, water bottles everywhere. Hopefully no-one was too seriously hurt. Nearly had cars taking riders out passing from the front and from behind. Riders all over the road because roads too narrow for such large groups. Managed to stay out of trouble until 55km when I hit a stone going 60km/hr in the middle of the bunch. No warning from the riders ahead. Broken front wheel and punctured back, but still managed to finish. I don't see the point of paying so much money to put my life at risk when I could just go stand in the middle of the road outside my house for free if I really had a death wish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty Posted January 29, 2017 Share Did it last year, glad i gave it a miss this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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