[Event] Carnival City Macsteel National Classic

[Spoke101]

Great race, Gerald and team! The new route is nice. And as ever, this is one of the best organised events on the calendar

Good result Ryan, hope to see you in the split at 94.7

[Craai]

There was no limit when we finished.

Same here (and we were slooooow, so definitely second half of riders)

[Spinnekop]

Really well organised event as always! New route was great! Marshalls were great!

 

Only one comment, limiting the drinks at the finish was not a welcome end. It appeared that there was not enough coke, was a hot day and a quarter cup of coke was just not enough.

You just had to drink 7 cups, no problem.      

[Jehosefat]

Thanks to the organisers. Was a lekker race and I dig the new route (still don't love the long drag up to the finish line though  )

 

BL started off very sedately with no-one really wanting to do any work. Got properly organised after about 10km and was mostly smooth sailing from there with quite a few guys willing to work. Little crash at around 90km, didn't look too serious but I hope no-one was injured. Basically the whole group turned into the finish straight together and I launched my attack far too early and got overtaken by a bunch of people 100-150m from the line. Still super happy with a sub-3. (Was also very surprised that I managed to hang with the group the whole way, and even do a turn or two on the front, after doing the MTB race the day before)

[lurkerza]

Has to be one of my best rides ever!!  I bought a tandem nearly two years ago to ride with my boys and after taking it for a solo ride and nearly sharting myself at how heavy it feels and differently it handles it was dispatched to the back of the garage!!  I knew what a great event the race usually is and figured it would be the ideal race to test it out, so I dragged her on Saturday, gave her a good clean, raised the rear seat for boy (they grow a lot in two years!!) and we went for a 8km ride on Saturday afternoon.  Junior was not thrilled with the idea of doing nearly 60km on a bike when I told him we had entered and enthusiasm dwindled rapidly as race approached, but he got on the bike that afternoon and we followed the wife sedately on a 8km run around the neighbourhood, I put on my bluetooth speaker and a handlebar mount for his phone and gave him the responsibility of playing some decent tunes.  We came back feeling happy with our ability to make it through the day and his nerves were feeling much better about the race.

 

Race day and we decided to drop back to the BM group to ride with a friend and we started right at the back of the group, as our pull offs were a bit wobbly the day before and didn't want to be responsible for taking down 20 riders before the first timing mat! We got going along with another tandem doing their first race as well and we were cruising along nicely. The route was fantastic and the marshalls brilliant the whole way through! Got some great speed on the gentle downhills out past springs up until the turn towards Duduza/Tsakane and then had those couple climbs to show us where the tandem can be tough, but my copilot dug deep and helped me push to the top, he loved the fast descents after though! He didn't grumble once, apart from the saddle discomfort and was keeping me posted on how far we had come and how little was left, he did start giving more regularly distance updates coming up that Heidelberg road heading home with those long drags, we even upped the pace for the last 5km keeping enough in reserve for a good hard push to the finish!  BEST 2:02 of my life!  Next year we will be doing the long distance for sure!  

 

Huge thanks to the organisers and the other cyclists, everyone we saw seemed to be really enjoying their rides!  My son is stoked with his medal and his first goodie bag - thanks for making a great memory for us!

[GaryvdM]

Good job Frosty and team! I had a tough but lekker ride.

 

One observation: At the intersection of the R550 & R23, the cars travelling east on the R550 were not given indiction of that they needed to stay in straight lane and not use the left turn lane, even if they were going to turn left onto the R23. So cars were going in to the left turn lane, which was causing the marshal to get very upset with the cars. Maybe some signage or some cones will give an indication to the cars they need to stay in the centre lane, and will help to keep things calm there.

Edited October 29, 2018 by GaryvdM

[Frosty]

Thank you for the total road closure from aroun 10/15km out approaching the finish. Really nice.

 

15Km for that section, but for some it felt like 20Km.

[Frosty]

Good job Frosty and team! I had a tough but lekker ride.

 

One observation: At the intersection of the R550 & R23, the cars travelling east on the R550 were not given indiction of that they needed to stay in straight lane and not use the left turn lane, even if they were going to turn left onto the R23. So cars were going in to the left turn lane, which was causing the marshal to get very upset with the cars. Maybe some signage or some cones will give an indication to the cars they need to stay in the centre lane, and will help to keep things calm there.

Thanks, note made and will be discussed at our closing meeting.

 

This intersection has been and always will be the hardest point to marshal.

[Long Wheel Base]

Has to be one of my best rides ever!!  I bought a tandem nearly two years ago to ride with my boys and after taking it for a solo ride and nearly sharting myself at how heavy it feels and differently it handles it was dispatched to the back of the garage!!  I knew what a great event the race usually is and figured it would be the ideal race to test it out, so I dragged her on Saturday, gave her a good clean, raised the rear seat for boy (they grow a lot in two years!!) and we went for a 8km ride on Saturday afternoon.  Junior was not thrilled with the idea of doing nearly 60km on a bike when I told him we had entered and enthusiasm dwindled rapidly as race approached, but he got on the bike that afternoon and we followed the wife sedately on a 8km run around the neighbourhood, I put on my bluetooth speaker and a handlebar mount for his phone and gave him the responsibility of playing some decent tunes.  We came back feeling happy with our ability to make it through the day and his nerves were feeling much better about the race.

 

Race day and we decided to drop back to the BM group to ride with a friend and we started right at the back of the group, as our pull offs were a bit wobbly the day before and didn't want to be responsible for taking down 20 riders before the first timing mat! We got going along with another tandem doing their first race as well and we were cruising along nicely. The route was fantastic and the marshalls brilliant the whole way through! Got some great speed on the gentle downhills out past springs up until the turn towards Duduza/Tsakane and then had those couple climbs to show us where the tandem can be tough, but my copilot dug deep and helped me push to the top, he loved the fast descents after though! He didn't grumble once, apart from the saddle discomfort and was keeping me posted on how far we had come and how little was left, he did start giving more regularly distance updates coming up that Heidelberg road heading home with those long drags, we even upped the pace for the last 5km keeping enough in reserve for a good hard push to the finish!  BEST 2:02 of my life!  Next year we will be doing the long distance for sure!  

 

Huge thanks to the organisers and the other cyclists, everyone we saw seemed to be really enjoying their rides!  My son is stoked with his medal and his first goodie bag - thanks for making a great memory for us!

AWESOME story. Being a tandem lover myself and also starting on the back with my toppie reading this puts a big smile on my face. I am now 34 and my Dad 62 and we still ride tandem together. Only thing that has changed is I am now on the front. I hope you have many more happy miles together.

[Frosty]

Where do you recruit all your marshalls?Surely not all club menbers.

Germiston Rotary recruit other Rotary clubs from surrounding areas, plus our club members (about 40 active members) and some of their family members, plus a crew that will be at certain other events.

 

At one point we had over 200 members, but some come and go, others join clubs closer to home and some join but we hardly see them. Excluding the licensed guys that race for other teams (they usually race).

[The Ouzo]

Has to be one of my best rides ever!!  I bought a tandem nearly two years ago to ride with my boys and after taking it for a solo ride and nearly sharting myself at how heavy it feels and differently it handles it was dispatched to the back of the garage!!  I knew what a great event the race usually is and figured it would be the ideal race to test it out, so I dragged her on Saturday, gave her a good clean, raised the rear seat for boy (they grow a lot in two years!!) and we went for a 8km ride on Saturday afternoon.  Junior was not thrilled with the idea of doing nearly 60km on a bike when I told him we had entered and enthusiasm dwindled rapidly as race approached, but he got on the bike that afternoon and we followed the wife sedately on a 8km run around the neighbourhood, I put on my bluetooth speaker and a handlebar mount for his phone and gave him the responsibility of playing some decent tunes.  We came back feeling happy with our ability to make it through the day and his nerves were feeling much better about the race.

 

Race day and we decided to drop back to the BM group to ride with a friend and we started right at the back of the group, as our pull offs were a bit wobbly the day before and didn't want to be responsible for taking down 20 riders before the first timing mat! We got going along with another tandem doing their first race as well and we were cruising along nicely. The route was fantastic and the marshalls brilliant the whole way through! Got some great speed on the gentle downhills out past springs up until the turn towards Duduza/Tsakane and then had those couple climbs to show us where the tandem can be tough, but my copilot dug deep and helped me push to the top, he loved the fast descents after though! He didn't grumble once, apart from the saddle discomfort and was keeping me posted on how far we had come and how little was left, he did start giving more regularly distance updates coming up that Heidelberg road heading home with those long drags, we even upped the pace for the last 5km keeping enough in reserve for a good hard push to the finish!  BEST 2:02 of my life!  Next year we will be doing the long distance for sure!  

 

Huge thanks to the organisers and the other cyclists, everyone we saw seemed to be really enjoying their rides!  My son is stoked with his medal and his first goodie bag - thanks for making a great memory for us!

Dont know why but this post made me emotional.

Nice story, I'm hoping at least one of my girls will join me in a few years time 

[Escapee..]

Thats a decent time out of JL 

 

 

[scotty]

Really well organised event as always! New route was great! Marshalls were great!

 

Only one comment, limiting the drinks at the finish was not a welcome end. It appeared that there was not enough coke, was a hot day and a quarter cup of coke was just not enough.

Some blame must go to the riders. I stood waiting behind a guy who threw out his left overs and filled his water bottles with coke. My chirp to him about leaving something for others had him spin round, I then told him they also sold coke at the stands and he sheepishly slunk away. 

[scotty]

Thats a decent time out of JL 

 

 

Capture.JPG

First overall female also came from JL group. Usual story, where long distance turned left towards Heidelberg on R23, some riders that started in the long distance batch turned right. 

[Dirkitech]

First overall female also came from JL group. Usual story, where long distance turned left towards Heidelberg on R23, some riders that started in the long distance batch turned right. 

Where these mainly done in error (in spite of the very visible paint on the road)?

Will their rides get flagged or just left as is?

 

Asking because racetec put me in an entirely incorrect category and are taking long to respond, so a bit pissy.

[scotty]

Where these mainly done in error (in spite of the very visible paint on the road)?

Will their rides get flagged or just left as is?

 

Asking because racetec put me in an entirely incorrect category and are taking long to respond, so a bit pissy.

I suppose it could likely be error, they started in the later batches so would have been caught and swallowed up by the shorter route guys and followed them and if there were no riders turning left they assumed they had to turn right. Frosty can best answer if their rides will be flagged or not.