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Posted

Left home a little late and drove like a lunatic to try make it for the 6am start in $ (blouberg to durbanville in 15 mins). No time to look for parking, just drove off the road into a ditch (worry about trying to get car out later!). Grabbed bike out the car and got to the road where the start is with one minute to spare. Saw all the $ dudes in the road at the start just a few meters away but marshal insisted I had to go all the way around and wade through all the other cyclists in their starting chutes. Made it to the front just in time to see my bunch riding off. So gutted!

Posted

Sharing the video of the race. I started on $, got dropped at about 50km :(

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing! I felt your pain as you lost the group - we've all been there :wacko: 

 

Really nice to see the race from a different perspective, visible suffering in $ group up Visserhok makes me feel better about my ride!

Posted

Held onto my group (D) for the first time in a road race which made me feel like a proper cyclist and put me in a good mood for the whole weekend. Been strutting around with my chest out and telling anyone who would listen that I averaged 34kmph for 102 km and making sage comments about how good it feels to be getting better at something even as one approaches 50.

 

This doesn't go down quite as well as one might expect at dinner parties.

 

I don't let the blank looks and glazed eyes of feigned interest put me off though - I just keep telling people about how I finished only 4 minutes behind the winner of D batch. Sub 3 for the 99er I say with false modesty and if my victim doesn't make an escape I'll tell them how we caught C group and were one huge heaving beast of dodgy lycra clad weekend warriors pretending to be Le Tour gladiators.

 

The other highlight of the race was Bilygoat's seatpost on his new aero bike converting itself into a dropper and watching him alternate between emulating Contador's out the seat climbing style with sitting down and having his knees tickle his earlobes moving up and down the group asking anybody and everybody if they had a multi-tool. He said that he felt like he was riding a stolen BMX. 

 

I notice with pleasure that I was the fastest in my Strava feed (I think?) mainly because MdeJ dropped his chain and Billy his saddle - amazing what one can accomplish with a multi-tool and a heart set on sabotage. 

 

Pro tip - superglue in the communal chainlube guarantees the win.

 

Sportif #2 ... Tour de PPA ... CTCT MTB .... CTCT and then Swartberg, Amarider and Around the Pot still to come.

 

Life is sweet.

Posted

Held onto my group (D) for the first time in a road race which made me feel like a proper cyclist and put me in a good mood for the whole weekend. Been strutting around with my chest out and telling anyone who would listen that I averaged 34kmph for 102 km and making sage comments about how good it feels to be getting better at something even as one approaches 50.

 

This doesn't go down quite as well as one might expect at dinner parties.

 

I don't let the blank looks and glazed eyes of feigned interest put me off though - I just keep telling people about how I finished only 4 minutes behind the winner of D batch. Sub 3 for the 99er I say with false modesty and if my victim doesn't make an escape I'll tell them how we caught C group and were one huge heaving beast of dodgy lycra clad weekend warriors pretending to be Le Tour gladiators.

 

The other highlight of the race was Bilygoat's seatpost on his new aero bike converting itself into a dropper and watching him alternate between emulating Contador's out the seat climbing style with sitting down and having his knees tickle his earlobes moving up and down the group asking anybody and everybody if they had a multi-tool. He said that he felt like he was riding a stolen BMX. 

 

I notice with pleasure that I was the fastest in my Strava feed (I think?) mainly because MdeJ dropped his chain and Billy his saddle - amazing what one can accomplish with a multi-tool and a heart set on sabotage. 

 

Pro tip - superglue in the communal chainlube guarantees the win.

 

Sportif #2 ... Tour de PPA ... CTCT MTB .... CTCT and then Swartberg, Amarider and Around the Pot still to come.

 

Life is sweet.

 

Well done on your result once again!

 

It was an interesting route - that pot-holed section we were flying through as we approached Vissershok was actually quite fun. I kept drawing parallels in my mind with Paris-Roubaix, minus the mud, minus the cold ... ok maybe its nothing like PR - but it was still lots of fun imho and seemed to claim quite a victims in the form of flat tyres. 

 

The combined C-D group was a bit crazy when we hit the 57km join. I missed my B group where the pace was a lot more consistent, but hey it beats TT. With the combined C-D group being too big, the bike Marshall did really well by providing 'full rolling road closures' and warning oncoming traffic. Hope we didn't upset too many motorists :eek:  

 

The only thing that irritated me a bit was the 'support car' constantly passing part of the group and blocking off part of the road, I got blocked off twice, WTF is up with that? 

Posted

I was also cut off by that support car- and had him pass pretty close to me too.

 

The marshall did a fair job on his bike but I didn't think we were particularly safe. The group was just too big for everyone to keep on the left - must have been 150 or 180 riders at one point and several cars simply didn't slow down or pull over. Lots did however. A few hairy moments in there too - the smell of carbon brakes locking up and twitchy back wheels.

 

That bumpy section was hectic - was gapped a little there because I stopped paying attention but managed to chase back on with the help of a few other grey bearded mamilian specimens.

 

It's a lovely race but I do think that safety is an issue - the traffic on a Saturday is heavier than a Sunday morning and things could have gone very wrong on more than one occasion in that C and D mashup.

 

 

Well done on your result once again!

 

It was an interesting route - that pot-holed section we were flying through as we approached Vissershok was actually quite fun. I kept drawing parallels in my mind with Paris-Roubaix, minus the mud, minus the cold ... ok maybe its nothing like PR - but it was still lots of fun imho and seemed to claim quite a victims in the form of flat tyres. 

 

The combined C-D group was a bit crazy when we hit the 57km join. I missed my B group where the pace was a lot more consistent, but hey it beats TT. With the combined C-D group being too big, the bike Marshall did really well by providing 'full rolling road closures' and warning oncoming traffic. Hope we didn't upset too many motorists :eek:  

 

The only thing that irritated me a bit was the 'support car' constantly passing part of the group and blocking off part of the road, I got blocked off twice, WTF is up with that? 

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