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2019 Amashova


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#knowyourlimits. If you have not trained for an event distance at race pace do not do it at race pace.

 

**** happens, I had a mate (Fit and strong as an ox) who was a surfski paddler (one of the best in SA) getting ready for a race, went out on a quick warm-up paddle and died there and then of a heart attack, who would have thought. These things happen.

 

As you said <We all have limits and they're different for different people. I can do some things you can't, you can do some things I can't. There's no "one size fits all".> So #knowyourlimits.

 

How do you know your limits? You train for them. PERIOD!

Sad. Did he ever go for a proper cardio exam (i.e. with a cardiologist, not his GP)? It's a key part of planning and training for any endurance type sport and a lot of (most?) people skip it.
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Sad. Did he ever go for a proper cardio exam (i.e. with a cardiologist, not his GP)? It's a key part of planning and training for any endurance type sport and a lot of (most?) people skip it.

Apparently he did, worst part he was fished out by persons trained in CPR and the like, but as they say if it is your time it is your time. When the big earth leakage switch trips, it trips.

 

I have learnt many lessons from that, but I don't always follow them. Go figure, us humans are unique. I just don't blame others anymore for my stupidity. Which is very much what this thread is about. The stupidity I mean.

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Agreed with your summary here.

 

We all need to take responsibility for our own lives and not try something that can actually kill you if you are under-prepared. 

 

-

Unfortunately it is becoming the trend that people do not prepare for an event and are often well under trained.  I see it more and more in triathlon events, and especially the ironman events which now has an iconic kudos attached to it and more and more first timers are doing these event without putting the training in.

 

The reaction and the results of this is that organisers at the first sign of a rough or choppy swim conditions, shorten the swim leg or cancel it totally because they are also seeing that people are under trained, especially for the swim and know that there will be issues.  Almost weekly at an ironman event around the world there is a death on the swim leg.........

 

People seem to think doing a couple of lengths in the pool will prepare them for an open water swim much further than they have swum before and then can sort of wing it for the cycle and then walk the run..... but they get the ironman medal and tick the bucket list off.

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Some useless information, from comparing last year's race to this year's:

 

2018 Amashova 160km - Start time: 6:25; Max temp: 25 degrees (at about 11:30)

2019 Amashova 160km - Start time: 5:35; Max temp: 38 degrees (at about 9:30)

 

With less people (outside of the Elites) starting this year than finished last year, I wonder if the 160km will even be an option next year.

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Some useless information, from comparing last year's race to this year's:

 

2018 Amashova 160km - Start time: 6:25; Max temp: 25 degrees (at about 11:30)

2019 Amashova 160km - Start time: 5:35; Max temp: 38 degrees (at about 9:30)

 

With less people (outside of the Elites) starting this year than finished last year, I wonder if the 160km will even be an option next year.

It was bad research by myself and others I know, but we were under the Impression only racing Licenced people could do the 160km. If I had known better I would have done it instead of the 106km
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The notion of 'x" bottles is because the average bike holds that. The jist of the conversation was around conditioning and NOT needing to stop. If we were to stop and have lunch, a platter of fresh fruit and refill out water bottles, we might as well spend the extra time and pee into a bottle to analyze our urine to see if we are lacking in electrolytes too.

 

No.

 

Train harder, ride faster. That exposes you to less of the elements

 

...and take time to read up and get to know the event you're entering. The Shova is a deceitfully tough race - I remember riding my first back in 2011, naively thinking it's gonna be downhill all the way want mens ry mos af see toe...never climbed so much in my life.  

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I started in AL for the 106km race.

 

Started well until 6km into fox and I dropped a chain :( - worst possible timing but nevertheless I got going again and I could see the group but I was burning flares to try catchup. That never happened so once I got to the top of Fox I could see parts of AL that fell off the main bunch were on my wheel and so we formed a 2nd group. I would say that there were probably 4 of us that worked the whole way back, I managed to break off the group with another rider with about 7km to go and finished with a 2.47. A huge improvement from last year. Was very happy with the way my body felt and zero cramps. My only gripe were some marshals that seemed to be in a dwell upon approach, no indication to go left or right but either than that, great event.

 

Well done to all who participated and condolences to the family who lost a husband brother father son - Ride On.

 

Macsteel next.

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Sad. Did he ever go for a proper cardio exam (i.e. with a cardiologist, not his GP)? It's a key part of planning and training for any endurance type sport and a lot of (most?) people skip it.

I sense you have medical background. Are you seriously suggesting that Joe average sees a cardiologist routinely before they enter endurance events???? Really? Do you understand the implications of your statement?

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I've done a few Amashova's and been frozen a little and cooked in a head wind; although this Sunday was properly hot - I was out for a few hours on a dirt bike and cooked nicely. Riders need to plan for the day.

 

Biggest benefit I see is full road closure; water tables etc are secondary.

 

Organisers may need to emphasise rider planning and fitness - it is a race where, every year, a good number of people hop on a bike to do 100km when they've never ridden more than say 40 before. As shown there are adequate water tables and from what I recall of Noakes guide 500ml to 750ml per hour is enough water. As also noted, if struggling, stop at a service station etc for a top up. It is rightly a good challenge.

 

I didn't ride this year but it would be very sad if the race failed due to complaints dropping the number of entries needed to make it viable.

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I was contemplating doing the 106km ( Done it a few times ) however when i saw what the weather conditions were predicting , i downgraded to the 65km.

I knew i would have struggled on the 106km route, hence my downgrade ( I know my limits )

 

I loved the 65km route and when i finished i was not dissapointed that i did not do the  longer ride.

 

Quite a few of my younger colleagues ( I am over 50 years old and they are all early 30s ) did the longer route and of the 5 of them only 2 managed to finish.       

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I was contemplating doing the 106km ( Done it a few times ) however when i saw what the weather conditions were predicting , i downgraded to the 65km.

I knew i would have struggled on the 106km route, hence my downgrade ( I know my limits )

 

I loved the 65km route and when i finished i was not dissapointed that i did not do the  longer ride.

 

Quite a few of my younger colleagues ( I am over 50 years old and they are all early 30s ) did the longer route and of the 5 of them only 2 managed to finish.       

Hoorah.... Common Sense...….How scarce

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I started in AL for the 106km race.

 

Started well until 6km into fox and I dropped a chain :( - worst possible timing but nevertheless I got going again and I could see the group but I was burning flares to try catchup. That never happened so once I got to the top of Fox I could see parts of AL that fell off the main bunch were on my wheel and so we formed a 2nd group. I would say that there were probably 4 of us that worked the whole way back, I managed to break off the group with another rider with about 7km to go and finished with a 2.47. A huge improvement from last year. Was very happy with the way my body felt and zero cramps. My only gripe were some marshals that seemed to be in a dwell upon approach, no indication to go left or right but either than that, great event.

 

Well done to all who participated and condolences to the family who lost a husband brother father son - Ride On.

 

Macsteel next.

hey there i think i could have been one of the four riders you mentioned, what kit did you have on? i was right behind you when your chain dropped, and also finished same time as you

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Unfortunately there will always be people who will overestimate a route and will be overconfident in their ability. I was one of these people a few years ago and I didn't prove anything other than that I was horribly unprepared

 

When you are unprepared for a race/ride, you don't enjoy it as much as you should, so then what is the point of doing it? Getting heat stroke, vomiting, cramping so bad you can't stand up, losing feeling in sensitive areas and having terrible saddle sores isn't enjoyable

 

If you know you won't be ready for a certain race, don't enter it or do the shorter route if available

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I sense you have medical background. Are you seriously suggesting that Joe average sees a cardiologist routinely before they enter endurance events???? Really? Do you understand the implications of your statement?

 

Did you really read my comment as being that every cyclist should see a cardiologist routinely before entering an endurance event? Because I certainly don't believe I wrote that – and certainly did not intend to.

 

But it is a good idea for everybody who routinely enters endurance events to at least on one occasion – and probably at intervals of some years, depending upon identified factors – have a proper cardio examination. It costs somewhere in the order of R5000 to R6000, which in the greater scheme of the costs of cycling and participating in endurance events is not a particularly big number. 

 

I can never get my head around the fact that somebody will spend R80 K or more on a bicycle but will not spend R5K or thereabouts to have a proper cardio examination to understand whether their heart can in fact sustain what they intend to embark upon and which cardio examination could for them mean the difference between life and death. And you only need to do it as I say, at intervals of some years. I'm not an expert on the subject but I would guess maybe once every 10 years, unless particular risk factors are identified.

 

Truth is, you may be a great athlete and you may feel well but you just cannot know whether you are at risk in the  absence of a proper cardio examination. Look at James Small for example.

 

Spend the money – on an amortised basis it will cost you a fraction of your annual insurance premiums and it may well save your life.

 

But people are weird. A mate of mine just inherited a very nice dual suspension carbon bike from another mate of his who died from cardiac arrest… And you think that the guy who inherited the bike can be persuaded to undergo a proper cardiac examination? Not on your Nellie…

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hey there i think i could have been one of the four riders you mentioned, what kit did you have on? i was right behind you when your chain dropped, and also finished same time as you

Green Ciovita top and white green black Cannondale [emoji1305][emoji1305][emoji1305]

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