947 Ride Joburg

[Avo]

How does it work with riders on E-Bikes? There was one guy I noticed in my batch C and he did very well with a good time. 

I couldn't care less about what position I come overall, sex or in my class. It is all about the time which is my goal.

Just curious to know how the E-Bikes fit into the results.

[FondTF2]

13 minutes ago, Mongoose! said:

source?

Just used the stats from Racetec and Finish Time from my individual finish times. May not be all that accurate but still indicative of the decreasing numbers

[Brakepad]

1 hour ago, FondTF2 said:

Just used the stats from Racetec and Finish Time from my individual finish times. May not be all that accurate but still indicative of the decreasing numbers

Could this then just be the number of finishers ? The number I heard was 13000 

[agilwolf]

Maybe that is the combined number of the long and short events?

[Dexter-morgan]

One thing, I would like to add is loading the course onto my Garmin 540 head unit and then using climb pro - it is a game changer in my opinion, even my wife used the climb feature on the 530.

I have had it for a while but the first time I could actually use it properly.

[TheoG]

12 minutes ago, Dexter-morgan said:

One thing, I would like to add is loading the course onto my Garmin 540 head unit and then using climb pro - it is a game changer in my opinion, even my wife used the climb feature on the 530.

I have had it for a while but the first time I could actually use it properly.

How does it help?  Would be awesome if it can give my legs a power boost to get up the hills .... 🤪😂

[Frosty]

1 hour ago, Brakepad said:

Could this then just be the number of finishers ? The number I heard was 13000 

The start list shows 13000, but it’s duplicated in the charity bunch and the male/female start lists.

I posted the links to the 3 start list categories a few weeks back.

Realistically, they had around 11,500 (road only, both distances).

[sunchaser]

22 hours ago, pedal menace said:

Perhaps an additional factor - not as BIG as safety etc - is the race difficulty. A couple of years ago it was a 92km event with most of the climbing in the first half with a much easier second half. Yesterday was 98km in sweltering heat with some REALLY hard climbs in the second half. In fact you do over 1000m of climbing in the last 45km. Now for many of us - WE LIKE THAT! But for a large set of the general "I ride ONCE a year" group of riders - this is a rather brutal ride. I saw a LOT of riders down on the road with SERIOUS CRAMPS during those last 3 hard climbs. 

Correct, I agree on this point, for the social rider, the route is way TOO difficult. Not sure the logic behind this if you want to attract more riders. E.g. to get to Randburg from Kyalami, why use Main Rd? That hill is too much, there are many other ways, or from Randburg to Braamfontein, why use Jan Smuts, Zoo Lake, thats a killer. Already by Kyalami before main road, "social riders" where done for the day. I am sure is all logistics about road closures.

 

[Matu]

16 hours ago, Dexter-morgan said:

One thing, I would like to add is loading the course onto my Garmin 540 head unit and then using climb pro - it is a game changer in my opinion, even my wife used the climb feature on the 530.

I have had it for a while but the first time I could actually use it properly.

I had a different experience this year, for the last couple of years I loaded the course and enjoyed climb pro.

This time around I totally forgot to load the course, but I felt like I suffered less on the hills and I would say my fitness if +- the same.

Maybe the placebo effect of not knowing how much of the climb you have left helped🤣

 

I enjoyed the day overall, besides the heat.

The price, I think is very fair (you would pay nearly the same for Emperors, Monte, and groot trap and they are not full closure races), the whole of JHB is closed for my enjoyment, and getting into the venue and parking I found pleasant.

Just the heat killed this year, I started in batch Q and it was already hot, I cannot image the later batches...maybe coordinating the race a month earlier would help.

The route is great, a nice challenge on the 2nd half.

If it was easy there would be no point to it.

But yes, the passing

Edited November 21, 2023 by Matu
spelling

[The Ouzo]

I'm going to be THAT guy.

 

If it was easy then everyone would do it. Whats next, shorten the comrades because not everyone can complete that distance ? Its "Jo'burgs toughest race", lets not dumb it down. 

If you want easy they have the short route that you can do.

[TheoG]

4 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

I'm going to be THAT guy.

 

If it was easy then everyone would do it. Whats next, shorten the comrades because not everyone can complete that distance ? Its "Jo'burgs toughest race", lets not dumb it down. 

If you want easy they have the short route that you can do.

Agree !  Yes its tough, but its meant to be like that.

If you want to do, train for it and you will get to the finish line.  If I can drag my fat 107kg ass over those hills, anyone can ... 🤪

Edited November 21, 2023 by TheoG

[The Ouzo]

3 minutes ago, TheoG said:

Agree !  Yes its tough, but its meant to be like that.

If you want to do, train for it and you will get to the finish line.

exactly.

My first one in '98 was a killer. Included climbs like Blue hills and Jan Smuts and many others. I went in under trained and barely made it to the finish. I vowed never to ride a race again under trained.

[StefC]

19 hours ago, Avo said:

How does it work with riders on E-Bikes? There was one guy I noticed in my batch C and he did very well with a good time. 

I couldn't care less about what position I come overall, sex or in my class. It is all about the time which is my goal.

Just curious to know how the E-Bikes fit into the results.

Share your thoughts. Previously there were a definite category. So for many reasons I couldn't join the long ride and rode the 35km. In the results, for the short ride anyway, they seem to be competing with all others on same playing field. The first two riders I see started in the very last group, yet ended with an ave speed of almost 60kmh. They should consider to race professionally 🙂  The first four rides didn't check all the boxes of all timing points so I'm surprised the system doesn't flag those either.

[Bichael Dewing]

53 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

exactly.

My first one in '98 was a killer. Included climbs like Blue hills and Jan Smuts and many others. I went in under trained and barely made it to the finish. I vowed never to ride a race again under trained.

I just was not even close to being prepared for those last two climbs after cycling that far already.. i managed it but I nearly stopped a few times.. big eye opener.. 😳..

But I’m excited to keep working and get stronger.. 🥳

it is soul destroying when you are struggling that badly and you hear that whizz of an e bike coming up and passing you with such ease.! 😭🤣🤣

[Bichael Dewing]

26 minutes ago, StefC said:

Share your thoughts. Previously there were a definite category. So for many reasons I couldn't join the long ride and rode the 35km. In the results, for the short ride anyway, they seem to be competing with all others on same playing field. The first two riders I see started in the very last group, yet ended with an ave speed of almost 60kmh. They should consider to race professionally 🙂  The first four rides didn't check all the boxes of all timing points so I'm surprised the system doesn't flag those either.

I saw that.! Like 35 minutes for the 35km.! 
59km/h average 
😳😳

that’s mental.. 🤣🤣🤣

[The Ouzo]

10 minutes ago, Michael Dewing said:

just was not even close to being prepared for those last two climbs after cycling that far already.. i managed it but I nearly stopped a few times.. big eye ope

if it was easier you would not have motivation to get fitter/stronger.

I've had many 947 over the years where I've had to simply climb off the bike for a few minutes to let the HR come down. I've sworn at the hills. I've cried on the hills.

Guess what, I'm currently the fittest I've ever been and finishing 2 hours faster than my first one, and its still not easy. Its just faster. 

Lets not drop the pass mark to 30%