[Event] Boland Gravel Monster

[no calves]

10 minutes ago, Mamil said:

Anyone got eyes on the state of the gravel out Wellington way?

Judging by how the farm looks(Saron) anywhere it drains it will be fine but any low lying areas is a mud fest

Edited September 16, 2023 by no calves
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[Bub Marley]

1 hour ago, Mamil said:

Anyone got eyes on the state of the gravel out Wellington way?

The gravel will be muddy. There’s no getting around that. The one saving grace of the race perhaps is that there is 60km’s of tar. Feels weird to say this but yeah I’ll be looking forward to the tar section’s tomorrow 🤣

[Mamil]

1 hour ago, Bub Marley said:

The gravel will be muddy. There’s no getting around that. The one saving grace of the race perhaps is that there is 60km’s of tar. Feels weird to say this but yeah I’ll be looking forward to the tar section’s tomorrow 🤣

 

2 hours ago, no calves said:

Judging by how the farm looks(Saron) anywhere it drains it will be fine but any low lying areas is a mud fest

I moved to CT from Joburg 22 years ago just as winter kicked in. By July I was thinking "what the f@#$ have I done. The gloom, wind, and endless rain. I adapted and love it now, but this winter is enough already. Cannot wait for some sunshine

[Cafe Racer]

Okes are gonna be racing bikes 

[Jbr]

@JohanDiv seemed a lot more optimistic than that yesterday ? 
 

i’m now considering the hydration pack for liquid carbs and water in the bottles to try and keep the bike clean and going smoothly

[JohanDiv]

1 hour ago, Jbr said:

@JohanDiv seemed a lot more optimistic than that yesterday ? 
 

i’m now considering the hydration pack for liquid carbs and water in the bottles to try and keep the bike clean and going smoothly

Jeez that 2mm rain they predicted overnight turned into 32mm that I poured out of the rainmeter this morning! And it's still raining!!  It's gonna be muddy..sorry I got your hopes up yesterday haha.

[throttles]

Nervous 🫣

[Mamil]

Perfect conditions.

Great route

Dropper posts on gravel bikes are a necessity when you got long legs. What a game changer.

That last hill was a bit surprising.

Worth getting out of bed for.

[throttles]

Warra day 👌🏻👏👏👏

[Jbr]

whoever thought it was a tar monster clearly hasn't done it. I wished there was more tar 🤣

[Bub Marley]

First experience at a gravel race this distance and sjoe was a toughie. I was good for about 125km. Then felt a twitch in my legs just before last waterpoint. Decided not to stop as I was worried I’m gonna cramp up if I stop and also figured after Bains it’ll be nice and easy downhill to the finish🤣. Safe to say that was a mistake. Ran out of food and drink and the last 10km was just excruciating. By far the hardest section of the race especially with fatigue in the legs. 
 

Was a great event though. For all of us worrying about the mud, there was hardly anything. Pretty much perfect conditions start to finish. 

[Bub Marley]

34 minutes ago, Jbr said:

whoever thought it was a tar monster clearly hasn't done it. I wished there was more tar 🤣

I mean the tarred sections contained the 2 big climbs though. So wasn’t really any free miles. Honestly when you race in the Wellington and surrounding areas there are hardly any free miles around. 

[Frosty]

How much was the entry fee?

[Jbr]

11 hours ago, Frosty said:

How much was the entry fee?

R1150 and to be honest I don’t really understand why, there wasn’t much going on. Yes the route was well marked, there were a few motorbikes. But the start finish was very quiet, not that I really care about that.

But when they say they were inundated well it didn’t show on the day, the numbers were pretty ridiculous I believe, Old hermon the parking was full and people parked on the road quite far, here it wasn’t even half full. Not sure if the poor attendance is due to the entry cost or the weather (probably a bit of both). But I would imagine a R450 entry for old hermon with a 1000 participants is better than a R1000 entry with 140 participants…

was a nice even regardless will most likely still come next year.

Edited September 18, 2023 by Jbr

[Mamil]

Agreed ... it's overpriced. Mind you I think I just paid 1750 for swarrberg.

Anyone seen results for yesterday?

[Frosty]

Interesting, as the benchmark up here (highveld) seems to be R900 for an imperial century and R450 for a shorter distance (60-80Km).