[Event] Velddrif 222 Velddrif

[ChrisF]

Any news ?????

[Denis Dell]

38 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

Any news ?????

Remember I asked, when do other people start asking the WTF did I sign up for... Well I drove the course this afternoon (with a vehicle that has a diesel engine and an automatic transmission), my arse got sore at the 150km mark and I knew the answer to the above question for myself.

[tubed]

On 6/24/2022 at 9:01 PM, Mamil said:

If you do it on a gravel bike there's a very nice gravel ride back to Cape town via darling, along the railway line to kalbaskraal to the northern suburbs .... It could be an audax.

Nice route that, did it a few years ago, seemed like friendly folk down toward Chatsworth, living close to the railway line, just getting on with life

[peetwindhoek]

23 hours ago, ChrisF said:

Any news ?????

sigh

[tinmug]

Everyone got lost in the Veldrif Triangle. 🤷‍♂️

[Jewbacca]

hahaha 

I shot my shot with a young fellow called Jerry from the neutral zone but my legs exploded harder than a lego man with a TomThumb shoved up his butt at 157km.

The 2 elite ladies passed soon afterward absolutely flying. 

I soft pedalled to the finish and was the very definition of going nowhere alone into the headwind for the last 35km.. It was rad. Different, but rad.

Riding around Cape Town I was definitely NOT ready for flat roads like that. I think I changed gears 15 times (hyperbole for efect). It was a bit like riding an IDT into a headwind all day. Here we have climbs and descents where you change body position, freewheel down the hill and lean into corners etc.... There? Probably about 3 very short (200m to 400m) sections where you could stop pedalling.

Sid came past me with 20km to go looking strong. 4 or 5 of the elite batch. They had torn it to shreds on the climb up to Picketberg. 

Pretty awesome day out. WAY out of my comfort zone, but I might try to get fitter (and get my eating right @bleedToWin you can definitely say I told you so) and go back to a few more of these.

Thanks for an awesome day out everyone. The gees was top notch

[Denis Dell]

I made it to the 174km mark (according to my watch gps), when i was confronted by this mountain that looked something conjured up in the depths of Mordor.  Head wind that might have found a place in Moses plagues during his time in Egypt. The body and mind is like Frankenstein's monster before the two were connected. The one say go, the other say, fook off... Signals between the two got so mixed, it made the Covid task team looked like a professional organisation

Eventually both mind and legs came to the realisation that this mountain from mordor still meant there is about three hours left, thats when the arse started sharing his views and chimed in too. Arse made it very clear that since he was not consulted in all this, he will initiate plan sabotage.

Plan sabotage resulted in hell from the saddle. Standing up resulted in opperation custard with jelly, the brain child of legs. Meanwhile, brain was doing calculus, combined with Euclidean mathematics, thrown in some string theory to demonstrate that resisitance is futile and the only future left is with borg collective. QED.

Thats when i played the rocky motivation speech to these miscreants, "life will hit much harder than me, it doesnt matter how many times its hit you down, all that matters is that you stand up". And then eyes, looked up, and said: " Dude that aint life, that is Mordor!" And i had no arguments left.

So yeah, in summary, a hell of a ride, and will be back next week.

Edited June 26, 2022 by Denis Dell

[Mamil]

Fueled with one of the best Risottos I've ever had the pleasure of eating from Chez @lechatnoirI mooched along with Group 2 until the hills before Piketberg where for once, courtesy a slightly slower group than I'm usually seeded in, and the kind of hill (stays below 7% and has flat ruskansies at key moments) I ended up in a somewhat dysfunctional group of 4 riders off the front of the main peloton.

There was one guy who solo'd from the start and another that dangled in front of us (why I don't know) and so this crew of 4 mamils occupied positions 3 to 6 in the group. I had one of those glory moments when I realised I was in a break off the front rather than the back for a change and I had my eye on the podium. 3rd in group 2. 

AND I was sure I would catch @Jewbacca

At 90 I punctured and was just using the last warmth in my hands to unfreeze the bomb from the valve when the main group 2 peloton whizzed by. 

I set about chasing them back (optimistic I know) when another puncture 2km shy of Redlinghuys put paid to that dream.

This time I removed the tyre completely and inspected it more thoroughly than the first one (I stopped looking as soon as I found a tiny filament of wire embedded in the rubber on the first one) and finding nothing, reinflated the tyre convinced that it would deflate again.

It didn't although to be frank I wouldn't have really minded if it had because that would have given me a valid reason to stop and send the SOS whatsapp - and I solo'd 130 km to the end.

The hill at Redlinghuys is horrible. I suspect I saw @Denis Dellgetting into the car with his wife. 

The wind was tame by South Easter standards but nagged just enough to make efforts to increase speed futile and painful.

Couldn't have finished it without my soigneurs.

Tough riding out there on a beautiful day. Nowhere to hide and no free kilometers at all.

To the organisers - super event, great spirit on the road, I'll do it again if you offer it again.

BUT - no water available between km 126 and the end means if you don't have people supporting you or can rely on the kindness of the larger team's support, the day could become unpleasant, bordering on impossible. Easily remedied by having a table with 2 people and 3 50 liter kegs.

 

 

 

[Denis Dell]

4 hours ago, Mamil said:

Fueled with one of the best Risottos I've ever had the pleasure of eating from Chez @lechatnoirI mooched along with Group 2 until the hills before Piketberg where for once, courtesy a slightly slower group than I'm usually seeded in, and the kind of hill (stays below 7% and has flat ruskansies at key moments) I ended up in a somewhat dysfunctional group of 4 riders off the front of the main peloton.

There was one guy who solo'd from the start and another that dangled in front of us (why I don't know) and so this crew of 4 mamils occupied positions 3 to 6 in the group. I had one of those glory moments when I realised I was in a break off the front rather than the back for a change and I had my eye on the podium. 3rd in group 2. 

AND I was sure I would catch @Jewbacca

At 90 I punctured and was just using the last warmth in my hands to unfreeze the bomb from the valve when the main group 2 peloton whizzed by. 

I set about chasing them back (optimistic I know) when another puncture 2km shy of Redlinghuys put paid to that dream.

This time I removed the tyre completely and inspected it more thoroughly than the first one (I stopped looking as soon as I found a tiny filament of wire embedded in the rubber on the first one) and finding nothing, reinflated the tyre convinced that it would deflate again.

It didn't although to be frank I wouldn't have really minded if it had because that would have given me a valid reason to stop and send the SOS whatsapp - and I solo'd 130 km to the end.

The hill at Redlinghuys is horrible. I suspect I saw @Denis Dellgetting into the car with his wife. 

The wind was tame by South Easter standards but nagged just enough to make efforts to increase speed futile and painful.

Couldn't have finished it without my soigneurs.

Tough riding out there on a beautiful day. Nowhere to hide and no free kilometers at all.

To the organisers - super event, great spirit on the road, I'll do it again if you offer it again.

BUT - no water available between km 126 and the end means if you don't have people supporting you or can rely on the kindness of the larger team's support, the day could become unpleasant, bordering on impossible. Easily remedied by having a table with 2 people and 3 50 liter kegs.

 

 

 

I heard that the guy with two flats pulled out... Hell if i knew there were still riders behind me i would have walked up mordor. But the race organiser said i was last man on the road.  The group you are talking about that was four mtb right

 

[Mamil]

6 hours ago, Denis Dell said:

I heard that the guy with two flats pulled out... Hell if i knew there were still riders behind me i would have walked up mordor. But the race organiser said i was last man on the road.  The group you are talking about that was four mtb right

 

Ah no. I think I probably finished mid field somewhere. It means you weren't the only hobbit who turned away from Sauron's gaze on Mordor.

[ChrisF]

12 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

It was a bit like riding an IDT into a headwind all day....

 

I may not enjoy the IDT .... but I am finding it to be a valuable part of my "training".

 

 

Though not much could prepare a you for solo ride into the wind after 150km in the legs.

 

 

RESPECT to the riders 👍

[Rouxenator]

Well done to Sue Kirk and the rest of the team! You all pulled off a perfectly organised ride. I have had my share of inaugural rides and this ranks amongst the best of in terms of planning and execution. Also huge thanks to all the towns and their traffic departments as well as the marshals. I was really impressed with how this played out.

As for the actual ride, load shedding resulted in us pulling up to the start at 7:01 but thankfully the start was delayed until 7:10. I was surprised when I saw 2°C on the way there - but it was confirmed soon as we started to move - it was blooming cold.

I did my own thing on the hardtail and kept a steady pace of 26km/h, soon a whole bunch of roadies seems to have formed behind me with the odd one popping in for a chat every now and then. I did see 1.4°C on the way to Piketberg but one guy said his Garmin showed 0.1°C at some stage. So a very chilled first stretch. Soon as we crested the Piketberg climb the roadies dropped me, my setup just is not that fast downhill. I did have my 2.35 knobbies at 3 bar but that is about as far as I went in terms of changing things VS my normal setup.

Excellent marshalling through Piketberg. On the other side I saw a lady with a mechanical issue from a far. As I came closer I saw it was a much more involved breakdown as her crank was lying on the ground I jokingly said "I would have loved to help but unfortunately I left my welder at home today". After a second or so she burst into laughter and said, thanks, that helps. The road from Piketberg to Redelinghuis was new to me, but beautiful. I rode solo most of the way - as planned. 

Stopped for a water fill up and banana at the Redelinghuis waterpoint and while I was there someone laughed "Oh is that the welder guy". All round the vibe from fellow riders and organisers was positive and encouraging. Took a long time to reach Elandsbay, I was anticipating the climb, went past faster than anticipated. Coming closer to Dwarskersbos the roads became more and more familiar. The last stretch from Dwarskersbos to Veldrif was a treat as I ride that road a lot. I took a left at he finish back to the start to complete the 222km.

I do hope this event returns to the calendar next year, at the price it is excellent. The cold and the distance reminded me of a 30 something me doing Transkaroo, altough 40 something me will never do something like Transkaroo again, this 222km ride is a more accessible challenge.

 

Saw a few other MTBs at the start, but never saw them come past me so I think I may have been the first MTB to finish?

 

Sun starting to make things a little more cozy

 

Heading towards Redlinghuis

 

This Kombi has seen better days

 

My own home made medal waiting for me at the Riviera hotel

[lechatnoir]

As one of @Mamil's support crew, we had a total jol cruising the Weskus back roads, popping out @Redelinghuys, finding the ambulance lady knitting beanies and other support crews having a fees with lots of gees. 

The start was perishingly cold and I was stoked to not be out there riding for once, deciding on eggs benedict for breakfast instead while looking at expensive boats that don't get used.

I think the small start list, the unique handicapping employed and thorough organisation made this a great event, even for a spectator. As for the terrain, ya, no free miles here and just lots of false-flat-pedaling

As @Sid the Sloth predicted last week, feedzone attacks were the order of the day, while @Jewbacca mooched around in his snazzy shoes and non-matching bike, but he looked pretty strong rolling through the finish.

Kudos to all that started in that cold, all finishers and the organisers for coming up with this event

[Jewbacca]

It was awesome to put faces to some names yesterday.

I would have loved to have been able to recognise @Rouxenator in the start chute but everyone was way overdressed 😝

I can see why the proper road dorks have power metres and ridiculous face glasses. I feel those two things would make a day like yesterday a bit more predictable/manageable with good planning and experience.

Not having a support crew was eventually my downfall though. I ate all my food and drank all my juice and managed to scrounge a bottle of water at 185km from someone else's awesome support person.

Lesson learned though. For next time. 

Also, controversial opinion, the road dorks from yesterday were generally way less judgy and friendly to us junk hackers than some other riding genres I'm used to.... 🥰 

I was super impressed by the overall gees of everyone. 

[Rouxenator]

It would have been prudent of me to have been overdressed - but I was not - which is why I felt that cold to the bone.

I was easy to spot, green and white shirt, MTB baggies, hardtail bike with home-made white-wall front tyre. The idea was not to white-wall it, it's just that the tyre has seen 9000km and now the rubber on the sidewalls is starting to come off so I used silicone sealant to fix it. 

[Ncayi]

I was in start group 2 yellow helmet and  pink gilet, all in all I was a highlighter. I have to say I couldn't put the names to any faces.

My takeaways

1. The so called mamils are solid on the bike and they should share their knowledge and experience with us young newbies (I'm way younger than I look). 

2. I spent a lot of time worrying about the the 2 main climbs, but the rollers really did a number on me. And I was alone for most of the way after Piketberg to the finish. 

3. The race has the potential to be a must do race for years to come. The route profile is challenging enough for the racing pros (a few of them cracked) but also friendly enough for us mere mortals to be able to finish in decent time. 

4. There was this huge guy (Tim Declercq vibes) in our group with black Castelli leg warmers. Whoever you are, you are a beast on bicycle. 

5. I thought the talk about breaking away from the start was all just talk. But someone actually did in our group, I can't help but wonder if he actually finished. What was his experience when approached the great mountain of Mordor after being alone all the way from the shire? 

 

Edited June 27, 2022 by Sibulele