Old Mutual Wealth Double Century 2022 on behalf of a slacking Pure Savage

[DieselnDust]

Well clearly the savages are still recovering or waiting for images to load on actiophotosa.com before they finalise the ride report....

Well lets kick it off then.

Event: Old Mutual Wealth Double Century 

Distance: 202km of which 193km is listed as timed in 2022 (186km 2016 to 2020)

Location : Overberg region, start in Swellendam to Suurbrak on to Barrydale, Montagu AShton, Bonnievale and back to Swellendam

Format: Team Time Trial -> 12 person teams departing at 30sec intervals slowest teams to fastest departure format.

Categories:

Open (min10men , max 2 women)

Mixed - Max 9 men min 3 women - this was us (8 guys, 4 women)

Women: 12 individuals who identify as women

Tandem: 6 bikes that with 6 cyclists and 1 passenger per bike.

 

When Entries opened in August I hit the enter button all  bright eyed and bushy tailed. Brimming with excitement after the 2021 debacle, thanks to the organisers deciding that early starters should only shower once per day i was looking forward to the first team chat. You know the one here you through a wild target on the table and wait for the debate to start. SUb 6 I said, no one responded. Well silence equals consent so Sub 6 it is I thought.  The team would be a mixed team again, but this time consisting once again of 12 riders, instead of the 10 limit imposed during the silly covid years.

By October there was already a healthy turn over of riders. Life happens and priorities change but at least there was always 12. By November the kit design was sorted and in production and thanks to sponsor Windhunter AFrica, we had spares jus in case there was some last minute rider swap out and we needed a different size.

Three  weeks to go the first of the major bhp drop outs materialises. Thanks to bikehub I found a suitable lady who turned out to be quite handy as road captain.

Then another scare, one rider down on chappies, he healed and took to the startline eventually.

Then another drop out, a birthday party was more important but he found us a suitable replacement.

Then 10days to go another injury, this time a bad back. In goes another replacement. Ny now I've run out of weekends to the new crew polished. The writing was in the sand of Muizenberg but there was no point in giving up. On ward and upward.

A week before I'm riding Origin of trails and my whatsapp goes crazy. pics coming in. Another rider down. Big Al had dented the tar on Chappies. I check in with the young lady who was enquiring about a slot on the team, nope she's taken and I'm up the creak without a pedal. "No I'l be fine, I'll heal in time" said Al. Ok, but will your bike heal....? well it did eventually but it took longer than Al.

Thus far all the trouble had come from the men. The ladies were well behaved and just going about their business so I wasn't even worried about them.

In the mean time I got all the admin lined up and exectuted one by one right down to the race briefing .pptx file. You know the one where you remind everyone a week before , 4 days before , 2days before and the day they travel about their helmet and timing chips, race numbers, number boards, spare derailleur hangers, spare tube and inflation. Then the ZOOM call again the Thursday before race eve.

After the race briefing call whatsapp goes ping ping again. It my engineroom phoning to tell me he's had bronchitis for two days and can't ride. The cyclign gods just seemed against me at every turn of the course this year I thought. I reached out to the team and B offered up one of her pals, who I confirmed with Friday morning and he departed PE at noon. Great we were 12 again.

The drive through to Swellendam was pretty and uneventful. At this stage still excited at the prospect of having the strongest team I've had in a while.There were some unknowns but then I get the call that my Joburgers have just landed and awaiting their lift.

Swellendam arrived and we headed straight to registration before checking into accommodation. Unpack the bikes and do a short shake down ride to ensure everything is working as intended. Then we pick up Al's got an issue with the front derailleur not shifting. The set up was all wrong. He'd bought a crank from me in the week to replace his debonding R6800 Ultegra. The new unit was 50/34 replacing a 53/39 so the derailleur was too high but also the cable tension just wasn't right.

We got stuck into it and it started to improve but by then we'd run out of time and needed to head to tam dinner. Jo'burgers still not in town. PE guy had arrived already so we headed over to Strawberry Hill Farm. There awaited the best chicken pie I've tasted. 

Post dinner we ran through the race briefing and team strategy again. Everyone was keen on where w'ed split the team to go for time. The jist of the strategy was to keep everyone together till the top of Op De Tradouw and then send it. If we dropped rider they'd catch up with a faster group later or at the FZ1 in Ashton where we had 40min from the exit of Cogmanskloof Pass to the exit of Zandvliet road. There was also info on meeting points at the start and finish which i was urged to gloss over asap so we could all go to bed. We covered what to do in the event of a mechanical and various other emergencies. For mechanicals the designated wrench would sort the problem and one other rouleur to stay with the patient and mechie, then chase back on while the team rolls on at moderate pace.

Meanwhile our joburgers still haven't arrived at 9pm. We're now into sorting the cooler box logistics. I had wanted to leave with everyone's packed race nutrition but some weren't ready because routine dictates this is only done in the morning. So we left for our accomodation sans the packed cooler boxes. These would have to be delivered in the mornig...

Bak at the house we check the FD again and its not working again. At this point I say lets leav eit for the mechanic at the race village in the morning. But the owner wants to get it sorted because its must be something simple. It was but at 00;25 I said, enough I'm off to shower and sleep.

Next morning the FD was sorted but Al only got 3 hrs sleep. I get my stuff together have breakie and head for the library. While evacuating some excess knowledge the phone rings and there's panic on the line.

The jo'burger bikes hadn't arrived because the other teams vehicle that they travelled with had suffered a mechanical. The other half of my team was now on their way to find them, collect the bikes and get to the start. They'd be a bit late. Then it transpired a helmet is also needed because one was left back at the house, 20min away in the wrong direction. By now I'm paced and ready to roll. I was about to apply the support vehicles FZ accreditation decals when the phones rings again. 

"We can''t get to you because the roads in town are closed." 

So now I'm hussling my team mates wife to drive the support vehicle into town and realise no ones packed the vehicle. Everyone's standing around, looking smart AF in their new race jersey's. So quick quick we get it packed and on its way. I've now just hired an additional support vehicle driver it seems, fortunately she was listening during race briefing and saved our bacon because the registered support vehicle driver was in the other vehicle carrying extra passengers and bikes of the team my Jo'burgers had travelled with.... confused??! Right so that's where my head was at that moment. By now its 6;10 and we should have been in the start chute.

We get to the showgrounds and my one jo'burgers bike is still being assembled (06;17), she had a helmet now thank the heavens. The other on is AWOL and i just remebered that in all the confusion I forgot to apply the vehicle accreditation decals. Its now 06:23. 

Along strolls my other Joburger, cool as a cucumber, gets nto his bike like a boss and says "What are we waiting for...?"

"You" went through my mind but I was too busy trying to get hold of the new backup SV driver to explain where the decals were back at the house. I sent the team on their way and said I''ll catch a tow from another team. Then Garth suggested he'd go find his wife and explain to her and we'd ride to catch the team. I like this guy, he's a team player.

We got it all sorted and then started our ride at 6;42am, 15min after our designated start time. We rolled with another team to the N2 where we too my annoyance found our team waiting for us. "Deep breaths deep breaths...!"

"thanks  for waiting but you shouldn't have" and we upped the pace.

Now bearing in mind this team is brand new and the last member I'd only just met the night before and at least 5 of whom I've never ridden with before, a sub 6 was going to be terribly ambition if not fanciful.

I had Garth and Don on the front for a while and then noticed we were hurting some people already as passed the green and yellow fuel service station.. "I hope this is just a warm up issue..." I thought.

By Suurbrak there were some complaints about riders struggling to hang on, "sub 6 is definitely not going to happen today ..." I resolved. Plan B, finish together.

Our first split to Tradouws was actually still on target for sub6 but is was clear some could not hold the pace. I elected to climb with the slowest riders and pull them back on the R62.

At the Barrydale turn the team was once again waiting and we had a quick discussion around the strategy for the rest of the day. "Keep it together and lets work it with other teams and see where we are by ODT.

The wind was definitely not behind us. Its was a strange cross wind and later that evening after the race I did some vector calcs which explained why. The faster we rode the stronger this cross wind was, clearly it was not ESE but more SE to SSE. Ooops, that wasn't going to help tired legs and I had a mutiny when I flashed up the echelon slide during the team briefing.

we were struggling to keep everyone together as groups caught us. The surge was often too much for those who had not put in the km's of training or more especially, have not trained their bodies to absorb those surges. We kept splintering which resulted in having to call the guys up front back. Frustration was building within the team as everything just seemed to go wrong. I had to call things down on a few occasions despite me not being all that calm after a calamitous morning. I had already taken the opportunity to scream before the start just to let things out but now was not the moment. Instead I dropped to the back of the group and pushed those struggling to keep up, like literally hand on back at 40km/hr and push. This at least kept everyone together which made the road capts work easier

Before ODT we dropped 2 and I made the call to leave them and continue. This wasn't popular but my road captain just needed the decision and she rallied the troops back in to formation and action.

ODT was climbed at a sedate pace but we had one lady rider who needed some assistance so I asked two of the guys t drop back and get her up the climb. I called for a regroup at the top so as to not put too much pressure on the suffering.

It was shortly after the ODT descent when y saddle started dipping. I could not understand what was going on . It required a bit of force to move it back into place but it would rotate up or down within a few min under the pressure of pedalling. I stopped to fix it and told the team to continue, Ill latch onto a fast team behind. Two guys decided to stay with me. At the time it didn't look like the right decision but with hind sight it was the right thing to do because after we got going again a faster team did not catch us. We rode probably too hard trying to catch up with the team, about 20km from Montagu I realised that the team must have latched onto a peloton and would likely stop the clock which was a superb outcome if they did.

Arriving at Montagu we were directed through the backend of town to the Cogmans Kloof Pass. The three chasers arrived behind a slower team at exactly the wrong moment. Many requess fr them to keep left were simply ignored as they had stationed across the road, blocking any team from passing them. This poor behavior was quite rare this year though, most teams were very cooperative. It was a headwind wind all the way through CogmansKloof and still no team. With Garth on the front it was hard work as his diesel engine just bludgeoned the air aside.

At the FZ we met up with the team. They had only just arrived so must have been about 5min behind which gave us a good opportunity to recover.

With about 10min left in the feedzone our two dropped riders arrived, grabbed some grub and we were on our way. Our luck  had started to turn. Our support vehicle was there, we were all together again and set off to Robertson. 

The long stop always causes problems with warm up but with the cross wind now building, warm up came quickly and againthe shepherding work started. I felt like a border collie. Up front Capt, was getting the troops aligned. Then we caught another group and had some shelter till Robertson. The turn into the headwind caused mayhem. Riders on the other team whose legs were on the limit suddenly popped. We took note and didn't gas it too hard till our riders were back in their rhythm. This resulted in some the blue teams riders getting caught behind us which might have lead to frustration on their part because one of them passed us and decide to switch my team mate. Fortunately he didn't down but I let blue team know ho I felt about that. I think st this point it was the final release of the pressure and stress of getting a team together and keeping it together.

I got crapped on by our road capt a few times while leading the pacesetting as she felt I was pushing the team into the gutter. Thing is I was reading the wind very differently to them. To me the cross wind was on my left shoulder, but to them it was a head wind from the right. I guess there was a bit of apparent wind effect but I was watching the glass and flags direction and everyone else was watching my wheel. Echelon riding is something that needs to be practised, a lot!.

At about 156km I mentioned to the team to vasbyt its only about 5km to the water point. We had a bit of a debate about because some felt i was 10km short of my assessment, thinking its ony 38km from Bonnievale to the finish. Sure enough 5km later we rolled into the last Feed ZOne of the day. and greeted our support team. 

By now more of us were taking strain in the heat and wind.  Coke, water, bran muffins, banana bread, water melon , eggs and marmite sandwishes were eaten at leisure. Sub was a distant memory and just getting all 12 over the line within 10min was also going to be a challenge.

My road Capt asked whats the call. Are wwe sending 6 or going as 12. "We go as 12 I said. Its a head wind all the way, the time gap could be huge by the end and leaving 4 behind would be cruel. lets do it in sub 7 for 196km and get the Charles Milner!" 

No one complained.

Those last rollers are wicked. Everyone talks of the 3 witches but the rollers before Drew Road Bridge are just as bad. By the time we got to Drew road my arms were feeling it. Pushing is hard work and my ladies started to chip in on the effort. My two bhp boys were fighting cramps so I only had the ladies and the last minute recruit to help. Talk about shouldering responsibility.

After Drew we had the wind behind us and the Breitling crew came past. Suddenly cramps stopped and phones came out for selfies with Vicenzo. My road Capt exclaims, I that beautiful Italian pushing my butt right now....You think you got to know someone over 175km.... must have been the fatigue talking as she's denied ever saying it since.🤣

The three sisters were even tougher this year. Its been a while since we've had a SE of >10km/r at the DC so this year that box got ticked. Over the last sister, tired legs suddenly found new life and the pace increased on the run into swellendam. A team we caught for something like 80min decided to have a dice which annoyed the smallest person in our team to the point were she took it upon herself to go to the front and up the pace to drop them. These okes  gave it everything to stay in touch to the point of pushing our riders out of the way.

At the 1km to go board I sent the ladies forward and pushed. hands on backs and pushed. We got them over the top and stopped the clock in 06hr54min.

What had started out in chaos had finally gelled after Bonnievale. Maybe that was tired legs and the need to cooperate in adversity or if it just took a bit of time to sus each other out and figure it out or both, but we finally got it together.

It wa sonly then that i was informed the team had rolled over the matts late I was thinking we had ridden around 6h45. They only rolled 5min before Garth and I did. So all in all it was a respectable ride. We had three riders we needed to nurse. There was some tears after the finishline. Clearly everyone had given everything they had to achieve the finish which made it far sweeter than a sub 6 with only 6 would have been.

We regrouped at the photo stage and then headed back to accommodation to freshen up and go braai the braai pack. That evenings dinner was super sweet. The G&T flowed and 12 now friends had a lekker evening looking back at a day that threatened to throw the baby out with the bath water. This is the kind of ending I like to any DC.

Planning for next year has started but first I want to take a break and just enjoy riding my bike for giggles. I need a new seat post as the head broke. That was a bit of luck that went my way as it could have been far far worse! It can be repaired but the replacement post is better and shouldn't suffer the same failure as the aero post 2.

Some key lessons from disappointment:

1. turn disappointment into opportunity - in this case, the team comes first. everyone made a commitment on the day so respect that and be flexible and it will work out in the end.
2. Never take anything for granted. Details matter.
3. Don't underestimate the stress people are under. mistakes will happen. vent (privately) but move on to a more positive space that takes the team forward.
4. delegate. It was hard this time with many riders dropping out in the run up, but give teh newbies a task, take the load off yourself, you will ****up if you try do everything.
5. Be brutal when its needed. Bikes need to be sorted a week before the event. If someone is slacking here, help them get it sorted asap.
6. leadership is not glamorous, its servitude. Many times I see tram leaders always in the front, biggest mouths, then they hurt their teams by using their strength for themselves. Your strength is for your team, and then your team will be strong.
7. lastly, it probably a good idea to monitor your riders progress through their training by watching average speeds vs HR vs intensity factor (if they don't like your watching their power numbers). Its easier to make a decision earlier to bench someone rather than put them through the pain of trying to hang onto a team that is too strong for them. Both benefit, the team and the rider.
8. Show your riders early in the year what is required to meet the target. Keep reinforcing it. by the time your entry is in everyone, including subs should be aligned to the work required.

 

there's probably  more but I better post this before I forget about it.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by DieselnDust

[Frail. "Will forever remain "Frail"]

5 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Well clearly the savages are still recovering or waiting for images to load on actiophotosa.com before they finalise the ride report....

Well lets kick it off then.

Event: Old Mutual Wealth Double Century 

Distance: 202km of which 193km is listed as timed in 2022 (186km 2016 to 2020)

Location : Overberg region, start in Swellendam to Suurbrak on to Barrydale, Montagu AShton, Bonnievale and back to Swellendam

Format: Team Time Trial -> 12 person teams departing at 30sec intervals slowest teams to fastest departure format.

Categories:

Open (min10men , max 2 women)

Mixed - Max 9 men min 3 women - this was us (8 guys, 4 women)

Women: 12 individuals who identify as women

Tandem: 6 bikes that with 6 cyclists and 1 passenger per bike.

 

When Entries opened in August I hit the enter button all  bright eyed and bushy tailed. Brimming with excitement after the 2021 debacle, thanks to the organisers deciding that early starters should only shower once per day i was looking forward to the first team chat. You know the one here you through a wild target on the table and wait for the debate to start. SUb 6 I said, no one responded. Well silence equals consent so Sub 6 it is I thought.  The team would be a mixed team again, but this time consisting once again of 12 riders, instead of the 10 limit imposed during the silly covid years.

By October there was already a healthy turn over of riders. Life happens and priorities change but at least there was always 12. By November the kit design was sorted and in production and thanks to sponsor Windhunter AFrica, we had spares jus in case there was some last minute rider swap out and we needed a different size.

Three  weeks to go the first of the major bhp drop outs materialises. Thanks to bikehub I found a suitable lady who turned out to be quite handy as road captain.

Then another scare, one rider down on chappies, he healed and took to the startline eventually.

Then another drop out, a birthday party was more important but he found us a suitable replacement.

Then 10days to go another injury, this time a bad back. In goes another replacement. Ny now I've run out of weekends to the new crew polished. The writing was in the sand of Muizenberg but there was no point in giving up. On ward and upward.

A week before I'm riding Origin of trails and my whatsapp goes crazy. pics coming in. Another rider down. Big Al had dented the tar on Chappies. I check in with the young lady who was enquiring about a slot on the team, nope she's taken and I'm up the creak without a pedal. "No I'l be fine, I'll heal in time" said Al. Ok, but will your bike heal....? well it did eventually but it took longer than Al.

Thus far all the trouble had come from the men. The ladies were well behaved and just going about their business so I wasn't even worried about them.

In the mean time I got all the admin lined up and exectuted one by one right down to the race briefing .pptx file. You know the one where you remind everyone a week before , 4 days before , 2days before and the day they travel about their helmet and timing chips, race numbers, number boards, spare derailleur hangers, spare tube and inflation. Then the ZOOM call again the Thursday before race eve.

After the race briefing call whatsapp goes ping ping again. It my engineroom phoning to tell me he's had bronchitis for two days and can't ride. The cyclign gods just seemed against me at every turn of the course this year I thought. I reached out to the team and B offered up one of her pals, who I confirmed with Friday morning and he departed PE at noon. Great we were 12 again.

The drive through to Swellendam was pretty and uneventful. At this stage still excited at the prospect of having the strongest team I've had in a while.There were some unknowns but then I get the call that my Joburgers have just landed and awaiting their lift.

Swellendam arrived and we headed straight to registration before checking into accommodation. Unpack the bikes and do a short shake down ride to ensure everything is working as intended. Then we pick up Al's got an issue with the front derailleur not shifting. The set up was all wrong. He'd bought a crank from me in the week to replace his debonding R6800 Ultegra. The new unit was 50/34 replacing a 53/39 so the derailleur was too high but also the cable tension just wasn't right.

We got stuck into it and it started to improve but by then we'd run out of time and needed to head to tam dinner. Jo'burgers still not in town. PE guy had arrived already so we headed over to Strawberry Hill Farm. There awaited the best chicken pie I've tasted. 

Post dinner we ran through the race briefing and team strategy again. Everyone was keen on where w'ed split the team to go for time. The jist of the strategy was to keep everyone together till the top of Op De Tradouw and then send it. If we dropped rider they'd catch up with a faster group later or at the FZ1 in Ashton where we had 40min from the exit of Cogmanskloof Pass to the exit of Zandvliet road. There was also info on meeting points at the start and finish which i was urged to gloss over asap so we could all go to bed. We covered what to do in the event of a mechanical and various other emergencies. For mechanicals the designated wrench would sort the problem and one other rouleur to stay with the patient and mechie, then chase back on while the team rolls on at moderate pace.

Meanwhile our joburgers still haven't arrived at 9pm. We're now into sorting the cooler box logistics. I had wanted to leave with everyone's packed race nutrition but some weren't ready because routine dictates this is only done in the morning. So we left for our accomodation sans the packed cooler boxes. These would have to be delivered in the mornig...

Bak at the house we check the FD again and its not working again. At this point I say lets leav eit for the mechanic at the race village in the morning. But the owner wants to get it sorted because its must be something simple. It was but at 00;25 I said, enough I'm off to shower and sleep.

Next morning the FD was sorted but Al only got 3 hrs sleep. I get my stuff together have breakie and head for the library. While evacuating some excess knowledge the phone rings and there's panic on the line.

The jo'burger bikes hadn't arrived because the other teams vehicle that they travelled with had suffered a mechanical. The other half of my team was now on their way to find them, collect the bikes and get to the start. They'd be a bit late. Then it transpired a helmet is also needed because one was left back at the house, 20min away in the wrong direction. By now I'm paced and ready to roll. I was about to apply the support vehicles FZ accreditation decals when the phones rings again. 

"We can''t get to you because the roads in town are closed." 

So now I'm hussling my team mates wife to drive the support vehicle into town and realise no ones packed the vehicle. Everyone's standing around, looking smart AF in their new race jersey's. So quick quick we get it packed and on its way. I've now just hired an additional support vehicle driver it seems, fortunately she was listening during race briefing and saved our bacon because the registered support vehicle driver was in the other vehicle carrying extra passengers and bikes of the team my Jo'burgers had travelled with.... confused??! Right so that's where my head was at that moment. By now its 6;10 and we should have been in the start chute.

We get to the showgrounds and my one jo'burgers bike is still being assembled (06;17), she had a helmet now thank the heavens. The other on is AWOL and i just remebered that in all the confusion I forgot to apply the vehicle accreditation decals. Its now 06:23. 

Along strolls my other Joburger, cool as a cucumber, gets nto his bike like a boss and says "What are we waiting for...?"

"You" went through my mind but I was too busy trying to get hold of the new backup SV driver to explain where the decals were back at the house. I sent the team on their way and said I''ll catch a tow from another team. Then Garth suggested he'd go find his wife and explain to her and we'd ride to catch the team. I like this guy, he's a team player.

We got it all sorted and then started our ride at 6;42am, 15min after our designated start time. We rolled with another team to the N2 where we too my annoyance found our team waiting for us. "Deep breaths deep breaths...!"

"thanks  for waiting but you shouldn't have" and we upped the pace.

Now bearing in mind this team is brand new and the last member I'd only just met the night before and at least 5 of whom I've never ridden with before, a sub 6 was going to be terribly ambition if not fanciful.

I had Garth and Don on the front for a while and then noticed we were hurting some people already as passed the green and yellow fuel service station.. "I hope this is just a warm up issue..." I thought.

By Suurbrak there were some complaints about riders struggling to hang on, "sub 6 is definitely not going to happen today ..." I resolved. Plan B, finish together.

Our first split to Tradouws was actually still on target for sub6 but is was clear some could not hold the pace. I elected to climb with the slowest riders and pull them back on the R62.

At the Barrydale turn the team was once again waiting and we had a quick discussion around the strategy for the rest of the day. "Keep it together and lets work it with other teams and see where we are by ODT.

The wind was definitely not behind us. Its was a strange cross wind and later that evening after the race I did some vector calcs which explained why. The faster we rode the stronger this cross wind was, clearly it was not ESE but more SE to SSE. Ooops, that wasn't going to help tired legs and I had a mutiny when I flashed up the echelon slide during the team briefing.

we were struggling to keep everyone together as groups caught us. The surge was often too much for those who had not put in the km's of training or more especially, have not trained their bodies to absorb those surges. We kept splintering which resulted in having to call the guys up front back. Frustration was building within the team as everything just seemed to go wrong. I had to call things down on a few occasions despite me not being all that calm after a calamitous morning. I had already taken the opportunity to scream before the start just to let things out but now was not the moment. Instead I dropped to the back of the group and pushed those struggling to keep up, like literally hand on back at 40km/hr and push. This at least kept everyone together which made the road capts work easier

Before ODT we dropped 2 and I made the call to leave them and continue. This wasn't popular but my road captain just needed the decision and she rallied the troops back in to formation and action.

ODT was climbed at a sedate pace but we had one lady rider who needed some assistance so I asked two of the guys t drop back and get her up the climb. I called for a regroup at the top so as to not put too much pressure on the suffering.

It was shortly after the ODT descent when y saddle started dipping. I could not understand what was going on . It required a bit of force to move it back into place but it would rotate up or down within a few min under the pressure of pedalling. I stopped to fix it and told the team to continue, Ill latch onto a fast team behind. Two guys decided to stay with me. At the time it didn't look like the right decision but with hind sight it was the right thing to do because after we got going again a faster team did not catch us. We rode probably too hard trying to catch up with the team, about 20km from Montagu I realised that the team must have latched onto a peloton and would likely stop the clock which was a superb outcome if they did.

Arriving at Montagu we were directed through the backend of town to the Cogmans Kloof Pass. The three chasers arrived behind a slower team at exactly the wrong moment. Many requess fr them to keep left were simply ignored as they had stationed across the road, blocking any team from passing them. This poor behavior was quite rare this year though, most teams were very cooperative. It was a headwind wind all the way through CogmansKloof and still no team. With Garth on the front it was hard work as his diesel engine just bludgeoned the air aside.

At the FZ we met up with the team. They had only just arrived so must have been about 5min behind which gave us a good opportunity to recover.

With about 10min left in the feedzone our two dropped riders arrived, grabbed some grub and we were on our way. Our luck  had started to turn. Our support vehicle was there, we were all together again and set off to Robertson. 

The long stop always causes problems with warm up but with the cross wind now building, warm up came quickly and againthe shepherding work started. I felt like a border collie. Up front Capt, was getting the troops aligned. Then we caught another group and had some shelter till Robertson. The turn into the headwind caused mayhem. Riders on the other team whose legs were on the limit suddenly popped. We took note and didn't gas it too hard till our riders were back in their rhythm. This resulted in some the blue teams riders getting caught behind us which might have lead to frustration on their part because one of them passed us and decide to switch my team mate. Fortunately he didn't down but I let blue team know ho I felt about that. I think st this point it was the final release of the pressure and stress of getting a team together and keeping it together.

I got crapped on by our road capt a few times while leading the pacesetting as she felt I was pushing the team into the gutter. Thing is I was reading the wind very differently to them. To me the cross wind was on my left shoulder, but to them it was a head wind from the right. I guess there was a bit of apparent wind effect but I was watching the glass and flags direction and everyone else was watching my wheel. Echelon riding is something that needs to be practised, a lot!.

At about 156km I mentioned to the team to vasbyt its only about 5km to the water point. We had a bit of a debate about because some felt i was 10km short of my assessment, thinking its ony 38km from Bonnievale to the finish. Sure enough 5km later we rolled into the last Feed ZOne of the day. and greeted our support team. 

By now more of us were taking strain in the heat and wind.  Coke, water, bran muffins, banana bread, water melon , eggs and marmite sandwishes were eaten at leisure. Sub was a distant memory and just getting all 12 over the line within 10min was also going to be a challenge.

My road Capt asked whats the call. Are wwe sending 6 or going as 12. "We go as 12 I said. Its a head wind all the way, the time gap could be huge by the end and leaving 4 behind would be cruel. lets do it in sub 7 for 196km and get the Charles Milner!" 

No one complained.

Those last rollers are wicked. Everyone talks of the 3 witches but the rollers before Drew Road Bridge are just as bad. By the time we got to Drew road my arms were feeling it. Pushing is hard work and my ladies started to chip in on the effort. My two bhp boys were fighting cramps so I only had the ladies and the last minute recruit to help. Talk about shouldering responsibility.

After Drew we had the wind behind us and the Breitling crew came past. Suddenly cramps stopped and phones came out for selfies with Vicenzo. My road Capt exclaims, I that beautiful Italian pushing my butt right now....You think you got to know someone over 175km.... must have been the fatigue talking as she's denied ever saying it since.🤣

The three sisters were even tougher this year. Its been a while since we've had a SE of >10km/r at the DC so this year that box got ticked. Over the last sister, tired legs suddenly found new life and the pace increased on the run into swellendam. A team we caught for something like 80min decided to have a dice which annoyed the smallest person in our team to the point were she took it upon herself to go to the front and up the pace to drop them. These okes  gave it everything to stay in touch to the point of pushing our riders out of the way.

At the 1km to go board I sent the ladies forward and pushed. hands on backs and pushed. We got them over the top and stopped the clock in 06hr54min.

What had started out in chaos had finally gelled after Bonnievale. Maybe that was tired legs and the need to cooperate in adversity or if it just took a bit of time to sus each other out and figure it out or both, but we finally got it together.

It wa sonly then that i was informed the team had rolled over the matts late I was thinking we had ridden around 6h45. They only rolled 5min before Garth and I did. So all in all it was a respectable ride. We had three riders we needed to nurse. There was some tears after the finishline. Clearly everyone had given everything they had to achieve the finish which made it far sweeter than a sub 6 with only 6 would have been.

We regrouped at the photo stage and then headed back to accommodation to freshen up and go braai the braai pack. That evenings dinner was super sweet. The G&T flowed and 12 now friends had a lekker evening looking back at a day that threatened to throw the baby out with the bath water. This is the kind of ending I like to any DC.

Planning for next year has started but first I want to take a break and just enjoy riding my bike for giggles. I need a new seat post as the head broke. That was a bit of luck that went my way as it could have been far far worse! It can be repaired but the replacement post is better and shouldn't suffer the same failure as the aero post 2.

Some key lessons from disappointment:

1. turn disappointment into opportunity - in this case, the team comes first. everyone made a commitment on the day so respect that and be flexible and it will work out in the end.
2. Never take anything for granted. Details matter.
3. Don't underestimate the stress people are under. mistakes will happen. vent (privately) but move on to a more positive space that takes the team forward.
4. delegate. It was hard this time with many riders dropping out in the run up, but give teh newbies a task, take the load off yourself, you will ****up if you try do everything.
5. Be brutal when its needed. Bikes need to be sorted a week before the event. If someone is slacking here, help them get it sorted asap.
6. leadership is not glamorous, its servitude. Many times I see tram leaders always in the front, biggest mouths, then they hurt their teams by using their strength for themselves. Your strength is for your team, and then your team will be strong.
7. lastly, it probably a good idea to monitor your riders progress through their training by watching average speeds vs HR vs intensity factor (if they don't like your watching their power numbers). Its easier to make a decision earlier to bench someone rather than put them through the pain of trying to hang onto a team that is too strong for them. Both benefit, the team and the rider.
8. Show your riders early in the year what is required to meet the target. Keep reinforcing it. by the time your entry is in everyone, including subs should be aligned to the work required.

 

there's probably  more but I better post this before I forget about it.

 

5 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

 

 

Awesome ride.

Well Done

[The Ouzo]

Nice race report DD. Thanks for sharing.

[FootballingCyclist]

18 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Well clearly the savages are still recovering or waiting for images to load on actiophotosa.com before they finalise the ride report....

Well lets kick it off then.

Event: Old Mutual Wealth Double Century 

Distance: 202km of which 193km is listed as timed in 2022 (186km 2016 to 2020)

Location : Overberg region, start in Swellendam to Suurbrak on to Barrydale, Montagu AShton, Bonnievale and back to Swellendam

Format: Team Time Trial -> 12 person teams departing at 30sec intervals slowest teams to fastest departure format.

Categories:

Open (min10men , max 2 women)

Mixed - Max 9 men min 3 women - this was us (8 guys, 4 women)

Women: 12 individuals who identify as women

Tandem: 6 bikes that with 6 cyclists and 1 passenger per bike.

 

When Entries opened in August I hit the enter button all  bright eyed and bushy tailed. Brimming with excitement after the 2021 debacle, thanks to the organisers deciding that early starters should only shower once per day i was looking forward to the first team chat. You know the one here you through a wild target on the table and wait for the debate to start. SUb 6 I said, no one responded. Well silence equals consent so Sub 6 it is I thought.  The team would be a mixed team again, but this time consisting once again of 12 riders, instead of the 10 limit imposed during the silly covid years.

By October there was already a healthy turn over of riders. Life happens and priorities change but at least there was always 12. By November the kit design was sorted and in production and thanks to sponsor Windhunter AFrica, we had spares jus in case there was some last minute rider swap out and we needed a different size.

Three  weeks to go the first of the major bhp drop outs materialises. Thanks to bikehub I found a suitable lady who turned out to be quite handy as road captain.

Then another scare, one rider down on chappies, he healed and took to the startline eventually.

Then another drop out, a birthday party was more important but he found us a suitable replacement.

Then 10days to go another injury, this time a bad back. In goes another replacement. Ny now I've run out of weekends to the new crew polished. The writing was in the sand of Muizenberg but there was no point in giving up. On ward and upward.

A week before I'm riding Origin of trails and my whatsapp goes crazy. pics coming in. Another rider down. Big Al had dented the tar on Chappies. I check in with the young lady who was enquiring about a slot on the team, nope she's taken and I'm up the creak without a pedal. "No I'l be fine, I'll heal in time" said Al. Ok, but will your bike heal....? well it did eventually but it took longer than Al.

Thus far all the trouble had come from the men. The ladies were well behaved and just going about their business so I wasn't even worried about them.

In the mean time I got all the admin lined up and exectuted one by one right down to the race briefing .pptx file. You know the one where you remind everyone a week before , 4 days before , 2days before and the day they travel about their helmet and timing chips, race numbers, number boards, spare derailleur hangers, spare tube and inflation. Then the ZOOM call again the Thursday before race eve.

After the race briefing call whatsapp goes ping ping again. It my engineroom phoning to tell me he's had bronchitis for two days and can't ride. The cyclign gods just seemed against me at every turn of the course this year I thought. I reached out to the team and B offered up one of her pals, who I confirmed with Friday morning and he departed PE at noon. Great we were 12 again.

The drive through to Swellendam was pretty and uneventful. At this stage still excited at the prospect of having the strongest team I've had in a while.There were some unknowns but then I get the call that my Joburgers have just landed and awaiting their lift.

Swellendam arrived and we headed straight to registration before checking into accommodation. Unpack the bikes and do a short shake down ride to ensure everything is working as intended. Then we pick up Al's got an issue with the front derailleur not shifting. The set up was all wrong. He'd bought a crank from me in the week to replace his debonding R6800 Ultegra. The new unit was 50/34 replacing a 53/39 so the derailleur was too high but also the cable tension just wasn't right.

We got stuck into it and it started to improve but by then we'd run out of time and needed to head to tam dinner. Jo'burgers still not in town. PE guy had arrived already so we headed over to Strawberry Hill Farm. There awaited the best chicken pie I've tasted. 

Post dinner we ran through the race briefing and team strategy again. Everyone was keen on where w'ed split the team to go for time. The jist of the strategy was to keep everyone together till the top of Op De Tradouw and then send it. If we dropped rider they'd catch up with a faster group later or at the FZ1 in Ashton where we had 40min from the exit of Cogmanskloof Pass to the exit of Zandvliet road. There was also info on meeting points at the start and finish which i was urged to gloss over asap so we could all go to bed. We covered what to do in the event of a mechanical and various other emergencies. For mechanicals the designated wrench would sort the problem and one other rouleur to stay with the patient and mechie, then chase back on while the team rolls on at moderate pace.

Meanwhile our joburgers still haven't arrived at 9pm. We're now into sorting the cooler box logistics. I had wanted to leave with everyone's packed race nutrition but some weren't ready because routine dictates this is only done in the morning. So we left for our accomodation sans the packed cooler boxes. These would have to be delivered in the mornig...

Bak at the house we check the FD again and its not working again. At this point I say lets leav eit for the mechanic at the race village in the morning. But the owner wants to get it sorted because its must be something simple. It was but at 00;25 I said, enough I'm off to shower and sleep.

Next morning the FD was sorted but Al only got 3 hrs sleep. I get my stuff together have breakie and head for the library. While evacuating some excess knowledge the phone rings and there's panic on the line.

The jo'burger bikes hadn't arrived because the other teams vehicle that they travelled with had suffered a mechanical. The other half of my team was now on their way to find them, collect the bikes and get to the start. They'd be a bit late. Then it transpired a helmet is also needed because one was left back at the house, 20min away in the wrong direction. By now I'm paced and ready to roll. I was about to apply the support vehicles FZ accreditation decals when the phones rings again. 

"We can''t get to you because the roads in town are closed." 

So now I'm hussling my team mates wife to drive the support vehicle into town and realise no ones packed the vehicle. Everyone's standing around, looking smart AF in their new race jersey's. So quick quick we get it packed and on its way. I've now just hired an additional support vehicle driver it seems, fortunately she was listening during race briefing and saved our bacon because the registered support vehicle driver was in the other vehicle carrying extra passengers and bikes of the team my Jo'burgers had travelled with.... confused??! Right so that's where my head was at that moment. By now its 6;10 and we should have been in the start chute.

We get to the showgrounds and my one jo'burgers bike is still being assembled (06;17), she had a helmet now thank the heavens. The other on is AWOL and i just remebered that in all the confusion I forgot to apply the vehicle accreditation decals. Its now 06:23. 

Along strolls my other Joburger, cool as a cucumber, gets nto his bike like a boss and says "What are we waiting for...?"

"You" went through my mind but I was too busy trying to get hold of the new backup SV driver to explain where the decals were back at the house. I sent the team on their way and said I''ll catch a tow from another team. Then Garth suggested he'd go find his wife and explain to her and we'd ride to catch the team. I like this guy, he's a team player.

We got it all sorted and then started our ride at 6;42am, 15min after our designated start time. We rolled with another team to the N2 where we too my annoyance found our team waiting for us. "Deep breaths deep breaths...!"

"thanks  for waiting but you shouldn't have" and we upped the pace.

Now bearing in mind this team is brand new and the last member I'd only just met the night before and at least 5 of whom I've never ridden with before, a sub 6 was going to be terribly ambition if not fanciful.

I had Garth and Don on the front for a while and then noticed we were hurting some people already as passed the green and yellow fuel service station.. "I hope this is just a warm up issue..." I thought.

By Suurbrak there were some complaints about riders struggling to hang on, "sub 6 is definitely not going to happen today ..." I resolved. Plan B, finish together.

Our first split to Tradouws was actually still on target for sub6 but is was clear some could not hold the pace. I elected to climb with the slowest riders and pull them back on the R62.

At the Barrydale turn the team was once again waiting and we had a quick discussion around the strategy for the rest of the day. "Keep it together and lets work it with other teams and see where we are by ODT.

The wind was definitely not behind us. Its was a strange cross wind and later that evening after the race I did some vector calcs which explained why. The faster we rode the stronger this cross wind was, clearly it was not ESE but more SE to SSE. Ooops, that wasn't going to help tired legs and I had a mutiny when I flashed up the echelon slide during the team briefing.

we were struggling to keep everyone together as groups caught us. The surge was often too much for those who had not put in the km's of training or more especially, have not trained their bodies to absorb those surges. We kept splintering which resulted in having to call the guys up front back. Frustration was building within the team as everything just seemed to go wrong. I had to call things down on a few occasions despite me not being all that calm after a calamitous morning. I had already taken the opportunity to scream before the start just to let things out but now was not the moment. Instead I dropped to the back of the group and pushed those struggling to keep up, like literally hand on back at 40km/hr and push. This at least kept everyone together which made the road capts work easier

Before ODT we dropped 2 and I made the call to leave them and continue. This wasn't popular but my road captain just needed the decision and she rallied the troops back in to formation and action.

ODT was climbed at a sedate pace but we had one lady rider who needed some assistance so I asked two of the guys t drop back and get her up the climb. I called for a regroup at the top so as to not put too much pressure on the suffering.

It was shortly after the ODT descent when y saddle started dipping. I could not understand what was going on . It required a bit of force to move it back into place but it would rotate up or down within a few min under the pressure of pedalling. I stopped to fix it and told the team to continue, Ill latch onto a fast team behind. Two guys decided to stay with me. At the time it didn't look like the right decision but with hind sight it was the right thing to do because after we got going again a faster team did not catch us. We rode probably too hard trying to catch up with the team, about 20km from Montagu I realised that the team must have latched onto a peloton and would likely stop the clock which was a superb outcome if they did.

Arriving at Montagu we were directed through the backend of town to the Cogmans Kloof Pass. The three chasers arrived behind a slower team at exactly the wrong moment. Many requess fr them to keep left were simply ignored as they had stationed across the road, blocking any team from passing them. This poor behavior was quite rare this year though, most teams were very cooperative. It was a headwind wind all the way through CogmansKloof and still no team. With Garth on the front it was hard work as his diesel engine just bludgeoned the air aside.

At the FZ we met up with the team. They had only just arrived so must have been about 5min behind which gave us a good opportunity to recover.

With about 10min left in the feedzone our two dropped riders arrived, grabbed some grub and we were on our way. Our luck  had started to turn. Our support vehicle was there, we were all together again and set off to Robertson. 

The long stop always causes problems with warm up but with the cross wind now building, warm up came quickly and againthe shepherding work started. I felt like a border collie. Up front Capt, was getting the troops aligned. Then we caught another group and had some shelter till Robertson. The turn into the headwind caused mayhem. Riders on the other team whose legs were on the limit suddenly popped. We took note and didn't gas it too hard till our riders were back in their rhythm. This resulted in some the blue teams riders getting caught behind us which might have lead to frustration on their part because one of them passed us and decide to switch my team mate. Fortunately he didn't down but I let blue team know ho I felt about that. I think st this point it was the final release of the pressure and stress of getting a team together and keeping it together.

I got crapped on by our road capt a few times while leading the pacesetting as she felt I was pushing the team into the gutter. Thing is I was reading the wind very differently to them. To me the cross wind was on my left shoulder, but to them it was a head wind from the right. I guess there was a bit of apparent wind effect but I was watching the glass and flags direction and everyone else was watching my wheel. Echelon riding is something that needs to be practised, a lot!.

At about 156km I mentioned to the team to vasbyt its only about 5km to the water point. We had a bit of a debate about because some felt i was 10km short of my assessment, thinking its ony 38km from Bonnievale to the finish. Sure enough 5km later we rolled into the last Feed ZOne of the day. and greeted our support team. 

By now more of us were taking strain in the heat and wind.  Coke, water, bran muffins, banana bread, water melon , eggs and marmite sandwishes were eaten at leisure. Sub was a distant memory and just getting all 12 over the line within 10min was also going to be a challenge.

My road Capt asked whats the call. Are wwe sending 6 or going as 12. "We go as 12 I said. Its a head wind all the way, the time gap could be huge by the end and leaving 4 behind would be cruel. lets do it in sub 7 for 196km and get the Charles Milner!" 

No one complained.

Those last rollers are wicked. Everyone talks of the 3 witches but the rollers before Drew Road Bridge are just as bad. By the time we got to Drew road my arms were feeling it. Pushing is hard work and my ladies started to chip in on the effort. My two bhp boys were fighting cramps so I only had the ladies and the last minute recruit to help. Talk about shouldering responsibility.

After Drew we had the wind behind us and the Breitling crew came past. Suddenly cramps stopped and phones came out for selfies with Vicenzo. My road Capt exclaims, I that beautiful Italian pushing my butt right now....You think you got to know someone over 175km.... must have been the fatigue talking as she's denied ever saying it since.🤣

The three sisters were even tougher this year. Its been a while since we've had a SE of >10km/r at the DC so this year that box got ticked. Over the last sister, tired legs suddenly found new life and the pace increased on the run into swellendam. A team we caught for something like 80min decided to have a dice which annoyed the smallest person in our team to the point were she took it upon herself to go to the front and up the pace to drop them. These okes  gave it everything to stay in touch to the point of pushing our riders out of the way.

At the 1km to go board I sent the ladies forward and pushed. hands on backs and pushed. We got them over the top and stopped the clock in 06hr54min.

What had started out in chaos had finally gelled after Bonnievale. Maybe that was tired legs and the need to cooperate in adversity or if it just took a bit of time to sus each other out and figure it out or both, but we finally got it together.

It wa sonly then that i was informed the team had rolled over the matts late I was thinking we had ridden around 6h45. They only rolled 5min before Garth and I did. So all in all it was a respectable ride. We had three riders we needed to nurse. There was some tears after the finishline. Clearly everyone had given everything they had to achieve the finish which made it far sweeter than a sub 6 with only 6 would have been.

We regrouped at the photo stage and then headed back to accommodation to freshen up and go braai the braai pack. That evenings dinner was super sweet. The G&T flowed and 12 now friends had a lekker evening looking back at a day that threatened to throw the baby out with the bath water. This is the kind of ending I like to any DC.

Planning for next year has started but first I want to take a break and just enjoy riding my bike for giggles. I need a new seat post as the head broke. That was a bit of luck that went my way as it could have been far far worse! It can be repaired but the replacement post is better and shouldn't suffer the same failure as the aero post 2.

Some key lessons from disappointment:

1. turn disappointment into opportunity - in this case, the team comes first. everyone made a commitment on the day so respect that and be flexible and it will work out in the end.
2. Never take anything for granted. Details matter.
3. Don't underestimate the stress people are under. mistakes will happen. vent (privately) but move on to a more positive space that takes the team forward.
4. delegate. It was hard this time with many riders dropping out in the run up, but give teh newbies a task, take the load off yourself, you will ****up if you try do everything.
5. Be brutal when its needed. Bikes need to be sorted a week before the event. If someone is slacking here, help them get it sorted asap.
6. leadership is not glamorous, its servitude. Many times I see tram leaders always in the front, biggest mouths, then they hurt their teams by using their strength for themselves. Your strength is for your team, and then your team will be strong.
7. lastly, it probably a good idea to monitor your riders progress through their training by watching average speeds vs HR vs intensity factor (if they don't like your watching their power numbers). Its easier to make a decision earlier to bench someone rather than put them through the pain of trying to hang onto a team that is too strong for them. Both benefit, the team and the rider.
8. Show your riders early in the year what is required to meet the target. Keep reinforcing it. by the time your entry is in everyone, including subs should be aligned to the work required.

 

there's probably  more but I better post this before I forget about it.

 

 

 

 

It was lekker seeing you out the Tim.

[DieselnDust]

1 hour ago, FootballingCyclist said:

It was lekker seeing you out the Tim.

Ditto, surprising but lekker. Didn’t expect to see you. 
 

[Bub Marley]

22 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Well clearly the savages are still recovering or waiting for images to load on actiophotosa.com before they finalise the ride report....

Well lets kick it off then.

Event: Old Mutual Wealth Double Century 

Distance: 202km of which 193km is listed as timed in 2022 (186km 2016 to 2020)

Location : Overberg region, start in Swellendam to Suurbrak on to Barrydale, Montagu AShton, Bonnievale and back to Swellendam

Format: Team Time Trial -> 12 person teams departing at 30sec intervals slowest teams to fastest departure format.

Categories:

Open (min10men , max 2 women)

Mixed - Max 9 men min 3 women - this was us (8 guys, 4 women)

Women: 12 individuals who identify as women

Tandem: 6 bikes that with 6 cyclists and 1 passenger per bike.

 

When Entries opened in August I hit the enter button all  bright eyed and bushy tailed. Brimming with excitement after the 2021 debacle, thanks to the organisers deciding that early starters should only shower once per day i was looking forward to the first team chat. You know the one here you through a wild target on the table and wait for the debate to start. SUb 6 I said, no one responded. Well silence equals consent so Sub 6 it is I thought.  The team would be a mixed team again, but this time consisting once again of 12 riders, instead of the 10 limit imposed during the silly covid years.

By October there was already a healthy turn over of riders. Life happens and priorities change but at least there was always 12. By November the kit design was sorted and in production and thanks to sponsor Windhunter AFrica, we had spares jus in case there was some last minute rider swap out and we needed a different size.

Three  weeks to go the first of the major bhp drop outs materialises. Thanks to bikehub I found a suitable lady who turned out to be quite handy as road captain.

Then another scare, one rider down on chappies, he healed and took to the startline eventually.

Then another drop out, a birthday party was more important but he found us a suitable replacement.

Then 10days to go another injury, this time a bad back. In goes another replacement. Ny now I've run out of weekends to the new crew polished. The writing was in the sand of Muizenberg but there was no point in giving up. On ward and upward.

A week before I'm riding Origin of trails and my whatsapp goes crazy. pics coming in. Another rider down. Big Al had dented the tar on Chappies. I check in with the young lady who was enquiring about a slot on the team, nope she's taken and I'm up the creak without a pedal. "No I'l be fine, I'll heal in time" said Al. Ok, but will your bike heal....? well it did eventually but it took longer than Al.

Thus far all the trouble had come from the men. The ladies were well behaved and just going about their business so I wasn't even worried about them.

In the mean time I got all the admin lined up and exectuted one by one right down to the race briefing .pptx file. You know the one where you remind everyone a week before , 4 days before , 2days before and the day they travel about their helmet and timing chips, race numbers, number boards, spare derailleur hangers, spare tube and inflation. Then the ZOOM call again the Thursday before race eve.

After the race briefing call whatsapp goes ping ping again. It my engineroom phoning to tell me he's had bronchitis for two days and can't ride. The cyclign gods just seemed against me at every turn of the course this year I thought. I reached out to the team and B offered up one of her pals, who I confirmed with Friday morning and he departed PE at noon. Great we were 12 again.

The drive through to Swellendam was pretty and uneventful. At this stage still excited at the prospect of having the strongest team I've had in a while.There were some unknowns but then I get the call that my Joburgers have just landed and awaiting their lift.

Swellendam arrived and we headed straight to registration before checking into accommodation. Unpack the bikes and do a short shake down ride to ensure everything is working as intended. Then we pick up Al's got an issue with the front derailleur not shifting. The set up was all wrong. He'd bought a crank from me in the week to replace his debonding R6800 Ultegra. The new unit was 50/34 replacing a 53/39 so the derailleur was too high but also the cable tension just wasn't right.

We got stuck into it and it started to improve but by then we'd run out of time and needed to head to tam dinner. Jo'burgers still not in town. PE guy had arrived already so we headed over to Strawberry Hill Farm. There awaited the best chicken pie I've tasted. 

Post dinner we ran through the race briefing and team strategy again. Everyone was keen on where w'ed split the team to go for time. The jist of the strategy was to keep everyone together till the top of Op De Tradouw and then send it. If we dropped rider they'd catch up with a faster group later or at the FZ1 in Ashton where we had 40min from the exit of Cogmanskloof Pass to the exit of Zandvliet road. There was also info on meeting points at the start and finish which i was urged to gloss over asap so we could all go to bed. We covered what to do in the event of a mechanical and various other emergencies. For mechanicals the designated wrench would sort the problem and one other rouleur to stay with the patient and mechie, then chase back on while the team rolls on at moderate pace.

Meanwhile our joburgers still haven't arrived at 9pm. We're now into sorting the cooler box logistics. I had wanted to leave with everyone's packed race nutrition but some weren't ready because routine dictates this is only done in the morning. So we left for our accomodation sans the packed cooler boxes. These would have to be delivered in the mornig...

Bak at the house we check the FD again and its not working again. At this point I say lets leav eit for the mechanic at the race village in the morning. But the owner wants to get it sorted because its must be something simple. It was but at 00;25 I said, enough I'm off to shower and sleep.

Next morning the FD was sorted but Al only got 3 hrs sleep. I get my stuff together have breakie and head for the library. While evacuating some excess knowledge the phone rings and there's panic on the line.

The jo'burger bikes hadn't arrived because the other teams vehicle that they travelled with had suffered a mechanical. The other half of my team was now on their way to find them, collect the bikes and get to the start. They'd be a bit late. Then it transpired a helmet is also needed because one was left back at the house, 20min away in the wrong direction. By now I'm paced and ready to roll. I was about to apply the support vehicles FZ accreditation decals when the phones rings again. 

"We can''t get to you because the roads in town are closed." 

So now I'm hussling my team mates wife to drive the support vehicle into town and realise no ones packed the vehicle. Everyone's standing around, looking smart AF in their new race jersey's. So quick quick we get it packed and on its way. I've now just hired an additional support vehicle driver it seems, fortunately she was listening during race briefing and saved our bacon because the registered support vehicle driver was in the other vehicle carrying extra passengers and bikes of the team my Jo'burgers had travelled with.... confused??! Right so that's where my head was at that moment. By now its 6;10 and we should have been in the start chute.

We get to the showgrounds and my one jo'burgers bike is still being assembled (06;17), she had a helmet now thank the heavens. The other on is AWOL and i just remebered that in all the confusion I forgot to apply the vehicle accreditation decals. Its now 06:23. 

Along strolls my other Joburger, cool as a cucumber, gets nto his bike like a boss and says "What are we waiting for...?"

"You" went through my mind but I was too busy trying to get hold of the new backup SV driver to explain where the decals were back at the house. I sent the team on their way and said I''ll catch a tow from another team. Then Garth suggested he'd go find his wife and explain to her and we'd ride to catch the team. I like this guy, he's a team player.

We got it all sorted and then started our ride at 6;42am, 15min after our designated start time. We rolled with another team to the N2 where we too my annoyance found our team waiting for us. "Deep breaths deep breaths...!"

"thanks  for waiting but you shouldn't have" and we upped the pace.

Now bearing in mind this team is brand new and the last member I'd only just met the night before and at least 5 of whom I've never ridden with before, a sub 6 was going to be terribly ambition if not fanciful.

I had Garth and Don on the front for a while and then noticed we were hurting some people already as passed the green and yellow fuel service station.. "I hope this is just a warm up issue..." I thought.

By Suurbrak there were some complaints about riders struggling to hang on, "sub 6 is definitely not going to happen today ..." I resolved. Plan B, finish together.

Our first split to Tradouws was actually still on target for sub6 but is was clear some could not hold the pace. I elected to climb with the slowest riders and pull them back on the R62.

At the Barrydale turn the team was once again waiting and we had a quick discussion around the strategy for the rest of the day. "Keep it together and lets work it with other teams and see where we are by ODT.

The wind was definitely not behind us. Its was a strange cross wind and later that evening after the race I did some vector calcs which explained why. The faster we rode the stronger this cross wind was, clearly it was not ESE but more SE to SSE. Ooops, that wasn't going to help tired legs and I had a mutiny when I flashed up the echelon slide during the team briefing.

we were struggling to keep everyone together as groups caught us. The surge was often too much for those who had not put in the km's of training or more especially, have not trained their bodies to absorb those surges. We kept splintering which resulted in having to call the guys up front back. Frustration was building within the team as everything just seemed to go wrong. I had to call things down on a few occasions despite me not being all that calm after a calamitous morning. I had already taken the opportunity to scream before the start just to let things out but now was not the moment. Instead I dropped to the back of the group and pushed those struggling to keep up, like literally hand on back at 40km/hr and push. This at least kept everyone together which made the road capts work easier

Before ODT we dropped 2 and I made the call to leave them and continue. This wasn't popular but my road captain just needed the decision and she rallied the troops back in to formation and action.

ODT was climbed at a sedate pace but we had one lady rider who needed some assistance so I asked two of the guys t drop back and get her up the climb. I called for a regroup at the top so as to not put too much pressure on the suffering.

It was shortly after the ODT descent when y saddle started dipping. I could not understand what was going on . It required a bit of force to move it back into place but it would rotate up or down within a few min under the pressure of pedalling. I stopped to fix it and told the team to continue, Ill latch onto a fast team behind. Two guys decided to stay with me. At the time it didn't look like the right decision but with hind sight it was the right thing to do because after we got going again a faster team did not catch us. We rode probably too hard trying to catch up with the team, about 20km from Montagu I realised that the team must have latched onto a peloton and would likely stop the clock which was a superb outcome if they did.

Arriving at Montagu we were directed through the backend of town to the Cogmans Kloof Pass. The three chasers arrived behind a slower team at exactly the wrong moment. Many requess fr them to keep left were simply ignored as they had stationed across the road, blocking any team from passing them. This poor behavior was quite rare this year though, most teams were very cooperative. It was a headwind wind all the way through CogmansKloof and still no team. With Garth on the front it was hard work as his diesel engine just bludgeoned the air aside.

At the FZ we met up with the team. They had only just arrived so must have been about 5min behind which gave us a good opportunity to recover.

With about 10min left in the feedzone our two dropped riders arrived, grabbed some grub and we were on our way. Our luck  had started to turn. Our support vehicle was there, we were all together again and set off to Robertson. 

The long stop always causes problems with warm up but with the cross wind now building, warm up came quickly and againthe shepherding work started. I felt like a border collie. Up front Capt, was getting the troops aligned. Then we caught another group and had some shelter till Robertson. The turn into the headwind caused mayhem. Riders on the other team whose legs were on the limit suddenly popped. We took note and didn't gas it too hard till our riders were back in their rhythm. This resulted in some the blue teams riders getting caught behind us which might have lead to frustration on their part because one of them passed us and decide to switch my team mate. Fortunately he didn't down but I let blue team know ho I felt about that. I think st this point it was the final release of the pressure and stress of getting a team together and keeping it together.

I got crapped on by our road capt a few times while leading the pacesetting as she felt I was pushing the team into the gutter. Thing is I was reading the wind very differently to them. To me the cross wind was on my left shoulder, but to them it was a head wind from the right. I guess there was a bit of apparent wind effect but I was watching the glass and flags direction and everyone else was watching my wheel. Echelon riding is something that needs to be practised, a lot!.

At about 156km I mentioned to the team to vasbyt its only about 5km to the water point. We had a bit of a debate about because some felt i was 10km short of my assessment, thinking its ony 38km from Bonnievale to the finish. Sure enough 5km later we rolled into the last Feed ZOne of the day. and greeted our support team. 

By now more of us were taking strain in the heat and wind.  Coke, water, bran muffins, banana bread, water melon , eggs and marmite sandwishes were eaten at leisure. Sub was a distant memory and just getting all 12 over the line within 10min was also going to be a challenge.

My road Capt asked whats the call. Are wwe sending 6 or going as 12. "We go as 12 I said. Its a head wind all the way, the time gap could be huge by the end and leaving 4 behind would be cruel. lets do it in sub 7 for 196km and get the Charles Milner!" 

No one complained.

Those last rollers are wicked. Everyone talks of the 3 witches but the rollers before Drew Road Bridge are just as bad. By the time we got to Drew road my arms were feeling it. Pushing is hard work and my ladies started to chip in on the effort. My two bhp boys were fighting cramps so I only had the ladies and the last minute recruit to help. Talk about shouldering responsibility.

After Drew we had the wind behind us and the Breitling crew came past. Suddenly cramps stopped and phones came out for selfies with Vicenzo. My road Capt exclaims, I that beautiful Italian pushing my butt right now....You think you got to know someone over 175km.... must have been the fatigue talking as she's denied ever saying it since.🤣

The three sisters were even tougher this year. Its been a while since we've had a SE of >10km/r at the DC so this year that box got ticked. Over the last sister, tired legs suddenly found new life and the pace increased on the run into swellendam. A team we caught for something like 80min decided to have a dice which annoyed the smallest person in our team to the point were she took it upon herself to go to the front and up the pace to drop them. These okes  gave it everything to stay in touch to the point of pushing our riders out of the way.

At the 1km to go board I sent the ladies forward and pushed. hands on backs and pushed. We got them over the top and stopped the clock in 06hr54min.

What had started out in chaos had finally gelled after Bonnievale. Maybe that was tired legs and the need to cooperate in adversity or if it just took a bit of time to sus each other out and figure it out or both, but we finally got it together.

It wa sonly then that i was informed the team had rolled over the matts late I was thinking we had ridden around 6h45. They only rolled 5min before Garth and I did. So all in all it was a respectable ride. We had three riders we needed to nurse. There was some tears after the finishline. Clearly everyone had given everything they had to achieve the finish which made it far sweeter than a sub 6 with only 6 would have been.

We regrouped at the photo stage and then headed back to accommodation to freshen up and go braai the braai pack. That evenings dinner was super sweet. The G&T flowed and 12 now friends had a lekker evening looking back at a day that threatened to throw the baby out with the bath water. This is the kind of ending I like to any DC.

Planning for next year has started but first I want to take a break and just enjoy riding my bike for giggles. I need a new seat post as the head broke. That was a bit of luck that went my way as it could have been far far worse! It can be repaired but the replacement post is better and shouldn't suffer the same failure as the aero post 2.

Some key lessons from disappointment:

1. turn disappointment into opportunity - in this case, the team comes first. everyone made a commitment on the day so respect that and be flexible and it will work out in the end.
2. Never take anything for granted. Details matter.
3. Don't underestimate the stress people are under. mistakes will happen. vent (privately) but move on to a more positive space that takes the team forward.
4. delegate. It was hard this time with many riders dropping out in the run up, but give teh newbies a task, take the load off yourself, you will ****up if you try do everything.
5. Be brutal when its needed. Bikes need to be sorted a week before the event. If someone is slacking here, help them get it sorted asap.
6. leadership is not glamorous, its servitude. Many times I see tram leaders always in the front, biggest mouths, then they hurt their teams by using their strength for themselves. Your strength is for your team, and then your team will be strong.
7. lastly, it probably a good idea to monitor your riders progress through their training by watching average speeds vs HR vs intensity factor (if they don't like your watching their power numbers). Its easier to make a decision earlier to bench someone rather than put them through the pain of trying to hang onto a team that is too strong for them. Both benefit, the team and the rider.
8. Show your riders early in the year what is required to meet the target. Keep reinforcing it. by the time your entry is in everyone, including subs should be aligned to the work required.

 

there's probably  more but I better post this before I forget about it.

 

 

 

 

So which team were you again?

[DieselnDust]

5 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

So which team were you again?

Windhunter Impi 4 CFoH

[FootballingCyclist]

3 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Ditto, surprising but lekker. Didn’t expect to see you. 
 

Yeah rode it VERY social. 6 DC debutants, 2 of guys haven't ever ridden more than 120kms who were pushed from the very start, don't even ride 200km a week, most of the year not even 200km a month, Rolled over the start line at our start time with 6 guys and stopped 50m up the road to wait for the rest, some still looking for parking, 1 guy with 2 flat wheels, 2 bombs wasted, had to go back to the start area to find the mechanics to pump his wheels up, 1 guy as he pedalled toward the start his small bolt from his RD popped off into the stones so couldn't find it, lucky the mechanic station assisted, Eventually all 12 of us started rolling together 40min after our start time and we were 50m away from the start. Lots and lots of pushing, lots of solo team riding as all slower teams were looooooong gone, 1 crash between the 2 feedzones when some numbnut braked hard Infront of 1 of our riders for NO reason as there was nobody infront of him and our rider headbutted the gravel next to the road, but he got up and soldiered on. We managed to finish with all 12 which was our goal from the time we agreed to ride the DC together. So all in all, a VERY long day out, arms are more sore than my legs from pushing, But I'd do it all over again to be able to see the pure joy on the faces of the 2 guys, both over 100kgs, Both doing their longest ever rides by some margin and both finishing strong.

[DieselnDust]

Speaking of crashes , we saw a horrible crash in the van Louveren road. Team rider with blue and red kit was riding along and another team passed him. One of the guys at the back of the train cut in too aggressively as he passed and clipped me blue and reds front wheel. He hit the ground hard , so hard he was motionless. He’s team stopped to assist. I told my guys to keep riding as we’d just add to the mayhem where a crowd was not needed. We didn’t have any doctors on our team and no paramedics. 
 

Race officials mentioned the ambulance was required to get him to hospital so I hope he’s ok. 
 

there were a lot of crazy accidents. I myself had a near miss on the way to suurbrak. We were passing a team and another team wanted to pass us so they pushed past. One of their riders nudged my forearm just as I hit a cateye which had me in a bit of a Shuster “die hoener gaan Durban toe “moment . I don’t know what it is about DC but every year there are so many accidents that put people in hospital. It’s a 200km race, call your pass. Give riders a few moments to organise their thoughts and actions then pass. Of after several calls sure by all means make your presence known but pushing and nudging belongs in a sprint not an endurance event 

[bleedToWin]

13 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

I don’t know what it is about DC but every year there are so many accidents that put people in hospital. It’s a 200km race, call your pass. Give riders a few moments to organise their thoughts and actions then pass.

This was my first year racing DC after a social one in 2020.
Our voices got sore from shouting. We were passing with a huge speed differential all day long and the bunches were absolutely massive. Negligently massive seeing as it's a team time trial, not a road race. No idea why it's tolerated.

There's a chance your contact was with my team. We were passing a huge group going up a blind rise when a rider crossed the white line to pass another rider in the bunch. The other rider randomly swerved and the first one was forced to swerve even deeper into the oncoming lane (that we had to use all day to pass). No time for my guy to react so the rider bounced too and fro like a pinball. If he went down he would have taken me out so I may have dropped some foul language. If that was you, sorry...

Video of winning team showing how sketch it got out there:

 

[milky4130]

Faster teams should start first. End of story. It will be less dangerous for everyone and more fair for Teams gunning for Top 10

[Jbr]

1 hour ago, bleedToWin said:

Video of winning team showing how sketch it got out there:

 

what the actual f...

Only one I've done was fastest first, it happened a few times that we caught teams and had a bit of struggle to get rid of them, but this is absolutely ridiculous, and okes and cruising like it's a coffee ride 😭

[Skubarra]

32 minutes ago, milky4130 said:

Faster teams should start first. End of story. It will be less dangerous for everyone and more fair for Teams gunning for Top 10

Agree with you - 2,5K riders generally starting from slower to fastest then bunches are going to happen on the route, unavoidable - no point moaning about it - its basically physics 101

Covid year worked well for the faster teams but the social teams that started late really struggled, so its basically going to kill off the event it they revert to that format. Best to just get used to the idea.

Think the best solution would be road closures, even if its only for part of the day - its not as if those roads are that busy anyway on a Saturday morning.

[Jbr]

Most of the roads don’t have alternatives routes if I’m not mistaken.?

i agree completely with you though, the 8hours teams starting at 8 is a recipe for destaster (for them). Maybe the w2w format is a better overall way, with competitive teams the one day and social the next, or vice versa

[Meezo]

43 minutes ago, milky4130 said:

Faster teams should start first. End of story. It will be less dangerous for everyone and more fair for Teams gunning for Top 10

Disagree with the above because of the below 

 

3 minutes ago, Skubarra said:

Agree with you - 2,5K riders generally starting from slower to fastest then bunches are going to happen on the route, unavoidable - no point moaning about it - its basically physics 101

Covid year worked well for the faster teams but the social teams that started late really struggled, so its basically going to kill off the event it they revert to that format. Best to just get used to the idea.

Think the best solution would be road closures, even if its only for part of the day - its not as if those roads are that busy anyway on a Saturday morning.

While the DC is a "race" it's not the core of their support and entries.

Maybe the top 5 of the top 10 teams are in with a real chance of winning (not sure how much and if it's worth it) but everyone else is just riding for their fastest possible time... and while we all love going really fast it's our responsibility to be a careful as we can and should be.

I speak for myself I found myself in a team my first road event since 2016, and i was guttered in the oncoming lane ie in the opposite side of the side in the yellow lane... this was the most nerve wrecking thing in a long time

The more i think about it now of what could of gone wrong the more i realise how dangerous and irresponsible it was...and in the end not worth it

People are people and unless there is enough marshalls (strict but smart) then this will always be an issue ...

I do recall seeing a fatality on route that of a motorcyclist... was a horror to see 

[DieselnDust]

2 hours ago, bleedToWin said:

This was my first year racing DC after a social one in 2020.
Our voices got sore from shouting. We were passing with a huge speed differential all day long and the bunches were absolutely massive. Negligently massive seeing as it's a team time trial, not a road race. No idea why it's tolerated.

There's a chance your contact was with my team. We were passing a huge group going up a blind rise when a rider crossed the white line to pass another rider in the bunch. The other rider randomly swerved and the first one was forced to swerve even deeper into the oncoming lane (that we had to use all day to pass). No time for my guy to react so the rider bounced too and fro like a pinball. If he went down he would have taken me out so I may have dropped some foul language. If that was you, sorry...

Video of winning team showing how sketch it got out there:

 

Thanks but it wasn't us you passed. You would have at some point but the incident with me was on a sweeping left hand bend gently sloping downward. I think it was a team with salmon coloured kit. It was a light tap probablt to warn me he was there but it was just poor timing whoever he was.

I probably should have just taken a deep breath.

 

35 minutes ago, Meezo said:

Disagree with the above because of the below 

 

While the DC is a "race" it's not the core of their support and entries.

Maybe the top 5 of the top 10 teams are in with a real chance of winning (not sure how much and if it's worth it) but everyone else is just riding for their fastest possible time... and while we all love going really fast it's our responsibility to be a careful as we can and should be.

I speak for myself I found myself in a team my first road event since 2016, and i was guttered in the oncoming lane ie in the opposite side of the side in the yellow lane... this was the most nerve wrecking thing in a long time

The more i think about it now of what could of gone wrong the more i realise how dangerous and irresponsible it was...and in the end not worth it

People are people and unless there is enough marshalls (strict but smart) then this will always be an issue ...

I do recall seeing a fatality on route that of a motorcyclist... was a horror to see 

 

I think the only way to prevent the bunching is using the marshalls effectively. Going up Op de Tradouw we were in a huge bunch all talking crap to each other. I recall telling my team mate, Donnie, that we'd regrop at the top. Then some oke chirps, "did you hear the Tony, regroup at the top". Then the chior gets going "Yes Tony listen hey"

"Hey Tony can you make us a coffee?" etc

Eventually some okes says "What do you say to that Tony...?" and then there was silence for like 10-15seconds and I chirped "Who the ****is Tony.....?"

laughter

all the while the whole road is blocked Granted it was a steep climb but this bunch continued on their way to Montagu. I can imagine the faster teams would have had serious trouble passing it in the left lane only. 

I'm not against Milky's idea. TOP 10 seeded team on the road first then the rest in reverse order can work. It would be ideal to just have a rolling road closure for those teams. Vehicle stops traffic 1km up the road. Once the racing teams are passed open it again. Its like a stop go. You sit there for maybe 15min and then go about your day. Can't be hard surely.

Otherwise just disqualify teams that bunch up. On the climbs its inevitable but on the R62 its inexcusable.