SA’s ‘MTB Party of the Year’ continues to set the bar

[News bot]

The 2022 Savanna Origin of Trails MTB Experience closed off on a high note at Coetzenburg Stellenbosch University on Sunday 20 November. Not only did the Stage treat mountain bikers to a vast network of world-class and exclusive trails, but it also boasted an unheard-of on-route experience that included ice cold Savanna at the water […]

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[Mike Nel]

Was a fantastic event. Will see me again in 2023

[DieselnDust]

I fell for the hype, I confess. I've never participated in OOT so I was curious.

The entry process was simple and payment easy and safe.

Thereafter radio silence till Thursday when I received an SMS with my race number and start batch.

Registration was on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. I opted for Saturday morning as I attended a prior commitment with WPMTB.

Saturday Morning parking at Coetzenberg was easy and efficient.

Registration, well this is where things go a bit pear shaped.

Collecting my number was quick and easy, I get this huge brown bag with a small sachet of bike cleaner, 25ml bottle of Squirt and a ladies Roll on.

"where's the event cycling jersey?" 

"oh its over there sir in that queue." ok so its not pre-packed with your race number. This probably means that they're throw a garment in the bag on a wat dit en loop basis.

During Entry I selected a my appropriate size for the garment style and brand, a Men's small. I get OFFERED a mens Large....

" I indicated a size small during entry, showing the staff member my entry invoice with garment sizes.

"We don't have any Mens Smalls left. we ran out yesterday because people who ordered a medium weren't happy and swapped out their ordered size for a more appropriate size."

Me:" That's not really my problem. I ordered a Small and now I have to take what I get while others received preferential treatment. Not very fair is it?"

worker says they'll go and check the stock room/truck. 

Meanwhile a boytjie comes in and says he's there to collect his rider jersey. Worker checks his name and says that he already collected his top. Boytjie tjunes him "no I didn't".

Your name has been crossed out sir!"

" I didn't collect my top!" he exclaims, so the worker hands him another top.

By now someone else has noticed that I'm standing there for like 1omin already and asks if she can help. I explain the lack of availability of my garment size due to others receiving preferential treatment, She says I can sort you out with a ladies medium, its the same cut just a different size curve. " i reluctantly agree, thinking well at least my wife will have another cycling top. Turns out it fit ok so I agreed to accept it and be on my way.

On my way back to the car I pass Boytjie and his tjommie giggling about he just scored a second riding top after collecting one the day before.

Seem like pretty poor management from Stillwater Sports round the most expensive part of the goodie bag.

 

So then i line up, late for the front of A Batch due to the admin bungle but way ahead of the start time. I notice there's a lot of weeekend warriors in A batch and start making my way forward. Of course there's a the usual dom bru comments like "spot the racing snake pushing to the front bru!"

Well ya would you like the pushing to happen before or after the gun goes?

 

Then the gun does go and through the neutral zone the weekend warriors in the fron line up across the road blocking a whole group of snakes. When they get passed the inevitable stupid comments flows again. At this stage I thought it prudent to just keep following the slange so we get to the single track with peeps who can actually ride it. This was a good move as it pretty enjoyable to be riding the singletrack without having to be concerned queues.....or so I thought.

Somewhere they joined the short route onto the long ahead of a pristine section of single track. What a FU of note! dangerous and just irresponsible. Flying through some S-track I come across a group of ladies having a keckle about something. Of course they're standing on the s-track and around it so no one can pass. I rubber necked to see what was going on. Apparently one of them had fallen and scratched a knee. The blood hadn't reached the sock yet so I kept going, nothing to see there I thought.

Once it opened up it was fine but the courses joined 3 times and also into singletrack. Seriously....

Day2 they let the e-bikes go first, thankfully someone woke up in time to make this change. They said it wasn't a race but the start of day 2 took us straight up a steep little climb so clearly the weekend warrior s wanted to be in fornt again so they could show off their walking skills. you know the oh look at me look how I wiggle my hips next to my ,<insert favourite brand of poorly ridden bling machine> type of boytjie.

China's .....don't be so such, just start at the back and do your thang. let riders ride and walkers stay left = every body happy. Instead you complain when you get passed, have a snotty comment to offer when someone else rides past you and continues long after your lungs have pooped. its like Covid reset some okes to maximum Box mode. Shut up ride your bikes or go to the pub and drink. and stop making stupid comments to the ladies who ride better than you do. If' you're crap at riding an MTB then take up rugby or something. Some ladies are just better than you will ever be. Accept and appreciate. Buying an expensive bike doesn't give you credibility and your stupid comments just makes you a box.

Route marking was a pretty poor in places. On Saturday I missed two markers and had to back track, Not sure how many  I missed on Sunday.

But I didn't have a near miss with a boytjie in a his bakkie who simply ignored a marshall and missed me by the thickness of a polony skin. Not to mention trail runners who jumped out of bushes like jack-in-a-box.

The race village table didn't all have umbrella's, in Stellenbosch, in Summer..... Ya ok.. That was smart. The best part was the water table at the finish line.

Oh and the boytjies who didn't want to ride  hard but wanted to race the queue to get a finishers T.....priceless.

 

Overall I'd rate the trails as lekker. The event organisation gets a 1 star.  I can hear the flack building....."oh be grateful blah blah blah." If it was free I'd be grateful but I paid on time and in full so my expectations are aligned with what was promised.

I'm always happy to ride an event especially after Covid lock down threatened to kill everything. My wife's happy with her new riding jersey but that process left a lot to be desired. I won't be giving OOT another opportunity. 

 

 

s 

[Yyyy]

42 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

I fell for the hype, I confess. I've never participated in OOT so I was curious.

The entry process was simple and payment easy and safe.

Thereafter radio silence till Thursday when I received an SMS with my race number and start batch.

Registration was on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. I opted for Saturday morning as I attended a prior commitment with WPMTB.

Saturday Morning parking at Coetzenberg was easy and efficient.

Registration, well this is where things go a bit pear shaped.

Collecting my number was quick and easy, I get this huge brown bag with a small sachet of bike cleaner, 25ml bottle of Squirt and a ladies Roll on.

"where's the event cycling jersey?" 

"oh its over there sir in that queue." ok so its not pre-packed with your race number. This probably means that they're throw a garment in the bag on a wat dit en loop basis.

During Entry I selected a my appropriate size for the garment style and brand, a Men's small. I get OFFERED a mens Large....

" I indicated a size small during entry, showing the staff member my entry invoice with garment sizes.

"We don't have any Mens Smalls left. we ran out yesterday because people who ordered a medium weren't happy and swapped out their ordered size for a more appropriate size."

Me:" That's not really my problem. I ordered a Small and now I have to take what I get while others received preferential treatment. Not very fair is it?"

worker says they'll go and check the stock room/truck. 

Meanwhile a boytjie comes in and says he's there to collect his rider jersey. Worker checks his name and says that he already collected his top. Boytjie tjunes him "no I didn't".

Your name has been crossed out sir!"

" I didn't collect my top!" he exclaims, so the worker hands him another top.

By now someone else has noticed that I'm standing there for like 1omin already and asks if she can help. I explain the lack of availability of my garment size due to others receiving preferential treatment, She says I can sort you out with a ladies medium, its the same cut just a different size curve. " i reluctantly agree, thinking well at least my wife will have another cycling top. Turns out it fit ok so I agreed to accept it and be on my way.

On my way back to the car I pass Boytjie and his tjommie giggling about he just scored a second riding top after collecting one the day before.

Seem like pretty poor management from Stillwater Sports round the most expensive part of the goodie bag.

 

So then i line up, late for the front of A Batch due to the admin bungle but way ahead of the start time. I notice there's a lot of weeekend warriors in A batch and start making my way forward. Of course there's a the usual dom bru comments like "spot the racing snake pushing to the front bru!"

Well ya would you like the pushing to happen before or after the gun goes?

 

Then the gun does go and through the neutral zone the weekend warriors in the fron line up across the road blocking a whole group of snakes. When they get passed the inevitable stupid comments flows again. At this stage I thought it prudent to just keep following the slange so we get to the single track with peeps who can actually ride it. This was a good move as it pretty enjoyable to be riding the singletrack without having to be concerned queues.....or so I thought.

Somewhere they joined the short route onto the long ahead of a pristine section of single track. What a FU of note! dangerous and just irresponsible. Flying through some S-track I come across a group of ladies having a keckle about something. Of course they're standing on the s-track and around it so no one can pass. I rubber necked to see what was going on. Apparently one of them had fallen and scratched a knee. The blood hadn't reached the sock yet so I kept going, nothing to see there I thought.

Once it opened up it was fine but the courses joined 3 times and also into singletrack. Seriously....

Day2 they let the e-bikes go first, thankfully someone woke up in time to make this change. They said it wasn't a race but the start of day 2 took us straight up a steep little climb so clearly the weekend warrior s wanted to be in fornt again so they could show off their walking skills. you know the oh look at me look how I wiggle my hips next to my ,<insert favourite brand of poorly ridden bling machine> type of boytjie.

China's .....don't be so such, just start at the back and do your thang. let riders ride and walkers stay left = every body happy. Instead you complain when you get passed, have a snotty comment to offer when someone else rides past you and continues long after your lungs have pooped. its like Covid reset some okes to maximum Box mode. Shut up ride your bikes or go to the pub and drink. and stop making stupid comments to the ladies who ride better than you do. If' you're crap at riding an MTB then take up rugby or something. Some ladies are just better than you will ever be. Accept and appreciate. Buying an expensive bike doesn't give you credibility and your stupid comments just makes you a box.

Route marking was a pretty poor in places. On Saturday I missed two markers and had to back track, Not sure how many  I missed on Sunday.

But I didn't have a near miss with a boytjie in a his bakkie who simply ignored a marshall and missed me by the thickness of a polony skin. Not to mention trail runners who jumped out of bushes like jack-in-a-box.

The race village table didn't all have umbrella's, in Stellenbosch, in Summer..... Ya ok.. That was smart. The best part was the water table at the finish line.

Oh and the boytjies who didn't want to ride  hard but wanted to race the queue to get a finishers T.....priceless.

 

Overall I'd rate the trails as lekker. The event organisation gets a 1 star.  I can hear the flack building....."oh be grateful blah blah blah." If it was free I'd be grateful but I paid on time and in full so my expectations are aligned with what was promised.

I'm always happy to ride an event especially after Covid lock down threatened to kill everything. My wife's happy with her new riding jersey but that process left a lot to be desired. I won't be giving OOT another opportunity. 

 

 

s 

This was an interesting read and reaffirmed my decision not to enter.

The marketing of this event came across as a 2day social group ride and not a stage race.  Which is fine as long as organizers  clarify that its not a "race"

[DieselnDust]

13 minutes ago, Yyyy said:

This was an interesting read and reaffirmed my decision not to enter.

The marketing of this event came across as a 2day social group ride and not a stage race.  Which is fine as long as organizers  clarify that its not a "race"

Yip , it’s suppose to be a social event but it’s timed. Timing goes to saseeding I believe so there’s a disconnect. 
 

[Mike Nel]

Luckily I got everything I ordered. Luckily

I also didn’t miss any of the markers, but that’s because I ride way to slow. 🤣

I did get held up a lot on the single track, but it was advertised as a fun day, so I tackled the day as such.

I do have one very big complaint. They ran out of De **** on Saturday around 13h00. I left for home with a big thirst not yet satisfied. 😆

[Iwan Kemp]

I saw riders next to the R44 on Sunday and thought, Origin of trails indeed. Then I saw pics of riders on a runway, really the Origin of Trails. 

[Danger Dassie]

The few I’ve done I’ve always been happy and come away with good memories and good times. Likewise mates who did it this year had an absolute blast. 

[DNC]

On 11/22/2022 at 7:18 PM, DieselnDust said:

I fell for the hype, I confess. I've never participated in OOT so I was curious.

The entry process was simple and payment easy and safe.

Thereafter radio silence till Thursday when I received an SMS with my race number and start batch.

Registration was on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. I opted for Saturday morning as I attended a prior commitment with WPMTB.

Saturday Morning parking at Coetzenberg was easy and efficient.

Registration, well this is where things go a bit pear shaped.

Collecting my number was quick and easy, I get this huge brown bag with a small sachet of bike cleaner, 25ml bottle of Squirt and a ladies Roll on.

"where's the event cycling jersey?" 

"oh its over there sir in that queue." ok so its not pre-packed with your race number. This probably means that they're throw a garment in the bag on a wat dit en loop basis.

During Entry I selected a my appropriate size for the garment style and brand, a Men's small. I get OFFERED a mens Large....

" I indicated a size small during entry, showing the staff member my entry invoice with garment sizes.

"We don't have any Mens Smalls left. we ran out yesterday because people who ordered a medium weren't happy and swapped out their ordered size for a more appropriate size."

Me:" That's not really my problem. I ordered a Small and now I have to take what I get while others received preferential treatment. Not very fair is it?"

worker says they'll go and check the stock room/truck. 

Meanwhile a boytjie comes in and says he's there to collect his rider jersey. Worker checks his name and says that he already collected his top. Boytjie tjunes him "no I didn't".

Your name has been crossed out sir!"

" I didn't collect my top!" he exclaims, so the worker hands him another top.

By now someone else has noticed that I'm standing there for like 1omin already and asks if she can help. I explain the lack of availability of my garment size due to others receiving preferential treatment, She says I can sort you out with a ladies medium, its the same cut just a different size curve. " i reluctantly agree, thinking well at least my wife will have another cycling top. Turns out it fit ok so I agreed to accept it and be on my way.

On my way back to the car I pass Boytjie and his tjommie giggling about he just scored a second riding top after collecting one the day before.

Seem like pretty poor management from Stillwater Sports round the most expensive part of the goodie bag.

 

So then i line up, late for the front of A Batch due to the admin bungle but way ahead of the start time. I notice there's a lot of weeekend warriors in A batch and start making my way forward. Of course there's a the usual dom bru comments like "spot the racing snake pushing to the front bru!"

Well ya would you like the pushing to happen before or after the gun goes?

 

Then the gun does go and through the neutral zone the weekend warriors in the fron line up across the road blocking a whole group of snakes. When they get passed the inevitable stupid comments flows again. At this stage I thought it prudent to just keep following the slange so we get to the single track with peeps who can actually ride it. This was a good move as it pretty enjoyable to be riding the singletrack without having to be concerned queues.....or so I thought.

Somewhere they joined the short route onto the long ahead of a pristine section of single track. What a FU of note! dangerous and just irresponsible. Flying through some S-track I come across a group of ladies having a keckle about something. Of course they're standing on the s-track and around it so no one can pass. I rubber necked to see what was going on. Apparently one of them had fallen and scratched a knee. The blood hadn't reached the sock yet so I kept going, nothing to see there I thought.

Once it opened up it was fine but the courses joined 3 times and also into singletrack. Seriously....

Day2 they let the e-bikes go first, thankfully someone woke up in time to make this change. They said it wasn't a race but the start of day 2 took us straight up a steep little climb so clearly the weekend warrior s wanted to be in fornt again so they could show off their walking skills. you know the oh look at me look how I wiggle my hips next to my ,<insert favourite brand of poorly ridden bling machine> type of boytjie.

China's .....don't be so such, just start at the back and do your thang. let riders ride and walkers stay left = every body happy. Instead you complain when you get passed, have a snotty comment to offer when someone else rides past you and continues long after your lungs have pooped. its like Covid reset some okes to maximum Box mode. Shut up ride your bikes or go to the pub and drink. and stop making stupid comments to the ladies who ride better than you do. If' you're crap at riding an MTB then take up rugby or something. Some ladies are just better than you will ever be. Accept and appreciate. Buying an expensive bike doesn't give you credibility and your stupid comments just makes you a box.

Route marking was a pretty poor in places. On Saturday I missed two markers and had to back track, Not sure how many  I missed on Sunday.

But I didn't have a near miss with a boytjie in a his bakkie who simply ignored a marshall and missed me by the thickness of a polony skin. Not to mention trail runners who jumped out of bushes like jack-in-a-box.

The race village table didn't all have umbrella's, in Stellenbosch, in Summer..... Ya ok.. That was smart. The best part was the water table at the finish line.

Oh and the boytjies who didn't want to ride  hard but wanted to race the queue to get a finishers T.....priceless.

 

Overall I'd rate the trails as lekker. The event organisation gets a 1 star.  I can hear the flack building....."oh be grateful blah blah blah." If it was free I'd be grateful but I paid on time and in full so my expectations are aligned with what was promised.

I'm always happy to ride an event especially after Covid lock down threatened to kill everything. My wife's happy with her new riding jersey but that process left a lot to be desired. I won't be giving OOT another opportunity. 

 

 

s 

 

I did it in 2019 and enjoyed it, so I entered 2021 after the covid break. Unfortunately I had a very similar experience to you, so decided back then not to do again.

In '21 I had exactly the same problem with the riding jersey and ended up having to settle for a tiny jersey for my son (which he loves) - so much for specifying my size when entering - there was no effort made by the organizers to find the size I specified, instead it was 'take it or leave it'. Route marking wasn't very good and I ended up back-tracking 2km with quite a few guys at one point, which was annoying because we were actually 'snakes racing' but agreed a cease-fire until we got back on track.

On the positive side, I don't recall any unnecessary comments from the peanut gallery. Then again most of them probably didn't pitch up because it was raining!

But the commentator did remind everyone on multiple occasions that they were in fact having a great time at the 2021 'MTB party of the year'...(every race needs a catch-phrase and 'gees' is taken)

[Robbie Stewart]

This sounds to me like a proper K@K event, which I'm happy to skip. Thanks @DieselnDust for your honest review. I am way too "excitable" to just shut my mouth and keep on pedalling. I am more of the "regret the fight I started" kind of guy.

Your tale includes all the things that usually end up triggering me, so it's good to know I must maar stay away.

[PhilipV]

17 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

This 
Your tale includes all the things that usually end up triggering me, so it's good to know I must maar stay away.

Naah Robbie, you are not their target market. Besides, you are more likely to be triggered into sadness when you ride past all the lekker trails. It's not a festival of trails anymore. 

You (like myself) will be better off spending that money on a Winelands Regional permit that will give you access to most of these trails, minus a few link ups that will need some bypassing. 

[DieselnDust]

1 minute ago, PhilipV said:

Naah Robbie, you are not their target market. Besides, you are more likely to be triggered into sadness when you ride past all the lekker trails. It's not a festival of trails anymore. 

You (like myself) will be better off spending that money on a Winelands Regional permit that will give you access to most of these trails, minus a few link ups that will need some bypassing. 

Spot on Philip, there are better ways to spend that R1600-00 that doesn’t require the Co-operation of a whole lot of other peeps. Once I got to the frontish it was much a much better experience. But as you say we went past a lot of way better trail. The peanut gallery would orobably hurt themselves there so it was avoided. 
 

I was thinking maybe I’m over reacting and the *** attitudes were just due to adrenalin or you know the I’ve got my boys around me sterkgevrietalitis.  I got yanked back to OOT on Tuesday night on the green belt. Stoked with my new Ryder innovations groove tool pro ( imagine they sponsored an event…) I hit the greenbelt. Before peddlars my crank falls off so I’m trying to jury rig it on (forgot my 8mm hex key at home) and a small group of riders comes along. The lead rider has an Allen key which he graciously offers to me ( thank you again sir!). While I’m busy off on the side of the trail along comes two okes barrelling along like they weee racing day 4 of OOT in their oversized OOT race garments. The lead DH rides between myself and the guy I’ve got the hex key from and smashes into the end of my bars knocking the bike out of my hands. The POS just rides on while his equally low class tjom just laughs. My trail angels and I are just shocked (could also be because I called the DH a Peter Oliver eating sweets) and the one guy says, “ that’s the second time tonight someone passes aggressively on the green belt..”

so I shout “ the race was on Saturday!!”

I guess he’s just a late peaker…probably needs a better online coach.

eish! 

 

[babse]

I've done the event 3 times with the last in 2018. This event used to be +-50km a day with over 1000m climb. Single track a plenty. Since the fees have gone up (expected like everything else in this world) and the distance have bee reduced a fair bit. Most of the trails are accessible, some for free. I'm not lured into entering a race for free booz or kit. In fact I never get my hopes up with event kit especially rider jerseys...

I left some feedback on w2w after event feedback survey, to give riders the option to choose between a normal club fit or proper race fit jersey. Lol I probably still won't wear that billboard...

[Robbie Stewart]

1 hour ago, PhilipV said:

Naah Robbie, you are not their target market. Besides, you are more likely to be triggered into sadness when you ride past all the lekker trails. It's not a festival of trails anymore. 

Yep, I agree fully. I am not into riding events where the median skill level would refer to a berm as being technical.

I am prepping for the Paarl Enduro next month, and that is fun. My first was Jonkers earlier in the year, and I'm hooked. 

Last Saturday I was out that side scoping the trails with @MORNE  and at one point we asked two okes with club boards for direction to Laborie from the bottom of the Skillie climb. They vehemently tried to persuade us not to go ride there because there are some "moerse drops and stuff". 

We went anyway and we're still wondering about where these drops were that those two guys did not want us to ride. 

Skills differ I suppose 🤣.

[PhilipV]

33 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Spot on Philip, there are better ways to spend that R1600-00 that doesn’t require the Co-operation of a whole lot of other peeps. Once I got to the frontish it was much a much better experience. But as you say we went past a lot of way better trail. The peanut gallery would orobably hurt themselves there so it was avoided. 
 

I was thinking maybe I’m over reacting and the *** attitudes were just due to adrenalin or you know the I’ve got my boys around me sterkgevrietalitis.  I got yanked back to OOT on Tuesday night on the green belt. Stoked with my new Ryder innovations groove tool pro ( imagine they sponsored an event…) I hit the greenbelt. Before peddlars my crank falls off so I’m trying to jury rig it on (forgot my 8mm hex key at home) and a small group of riders comes along. The lead rider has an Allen key which he graciously offers to me ( thank you again sir!). While I’m busy off on the side of the trail along comes two okes barrelling along like they weee racing day 4 of OOT in their oversized OOT race garments. The lead DH rides between myself and the guy I’ve got the hex key from and smashes into the end of my bars knocking the bike out of my hands. The POS just rides on while his equally low class tjom just laughs. My trail angels and I are just shocked (could also be because I called the DH a Peter Oliver eating sweets) and the one guy says, “ that’s the second time tonight someone passes aggressively on the green belt..”

so I shout “ the race was on Saturday!!”

I guess he’s just a late peaker…probably needs a better online coach.

eish! 

 

Ag there has been rotten apple and lekker attitudes like that ever since I started riding. That was 22 years ago. The lowest common denominator has always been "people," and there are so many more riding nowadays. 
I've seen these people hiking and trail running too. 

 

 

[NotSoBigBen]

Wasn't going to reply but a thought occurred to me that it must be cool to be that fast AND talented 😜