2022 Virgin Active Ride Joburg

[Spinnekop]

15 minutes ago, FondTF2 said:

Clearly entries must be down on previous years as got a mail yesterday that they have reopened entries for an additional R50 late entry penalty fee.

Seeding has been a right royal F..up this year. Two mates of mine, one who finished last year in +/- 4hrs is seeded in D and the other who finished in just over 3hrs is seeded in M. Makes no sense whatsoever.

To be fair, that was a year ago?  No races since that the organisers have taken into account?

Edited November 2, 2022 by Spinnekop

[WR 1.0]

4 hours ago, FondTF2 said:

Clearly entries must be down on previous years as got a mail yesterday that they have reopened entries for an additional R50 late entry penalty fee.

Seeding has been a right royal F..up this year. Two mates of mine, one who finished last year in +/- 4hrs is seeded in D and the other who finished in just over 3hrs is seeded in M. Makes no sense whatsoever.

My Neighbour got seeded with the Elites.... he did a 5 hr plus ride last year.

[Red Robin]

On 10/31/2022 at 10:06 AM, TheoG said:

Is there anyone that have a GPX file for the MTB route please?

Just so you are prepared, the smell near one part of the river was vomit inducing. Also be wary of riding through mud near an outlet,  I am not convinced it was just mud.

Hopefully it's not the case again this year, as if it is then I won't do it again in 2023. 

 

[CyclingAddict]

I have not done the 947 in the last 2 years due to Covid, got seeded in BB this year, so I responded to their WA asking them to check my previous years times, and they reseeded me 50 minutes earlier in N which is closer to what I was hoping for. So at least they are responding and trying to sort it out when asked 🙂

[edgarblount]

23 minutes ago, CyclingAddict said:

I have not done the 947 in the last 2 years due to Covid, got seeded in BB this year, so I responded to their WA asking them to check my previous years times, and they reseeded me 50 minutes earlier in N which is closer to what I was hoping for. So at least they are responding and trying to sort it out when asked 🙂

This is good news. Thanks for this. I am going to try and ask them to look at my 2019 time. I just want an earlier start than 8:25. Might as well try. 

[CyclingAddict]

3 minutes ago, edgarblount said:

This is good news. Thanks for this. I am going to try and ask them to look at my 2019 time. I just want an earlier start than 8:25. Might as well try. 

Good luck !

[TheoG]

1 hour ago, Red Robin said:

Just so you are prepared, the smell near one part of the river was vomit inducing. Also be wary of riding through mud near an outlet,  I am not convinced it was just mud.

Hopefully it's not the case again this year, as if it is then I won't do it again in 2023. 

 

We did it on Sunday, the smell in some places almost made me to kots, its terrible.  Ridiculous that even in such a wealthy estate you also have bad areas like this .... ☹️

[Jehosefat]

53 minutes ago, TheoG said:

We did it on Sunday, the smell in some places almost made me to kots, its terrible.  Ridiculous that even in such a wealthy estate you also have bad areas like this .... ☹️

This is exactly why I don't do the MTB race anymore. Smells like sh*t every time.

[s14phoenix]

I got a group Q to group G upgrade Was expecting no upgrade but at least they did something. 😁

[Sandro]

6 hours ago, edgarblount said:

This is good news. Thanks for this. I am going to try and ask them to look at my 2019 time. I just want an earlier start than 8:25. Might as well try. 

Go for it, they reseeded me and my last 947 was 2015. Was pushed up from 8:30 to 7:25 based on previous times.

[edgarblount]

12 hours ago, Sandro said:

Go for it, they reseeded me and my last 947 was 2015. Was pushed up from 8:30 to 7:25 based on previous times.

It worked! Asked to be seeded in N and got seeded in N. Starting a whole hour earlier.

Should've asked if I can start with the elites.

[silkman]

I dread hills- I'm a pretty k*k cyclist but ride for fun. Can someone tell me the approximate length/gradient of the tough climbs at the end.

 

[117]

Road ride? There's 3 

The road behind Bryanston country club, then from Randburg to Hyde Park up Jan smuts, then Rosebank to Empire/M1 going up past the zoo still on Jan Smuts 

Thats about it really

Edited November 3, 2022 by 117

[The Ouzo]

6 minutes ago, silkman said:

I dread hills- I'm a pretty k*k cyclist but ride for fun. Can someone tell me the approximate length/gradient of the tough climbs at the end.

 

 

[MudLark]

22 hours ago, Red Robin said:

Just so you are prepared, the smell near one part of the river was vomit inducing. Also be wary of riding through mud near an outlet,  I am not convinced it was just mud.

Hopefully it's not the case again this year, as if it is then I won't do it again in 2023. 

 

It was literally sh!t we were riding through at one point. They can keep their Steyn City MTB ride. There was some fun single track but mostly the whole thing was second rate. Honestly, you'll have more fun doing two loops at the Cradle.

[Frosty]

1 hour ago, silkman said:

I dread hills- I'm a pretty k*k cyclist but ride for fun. Can someone tell me the approximate length/gradient of the tough climbs at the end.

It depends what you define as the tough climbs at the end. How far from the end?
Search for these segments on Strava (bold) and you'll see all the data:

1. Pitts Avenue Robot2Robot 1 (entrance to Kyalami) | 590m | 4.2%
2. Wesbank hill (Mine shaft) | 420m | 7.3%
3. R55 – Kyalami Entrance to Top (after Kyalami) | 1.34Km | 5.3%
4. Jukskei2Witkoppen | 2.17Km | 4.2%
5. Douglas Burn | 2.01Km | 2.7%
6. Bram Fischer Dr Climb (passed Bryanston golf club) | 2.36Km | 4.4%
7. Good Morning Ms MoneyPenny (Conrad to Hyde Park) | 2.21Km | 4.4%
8. Jan Smuts Classic Climb (passed the Zoo) | 1.09Km | 5.4%
9. Parktown Ridge to Braamfontein | 1.23Km | 2.9%
10. Empire to Ameshoff Climb (on-ramp to M1) | 520m | 5.8%

 

Edit: The last drag at the 90Km mark is not a hill, but it's hard going if you've been burning matches on the hills.

Edited November 3, 2022 by Frosty
Added profile and numbering of each segment