2022 Virgin Active Ride Joburg

[Skubarra]

1 minute ago, Jbr said:

Very surprised this is not on racetec, does that mean that it's not a seeding for the CT world champs ?

Looking at the results gives me the feeling that the level in $ is actually higher than CTCT?

Seems the last time Racetec did the timing was in 2019? Not sure why it changed, I assumed costs as Racetec aint cheap, but the system they are using now not really better in my biased opinion.

[W@nted]

21 minutes ago, Spinnekop said:

Thank you sir.  ☺️
Very proud of the time.  Beat almost all the Vets batches.   😎

Well done! Then we were in the same bunch. Which kit were you in?

[W@nted]

Also, interesting to see oaks taking selfies and videos while sitting in a bunch at 50 km/h…

[edgarblount]

I am a firm believer in the Afrikaans saying, 'Dit wat jou nie dood maak nie, maak jy net sterker".

This is truly a race of two halves or should I say Race of False Hope. I felt like Wout or Ganna in that first half. Looked down at the Garmin and couldn't believe my time at the halfway mark. Started calculating finishing times already. I know, I know, it aint over till the fat lady sings. Oh boy, and did she sing. Came crashing down like a ton of bricks.

I knew that second half would be brutal but not that brutal. I never knew I could ache and pain in so many places at once.

Like Frosty said, you have to train for those hills. Atleast I now know what to expect and can train accordingly.

It was an enjoyable day out and I am coming back sterker.

The vet tannies on their e-bikes annoyed the hell out of me. Poor me bleeding through my eyes on the hills and they come flying past all smiles.

[IrfaanC]

Well done to everyone who participated. I really enjoyed the event, as many have stated the support along the way was top notch.

 The climb from Jukskei up to main road really caught me off guard, I can't remember it being that steep last year 😅 

A big thumbs up to the residents from Douglasdale, all the way up to Cumberland and Homestead ave. 

It got a bit risky around Braam Fischer, the pedestrians running across the road was quite scary.

Hyde park was HOT, I passed there around 10am, and it felt like it was at least 30 degrees. 

And then there was that dreaded headwind from the double decker to the Nasrec off-ramp, last year there was a tail wind there and it helped carry me through.  Fortunately though it helped on the way back to the stadium. I waited for a group to latch on to. It never came 😂 So I had to trap hard and burn myself out. 

On to things I felt needs improvement:

• The whole situation with parking and the non-official parking attendants. That was really irritating, we just pulled up and had someone ask for a tip. He walks away, then another guy comes and asks, he walks away then another. By the time I offloaded my bike and packed everything, there were at least 6 different guys. When leaving, it was the same story again.
• Maybe "Pit styled lanes" at the water points. I seen many people at the Monte Casino stop, and the stop after the Homestead climb that was parked off on the road, so some swerving action happened there.
• Once going over Empire road where the 35km riders meet the 97km riders, a few 97km riders forked left and got confused on the Braamfontein climb (No biggy, but red tape would've blocked it off better than the cones)

I noticed that the atmosphere felt less vibey than it did last year at the end. Apart from that, I felt it was well organized. Hoping to get the opportunity to ride the 2023 installment.  

[The Ouzo]

7 minutes ago, edgarblount said:

I am a firm believer in the Afrikaans saying, 'Dit wat jou nie dood maak nie, maak jy net sterker".

This is truly a race of two halves or should I say Race of False Hope. I felt like Wout or Ganna in that first half. Looked down at the Garmin and couldn't believe my time at the halfway mark. Started calculating finishing times already. I know, I know, it aint over till the fat lady sings. Oh boy, and did she sing. Came crashing down like a ton of bricks.

I knew that second half would be brutal but not that brutal. I never knew I could ache and pain in so many places at once.

Like Frosty said, you have to train for those hills. Atleast I now know what to expect and can train accordingly.

It was an enjoyable day out and I am coming back sterker.

The vet tannies on their e-bikes annoyed the hell out of me. Poor me bleeding through my eyes on the hills and they come flying past all smiles.

yeah considering I started so far forward I saw way to many e-bikes.

 

What made the second half harder this year was the unusual head wind, and as much as my weather app had predicted it slowing down as the day went it actually got worse.

[Spinnekop]

12 minutes ago, W@nted said:

Well done! Then we were in the same bunch. Which kit were you in?

Was in the Blue Clover kit.

[Popit]

I also think the timing is very poor .

First few riders in unseeded A batch gave Reinhardt et al a proper hiding .....

Quite a few names missing from the results as well .

[W@nted]

1 minute ago, Spinnekop said:

Was in the Blue Clover kit.

Cool! That A bunch was hectic. Lekker.

 

[Dogs]

It was a lekker day out and I had a fairly relaxed ride...well done to all involved.

Some minor stuff can be smoothed out, but what I do not understand is, with me being slower and sticking to the left, some cyclists still felt the need to pass on my left, even with 3 1/2 lanes of unused road to the right?  (On M1 a guy on e-MTB even went through gutter to pass me on left #..616 = idiot).

And then that "racing group" shouting at everyone to keep left...eisch, I did not miss you guys at all...get yourself a proper seeding.

Last one was roadies sucking the wheels of e-bikes 👎

Till next year.

 

[117]

10 minutes ago, Dogs said:

Last one was roadies sucking the wheels of e-bikes

This

[Kom]

14 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

yeah considering I started so far forward I saw way to many e-bikes.

 

What made the second half harder this year was the unusual head wind, and as much as my weather app had predicted it slowing down as the day went it actually got worse.

This was my first Ride Joburg-definitely a race of the second half. 

Yes there was a head wind (for me it felt like it was coming from all directions), but most of the climbing started at Kyalami and did not relent.

The Climb up from Zoo lake was the start of most of the pain - at that point all the folks attacking the hills were seemingly kaput.

I would say this event is not near the organisation of CTCT - from the entry system not forcing the purchase of the mandatory race board (resulted in a mega queue to buy one at registration), to the Expo itself which didnt neatly have separate cubicles for each seeding group for registration, to the parking situation at Nasrec which had me feeling somewhat insecure, to the finish line, and forced tour-of-victory through the cooking hot FNB stadium (those tunnels were a disaster waiting to happen).

The route is really a representation of JHB, but felt really bad for all the traffic it caused, i dont know how the organisers managed to get road closures on those roads for most of the day. Thank you to the Jozi residents that accommodated us though.

All my complaining, will definitely be back though.

[edgarblount]

15 minutes ago, Dogs said:

Last one was roadies sucking the wheels of e-bikes 👎

 

This was the pits for me! You could see wifey on the e-bike and hubby sucking the wheel all day long.

[Mongoose!]

51 minutes ago, Spinnekop said:

Very proud of the time.  Beat almost all the Vets batches.   😎

vets racing is not about time

vets racing is all about making people cramp

attack - stop peddling attack - stop peddling attack - stop peddling - people start cramping

attack - stop peddling attack - stop peddling attack - stop peddling - another one cramping

attack - stop peddling attack - stop peddling attack - stop peddling ....okay we are 4 left with 1km to go

sprint !!!😜

[Frosty]

24 minutes ago, Kom said:

The route is really a representation of JHB, but felt really bad for all the traffic it caused, i dont know how the organisers managed to get road closures on those roads for most of the day. Thank you to the Jozi residents that accommodated us though.

The bulk of the roads used yesterday, have been used for the last 20 years, like the M1, R55, Jan Smuts, Homestead, Douglasdale, Mandela Bridge.

[Skubarra]

Had a great day so I'll stick with the positive stuff. Also my only reference is the 2014 version at Steyn City which was an organising shambles and my 2nd ride was an improvement in every possible aspect.

The venue, access & parking worked well for me (luckily had no run-ins with car guards). Thought the racing in the vets groups works better than in the CTCT where all categories are thrown together in 2 combined groups. Also the bigger gaps between the racing groups helped, even after I got dropped us stragglers could patch a chasing group together and continue racing without being immediately swallowed by the next bunch.

Enjoyed the route, not quite the vibe of the CTCT but still there were enough peeps out in the streets cheering us on.

On the day the legs just didn't arrive from CPT, felt like jelly the first half, got dropped just after Kyalami but weirdly started feeling better once we hit the climbs in the suburbs (I blame the altitude, can't be the few too many brandies at Saturday's rugby 😝). We even managed to caught most of the bunch again right at the end.

Not quite with @stringbean that this event beats CTCT but it's certainly right up there and very well organised 👍

Only moan is that flippen app that guided me to a closed road at 4h45 in the morning, then Google maps took me into Soweto to more closed roads 😬. Had this Capetonian very worried at some point!