[Event] One Tonner

[bespokes]

Top end - super impressive. Big shout out to PPA! Now, for DC……

[Skubarra]

10 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

These accidents are so unnecessary. I don't understand the thinking of sprinting off the line  in a 170km race.

Very glad you are ok @DieselnDust - could have been very nasty.

As to the thinking of sprinting off the line... You only have to look at your 2022 One Tonner race report... Guys slip a DC team for 170km and then heroically jump them on the finish sprint. Fair play as the One Tonner is not a team event, but that is the thinking, thin out the wheelsuckers right at the start and instead of pulling a massive bunch hopefully be left with fewer hangers on who are also willing to take turns upfront.

Also got caught out by that rough patch, barely managed to stay on the bike. Guys in front were rotating and likely didn't see the danger in time, not a very visible bad spot until you are almost right on it.

 

Edited November 4 by Skubarra

[bleedToWin]

12 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

These accidents are so unnecessary. I don't understand the thinking of sprinting off the line  in a 170km race.

Those bumps are treacherous and it's not an easy obstacle to effectively communicate within a bunch since you can actually ride over it. A-group were doing double elbow flicks like a flock of chickens but some were still caught off guard and took a small wobble.

 

[bleedToWin]

19 hours ago, mikkelz said:

It definitely feels safer the further up you start.

For sure. And to take it one step further, the breakaway from the A-group is the safest spot to be in! 😁

[Mamil]

1 hour ago, Skubarra said:

Very glad you are ok @DieselnDust - could have been very nasty.

As to the thinking of sprinting off the line... You only have to look at your 2022 One Tonner race report... Guys slip a DC team for 170km and then heroically jump them on the finish sprint. Fair play as the One Tonner is not a team event, but that is the thinking, thin out the wheelsuckers right at the start and instead of pulling a massive bunch hopefully be left with fewer hangers on who are also willing to take turns upfront.

Also got caught out by that rough patch, barely managed to stay on the bike. Guys in front were rotating and likely didn't see the danger in time, not a very visible bad spot until you are almost right on it.

 

I just wanted to get away from the DC team that was pulling my bunch. Noodling along  and riding dangerously (see previous comments).

So I attacked! twice!!

It's a grandiose term for what was more like a threshold interval for 5 mins or so but predictably they upped the speed a bit.

It was them that sprinted past me for the win while I noodled across last

 

[Skubarra]

4 minutes ago, Mamil said:

I just wanted to get away from the DC team that was pulling my bunch. Noodling along  and riding dangerously (see previous comments).

So I attacked! twice!!

It's a grandiose term for what was more like a threshold interval for 5 mins or so but predictably they upped the speed a bit.

It was them that sprinted past me for the win while I noodled across last

 

Haha! Ok so it goes both ways!

Yes it can be frustrating being stuck behind a DC team that goes to slowly AND doesn't want anyone "interfering".

[Naidy]

A Pic of my friends bike after the crash in C bunch. Apparently a rider went off the road onto the gravel and then got flung or flung his bike back into the bunch. 

Edited November 4 by Naidy

[MongooseMan]

36 minutes ago, Mamil said:

I just wanted to get away from the DC team that was pulling my bunch. Noodling along  and riding dangerously (see previous comments).

So I attacked! twice!!

It's a grandiose term for what was more like a threshold interval for 5 mins or so but predictably they upped the speed a bit.

It was them that sprinted past me for the win while I noodled across last

 

Which wave were you in?

[bleedToWin]

The art of the break formation.

Reference line is the eventual break of the day, red is the peloton, and purple is @Sid the Sloth
Pictures shows from start of Hels till just outside Wellington.

The first ramp of Hels was fast and you can see Sid getting a small lead, but 35 riders manged to survive the climb. Many attacks and counterattacks. On Wemmershoek Rd (45km into the race) the break went. Looks like a few times the bunch started making small progressing on bringing it back in response to Sid trying to bridge (a few from other riders also it seems). Then Sid got separation (video's on Insta confirms) but gap was already 1min40 and it held steady. When the bunch caught him the elastic to the break snapped well and truly and it's almost instantly another 40s in favour of the break up to 2min20. 

38 minutes that were crucial to the outcome of this race.
 

Edited November 4 by bleedToWin

[Sid the Sloth]

2 minutes ago, bleedToWin said:

The art of the break formation.

Reference line is the eventual break of the day, red is the peloton, and purple is @Sid the Sloth
Pictures shows from start of Hels till just outside Wellington.

The first ramp of Hels was fast and you can see Sid getting a small lead, but 35 riders manged to survive the climb. Many attacks and counterattacks. On Wemmershoek Rd (45km into the race) the break went. Looks like a few times the bunch started making small progressing on bringing it back in response to Sid trying to bridge (a few from other riders also it seems). Then Sid got separation (video's on Insta confirms) but gap was already 1min40 and it held steady. When the bunch caught him the elastic to the break snapped well and truly and it's almost instantly another 40s in favour of the break up to 2min20. 

38 minutes that were crucial to the outcome of this race.
 

Unfortunately for me it’s become increasingly hard to win these races without a team, other strong individuals do not want to contribute to chasing so you have to make sure you get in the right move with the right composition of riders from teams. I had a few options to try and get it right but unfortunately they didn’t pan out. Nice work @DieselnDust for a solid result. 
 

From Botmanskloof onwards the convoy and lead moto played a massive role (negatively) in the race as they continually gave draft to either the bridging group or the main bunch after almost every effort to get away. There are also videos on social media of riders making it back through the convoy after Bots, which happens pretty much every time we have done that climb in a race in my 3 years of racing that climb. It basically became a pointless exercise attacking as cars or the moto would bring everything back together, and the rest of the race was history. I played one of my cards attacking with 2km to go as I didn’t want to contest that extremely risky right hander onto paving sprint for 150m and luckily it panned out as I was allowed a gap. 

[The Ouzo]

21 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Weather was great but I can t be sure because I didn’t get further than the place that guy lost His life two weeks ago. Someone at the head of C was head down going balls to the wall with all of us strung out behind. Then I hear the scream of dread and all I know is the guy infront of me switched left, clipped my front wheel and I was doing a right leg balancing act till I hit a bloke laying in the road then it was leave some skin behind time.

shyte happens I guess but these accidents are just too common 😫🤕

This is what scares me as the pace heats up. At my age I have no appetite for tumbles, my body no longer heals quickly.

 

We had a similar incident on our group ride saturday morning. +/- 45km/h, I hear wheels locking up ahead, next thing there is a bike in the air and bodies hitting the deck. I think if I did not have a little breathing room between me and the guy infront of my I would also have gone down.

the guy front right of me was the last guy to hit the deck, and he clipped my leg on his way down, fortunately I was headed off the tar to the left already so as to avoid the bike sliding on the tar directly infront of me.

[bleedToWin]

13 minutes ago, Sid the Sloth said:

riders making it back through the convoy after Bots, which happens pretty much every time we have done that climb

There really should be a blockade on cars until the T-junction after this climb yes. Same with Hels actually.

 

Edited November 4 by bleedToWin

[Mamil]

26 minutes ago, MongooseMan said:

Which wave were you in?

I started in D - but ended up in E cos of a mechanical outside Wellington

[Jbr]

idk hey, I think it was Winelands race where a group of 4 (Weber, Hatherly, Hanro and no sure who else) went up the road on Bothmans, and me, JP, Chalievelo and Neil Timm chased, we didn't have cars in between. I think the cars just bring back the guys that get dropped from the peleton, not the attacks

[MongooseMan]

1 minute ago, Mamil said:

I started in D - but ended up in E cos of a mechanical outside Wellington

Ah, ok

Also started in D, our team was on the front pretty much the whole way, but thought we were relatively well behaved (at least, I heard no complaints from the 20 or so "passengers" enjoying the free ride 😆)

[Mamil]

1 minute ago, MongooseMan said:

Ah, ok

Also started in D, our team was on the front pretty much the whole way, but thought we were relatively well behaved (at least, I heard no complaints from the 20 or so "passengers" enjoying the free ride 😆)

You might have been the mixed team in the floral shirts? If so you okes rode very well - you had to chase back on after someone had to stop just before hels I think - caught us just before the railway line on the Franschoek road.