The ARGUS 2025 Thread (AKA CTCT)

[Tiny K]

54 minutes ago, NotSoBigBen said:

I have this theory about the Zwifters (or take your pick of indoor poison) and Wattbikers .... Often very strong but no or very little bunch/race skills

But don't mind me, just the opinion of a 'timer 🙄

Same about development riders. The okes can pedal, but fork all bunch riding skills. 

And this coming from a part-time Zwifter (during the week).

[babse]

Pretty amped for my next 1 in 2028 

[Musashi]

My son had pretty much the perfect first CTCT.  We were seeded in 2C but I decided to drop to 2F as they're probably more our pace. 

We took it fairly easy at the start and he knows his job is to help on the climbs - I'll do the rest.  And then of course enjoy the spectacular scenery.  His young age (he's 10) drew a lot of attention and he felt obliged to wave at everyone that showed some support.  He was waving more than the queen.

Some sections of the route seriously needs a resurface but we kept a good pace while enjoying every moment.  Chappies we grinded it out at a solid pace.  When I told him on Suikerbossie it's the final climb, he really started to put down some power and I had to go right to start passing people.  And then on the last 15km run to the line people starting jumping on the back - I was wondering whether they realise they're being towed by a 10 year old :).  

I was betting on a sub-5 with a 4:30 possible.  I did not expect the 3:48 we did.  Daniel is very chuffed having beaten the time I did with Oupa (then 72) on the tandem last year by 2 minutes.  And of course I'm super proud of him, not complaining once and just enjoying every moment.

Now to find out whether he was the youngest finisher on the 109km route...

 

Thanks @ChrisF for the photo.

 

[ChrisF]

Any 2E group tandems on the Hub ?

 

Nice little action between the tandems ....

 

Unedited .... only a few might want to watch this ....

 

https://youtu.be/GamzvhRq8AQ?feature=shared

[DieselnDust]

1 hour ago, Me rida my bicycle said:

I've seen the carbon tub of the winners. Think the father/pilot is Mark correct me if I'm wrong. 

We’ve built a similar one. 

[Heina13]

Did my 6th CTCC and third on a tandem called the Drommedaris with my wife. Must say this is my and her favourite race of the year. Also saying that this is her only cycling race every year.

After a taking our tandem out of the garage for the first time since 2024 CTCT, we did a nice 17km bike check on Friday. 

Sunday my wife was a beast and we finished in our PB time of 3:46 out of 2C. We love the highway to Muizenberg, only time I would ever be able to pull a bunch 😅 Really love the camaderie between the tandems. Kudos to all the dads with kids. Especially the 3 dads with 3 tandems and 3 kids doing it together. Think I saw you should have started in # and rather did the ride with your kids.  Thats the dream and why I will keep the tandem. Maybe without the squeky duck on the front for 109km

And if you were ever wondering, a tandem does fit on the roof of a Jimny. Well sort of.

 

 

[Prince Albert Cycles]

20 minutes ago, Musashi said:

My son had pretty much the perfect first CTCT.  We were seeded in 2C but I decided to drop to 2F as they're probably more our pace. 

We took it fairly easy at the start and he knows his job is to help on the climbs - I'll do the rest.  And then of course enjoy the spectacular scenery.  His young age (he's 10) drew a lot of attention and he felt obliged to wave at everyone that showed some support.  He was waving more than the queen.

Some sections of the route seriously needs a resurface but we kept a good pace while enjoying every moment.  Chappies we grinded it out at a solid pace.  When I told him on Suikerbossie it's the final climb, he really started to put down some power and I had to go right to start passing people.  And then on the last 15km run to the line people starting jumping on the back - I was wondering whether they realise they're being towed by a 10 year old :).  

I was betting on a sub-5 with a 4:30 possible.  I did not expect the 3:48 we did.  Daniel is very chuffed having beaten the time I did with Oupa (then 72) on the tandem last year by 2 minutes.  And of course I'm super proud of him, not complaining once and just enjoying every moment.

Now to find out whether he was the youngest finisher on the 109km route...

 

Thanks @ChrisF for the photo.

 

Saw a father and son in skeloton kit boy must also be around 10

[Pure Savage]

4 hours ago, Shebeen said:

well that's not some average dude coming from 1D, he probably would have been in the $ batch if he wanted to. Looks like he pulled two more along the way, kudos to them for hanging on to the beeftrain.

Some people take their Argus finish SERIOUSLY, and if you're going to have seeding from races then it's not that hard to police it. If someone jumps ahead of their batch, the software will pick it up, just annul their result. even disqualify them. Make a scene and you will be able to stamp it out.

Comrades takes this pretty seriously, it does of course have qualifiers that get ratified by your club. It is VERY embarrassing for the club to have a cheater exposed.

Last Feb 2024, they said there is ZERO tolerance and we're serious about it.  Did a bit of a cleanup, and banned 58 people for transgressions. Going on memory, I think they even gave you a window to withdraw before they named and shamed your ass so there was probably more initially fingered..

https://www.sabcsport.com/news/comrades-marathon-association-refunds-cheating-runners-due-to-fraudulent-information

Then after the race, they got some tip offs. Some people got notice, those that didn't follow it got publicly named and shamed, don't come back next year!

https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/kwazulu-natal-athletics-names-and-shames-comrades-marathon-cheats/ar-BB1pdXSa

Argus has had similar issues, the Liss story early 2000s involved the ladies race winner not doing the full course. They also got very excited by a Borat outfit. 

I don't think they've ever done anything about batch jumping, or falsifying seeding going into the race. Moving from strict qualifying events only seeding to the whole season index has improved the quality of the batches as it rewards more recent performnce. It used to be that finishing in the top80% of your batch was enough wheelsucking to keep your start group for 2 years.

The Ebike thing seems to have calmed down a bit, and the 3:50 is clearly the stick they use. This sort of thing is never going to be able to be policed, but on the road every knows you're a (read the shirt). Dad on his ebike dragging the kids up the hill, they weren't even pedalling. This is suikerbossie and after the new battery did the business up chappies first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dean is LANK average...

Look, he had to grab this random 75 year olds jersey up suikerbosie on the second lap..

Jokes, it was a LPC uncle we were helping!

Edited Monday at 07:51 PM by Pure Savage

[Akon]

18 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

bloke can push pull his girlfriend / boyfriend to a better time

Saw a guy pushing his companion 5min in already, for extended periods, up all hills little bumps even.

[mikkelz]

Talk about lucky! I was cleaning my bike after Sunday and noticed this nasty cut in my rear tyre. It's very close to where the "skid mark" (🙈) is on my tyre when my rear wheel locked up just after Simon's Town trying to avoid a crash (one of a few).

I didn't see/hear anything at the time, other than clearly remembering the skid (managed to control it and stay upright). But I wouldn't be surprised if it was then that I nicked a piece of glass/sharp stone.

No loss of air pressure as I don't think it punctured. But that tyre is unfortunately toast now. Glad it did it's job though! 

[HdB]

21 hours ago, andydude said:

Some segments' average power stats from @ 

Edinburg 1.72km 5.5% │ 388w 4:14

Smits last 1.65km 5.5% │ 347w 4:04

Little Chappies 1.42km 4.1% │ 365w 2:56

Big Chappies 1.72km 4.8% │ 355w 4:27

Small Suikerbossie 0.62km 4.7% │ 351w 1:24

Big Suikerbossie 1.86km 6.7% │ 363w 5:27

Mine at 72kg-ish:

Edinburg 1.72km 5.5% │  4:04 @4.98 w/kg
Smits last 1.65km 5.5% │  4:05 @4.44 w/kg
Little Chappies 1.42km 4.1% │  3:05 @4.53 w/kg
Big Chappies 1.72km 4.8% │  4:37 @4.47 w/kg
Small Suikerbossie 0.62km 4.7% │ 1:33 @4.14 w/kg
Big Suikerbossie 1.86km 6.7% │ 5:52 @4.11 w/kg

So 53 seconds lost just going up those last few climbs, despite segment PRs on all of them 🤦‍♂️
Much better positioning needed, and more endurance.

[Chingy182]

Started in 1A (84-85kg) 40YO

Felt strong throughout the build-up to Argus and thought sub 3 was a slight possibility this year.

I've lost 10kg in the last 12 months.

Came in 3h06

Unfortunately, I came to realise I am off the mark to keep up with 1A pace.

I seem to lack that critical power output when the group kicks on and find myself hanging on by the skin of my teeth before being spat out at the back.

 

Edinburg 1.72km 5.5% │  374W - 4:52
Smits last 1.65km 5.5% │  290W - 4:54
Little Chappies 1.42km 4.1% │  257W - 4:30
Big Chappies 1.72km 4.8% │  227W - 6:56
Small Suikerbossie 0.62km 4.7% │ 271W - 2:55
Big Suikerbossie 1.86km 6.7% │ 265W - 7:46

 

All numbers are PB's, except Chappies where I was tanked

[BuffsVintageBikes]

After doing my 21st tour last year, I made the commitment to my wife to drop my competitive nature and enjoy my 22nd tour riding around the Peninsula with her. It was her 6th tour but she hadn't done it in many years.
I'm super glad I agreed to that idea because we had a lovely time out there. Taking time to smell the roses makes one acutely aware of just how privileged we are to still have this event on our year cycling calendar and the way the majority of the greater CT community embraces it, is truly special.

When starting early (pre-7am), you don't really get any idea of how many spectators still take the time to come out and cheer the riders on. The first 70km's just flash by and the only support you get are from the early risers and the cheerleaders at the water stations.

Starting later opens up a whole new world of support, with people all along the route cheering you on, braaiing, having a dop, DJ stations galore etc. It's a totally different vibe and a whole lot of fun.

We stopped at many water tables, interacted with the locals and even stopped at the famous Noordhoek Cafe for a cappuccino (sadly the croissants were already sold out) and took the time to cheer on the riders as well.

Cathy rode her ebike with a single battery, so battery management was crucial. Her bike is limited to 28km/h, so on the downhills and flat flowing parts of the course I added a helping hand just to keep the speed consistent with the little bunches we were in and on the lumpy stuff she made me work at bit keeping up. In the end her conservative use of her trail or boost mode was unnecessary because she still had plenty of battery life left. That little Orbea Rise really impresses me with its battery management.

All in, it was a superb day out there and we had an immense amount of fun. I think I'll do it again next year, the same way... God willing 🙏

[Rouxenator]

It was good. I rode on Rock Wolf 2.35 knobby tyres just in case there would be an unexpected rock slide - better safe than sorry. 

Nice ride in a nice ride:

Respect to the low riders: 

[Ncayi]

34 minutes ago, Chingy182 said:

Started in 1A (84-85kg) 40YO

Felt strong throughout the build-up to Argus and thought sub 3 was a slight possibility this year.

I've lost 10kg in the last 12 months.

Came in 3h06

Unfortunately, I came to realise I am off the mark to keep up with 1A pace.

I seem to lack that critical power output when the group kicks on and find myself hanging on by the skin of my teeth before being spat out at the back.

 

Edinburg 1.72km 5.5% │  374W - 4:52
Smits last 1.65km 5.5% │  290W - 4:54
Little Chappies 1.42km 4.1% │  257W - 4:30
Big Chappies 1.72km 4.8% │  227W - 6:56
Small Suikerbossie 0.62km 4.7% │ 271W - 2:55
Big Suikerbossie 1.86km 6.7% │ 265W - 7:46

 

All numbers are PB's, except Chappies where I was tanked

I could be dead wrong but here is my 2cents.

Judging by your wattage on Edinburg you can produce the watts but fade as the race progresses. This could be down to a lot of things. Poor positioning, aerobic fitness ceiling that is not high enough, pacing etc

I managed to do 3h6 last year weighing 95.5 kgs in the & group. This year I managed a 2h53 from 1A at 91.5 kgs. So at your weight with the wattage you can produce 1A is not out of your reach in my opinion 

My advice.

1. Work on your positioning in the bunch.

2. If you do intervals do them with some fatigue in the legs  sometimes as opposed to when you are fresh all the time.

3. Come back and try next year.

Edited yesterday at 10:15 AM by Ncayi

[Shebeen]

15 hours ago, Musashi said:

My son had pretty much the perfect first CTCT.  We were seeded in 2C but I decided to drop to 2F as they're probably more our pace. 

We took it fairly easy at the start and he knows his job is to help on the climbs - I'll do the rest.  And then of course enjoy the spectacular scenery.  His young age (he's 10) drew a lot of attention and he felt obliged to wave at everyone that showed some support.  He was waving more than the queen.

Some sections of the route seriously needs a resurface but we kept a good pace while enjoying every moment.  Chappies we grinded it out at a solid pace.  When I told him on Suikerbossie it's the final climb, he really started to put down some power and I had to go right to start passing people.  And then on the last 15km run to the line people starting jumping on the back - I was wondering whether they realise they're being towed by a 10 year old :).  

I was betting on a sub-5 with a 4:30 possible.  I did not expect the 3:48 we did.  Daniel is very chuffed having beaten the time I did with Oupa (then 72) on the tandem last year by 2 minutes.  And of course I'm super proud of him, not complaining once and just enjoying every moment.

Now to find out whether he was the youngest finisher on the 109km route...

 

Thanks @ChrisF for the photo.

 

similar experience. got plenty of Argus medals but first time on a tandem with my10yr old stoking. Mine 11 in October, but sure there will be some younger even. (back in the day 7yr olds were doing it solo!).

Was happy just to finish and see how it goes. halfway at 2hrs and sub 5 looked doable, but always keeping matches in the pack for chappies and suikerbossie. no issues there and we flew into finish at 4:09. great day out.