The ARGUS 2025 Thread (AKA CTCT)

[Chingy182]

9 minutes ago, Ncayi said:

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.

Hey man @Ncayi, I really appreciate your 2c here and is probably valued at R200 right now.

I think everything you said hits home and leaves me with things to put into focus going forward.

I do often realise my position in the group is not ideal, especially when multiple people in the bunch squeeze me out and I find myself drifting further into the back of the group.

Aerobic fitness ceiling is perhaps my biggest issue as I often find myself in most 100km races that I can keep up for 70-80km and then blow out. I have already identified the fact that my training rides are all between 40-60km with far too few rides going to 90-100km

Intervals with fatigue in the legs is a good tip - something you know in the back of your mind, but reluctant to do.

[Shebeen]

16 hours ago, dannygirl said:

This cheating thing is really getting my goat. Was in 5A, start of Smits I ‘catch up’ to someone with an 8E number - by that time we haven’t even seen the fastest 7-group riders coming through, and this oke was riding my pace…

Not sure if its this guy (2:57 from 8E), but start time seems to suggest so (4F start time).

 

 

weird one.

How do you start an hour and a half before your batch, that's not an honest mistake?! Must have got tuned so much along the way.

Software should red flag this, whether CTCT want to do something or not is up to them.

 

 

[DieselnDust]

19 minutes ago, Chingy182 said:

Hey man @Ncayi, I really appreciate your 2c here and is probably valued at R200 right now.

I think everything you said hits home and leaves me with things to put into focus going forward.

I do often realise my position in the group is not ideal, especially when multiple people in the bunch squeeze me out and I find myself drifting further into the back of the group.

Aerobic fitness ceiling is perhaps my biggest issue as I often find myself in most 100km races that I can keep up for 70-80km and then blow out. I have already identified the fact that my training rides are all between 40-60km with far too few rides going to 90-100km

Intervals with fatigue in the legs is a good tip - something you know in the back of your mind, but reluctant to do.

the distance of your training rides is not the problem, the intensity might be as well as the specificity

[cadenceblur]

57 minutes ago, Ncayi said:

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.

Well done on your results. We chatted on the forum same time last year around your improvements in LY’s race and now you’ve gone even better , 

At LY’s weight we’re about similar, don’t think i can get to around 91kg- perhaps I can with some real focus, 

My seeding took a hit this year as I didn’t do enough races and had a race ending mechanical in the winelands tour to boot. 

That being said, I missed this year’s event due to work travel, a pity as conditions were prime and i reckon so was my prep. 

[i24]

I notice that the 2025 medals no longer have "Rotary - Pedal Power Association" in fine print. This was always on the medals in past years. Those organisations have always been responsible for distributing the charitable proceeds from the event.

Has there been a change in the structure of the beneficiaries or is this just a minor design change to the medals?

[Chingy182]

37 minutes ago, cadenceblur said:

Well done on your results. We chatted on the forum same time last year around your improvements in LY’s race and now you’ve gone even better , 

At LY’s weight we’re about similar, don’t think i can get to around 91kg- perhaps I can with some real focus, 

My seeding took a hit this year as I didn’t do enough races and had a race ending mechanical in the winelands tour to boot. 

That being said, I missed this year’s event due to work travel, a pity as conditions were prime and i reckon so was my prep. 

Yes, big improvement from last year. Nearly 20min.

Saw someone else in the comments saying exactly my sentiment that if someone had told him 10 years ago when he did his first tour that he'd be doing a 3h06 he'd call them mad, yet now feeling slightly disappointed at missing out on the sub 3.

In the past year I have kept up with consistency to training and not let the winter months become slow - having an upcoming event in the pipeline seems to be the trick for me.

Weight loss was primarily due to cutting out alcohol 100% out my life

The path forward for me is to find a way to optimize my training as suggested above

[dexterdent]

I did a 3h00 from 1C at a NP of 193W (~85kg), spending a reasonable portion of the last half of the race at the front of groups. Power/time for the climbs was also way down on what other people have posted here. I suspect I got lucky with good group pace to Smits (during which I was unashamedly sucking wheels and dodging idiots at the back).

Previous years my NP was around 220W for a 3h05 and 3h08 respectively.

Seems easier to wait for a good weather year than try and get fit enough to get a sub3 irrespective of weather

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, i24 said:

I notice that the 2025 medals no longer have "Rotary - Pedal Power Association" in fine print. This was always on the medals in past years. Those organisations have always been responsible for distributing the charitable proceeds from the event.

Has there been a change in the structure of the beneficiaries or is this just a minor design change to the medals?

 

The tech zone gazebos are still Rotary branded

 

 

23 to 24 ... PnP drops of the medal

 

24 to 25 ... the Rotary inscription is gone

 

and still all 3 look similar in all other aspects.

 

2022 looked very different

[Headshot]

Jeez, some of you okes should be on Zwift Academy! 

I was happy with my time of 3h57 bearing in mind the absence of proper training and some tendon and ITB issues. I had energy and felt good the whole way, above my waist, below that, things were not so good. My legs gave up the ghost at Chappies. 

Hoping to tackle it next year with my by then 13 year old out back on a tandem.

Well done to all.

[JohanDiv]

My secretary just asked me what the prize money was for the winner. I couldn't answer her, so tried searching the CTCT website and Google with no luck. Anyone know?

I remember in like 2010 there was a big discussion about how a 30 000+ cycling event only has a 1st prize of +-R15 000 vs Two Oceans with 8000 runners R150 000. Hopefully Tyler won closer to that! 

[The Ouzo]

On 3/10/2025 at 8:48 AM, The Ouzo said:

at least I wasnt last in my group.  

well 349 out of 369 finishers in the group. 

Still not last though.

[andydude]

13 minutes ago, JohanDiv said:

My secretary just asked me what the prize money was for the winner. I couldn't answer her, so tried searching the CTCT website and Google with no luck. Anyone know?

I remember in like 2010 there was a big discussion about how a 30 000+ cycling event only has a 1st prize of +-R15 000 vs Two Oceans with 8000 runners R150 000. Hopefully Tyler won closer to that! 

https://www.news24.com/sport/othersport/cycling/exclusive-cape-town-cycle-tour-winner-marc-pritzen-chats-to-sport24-20220318

2022: The men’s and women’s winner of the Cape Town Cycle Tour each earned R45 000, with prize money totalling R200, 000

[Shebeen]

2 hours ago, i24 said:

I notice that the 2025 medals no longer have "Rotary - Pedal Power Association" in fine print. This was always on the medals in past years. Those organisations have always been responsible for distributing the charitable proceeds from the event.

Has there been a change in the structure of the beneficiaries or is this just a minor design change to the medals?

Design change. Rotary still very much involved in the operation as well as being a partner in the trust. I know that because my family volunteers had much longer days than me riding it.

I'd have to look again but don't remember actually seeing the year on the medal. 

[ChrisF]

12 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

Design change. Rotary still very much involved in the operation as well as being a partner in the trust. I know that because my family volunteers had much longer days than me riding it.

I'd have to look again but don't remember actually seeing the year on the medal. 

 

Checked the last four medals - year only on the ribbon.

 

Outer rim on the last three exactly the same.  You need to take a better look to see the differences.  The 2022 one had a very different design.

 

 

Would be interesting to see how this has changed if one of the long time riders have their collection ....

[The Ouzo]

3 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

Would be interesting to see how this has changed if one of the long time riders have their collection ....

will try and get them all together for a pic. first one I have is from 1999, there are some missing in between, but will give a fair look into the past

[Heina13]

4 hours ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

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 🙏

Those Nachos were worth the 109k.