[Event] Ride Joburg Road

[Guest Mike Dewing]

10 hours ago, love2fly said:

Burns my @$$ when a fit person flies past me on an e bike. I saw a few okes pushing their spouse/buddy on an Amish bike at speed. Also saw someone on a full TT bike. Thought they weren't permitted?

I saw one with a retractable hook on the back.. nearly took a tow🤣🤣🤣

[JJDT]

13 hours ago, ChrisF said:

 

Thanks for the heads up .... 

 

Every so often I do longer rides with friends .... an eyeopener when they are battling on those hills back into Durbanville and an e-biker flies past fresh as a daisy ..... 

 

@JJDT did these extra batteries look like oversized battery bottles ?  Lots of e-bikes are now sold with relatively small batteries, with the design to add these "water-bottle" batteries in the frame plugged into the system.  Looking at the battery use, you may well need two of these extra batteries for these longer road events.  Very costly setup.  (purely talking about the batteries, not IF these bikes were de-restricted ....)

 No, it seems that it was a custom made "box" where the battery is fitted inside with a wire running possibly to the main wiring to enable the extra battery to provide power when it is enabled. Just had a glance at the two bikes but did not look into detail.

[JJDT]

17 hours ago, Pieterlab1 said:

Did you report this to the relevant authorities?

Why make a fuss of this? This was an observation from my side. If they qualify to be in that batch and want to ride on their e-bike it is their choice. This should be ideally checked by marshals who should oversee that although I'm seeded  in a normal batch and I want to go to the start chute with an e-bike I should've been stopped and requested to start in the E-Bike batch.

[Pieterlab1]

1 hour ago, JJDT said:

Why make a fuss of this? This was an observation from my side. If they qualify to be in that batch and want to ride on their e-bike it is their choice. This should be ideally checked by marshals who should oversee that although I'm seeded  in a normal batch and I want to go to the start chute with an e-bike I should've been stopped and requested to start in the E-Bike batch.

Exactly.

[Dexter-morgan]

to me, I am not racing anyone; at my age and level, I am just racing myself, not anyone on an e-bike.

[NotSoBigBen]

43 minutes ago, Dexter-morgan said:

to me, I am not racing anyone; at my age and level, I am just racing myself, not anyone on an e-bike.

And me ..... BUT its the whine and the smug faces 🤪

[FaizelSalie_01]

1 hour ago, Dexter-morgan said:

to me, I am not racing anyone; at my age and level, I am just racing myself, not anyone on an e-bike.

according to the M Group, there were 181 ebikes. From these participants you will get a small % of cyclist wanting to race their ebikes. This split became also evident with Racing Tandems and Social Tandems. I cant recall any crashes in the ebike category? Huge amount of crashes/accidents in the other groups.

[RobynE 🚵‍♀️]

1 hour ago, Dexter-morgan said:

to me, I am not racing anyone; at my age and level, I am just racing myself, not anyone on an e-bike.

Oh me neither. I’m not even racing myself though I am racing my brain that says “raise your arm, this is bollocks, why are you even here, you’re such a **** cyclist” and then “ziiiiiiing” goes by as I get out of my head and knuckle down again 😒 😂 

[The Ouzo]

1 hour ago, FaizelSalie_01 said:

according to the M Group, there were 181 ebikes. From these participants you will get a small % of cyclist wanting to race their ebikes. This split became also evident with Racing Tandems and Social Tandems. I cant recall any crashes in the ebike category? Huge amount of crashes/accidents in the other groups.

those are the official e-bikes, what about the unofficial ones that started other groups ?

 

I can see both sides of the argument.

There was a gent with 1 leg racing in A batch on a normal bike, and doing very well, if he doesnt need an e-bike then why do others ?

and

If it gets more people riding and keeps the event going for longer then great, let people ride them.

[JJDT]

I think it is more of personal effect. You are grinding the climb head down suffering just to get to the top. While in this suffering you hear the sound of an e-bike approaching and just cruise past you like he/she is on a flat stage. 

Quote

There was a gent with 1 leg racing in A batch on a normal bike, and doing very well, if he doesnt need an e-bike then why do others ?

The answer is simple if you can afford it why not...

[The Ouzo]

50 minutes ago, JJDT said:

The answer is simple if you can afford it why not...

because some people have trained their rear ends off to be able to just finish the 97km, let alone do it in a great time, and then someone come along and pulls their bike out a week before the event to charge the battery and does it with out a sweat.

are we going to see electronis exo skeletons in marathon races next ?

 

 

 

like I said, I see both sides, but I'm still more anti e-bike

 

[FaizelSalie_01]

8 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

because some people have trained their rear ends off to be able to just finish the 97km, let alone do it in a great time, and then someone come along and pulls their bike out a week before the event to charge the battery and does it with out a sweat.

are we going to see electronis exo skeletons in marathon races next ?

 

 

 

like I said, I see both sides, but I'm still more anti e-bike

 

Your choice to be anti e-bikes. how do you know people with e-bikes don’t train all year?  People can choose what they prefer. 947 at present is open for all groups; so allow each their own preference. 
 

Edited October 29, 2025 by FaizelSalie_01

[Dexter-morgan]

14 hours ago, FaizelSalie_01 said:

Your choice to be anti e-bikes. how do you know people with e-bikes don’t train all year?  People can choose what they prefer. 947 at present is open for all groups; so allow each their own preference. 
 

100% but then in force them into their own group category, if they enter legitimately, they will get a time of 3:15(I think) just strava will have them at their great (assisted time.)

[AfricaMike]

I remember hearing that there were 12,000 entrants at the 2025 947.  Long shot from those days where we saw around 30,000 riders take on Jozi's roads.......I see entries to Comrades 2026 opened yesterday and they filled all 22,000 slots in 10 hours......food for thought.....

Edited November 4, 2025 by AfricaMike

[Sandro]

I see the 2026 event is back at Kyalami. Excellent news.

[The Ouzo]

I think their marketing team needs to do a little more research. It has finished inside kyalami before. 
 

and what was wrong with fnb stadium, i thought it was a great venue, both from an access point of view and route pov. 
 

Kyalami has crap access, even when it just cars, now add cars and bikes into the mix and it’s going to be a stuff up  

Edited March 25 by The Ouzo