Old Mutual Wealth Double Century 2025

[Charles71]

My first DC in the bag. Our team disintegrated in the heat and wind and we had to send six up the road to make the cutoff as a mixed team. While we missed out on Charles Milner by 6mins, the whole team finished and the post celebrations were made the whole occassion that much better. I'm already thinking of the next one 🤩

Edited November 24, 2025 by Charles71

[Eugene Oppelt]

Just add gusts.💋

[capediver]

38 minutes ago, MongooseMan said:

Not my day (cramps, heat, etc), but got some nice footage from the first half:
 

 

Cool edit!!! Well done!

[HdB]

28 minutes ago, MongooseMan said:

Not my day (cramps, heat, etc), but got some nice footage from the first half:
 

 

The 360 footage works quite nicely!
I had my new-to-me GoPro 11 on the Floaty grip - I thought the size would make it uncomfortable to carry/use, but it actually worked well to get in and out of my pocket. But especially later on in the strong wind, I didn't dare try and take it out.
I've only checked my footage on the GoPro screen, so will see how it actually turns out when cobbled together.
 

Our team managed to finish with all that started, a few minutes over 9h. Half of the riders need little mirrors for Xmas.
The heat caught our UK-based rider, before the Bonnievale stop already; he only joined the team on Monday due to a withdrawal, flew over and did his one and only ride with us on Thursday with borrowed shoes, pedals, shorts, and shirt. Not his first DC with us, but in 2023 he had months to prepare.
We managed to shepherd him and another who started cramping on the witches, to just before the finish where the other half of the team was waiting.

Don't think I'll be joining this particular herd of cats next year.

[splat]

We called that the Tour de Air Fryer

Our brains were baked from Roberston circle, so people stopped communicating and then we couldn't remember where people were. So we went from a tight Marine Code to absolute Pirate Code and had to wait 20 mins on the line for the last two (who we thought that we were chasing, but we had actually left them behind at the Drew Coke stand).

We got our Charles Milner medal, but it was a bit anti climactic...

Another adventure for the books though.
#19 for me.

[Bub Marley]

11 minutes ago, splat said:

We called that the Tour de Air Fryer

Our brains were baked from Roberston circle, so people stopped communicating and then we couldn't remember where people were. So we went from a tight Marine Code to absolute Pirate Code and had to wait 20 mins on the line for the last two (who we thought that we were chasing, but we had actually left them behind at the Drew Coke stand).

We got our Charles Milner medal, but it was a bit anti climactic...

Another adventure for the books though.
#19 for me.

I agree with that description of anticlimactic for the Charles Milner. I’ve never understood waiting in the baking sun just to get a second medal. As cool as it is getting that second medal, I feel the whole point of it is riding together as a team from start to finish. Two years ago my team went through the same ordeal with waiting on the line just for that medal. I don’t think that’s what the medal is supposed to be for. 

[PhilipV]

What a lekker day out. So much so I might just keep the road bike and ride it next year again. We didn’t finish together. Two riders got into the car at the supporter zones. But we came in nearly 30mins below goal time at 7:32. We made a few mistakes, not planning well led to me being left behind at the top of Tradouw and a fractured team riding down.  But riding back into our group was a lot of fun. I Latched onto a lekker group and caught up with most of our team members about halfway to Montagu picking up the last ones just before Montagu. 
After the stop we stuck together and shepherded everyone across the line. The bigger guys were breaking the wind and the smaller, stronger climbers helped push where needed on those last climbs.Im really glad we did a few warm rides. The heat was rof. At one stage my wife was stuffing her sports bra with ice. I tried to follow suit by stuffing ice in my shirt, it worked but the ice water dripping down into my pants was not something I was expecting. Maybe I’ll take a leaf out of the trail runner handbook and get a few ice bandanas going. 

The post race braai, fines and rugby game was a jol on its own. And for a last hurrah we woke up to a thunderstorm, followed by more rain than expected. all fine and dandy, except that we were camping. But even packing up and dodging rain was gees with our team. 
 

definitely a weekend for the books. 

[PhilipV]

Oh, I haven’t seen so many E-bikes together since riding at Lourensford. 
We even had a whole team on roadie e-bikes climbing past us on the way to Drew, only to block us on the descent. Ek was nie dik van die lag nie. 
 

[Skubarra]

38 minutes ago, PhilipV said:

Oh, I haven’t seen so many E-bikes together since riding at Lourensford. 
We even had a whole team on roadie e-bikes climbing past us on the way to Drew, only to block us on the descent. Ek was nie dik van die lag nie. 
 

Think those e-bikes caught me when I was cramping/crawling over the last b&tch - also wasn't amused by those motors and low cadence flying past me.

[Rapunzel]

Maybe a daft question but what's the deal with the "Kings of the Atlantic Seaboard" category and how do teams qualify? 

[milky4130]

17 minutes ago, Rapunzel said:

Maybe a daft question but what's the deal with the "Kings of the Atlantic Seaboard" category and how do teams qualify? 

https://www.instagram.com/kingsoftheatlanticseaboard?igsh=MWtmaDBudzJ5c2F3dg==

You may want to start here 🫠And here

https://www.instagram.com/reel/ClyjAarq717/?igsh=MW1oOHRqczYzMm9ybQ==

Edited November 24, 2025 by milky4130

[F@yino]

Any idea who won the “Kings in the North?” 

[Skubarra]

8 minutes ago, F@yino said:

Any idea who won the “Kings in the North?” 

Not sure if RDX qualify but if they count as North probably them.

Then second Joeys Vleisprodukte and 3rd CMC

[DieselnDust]

4 hours ago, Rapunzel said:

Maybe a daft question but what's the deal with the "Kings of the Atlantic Seaboard" category and how do teams qualify? 

If you have to ask you’ll never qualify….

#justsaying

[CTLonewolf]

With Sub-7 on the brain and legs full of dangerous optimism, Team Cellucity rolled up to the start line(06h08) looking questionably confident. Preparation? YES. Morale? YES. Questionable life decisions? Also YES.

We fired out of the blocks like a team who definitely knew what they were doing… at least for the first few kilometres. Somewhere before Suurbraak I hit my “frustration wobble,” but I kept the faith — Captain had a plan, and apparently I had no choice but to stick to it. We eased the pace when no one wanted to help pull, which lasted all of five kilometres before everyone collectively decided, “Nah, we’re racing again.”

At the top of Op de Tradouw I glanced at the computer and saw 28 km/h average. Honestly, I thought my Wahoo was pranking me. But nope — that’s when the fun officially began.

Rolling into the first feed zone, our support crew looked at us like we’d arrived a full day early. Shout-out to the ladies: they regrouped with Formula 1 pit-stop energy. I even told my wife she could take her time getting to feed zone 2… but of course that one came flying at us just as fast.

The team was still firing well — okay, fine, one or two of us were touring the dark place, but hey, character is built there. The last 40 km though… yoh. Those 3 Sisters with a block headwind felt personal. That’s when I realised: I’d put together one hell of a team. The strong hauled the broken, and somehow, all of us — legs, lungs and questionable language included — crossed the line together.

Final time: 7h02.
Bright side: we chopped 47 minutes off last year.
Less bright side: I may never emotionally recover from those last 40 km.

But the true win? We didn’t just race — we rode for something bigger. Our mission was to raise funds for a home of safety and crèche in the north, and we did exactly that.

Team Cellucity riding for Shifting Hearts — mission accomplished.
And yes… let’s absolutely do it again in 2026. Preferably with less wind. And maybe a tailwind clause in the entry form. @BuffsVintageBikes Lets do it again in 2026...

[Pure Savage]

17 hours ago, milky4130 said:

https://www.instagram.com/kingsoftheatlanticseaboard?igsh=MWtmaDBudzJ5c2F3dg==

You may want to start here 🫠And here

https://www.instagram.com/reel/ClyjAarq717/?igsh=MW1oOHRqczYzMm9ybQ==

Dont even start....

 

16 hours ago, Skubarra said:

Not sure if RDX qualify but if they count as North probably them.

Then second Joeys Vleisprodukte and 3rd CMC

Where ASAP from? Is somerset west lumped with the garden Route?