[Event] Tour de PPA

[MongooseMan]

1 hour ago, Pure Savage said:

Cam almost opted for it as well! He downloaded the 78km onto his Garmin. (Luckily he wasnt on the front)

Didn't stop the 5 people on the front calling a left turn as we passed the Windmeul. Almost caused a bit of a problem... 🙈

[MongooseMan]

Seeding run is done, beta of 0.9, adjusted winning time of 2:23:41

[KingZA]

Seeding has been updated to include these results.

Thank you @Pure Savage, you took me from an index of 23 to lucky number 13 👌👌

[bleedToWin]

13 minutes ago, MongooseMan said:

Seeding run is done, beta of 0.9, adjusted winning time of 2:23:41

Jeepers. Actual winning time only gets a 5.65, which is most likely not good enough for a $ start at CTCT... 💀

[Pure Savage]

1 hour ago, KingZA said:

Seeding has been updated to include these results.

Thank you @Pure Savage, you took me from an index of 23 to lucky number 13 👌👌

No good deed goes unpunished: 

Was so lekker though! 

 

Worked a lot less for that 99er seeding than the Tour de PPA one. 

Edited February 23 by Pure Savage

[Kom]

5 hours ago, Pure Savage said:

Worked a lot less for that 99er seeding than the Tour de PPA one

Some comparison between the 99er and Tour de PPA for the first 50 riders (Assuming Elites)

Key Takeaways
The 99er was significantly faster — approximately 3.3–4.4 km/h quicker across the board.

Race dynamics were completely different:

The 99er finished as a bunch sprint — all 50 riders within 13 seconds of each other. This means a large group stayed together the entire race, drafting effectively, and the outcome was decided by a sprint.

The Tour de PPA had an 8+ minute spread across the top 50, indicating the race broke up, likely with attacks, a smaller leading group, or more demanding conditions.

What this suggests about field quality:

A bunch finish in the 99er doesn't necessarily mean the field was faster — it may mean the course/conditions favoured a peloton staying together, inflating average speeds via drafting.

The Tour dPPA's spread is more indicative of a "true" competitive race where the stronger riders separated.

That said, ~44 km/h for 95km vs ~41.7 km/h for 105km on near-identical terrain is a meaningful difference — the 99er field (or conditions on that day) was genuinely quicker.

[Kom]

A wider comparison for the first 500 riders across the line.

[MongooseMan]

Updated CTCT seedings seem to be out on RaceTec

[bleedToWin]

11 hours ago, Kom said:

the 99er field (or conditions on that day) was genuinely quicker.

250m extra elevation in that extra 10km distance. 99er route also has sections that are steady while PPA is always undulating.

I wasn't at 99er to compare conditions or bunch dynamic, but can say this was a lifetime highest normalised power for 2.5h for me, so not an easy one. 

[Skubarra]

12 hours ago, Kom said:

Some comparison between the 99er and Tour de PPA for the first 50 riders (Assuming Elites)

Key Takeaways
The 99er was significantly faster — approximately 3.3–4.4 km/h quicker across the board.

Race dynamics were completely different:

The 99er finished as a bunch sprint — all 50 riders within 13 seconds of each other. This means a large group stayed together the entire race, drafting effectively, and the outcome was decided by a sprint.

The Tour de PPA had an 8+ minute spread across the top 50, indicating the race broke up, likely with attacks, a smaller leading group, or more demanding conditions.

What this suggests about field quality:

A bunch finish in the 99er doesn't necessarily mean the field was faster — it may mean the course/conditions favoured a peloton staying together, inflating average speeds via drafting.

The Tour dPPA's spread is more indicative of a "true" competitive race where the stronger riders separated.

That said, ~44 km/h for 95km vs ~41.7 km/h for 105km on near-identical terrain is a meaningful difference — the 99er field (or conditions on that day) was genuinely quicker.

Very cool post 👍

Both races had great conditions, think the PPA route is slightly more difficult and on the day there were some crosswinds to deal with which wasn't an issue on the 99er. Just looking at Strava the last 10km on Adderley was faster for most on the Tour de PPA with lots of KOMs, cups and PRs achieved.

[PappaWatTrap]

Started Sunday with my confidence level higher than my fitness in group B. Popped so bad I decided to call it a day at 30km. December/January I didn't put in enough time to be able to hold on. But NOW I am highly questioning my lack of focus over Des cause its my best start yet in 1A for the CTCT thanks to the Durbie Dash of last year but the legs aren't there. So any miracle advice like "boost your avg FTP by 50 watts in a week" would be highly appreciated.   

[Pure Savage]

1 hour ago, Skubarra said:

Very cool post 👍

Both races had great conditions, think the PPA route is slightly more difficult and on the day there were some crosswinds to deal with which wasn't an issue on the 99er. Just looking at Strava the last 10km on Adderley was faster for most on the Tour de PPA with lots of KOMs, cups and PRs achieved.

I also wonder if the way 99er was raced also doesn't effect the Tour de PPA. 99er, the C batch caught B and %, as people didn't want to work for a time and just wanted to "win" their group. 

With that in mind, I thought we would catch B group on Sunday on the road, we did let off when our youngster went off the front with 17km to go, so we only got within 40 seconds, so the group was not soft pedaling. We only finished ahead on time of B and half of A. So the groups pace was also effected I think by the previous race and how it went down. 

[Skubarra]

30 minutes ago, Pure Savage said:

I also wonder if the way 99er was raced also doesn't effect the Tour de PPA. 99er, the C batch caught B and %, as people didn't want to work for a time and just wanted to "win" their group. 

With that in mind, I thought we would catch B group on Sunday on the road, we did let off when our youngster went off the front with 17km to go, so we only got within 40 seconds, so the group was not soft pedaling. We only finished ahead on time of B and half of A. So the groups pace was also effected I think by the previous race and how it went down. 

I was in B, we didn't have a group doing pulls like Savage did in C but there were quite a few individuals taking turns up front and the pace was hard all the way. There was the odd attempted breakaway but it was mostly a consistent hard pace. We ended up only being 2,5 minutes slower than the main A bunch so I think B bunch rode well as a group. (and you guys did well to almost catch us -I saw on the flybys you  came very close on the Philadelphia road!)

[Eugene Oppelt]

Lekka content 🎙️

 

Edited February 26 by Eugene Oppelt

[Pure Savage]

16 hours ago, Eugene Oppelt said:

Lekka content 🎙️

 

Well filmed, its Bainskloof crash guy. 

That lunge for the line ...

 

9:55 savage being noisy in the background

Edited February 27 by Pure Savage