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Rant - Nissan Tygervalley 30km


Christie

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A friend asked if I would do the 30km with her - I thought it would be nice, the start is close to my house, and I was curious about the trails they would use.

 

Since she has not ridden for a while, we thought it bettter to start in the middle of the bunch. The big stuff up happened about 6km into the race - the lead motorcycle went the right way, but then thought he had gone the wrong way, and turned around. This meant that the middle of the field integrated with the front. The guy on the bike scolded us to "just follow the arrows" when he cam past. After about 2km, the motorcycle crew realized that they were heading back to the start, and that this could not be right, and turned around again. At this point in time, fast guys were at the back of the field, and what was the back of the field found themselves at the front of the race, shortly before the start of a long stretch of single track.

 

I am not at all skilled in technical off-road riding, but the single track was very nice and very ridable imo. It was enormously frustrating to stand in a long line waiting to get going every now and then. The congestion was caused by people getting off their bikes (and not clearing the track) to rather walk over small tree roots etc. It was such stretch of trail, reminded me of Van Gaalen's.

 
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I did the 54k, and I am tired. came in at 2:44. After two breakdowns that cost me 10mins. The route was rough and the single track was awsome, espacialy the part in the forest. FPC could do better, but good show on average...

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I did the longer one, nearly took a wrong turn only once. It was a great race, fast and lots of fun. 2:17.

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This was my first mtb race and it was really great to meet some very friendly people, it was awesome.

 

I have to agree with Christies comments, I was also on of those who did the "extra loop".  The single track would have been awesome if the field was spread out more, it was fustrating waiting in the long ques, but met some great people.

 

I really enjoyed the event and it's a pity I'm going to miss the Diamond Rush next month, but I will be a the following one.....I'm HOOKED.

 

I am looking forward to meet some more friendly mtb people in Centurion.
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Daar is tyd verskil van 22 min tussen my ry tyd en my algehele tyd en het 36,8 km op my speedo gekry .Kyk ek het darem lekker gatvol geraak toe ek die een ou vir die derde keer verby gaan en hy het nie een keer verby my gekom nie . Baie mense het shortcuts gevat om die bottel nekke te vermy. Ek dink as daar nie opeenhopings was nie sou dit 'n baie vinnige race gewees het.

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Also did the 54k - Great ride - Only complaints I heard were from the single track backup on the 30km loop (caused by the wrong turn???) Well done Wessel and company!

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Nee ek dink al hoe meer gister se race was 'n boggerop self die timing is 'n gemors van die 8 persone in ons klub het net een volgens hulle die race voltooi . Fritz Pienaar en Spektrum sport(tyd houers) sal hulle sokkies moet op trek as hulle van die reeks 'n sukses wil maak . Ek sal dit ernstig moet oorweeg of ek die volgende race gaan doen.

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When we saw the size of the field I thought we might have a bit of congestion.

Unfortunately we were in the group that got sent the wrong way and ended up at the back when the single track started it was so frustrating to spend 45 mins walking rideable single track that looked really good

 

I know the organisers put a huge amount of work in but to send us the wrong way really did spoil alot of the ride with the resultant backlog

 

On the plus side parking was easy the parts we rode were really good and our 30 k ride ended up at 36.12 so we got 6k's for free LOLoh yes the jelly babies were nice after the last climb just before the finish

 

Is it not possible to stagger the starts to try cut down on the congestion?

 

 
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Het die lange gedoen en natuurlik het die normale suspects met hulle carbon frame al vroeg begin sorry, sorry, sorry om voor te kom net om op die #$@#$ single track te stop om deur n waterstroompie te loop of om die 45K dualie oor n stompie te tel.  Ek is geen Burry nie maar as ek nie iets kan @#$@# ry nie kom ek uit die pad sodat ander dit wel kan doen. Ek verander nie n 0.0023% incline in n donnerse hike n bike nie Angry

 

Danksy julle poepolle het ek uitgemis op die prysgeld Confused o wag ek ry vir n top 265 posisies. Elkegeval ek voel nou better Wink

 

Die single track wat ek wel kon ry was great.

 

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Did the 55km as a training ride with some buddies, course was excellent, some really nice singletrack, especially that bits around the river. Problem was the amount of people, either they have to limit the entries, or do some sort of staggered start or something. As for people getting lost, I though the course was marked well enough.

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The race was shocking! About as fun as peak time traffic trip on the N1! Clearly Fritz Pienaar is clearly more interested in raking in the cash and pushing in as many people in the field to finance some new price fixing scam...

 

 

 

Really poor organising and not limiting the entries was a big mistake. We spent close to an hour standing next to our bikes on the singletrack sections due the congestion. Really frustrating!

 

 

 

We struggled to get to the front of the pack as the 60km guys also joined the field which made it very congested and once you were stuck behind a slow bloke you were stuck.

 

 

 

The trail was awesome, however, we couldn't ride it due to the bad congestion. This could've been a great race if it was better organised and numbers limited. Spending 40% of your riding time pushing your bike in congested sections is just not acceptable.

 

 

 

Unfortunately I already entered for the Diamond rush... After Saturday it'll clearly not be worthwhile to drive out to Cullinan...

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Did the 54km (60km), agree starts have to be staggered it will give everyone the opportunity to really ride. Not to technical and some really nice spots, route for me was very well marked, much better than Monster, all in all a nice ride. Waterpoints made a real effort.  BUT PLEASE Mnr Pienaar and Co Can we stagger the starts.  

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Squier (sic!),

 

So you didn't like the race. I really enjoyed the 60km, even though I got there late and had to pass a lot of people to get to the singletrack with a decent group. This isn't unique to this race, I have had the same experience at other races that integrate the long and short loops, like Barberton and Walkerville, etc.

 

However, the intro to your post pissed me off, and though you are entitled to your opinion, the whole raking in the cash and price fixing scam nonsense makes the rest of your valid comments, to me at least, total crap. Cheap shots.
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For me, this race just highlighted the need to be extremely selective about which MTB races I do.

 

 

 

From now on I'll stick to a simple rule: I only enter MTB races that have one of the following:

 

 

 

- The first km or two on tar or a wide dirt road with plenty overtaking space.

 

- Proper seeding (this is long overdue in MTB races).

 

- No integration of long and short distance routes for sections where overtaking is not possible/difficult.

 

 

 

I don't pay to enter MTB races so I can wait in queues on the course or fight for a place on the start line with people who have no business being near the front. Jules2009-06-22 01:44:31

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ek het ook leka gestap by die awsome single track deel!!!! Thumbs%20Down 

die gr8 race is gespoil deur the groot getalle en mense  wat eerder hul fietse wil stoot by dele waar mens kan ry....

 

ons het oorweeg om terug te draai net om die single track te kon ry... maar daar was nog te veel mense in die Q...
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I did the 53km, and knowing that 60km isn't really my distance I started way way back in the pack. Needless to say when I got to the single track I did what everyone else did and stood chatting to OxWagon. Potentially a great route by the river. Wonder if it is possible to ride it on a normal day???

 

 

 

It was a hard race for me as it was completely flat and there was no place to relax and recover. I had to work all the time. Even riding with DR and Jules didn't make it any easier. I am sorry I didn't stop at the water point with the fudge though....

 

 

 

The 1 thing that was a bit annoying was that I followed the marked route that went over the little bump, with the chap that had a bleeding eye....(hope it wasn't too serious but a helmet in 2 doesn't paint nice pictures). There were people coming from the left at that point and we were all confused as to where they were coming from. Apparently they got redirected and ended up in front of us (that followed the route) in the single track....

 

 

 

I would like DR to admit here that I beat him in the sprint smiley17.gif

 

 

 

As to the race and so on.....Wessel we all saw beforehand that you put a lot of effort into this race/series. It is appreciated even though it doesn't seem so from this topic. The way you guys tried to make the entries in a way that was cheaper and have them on your own site, maybe you can try and introduce seeding in your series. It seems there's a lot of people that won't enter another race in the series and it is quite sad if you can provide nice routes. I do not know how difficult or easy it is to introduce a seeding but why not be one of the first series to do it? I can assure you it will be very well received. Love the socks btw...

 

 

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