Rant - Nissan Tygervalley 30km

[amoryns]

sheeeesh mtbikers can whinge.

if its to wet' date=' to conjested, to many bridges, to many new people, whinge whinge whinge and YES I am whinging
[/quote']

 

It is what we do

 

 

its all roadie wannabe mtbikers.....real mountain bike races are not held in johannesburg

amoryns2009-06-22 03:45:54

[Thug]

 

sheeeesh mtbikers can whinge.

 

if its to wet' date=' to conjested, to many bridges, to many new people, whinge whinge whinge and YES I am whinging

[/quote']

 

It is what we do

 

 

its all roadie wannabe mtbikers.....real mountain bike races are not held in johannesburg

 

 

well said Amoryn !!

 

 

 

 

 

[RABUBI]

It was pretoria you scmucks

[MJ the Expat]

Everyone whines man - roadies, mtbikers, DH...last time I checked we were south africans...THIS IS WHAT WE DO!

 

Sort of ties in with my song of the week:

 

Do you have the time,

to listen to me whine,

About nothing

and everything

all at once?

 

Can I pick'em?

[amoryns]

It was pretoria you scmucks

 

even worse

[ConradJ]

i enjoyed the race! started at the back of the 60km pack and had to wait about 5 min because of congestion...

 

there was enough open road space in the first 10km to overtake the not so fast riders...if you got lost on the 60km route your a moron cause it was well marked and really easy to follow.

 

i just think it was a pity that there was only about 100 people at the awards ceremony...

 

all in all it was a fun and not too hard race...

 

[Fritz Pienaar]

 

Hi All

 

Thanks to everyone who took part in the 1st event and I apologize for the confusion on the 30km!

It is terrible when something like this happens, after we put in a massive amount of work. The confusion was caused by the lead biker taking the wrong turn. We rode the whole route on Tuesday, so I'm not sure how he got confused - especially since it was marked correctly.

This basically caused a restart with insufficient distance to spread the field before the single track.

 

We will have a seeding system with staggered start in Cullinan and will use the Tyger Valley race as a basis to work from, but we'll be flexible and will take other events into consideration where needed.

 

 

Fritz Pienaar2009-06-22 04:40:27

[_Daemon_]

Good to see a race organizer coming back and listening to what everyone says.

[Spaceboy]

This hasn't been mentioned yet...because i assume it got sorted out quickly...but in the 60km race after about 10k i was chasing the lead pack like crazy, and just couldn't get closer than 200m, when i turned a corner and saw them all standing there lifting their bike over a gate and then jumping over themselves.... Fritz was standing by on the phone obviously trying to get this gate opened asap. It was a relief to me as it allowed me to get back in touch, but i'm sure the others were frustrated... but again, it seems the gate got opened, as i can only imagine the queue if everyone had to climb over.

 

 

 

Fritz...your efforts are appreciated, and the track was really good and well marked.Good luck with the next race

[onebynine]

I saw Wessel at the finish looking very stressed about the people going the wrong way, I don't know about the 30km but the 51-54km (depends on who you talk to) was fantastic, I agree maybe the marking could've been a bit better in some places but in all a well put on event.

[jagwil]

Well done Fritz. Despite the bottlenecks on the single track I thoroughly enjoyed the 30 (36.5) km race. I will be at Cullinan and Southdowns and will do this one again next year.

[AfreekduSoet]

The single track, where we weren't standing in line waiting to cross, was amazing.  Had a lot of fun but the organization really seemed a mess.  Had people joining from all kinds of directions on the route.

 

For the start, will make sure to be there early next time and moer my way to the front.  Too many boardshorters.

 

Also, Fritz needs to learn not to cross a road while on his cellie and not looking left or right... 

 

Does nobody think R140 is a bit much for a mtb ride?  Almost R3/km of dirt.  Se maar net.

[Geoff]

All in all it was a great event!

 

as for the bottlenecks:

 

IMHO....I think its not the organizers slip-up....but rather the MTBikers themselves! It's a MTB event for crying out loud...if you cant handle the rough stuff start at the back! It was shocking to see how many peeps cant ride/handle technical terrain ...

 

I must admit that the marking at one or two sections could have been better for the not so experienced rider....but coming from an Off-Road Racing background....the route marking made 100% sense to me...normally one have a certain amount of "navigation" skills!!! Maybe there should have been more marshalls at certain "forks/crossroads"!?!?

 

I know I've mentioned this already...BUT I still feel annoyed with MTBikers in the mid to front pack that stops for every little crossing/log or any other obstacle.....COME ON...momentum is key for conquering most obstacles!

 

Phew...I feel better now

Geoff2009-06-23 00:01:59

[Pretorim]

I was one of those in the 30 who chased the frontrunners and had to turn around no less than 4 times! (That'll teach me to try and be in front). It turned out that the last time was one too many to try and get through the masses from behind and got seriously caught up at the singletrack which to my amazement most people were unable to ride.

I don't think my result is thus an accurate reflection of my ability on the day, but must say that I still enjoyed the vibe and ridable sections.

Never thought I would ever see calm and collected Wessel could stress: I saw him stressed like an elastic band! However, much has been said and I dont think one should critisize the event organisers for the mistake of one person (Lead Biker). Overall I think Fritz and Wessel did well in organising this event which most people enjoyed and will be back for the next as well. Furthermore, don't forget all the sponsorships - they did'nt just land out of nowhere. In these times I'm sure it takes quite some convincing to get them on board. We need them and do not want to dissapoint them.

Well done FPC.

VIVA NISSAN MTB SERIES!!!

[dirtrider]

1 : Bored Girl beat me to the line in a sprint finish

 

2 : It was a great race and I enjoyed the standing time at the single track .

 

3 : I got to see Oxwagen more than once on the route

 

4 : Where is my post count now

 

 

 

Get ROAG to help with the seeding , I am sure they want to be presented here in gauteng as well .

[Eldron]

I did the 60km and enjoyed it thoroughly - I was also the victim of the locked gate and got lost once when the trail broke up into 5 or 6 trails and I missed a white arrow (which is easy to do when going balls to the wall). I lost maybe 3min in total - no biggie.

Loved the route - the split of single track (the forest rocked!!), jeep track and a seriously rocky downhill near the finsih (which I did with my shocks locked out DOHDOH!!) was excellent.

 

A really fast course though - not much time to drink or eat if you were racing up front - I suffered no congestion at all (apart from said locked gate).

 

I feel your pain though - there is nothing worse than walking what should be flowing single track..

 

Bring on Round 2 - hopefully the seeding will solve these issues.