Knysna 85km MTB Race

[mongoose_dude]

Just wanted to hear some opinions from other people who did this race...

 

What'd you think of it? Why did they shorten the route down to 75km? What times did you guys ride? Did you like the structure (jeep track vs single track vs forest)? Easy or difficult? Did you do it on hardtail or softtail?

 

Let the comments flow!

 

[Bos]

What I thought: As always a very nice route, some big climbs up early and plenty of fast forrest roads before the singletracks which were rad as always.

 

Why they shortened the route: Its been like that for as long as I can remember. 73km on my garmin.

 

I rode 3:52 (my time keeping)

 

Did you like the structure? I dont really understand this question..

 

Easy or difficult: I'd say the conditions was great so It was easier then other times.

 

Fs. the first 40km I was wishing for a hardtail but nearer to the second half I started apprechiating old faithfull again.

 

Comments:

 

Mabe it was me just being slow but in the passed It fealt like the slow riders from the 50km was faster, This year I had to try pass some real palukas. It would be great If they can keep the routes seperate til the end.

 

What was your opinions?

 

[Cassie]

Everything was brilliantly organised!

Enjoyed the 50km race and will "upgrade" to big boyz next year!

 

There was a good atmosphere in the Heineken beer tent afterwards too...

[mongoose_dude]

 

Did you like the structure? I dont really understand this question..

 

What I meant by the "structure" question was: did you like the mix of

jeep track and single track / forest and open riding etc. I thought

that the route could have done with more single track.

 

 

 

I did the thing on my mongoose meteore (hardtail) and near the end my ass and back were so sore - it wasn't funny!

 

 

 

I agree that they should keep the 50 and 85 tracks separate until the

end. I know many 50km riders who were very upset about 85 km riders who

wanted to pass them. To me it was also irritating that many of the 50km

riders did not want to  get out of the way, and that basically NOBODY

was following the "keep left, pass right" rule.

 

 

 

Conditions were awesome for the race. Really enjoyed it. Beautiful area too...

 

 

 

I measured 3h37 for my time...

 

[mongoose_dude]

 

Everything was brilliantly organised!

Enjoyed the 50km race and will "upgrade" to big boyz next year!

 

There was a good atmosphere in the Heineken beer tent afterwards too...

 

I agree: organisation was AMAZING... The guys did a great job.

 

If you can do the 50, then I'm sure you'd be fine on the 85. It's great fun

 

Regarding the beer: I had one after I finished, and almost passed out. heheh. Slept very nicely on Saturday evening.

 

[Tumbleweed]

mmmmmm?gotta do this one next year!

[droo]

Mabe it was me just being slow but in the passed It fealt like the slow riders from the 50km was faster' date=' This year I had to try pass some real palukas. It would be great If they can keep the routes seperate til the end.

 

?

 

What was your opinions?

 

?

[/quote']

 

 

 

Oi. I resent that.

 

 

 

50km was cool, singletrack was a bit lacking but with that many people it's just a procession / hiking trail anyway. Maybe an explanation at registration of what 'track please' means would help...

 

 

 

Great ride, took it quite easy, and most importantly the beer at the finish was frosty and came in pints

[shanejvv]

In hindsight I can say that I enjoyed the ride.

 

As far as I know, its always been 73/5km and not the advertised 85.

 

I rode on a carbon hardtail 29'er and think it was great. After I blew sky high I was grovelling for my 29'er full susser. Too bad its in Europe right now.

 

Early climbs were nasty, the rest was good, singletrack fantastic.

 

BUT, I have my reservations about the structure....I'd like to see more mountain biking and less Epic-style, dirt road riding. But that's just being prissy.

 

For me this ride was very hard, I'm only trained up for a max 2 hour mtb event and promptly heard a loud, double bang as I entered the famous singletrack. Turns out it was my legs....and my back....and my arms....and my brains got scrambled too from lack of suspension travel (or is it just me?)

 

Finish time 3h12m

 

[Cheryl J]

First time I've done the longer route and I also enjoyed it. ??MUCH nicer than the 50k. ?

 

Not having ridden quite that far for a while, I took my time and enjoyed the scenery. ?And surprised myself by surviving (obviously 35k rides up and down alpine 'hills' aren't such bad training...).

 

Agree with Shane re the dirt road thing but hey - it was a pretty day and Petrus se Btrand is always fun - including its singletrack (very fun). ?The water points were nicely stocked and all the Marshalls very friendly (thanks to the guy who slowed me down somewhere before I x'd myself down a steep hill on a horrible corner).

 

It was a bit scary / tricky at the end coming down the ridge with all the shorter route back markers.... ?Most were great and moved out the way though it must have been scary to have someone going past as fast as I was (- trying to -).

 

As for 'Palukas'? ?I saw lots and lots of people out enjoying themselves and MTBing,?as?well?as lots who ummm weren't and probably sunk sooo far into their misery/tiredness that moving out the way while walking for someone still riding was beyond them (at least I'll charitably ascribe it to this!).

 

In all, a fun day - not too technical / tricky but then I don't think it's intended to be!

 

?

 

 

 

 

 

[Shakes]

I kept to the keep left rule>>>>>>> Maybe I'm not NOBODY THEN

[Cassie]

Only 2 things that pissed me off was (1) the amount of gel packets lying all over the place

 

(2) The bloody roadies cycling outside of the yellow line towards Plett and having made me swerve into oncomming traffic lane to avoid them...it was not a closed road (argus) race so keep to the rules, guys!!

 

 

[mongoose_dude]

 

I kept to the keep left rule>>>>>>> Maybe I'm not NOBODY THEN

 

Fair enough... My apologies. Did not mean for it to be a dick comment at all... I was just very frustrated by many many many people who insisted on riding right and who did not move left when the left track was open. Perhaps the event organisers should say a few things about that at the race starts...

 

[mongoose_dude]

 

Only 2 things that pissed me off was (1) the amount of gel packets lying all over the place

 

 

 

agreed. I also got annoyed by the littering, especially since the guys asked very nicely in the flyers that people should please keep empty packets on them.

 

I always stick the things in my pocket when they are empty. The two milliseconds you lose by doing this are surely not too terrible, right?

 

[mongoose_dude]

 

 

 

BUT' date=' I have my reservations about the structure....I'd like to see more mountain biking and less Epic-style, dirt road riding. But that's just being prissy.

 

For me this ride was very hard, I'm only trained up for a max 2 hour mtb event and promptly heard a loud, double bang as I entered the famous singletrack. Turns out it was my legs....and my back....and my arms....and my brains got scrambled too from lack of suspension travel (or is it just me?)

 

Finish time 3h12m

 

[/quote']

 

It was definitely not easy... My back was bloody sore at the end because of the absence of rear suspension, and i pumped my fork WAY too hard... so my hands were kakking as well.  Especially down that last downhill. heheh good times