Baynesfield Super Classic

[Wobbles]

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I had received so many positive reports on the 25km route and the organization of this race that I, despite my aversion to anything looking like a drop-off or single track, decided to try it out. I am glad I did as it was a stunning morning.

 

 

It was a very well organised event and the route was everything that they said it was ? not too technical with a few little inclines and descents to keep one honest. The scenery was great and I did not know there were so many beautiful dams right on our doorstep!! I was a little concerned at the start as there was only one starting group and what looked like thousands of riders. Gary Flint controlled the start well and apologised for the large group as they had not expected so many entries. In hindsight, it was the best thing that ever happened!!

 

In the few rides I have done you always get fast riders in every group. These riders are racing and they are very impatient with the slower riders ahead of them in the earlier batch as they soon catch them up and things become rather chaotic. In this instance the riders instinctively lined up according to their ability and it was the most pleasant MTB ride I have ever done. There was no pushing and shoving and the riders were very well behaved and the children were very well controlled by their parents.

 

There were two well placed watering points and marshals were at all turning points and it was amazing to cross paths so often and so safely with riders doing the 10km and 45km routes and exchange comments!! The finishing line was well laid out and there was no congestion and it was great to receive one?s time so soon after finishing from Mr Price.

 

Well done Jowett?s on a well organised event.

 

Registration. This was my first experience with ROAG and I was eager to see how they performed. I had entered on-line and needed to collect my board and timing chip. There were two notices at the entrance ? one for late entries and one for pre-entries and timing chips. I, naturally, stood in the wrong queue as I misunderstood that timing chips actually meant that it was for those that had already collected their timing chip.

 

The other queue, naturally, was much longer. The queue took about 20 minutes and then one had to go to another table to collect the chip and then yet to another table to collect the stickers for the board. These number stickers were very finicky and too much for someone without reading glasses and I had to be assisted. Fortunately there were a lot of polite helpers around that were very eager to assist.

 

The whole registration process took 31 minutes. The beauty of it is now that I have my ROAG board and chip, I can now stand in the much shorter queue at the Toti 69er and the Illovo in Eston!! I am not sure what to do with the number board at the 69er as it is far too large to put on the front of my road bike??

Wobbles2009-07-10 12:27:44