Emperors Palace Classic

[mercurystorm]

Agreed, the one section on particular was crazy, it wasnt even dodge the pothole, it was more like find a small piece of tar to stay on... i managed to survive that section and still get a rear tire blowout just before making it back to carnival city, ugh!

[djvr]

The race organization was not to bad. One complain from my wife. There was no water at the water points. It should be called something else.

 

She cannot drink Coke and Powerade due to sugar levels. Ironnically there was only water at the finish in a powerade trailor/tank. Surely they could have provided water at the waterpoints on a hot day like today.

 

 

 

Ok I suppose they cannot please everybody. Just a thought

[Minion]

 

 

Nasty potholes' date=' couldn't organisers stick some fill as a temporary fix?[/quote']

I liked the announcement at the start:

"Watch out for the potholes at 38km."

 

I did. I watched very carefully and saw one small one at 38km. I guess they missed the elephant in the corner 7km later!

 

They did also mention that the holes were too big to fill. I believe them.

Edman2010-02-07 10:27:11

[Radfahrer]

 

Nasty potholes' date=' couldn't organisers stick some fill as a temporary fix?[/quote']

I liked the announcement at the start:

"Watch out for the potholes at 38km."

 

I did. I watched very carefully and saw one small one at 38km. I guess they missed the elephant in the corner 7km later!

 

She said FROM 38km, but forgot to mention for the next 10km

 

[Radfahrer]

Anyone know who the BulkPack guy was that slipped behind a Toyota bakkie for about 10km after the potholes section???? (VA bunch)

What are the rules and how long can you sit behind your team car for. I remember Nolan Hofman getting his wrist slapped for this at a 94.7?

Gotta get someone to pull me back into the bunch when I get tired or puncture or whatever the reason is!!!!

 

[Pantani]

 

Yes, those were not holes, more like meteor damage... I went through two on the motorbike and somehow managed to keep it up and watched in horror as the elite bunch spread out all over the road trying to avoid them. Miraculously nobody went down. There was so little road to ride on in that section, more hole than pot and more pot than road...

Pantani2010-02-07 10:37:49

[nero123]

I also had 105.6 and a friend of mine with a polar 106.1, not 97 or 99!

[ewep]

Yes' date=' those were not holes, more like meteor damage... I wnet through two on the motorbike and watched in horror as the elite bunch spread out all over the road trying to avoid them. Miraculously nobody went down. There was so little road to ride on in that section, more hole than pot and more pot than road... [/quote']

 

 

Agreed!  I usually try to warn the bunch of any holes, but here it would've been easier to show the guys WHERE to ride.  Lap 2 showed me how bad it REALLY was.  Very glad all managed to get through safely.

[Pantani]

 

Yes' date=' those were not holes, more like meteor damage... I wnet through two on the motorbike and watched in horror as the elite bunch spread out all over the road trying to avoid them. Miraculously nobody went down. There was so little road to ride on in that section, more hole than pot and more pot than road... [/quote']

 

 

Agreed!  I usually try to warn the bunch of any holes, but here it would've been easier to show the guys WHERE to ride.  Lap 2 showed me how bad it REALLY was.  Very glad all managed to get through safely.

 

Hahahaha, I know, I saw you pointing out the holes as we went but that section just had too many, it was hard enough watching for yourself, nevermind the army behind you...

 

[Thug]

I had a total distance of 105.something or other on my Garmin.

 

 

 

Fortunately I didn't puncture on that pothole section but after hitting a crater, my right STI shifted by 45 degrees. Was fun trying to climb that hill and try and change gears.

 

 

 

One dude in an MTN kit (VB) decided that the easiest way to crest the hill was to motor pace a truck for a couple of k's. Didn't help him though as we caught him up and he promptly sat in the bunch and did no work for the next 50k's !!

[Radfahrer]

 

Anyone know who the BulkPack guy was that slipped behind a Toyota bakkie for about 10km after the potholes section???? (VA bunch)

What are the rules and how long can you sit behind your team car for. I remember Nolan Hofman getting his wrist slapped for this at a 94.7?

Gotta get someone to pull me back into the bunch when I get tired or puncture or whatever the reason is!!!!

 

 

so anyone know what the rules are? I know he didn't feature at the finish. Maybe I am just a bit jealous I didn't get the same help

 

[levett]

105.3 km on my Garmin

 

Just a couple of small complaints from me (apart from the potholes)

 

1) The big dual carriageway intersection a few km's from the end (100'ish)where we got stopped, and they seemed to let every possible permutation of traffic go for ages before they let us go - I'm not sure if it was because we were near the back (the rest of the Marshalling was very good though).

 

2) Was the distance - only 8k or 9k or so longer than advertised, but I was looking forward to finishing, and the last few km seemed to go on for ever!

 

Overall, a good race and well Marshalled.

[mercurystorm]

 

105.3 km on my Garmin

1) The big dual carriageway intersection a few km's from the end (100'ish)where we got stopped' date=' and they seemed to let every possible permutation of traffic go for ages before they let us go - I'm not sure if it was because we were near the back (the rest of the Marshalling was very good though).

[/quote']

 

Agreed, they stopped us for a good 3-4 minutes while every car in boksburg was allowed through, i thought at one stage they wouldn't let us go again, it took forever.

 

[MyKey]

Hey I was also stopped in Boksburg to allow those cars through.. Did not like it cause that was just before a hill so lost momentum and was in the freaking wrong gear when I had to start up again...

 

Potholes was a killer.. but cause the race was about a few KM longer than what I expected, I burnt most of my energy at about the 96km - 99km distance.. only then did I see that "ball" infront of emperors in a distance.. thats when I knew I was F***ed... really struggled up that last hill... But is all good, I will learn for next time.. Don't TRUST THE ORGANISERS WITH REGARDS TO DISTANCE (i.e distance to potholes and distance to finish) .. they lie.. *** Just Joking ***

 

The whole water at the "water points" was a bit of a disapointment cause I don't drink coke or poweraid either...

 

But loved the race never the less....

[levett]

Did anyone see the guy cycling on the bike which must have been at least 25 years old - he has shorts that he'd sewn a makeshift Chamois on the outside and he'd sewn couldoured panels on on ordinary tee shirt to make it look more like a cycling shirt. He had one of the thickest, wooliest, hats I've ever seen under his (ill-fitting) cycling helmet (his head must have been boiling) , and was cycling in (very) old takkies.

 

Someone had obviously donated a bike to him and, presumably, the entry.

 

does anyone know who he is? He was going quite well (doing the long course) and deserves a pair of cycling shorts and (even if it's second hand) a cycling shirt - if he's going to wear takkies, he might also find it earier with flat (rather than clipless) pedals

[scotty]

I think the orgs did the best they could, at the start they mentioned the orgs worked till late and the area where the potholes were is not the best place to work, they also ran out of road filler.

 

North Rand was always going to be a challenge to regulate traffic, its the busiest road in Boksburg.