[Event] TransBaviaans 2011

[Pom1]

This was as hard as it comes for a 1 day mtb race. we totally under estimated the ride from CP-2 to CP-3 48mins over schedule and then from CP-3 to 4 +32mins. We spent far too long at the CP's. CP-3 was a mess up 1 soup kitchen served by 1 person the queue was 10mins Minimum. I agree with the support vehicles, they were a pain, some MB Panel van driver decided she was faster than us going down from the "Mast" we could not see for dust. All in All though what a great race , I was totally , the Alt. route was Brutal in comparison. Since 2007 this race has grown, we are privledged, Thanks Wikus .

Edited August 15, 2011 by Pom1

[GLuvsMtb]

What would be interesting is if someone could superimpose the two route profiles over each other. I know road conditions etc also play a part, but simply looking at the 2 profiles is a good indicator on how much tougher the race was.

[Pom1]

 

 

The climb out of GR was far harder thn BP.

Edited August 15, 2011 by Pom1

[Dr Drey]

Can someone please please post the GPS file of the new route?

 

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fconnect.garmin.com%2Factivity%2F106457824&h=FAQDMderjAQB9K3BWVg05DdJBR-DxOOOs7_d2kN5nR9NjkA

[Velouria]

NO MORE SUPPORT CARS DURING THE RACE! The 20 teams that have these vehicles make things very difficult for the other 350 teams just so that they can enjoy not having to plan around crates. Stop it, it is just not necessary.

 

You have to feel for the Merrell teams - car got stuck in the mud after checkpoint 3 and they had to bum lights at checkpoint 4. All this while sitting in 4th or 5th place overall. Doubt they're going to send their backup vehicles along the route again.

[scuzzy]

We had support through the TB. I do not want to defend the organizers decision to offer this to the first 20 teams because we had the support, but want to share a conversation our team had regarding this and how in influence teams.

 

One of our team mates had to withdraw due to injury, but still decided to go with and support, as it turned out he ended up driving the back up vehicle. He said afterwards that as a MTB’er made driver he had sympathy with the riders, cause it must be difficult for them to climb and then fall over, either because you know there is a car behind you, or because the car in front of you stops suddenly, he also said that there were a few guys who really did drive like idiot, apparently a Nissan Patrol with some young guys doing the support while drinking springs to mind, however, he then said the following.

 

As this is a looooong race it is virtually impossible for the organizers to be able to cover the whole route, either by way of seeing injuries, or getting someone down who cannot continue, that is exactly what happened to our support team, at CP3 there was a guy who couldn’t continue because of his health, so he caught a lift with our support crew, now if there was now support, how he most probably had to wait till right to the end for a sweeper vehicle, that also goes for injuries or break downs along the route.

 

So, although it is quite tough on us riders, with 4x4 on the route, it does makes sense from a logistical point of view.

[tombraider]

As this is a looooong race it is virtually impossible for the organizers to be able to cover the whole route, either by way of seeing injuries, or getting someone down who cannot continue, that is exactly what happened to our support team, at CP3 there was a guy who couldn’t continue because of his health, so he caught a lift with our support crew, now if there was now support, how he most probably had to wait till right to the end for a sweeper vehicle, that also goes for injuries or break downs along the route.

So you're saying that the organizer is relying on the support vehicles to help. This is a fact. Quoting from the race rules:

" Permitted support vehicles and drivers will be required to assist with certain event functions at checkpoints !! These may include, but will not be limited to, the transport of retired participants, equipment, and other emergency situations."

I would be the last one to complain, when I am stuck in the Grootriver gorge and need medical assistance, because there was a complete lack of marshalls, medics or any kind of official along the route. The only marked offical car was a medic driving up and down between Grootriver and checkpoint 1 in a vehicle not suited to go through to checkpoint 3. Then there was a quadbike on the Never-ender. I wonder if he caught the 2 support vehicles that travelled up the Never-ender at about 19h30? Years ago the rules were strictly applied and their teams would have been disqualified!

I get the feeling, that the number of entries has by far outgrown the ability of the events emergency plan to assist the riders in case of an emergency. Just imagine it would have started to rain at checkpoint 3 around nightfall? Exhausted, cold, hypothermic... I don't want to be negative here, but we as participants need to know what we are getting into.

Surely the budget of this event should allow for a self sufficient emergency team. I also share the view, that team vehicles don't belong on the route.

[Tieffels]

Thanks for the post to the route!!

 

I'm suddenly super jealous that I did not do it. IMHO the normal TB is too easy, esp. the climbs, and dare I say it, boring at times. Not taking anything away from it, it is an amazing first experience that I loved and would recommend it to anybody. But not such that I see myself going back every year. But this years it appears to have been a proper MTB race judging by the profile. That section through Groot Tivier is amazing, did it during the Freedom Challenge and I can remember wondering why they did not use it for the TB. It is absolutely stunning! I cannot vouch for the stretch before there from Willowmore (could be quite karoo-ish I imagine?) as we dropped into the TB route about 15km before Groot Rivier.. and then the fun starts.

 

If the route stays this way I'd be there next year!

 

About the support 4x4's. We had it the year we did it, and as we were complete novices we over catered completely. In retrospect it can be more of a hassle than anything else. But as with previous posts, they did collect a couple of peeps who'd have been stranded otherwise. I had some loved ones experience something they'd never have done otherwise for which I'm very grateful, but I also cannot justify it against the general cons..

[Matchstix]

Dit was n laaang interesante trip ons is warm gehou met n bottel OBS van die begin en ook op die roete ek het flippen koud gekry het 1 graad celcius gekry maks wat ek gesien het 17 en ek reken die gemiddelde temperatuur ir my was 7 gewees. het erens begin halusieer en goed op die pad gesien en sodra ek daar om verdwyn dit. . . (was voor die OBS op die pad). Het eres ook aan die slaap geraak op my fiet terwyl ek ry was heel verward oor waar my partners is toe ek weer by kom was baie weird. die koue het my net gekry verder ws dit great die jafffels en koffie by ccheckpoint 5 was awesome rent a crowd ws net missing by die einde.

[skollie]

So we got stuck in suicide gorge for 5hours but we managed to finish in 20h34min! We arived at the gorge needless to say in the dark, what a site for sore eyes all the lights going down down down and on the other side up up up and away!!! Im acctualy looking for a foto of that if anyone did took one could you please mail it to me!!!???? johannes at ordinance dot co dot za

[sampie]

So we got stuck in suicide gorge for 5hours but we managed to finish in 20h34min! We arived at the gorge needless to say in the dark, what a site for sore eyes all the lights going down down down and on the other side up up up and away!!! Im acctualy looking for a foto of that if anyone did took one could you please mail it to me!!!???? johannes at ordinance dot co dot za

 

Ek moet se dit was baie mooi, met die wete hier kom groot moeilikheid.

[danimal]

Tb was my 1 year anniversary of riding. It wasn't exactly what I'd call fun, but super chuffed to finish. Bring on Lord of the Chain Rings.

Edited August 16, 2011 by danimal

[GLuvsMtb]

One of our team mates had to withdraw due to injury, but still decided to go with and support, as it turned out he ended up driving the back up vehicle. He said afterwards that as a MTB’er made driver he had sympathy with the riders, cause it must be difficult for them to climb and then fall over, either because you know there is a car behind you, or because the car in front of you stops suddenly, he also said that there were a few guys who really did drive like idiot, apparently a Nissan Patrol with some young guys doing the support while drinking springs to mind, however, he then said the following.

The fact that your support team assisted someone is purely incidental. I would have loved to know what the decision would have been if there was a real risk of not getting to CP4 before your team. Your priority as a support driver is first and foremost with your team.

Most of the support vehicle drivers looked like the most off road they'll do is to park on the enbankment at the shopping mall on a Saturday. Before you knock this statement, I must say that our support team from last year (my wife and partner's girlfriend) were definately not experienced off road drivers. Conditions were tricky this year and many of the drivers were not properly trained to handle the conditions.

From all accounts there were many more than 20 vehicles enroute with the riders. It is partially the orginisers fault as vehicles were not identifyable as support vehicles, so controlling the numbers must have been difficult. How to solve this? The easiest would be to have no support crew on the route. It also makes the race more equal for the rest of the field. It also affords more opportunity for cheating. I want to see the support crew that ignores their team when they are having a technical outside of the checkpoints.

I am also shocked to hear that support crews were drinking while being enroute. If this was my support crew, I'd fire them on the spot and if I was the race orginiser, I'd DQ the teams implicated immediately.

The orginisers should ensure that there are enough vehicles to evacuate incapacitated riders along the route. Have 5 vehicles at every checkpoint and evacuate riders say every 2 hours or when the vehicle reaches max passengers. Bikes can be stored at the checkpoint for later evac and medical cases can get priority.

Who will provide this service? Maybe ask the local 4x4 club, get assistance from the local farming community.

[nathrix]

In my humble opinion the Transbaviaans is harder than the Attakwas. Fortunately we had absolutely NO mechanical issues (thanks to Anton at Summit cycles, a genius mechanic) and all 4 of us in the team survived and got to the end in one piece. I was the weakest link and my team did a great job in motivating me all the time and physically pushed me along on many of the climbs! I missed my Niner though. It was great to see our friends from PE and they kicked our behinds good

[mtbee]

Well our 1st TB or Langsbaviaans is done and dusted. We planned for 18hours and had a best case scenario of 16 hours, our final finishing time a fraction over 16hours and what an amazing race exceeding every expectation. The route was tougher than what we expected or read up on and the 22km big climb probably had me walking for 10k and took us 3 hours.

 

However the average weekend rider who is prepared to put aside time (3 months) to train and do at least 5 weekend rides exceeding 80k with a lot of climbing is capable of finishing the TB and walking away without too much discomfort. The ride definately has been the highlight of my 3 years MTBing and matches any of the Comrades / Two Oceans runs which I did a number of years back.

 

The seconding tables 1 and 3 were a shambles and waiting 10min at ckp3 for the soup kitchen in the cold was unpleasant (but no tummy after effects). The slap chips roll at ckp 4 was great and we did not use the facility at ckp5 and opted to check in and out riding on to the finish. The seconding vehicles were a pain to team members and after ckp 3 when you are struggling to get through the mud, being ridden off the road by and Isuzu revving through the mud was annoying. I agree with the suggestion of using a 4x4 club to place vehicles at ckp's and along the route and keep seconding vehicles off the route. Some drivers obsessed with their teams and to hell with the other 1000 mtbers on the route. I was relieved my wife was not driving my vehicle through the Grootrivier Pass.

 

A huge thanks to the organisers for a terrific event and now I will have to pig-out on food to fit into the "L" T-shirt which was designed around a Karoo farmer and not a MTBer.

 

Here to TB 2012

[TYGA]

In my humble opinion the Transbaviaans is harder than the Attakwas. Fortunately we had absolutely NO mechanical issues (thanks to Anton at Summit cycles, a genius mechanic) and all 4 of us in the team survived and got to the end in one piece. I was the weakest link and my team did a great job in motivating me all the time and physically pushed me along on many of the climbs! I missed my Niner though. It was great to see our friends from PE and they kicked our behinds good

 

If they had to push you up the hills I hope you're the third not second oke from the left!