Tour de Gold

Guest

Hmm, anybody know much about this race.  I've entered it as my first race in training for the 94.7, but from the online entry site it looks like it might be really small.  From the descriptions given it sounded pretty large.  I also encouraged a number of friends to enter with me.  Now I am a little worried we'll basically be cycling around Jo'burg on our own...  (Especially seeing as it looks like a bit of a tough one)..

Guest

Don't worry, people will enter closer to the time. Most good cyclists love hard challenging races as this gives you a good idea of your fitness and progress.

One thing that may be a problem is safety.

Mampara

So who rode this race and how was it? I decided not to ride it because of all the road works on Witkoppen.

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Rhodent

Well I did this one. It was my first ever Race and quite cool. The witkoppen road thing wasn't too bad as all the cars were going slowly, just meant we had to go single file. It must have been tougher for the faster guys as they wouldn't have wanted to string out. The race was pretty easy until some ridiculous hill about 80km's in, Clover hill or something... MADNESS, I had friends who've done the Jock mentioning that it was the hardest hill they'd seen. Was quite nice for me though as it allowed me to get away from everyone as they all got off (Glad I still have that third chainring in front, hadn't used it since I bought the bike until that climb). Spent the last 30 km's on my own in time trial mode... Well, more like survival mode but it was just a little faster than everyone else in the same mode. Ended in 4h09mins, pity to miss the 4hours but I was only hoping for 4h30 so it was nice. Tough race though, had a lot of complaints at the lack of watering points...

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What do you mean there's no granny gear? How do you go up hills? Ahh, I see, you don't have hills.

Vo2

Well done Rhodent! 4h09 is a good time over that distance.

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Pain is inevitable...suffering is optional

Jaco

Well done Rhodent - given the winning time of 2:41 that gives you a index of about 35!<br /><br />Also decided not to do the race bacause of the roadworks on Witkoppen - drove there yesterday afternoon and there was barely enought space for a car. <br /><br />If Witkoppen is sorted out next year and more people enter I'd definitatly like to do it. By the way, how many participants were there?

Rhodent

Thanks guys. The championchip system said there were 449 people so pretty small in the end. Certainly noticed the lack of size over the last 30 km's, pretty large gaps between people and no-one to cycle with. There seemed to be lots of people complaining about the race directly after finishing, but half an hour later there were a number of the same people saying they would be returning. Only people I wouldn't recommend this race to would be inexperienced tandems, lots of singles were walking up the Golf Club Terrace hill (can't remember where exactly it was on the route, about 30 km's from the finish is all I remember, anyone know the exact location, would love to include it in training)

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What do you mean there's no granny gear? How do you go up hills? Ahh, I see, you don't have hills.

admin

[quote author=Rhodent link=board=15;threadid=785;start=0#21212 date=1033027804]<br />Thanks guys. The championchip system said there were 449 people so pretty small in the end. [/quote]<br /><br />yeah damn thats small huh!

GearGrinder

<br />small wow in my club sometimes only 10 people turn up for races!! even in bigger clubs i go to sometimes they would not have much more than 100 or so i think

admin

[quote author=Gear Grinder link=board=15;threadid=785;start=0#21216 date=1033030269]<br />small wow in my club sometimes only 10 people turn up for races!! even in bigger clubs i go to sometimes they would not have much more than 100 or so i think<br />[/quote]<br /><br />I've lost count of the amount of times i've rode of scratch with only one or two other guys in club races, 30-40 riders is pretty normal across 3 or 4 grades in country vic (well it was a few years ago ) <br /><br />cheers

Vo2

In SA a race of 449 cyclists is considered small. Standard rides turn out more than 2000 cyclists! Some rides go up to 35 000 cyclists! And we have only TWO international cyclists! It doesn't make sense...

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GearGrinder

that sure is weird vo2 that you have tons of cyclists yet only one international. here we have no where near that many cyclists and lots of internationals., Stuart O Grady, Brad McGee , Baden Cook ,etc ect. Is the level of competion there much lower?.<br />are most weekend warrior types with mirrors?

admin

[quote author=Vo2 link=board=15;threadid=785;start=0#21218 date=1033030637]<br />In SA a race of 449 cyclists is considered small. Standard rides turn out more than 2000 cyclists! Some rides go up to 35 000 cyclists! And we have ONE international cyclist! It doesn't make sense...<br />[/quote]<br /><br />no none what-so-ever

Rhodent

I think the cycling scene might be a little young here. From what I can gather it seems as if SA races have only been getting big for the last 5-10 years so I don't think there are enough families getting kids into the sport (Most guys starting at a later age?). So saying, we have a couple of good Mountain Bikers out there (Greg Minnaar?) and a number of SA cyclists are trying to break through (Not helped by mr Hunter saying that there wasn't a current SA cyclist capable of doing a TdF). If this sort of enthusiasm carries on I think we should see some great cyclists once the current keen cyclists get some grown kids. In a lot of sports the real core strength comes from the families getting kids involved early (You look at olympians in many disciplines and they tend to have a parent involved in a similar sport etc). It all takes time :P

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What do you mean there's no granny gear? How do you go up hills? Ahh, I see, you don't have hills.