[Event] 2019 PPA SPORTIVE #7

[MDJ]

Event Name: 2019 PPA SPORTIVE #7
When: 8 December 2019
Where: Perdeberg Wine Estate, Western Cape
Category: Road

Venue: Perdeberg Wine Estate

Date: 08 December 2019

Start time: 06h00 / 07h00

Long Route: 102 km – 06h00

Short Route: 50 km – 07h00

Lucky Draw: 11h00

Cut off: 12h00

Enquiries: Rozanne Dreyer (021) 671 6340/rozanne@pedalpower.org.za

ROUTE DESCRIPTION

Long Route (102 km): Click Here for route map.

Riders will start at Perdeberg Winery and turn right on Vryguns Road. The route will split at Slent road where the short route will turn left and the long route will turn in the direction of the prison. Cyclists will continue to the R45 where they will turn left, in the direction of Malmesbury. Once they enter Malmesbury, they will turn left on Loedoelf Street and left again at the roboot on to the R302. The route will continue along the R302, becoming the R304 and then turning left on the R312 at the fruit seller 4-way stop. They will continue until they reach the R44 where they will turn left and head back to the venue along Vryguns/Voor-Paardeberg Road.

The 102 km route will have 3 water points and the 50 km route will have 1 water points.

Short Route (50 km):Click Here for route map.

Riders will start at Perdeberg Winery and turn right on Vryguns road. The route splits at Silent road where the short route will turn left towards the R304 and left again when they reach the R304 heading in the direction of Stellenbosch. When they reach the fruit seller 4-way stop, the cyclists will turn left on the R312 and continue until they reach the R44 where they will turn left and head back to the venue along Vryguns/Voor-Paardeberg Road.

Water points: The 101 km route will have 3 water points (35,7km | 56,8km | 77,7km) and the 50 km route will have 1 water points (25km).

MORE ABOUT THE SPORTIVE SERIES

This series is aimed at all cyclists, from beginners to experienced riders, and offers the perfect platform if you want to keep fit riding road events throughout the year, improving your times and setting a new personal best.

If you’re brave enough to take on the challenge of the longer routes, the series is a great test for endurance and stamina … and needless to say, completing all the events will be a great source of personal achievement.

No pressure though! Each one is also a standalone event, so you don’t have to enter all in the Sportive Series.

THE SPECIAL FINISHER’S TROPHY

This year, we have decided to do away with medals and do something more innovative and challenging – you will get a beautiful 3D bicycle puzzle that you can assemble once you have completed all the events. The way it will work is that after each event, you will receive a few pieces of the trophy … complete all eight events and you can assemble the little road bike on a stand.

However, even you haven’t done all the Sportive Series events, or won’t manage to do all the events, you’ll still be able to buy the missing pieces at a very reasonable cost at the Sportive #8. We still want everyone to have that trophy to display at their home or office.

DIRECTIONS TO THE VENUE FROM CAPE TOWN

From the Cape Town via N7:

Follow the N1, turn left on to the N7 towards Philadelphia Road/R304. Take the R304 exit from N7 past Philadelphia. Follow the R304, turn left on the R302/Klipheuwel Road and continue along Slent Road. Turn right on to Vryguns Road for approximately 2km to Perdeberg Winery, on the left.

From Cape Town via the N1:

Take the N1 to the R44. Take exit 47 from the N1 and turn left on the R44. Follow the R44 and turn left at Windmeul Winery on to Voor Perdeberg/Vryguns Road and continue along Vryguns road for approximately 7,5km to Perdeberg Winery, on your right.

GPS Co-ordinates:

Latitude: -33.39’30.00″

Longitude: 18.49’37.00″

NOTES

Remember to wear your PPA road fun ride number and Racetec timing chip.

No children u/13 on the 101 km route.

No children u/11 on the 50 km route.

ONLINE ENTRIES

Long Route (101km)

Non-Member R375

PPA Member R275

U/18 Non- Member R200

U/18 PPA Member R100

Development Entry R100

Short Route (50km)

Non-Member R175

PPA Member R125

U/18 Non- Member R80

U/18 PPA Member R50

Development Entry R50

Late entries will be available on the day of the event at the same cost as the online entries. If you wish to enter on the day, please arrive with enough time to register.

Go to Event Page

[Shebeen]

so this is #7, but a week after #8 which was the final one.

 

am I being a bit silly to be confused by this?

as long as there's a race I don't really care what number it is

[MDJ]

so this is #7, but a week after #8 which was the final one.

 

am I being a bit silly to be confused by this?

as long as there's a race I don't really care what number it is

Sportive 7 was originally supposed to happen in October, but they rescheduled it to December due to lack of entries on the original date. The date for 8 was already set and I think this was the only weekend that made sense. Logistically the routes and venue's differ etc.

 

See you at the start line ????

[LeoKnight]

Thank you PPA for the amazing event (ok heard there was some issues with the timing), but other than that thanks for your part.  I have not seen the final numbers but it felt like there were a bit more people.

 

The wind..eish, felt really for those riders doing the long route.

 

My one big concern, and not sure how the others feel about it, is the riding behaviour I saw on the long route (A-B group), when they came past us, the back half of the group was not just crossing the middle line, they were clean across it (the whole back part of the group).  Spoke to the marshall afterwards, they tried talking, pleading, but the guys supposedly did not care about those behind them and each just rode their own race.

 

So not sure what they will be doing about it, but seems that at one stage a truck had to stop because all the riders were on his side of the road. 

 

Probably a bit of rock and hard place DQ the riders and they might pull a nasty and just not show up in future, or do the right thing and send them a message.  

[Karman de Lange]

Thank you PPA for the amazing event (ok heard there was some issues with the timing), but other than that thanks for your part.  I have not seen the final numbers but it felt like there were a bit more people.

 

The wind..eish, felt really for those riders doing the long route.

 

My one big concern, and not sure how the others feel about it, is the riding behaviour I saw on the long route (A-B group), when they came past us, the back half of the group was not just crossing the middle line, they were clean across it (the whole back part of the group).  Spoke to the marshall afterwards, they tried talking, pleading, but the guys supposedly did not care about those behind them and each just rode their own race.

 

So not sure what they will be doing about it, but seems that at one stage a truck had to stop because all the riders were on his side of the road. 

 

Probably a bit of rock and hard place DQ the riders and they might pull a nasty and just not show up in future, or do the right thing and send them a message.  

 

Ops normal ..  The Wheel suckers will do anything to stick to the group.

 

Until PPA actually disqualify riders, this will always happen , but this is funride.. so rules don't apply

 

Only option marshal have is to stop the whole bunch, its impossible to manage a few riders only. Stop group, tell them nicely to behave or get DQ'ed.

[CatzSpace "frail"]

WHO Lost a Pair of Gloves today???

 

You will need to describe them.

Cheers

['Dale]

'Echelon crosses white wall in South Easter and disobeys event rules.'

 

PPA Gazette, December - Feb xxxxx (insert any year here)

[Jbr]

I actually saw the opposite, that long climby/windy section at around 80 to 90km I found everyone was riding way too close to the slower riders on the side of the road, making it a bit dodge...

Edited December 8, 2019 by Jbr

[DJTerblanche]

'Echelon crosses white wall in South Easter and disobeys event rules.'

 

PPA Gazette, December - Feb xxxxx (insert any year here)

 

Traffic was passing the group on the left

 

Edit: But the marshall's tried hard keeping the group to the left.

Giving guys last warnings, revving the engine next to the group etc..

Edited December 9, 2019 by DJTerblanche

[UnclePolli]

All that i can say about his event besides the normal writeup, is i really felt sorry for the short route people from the silos to fruitsellers into that headwind, i saw some broken people when we passed them.

 

It is also sad that that some people that survived to the 4ways to agter paarl road will probably not return to ride an event again.  After that side wind and trucks passing i was soiling myself trying to keep cool and calm controlling my bike.

[LeoKnight]

All that i can say about his event besides the normal writeup, is i really felt sorry for the short route people from the silos to fruitsellers into that headwind, i saw some broken people when we passed them.

 

It is also sad that that some people that survived to the 4ways to agter paarl road will probably not return to ride an event again.  After that side wind and trucks passing i was soiling myself trying to keep cool and calm controlling my bike.

 

and for the riders with deep section wheels   

[Shebeen]

Sportive 7 was originally supposed to happen in October, but they rescheduled it to December due to lack of entries on the original date. The date for 8 was already set and I think this was the only weekend that made sense. Logistically the routes and venue's differ etc.

 

See you at the start line

thanks, that makes perfect sense!

 

I had everything ready to go, but at 8pm i knew it was going to be 

whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh.

As i was doing late entry it was an easier call to make. sucks for organisers as i'm sure numbers would have been down.

 

 

I went windsurfing instead, am flipping broken and stiff anyway.

[JohanDiv]

I woke up at 5, checked the wind, and rather took my MTB out on the singletracks than doing the long route in the wind. I'm too inexperienced when it comes to road cycling and felt I'd might be a hazard to myself and people around me in the wind if last weekend was anything to go by. Glad I skipped it as one of my mates I was supposed to ride with went down in the bunch when a guy fell in front of him. Bike is close to written off and knee needed some stitching up. 

[Mamil]

Getting to Perdeberg for a 6am start from the southern suburbs means stumbling about in the dark searching for clean bib shorts in the mass of black and lumo that is my lycra shelf while muttering expletives about Eskom with my cycling lght clenched between my teeth. 

 

The gate motor fortunately has a new battery so it opened easily and with my brand new Emonda on the roof rack (courtesy an insurance payout and an end of line special from trek) I drove off into what still felt like the middle of the night. My spirits lifted as dawn broke and by the time I had sipped the last of my overnight oats, peanut, banana and almond milk smoothie I was in a good mood.

 

Bike racing in C-E batch!  Yes please!

 

I arrived with 40 minutes to spare - strolled over to the portaloos and after waiting in the queue just long enough for the oats to provoke the inevitable peristaltic urgency, was able to restore comfort without undue stress. 

 

As an aside I had collected my number and sticker on Friday from the PPA offices as part of my day-off ride and so felt organised and superior and as I mooched to the portaloos I was approached by two very attractive young women (yeah I wish) who offered me a sticker in exchange for a peep at my SMS. Great idea PPA! Do that more, it will alleviate the nightmare that registration can become when the event is busier.

 

I strolled King Edomondo (the new bike, who has entered the pantheon of mamilian bikes as an old war buddy of Captain Trek - RIP after nasty top tube incident - and ex boyfriend of Princess Merida) to the start line and he attracted many admiring glances, including from MDJ whose exploits I observe with admiration and envy on Strava. 

 

I lined up with C-E and then thinking about a tactic BillyGoat has advised, elected to drop back to F-H. In the end, I think this was a good move.

 

Now - King Edomondo is more bike than my ability warrants and I think LeChatNoir is probably correct when he tells me that the placebo effect is real, but man he is a pleasure to ride (King Edomondo that is, not LeChat) and there's something about this bike that rewards the pain that I put myself through in such a way that it encourages me to hurt myself even more. This is how I managed to keep up with these mid packers - that and finally mastering the art of moving up on the downhills and dropping back on the ups.

 

On the long hill before Malmesbury I just managed to hang on over the top but saw that there were 2 other smaller breaks ahead of the main body. We worked well together and by the time we were through Malmesbury we had all merged back together and I was feeling like a proper racer. A mate from the MTB Goats asked me where the battery was on my new E-bike.

 

Then came the crosswinds. And also that horrible sound as someone went down behind me. Rainer I think is his name.

 

I don't know what it's like in A batch but in the mass of lycra stretched over Dadbods and grizzled hoary hair sticking out of the vents of 4 thousand buck helmets that is F batch, most of us know we want to be in an echelon but none of us realises that we'd all be better off if we rotated position in said echelon. What happens then is that one guy wears himself out completely and gets slower and slower while the guy at the back of the line feels strong and then overtakes on the outside of the second last man. He gets 20 meters into the wind and slows down considerably, but not before the people in the middle of the group have tried to catch his wheel which completely destroys any benefit that anyone might be enjoying.

 

We're like drunk geese with no hope of making it south for the winter. 

 

Anyway, crosswinds ensured that a group roughly the same as the first break rode away, we tried to catch but we couldn't and after the 4 way stop the group splintered into ones and twos and we all limped home. 13th position in the group for this mamil, which would have been middle of the pack in C-E and probably top 40% of the field overall which I'm not too unhappy with.

 

Will I be fit enough in time for Attakwas. Is anyone ever?

[NickGM]

I lined up with C-E and then thinking about a tactic BillyGoat has advised, elected to drop back to F-H. In the end, I think this was a good move.

 

I should have done the same. C-E went off fairly fast on the way to Malmesbury and the bunch split. I was lucky enough to be in the front half (so I thought), but on the descent into malmesbury I let a slight gap open to the guy in front of me and then just couldn't close it. That's a nice way of saying I got dropped. No Problem, I'll just slow down and get swallowed up by the second half of C-E. So there I was, admiring the Swartland and counting the Steppe Buzzards on the telephone poles, when the second half of C-E came flying past. Too fast for me to respond from my stupor, as it turns out. 

 

After that it was a long and lonely day in the wind. I eventually joined F-H and coasted home. I think this is the first ride I've ever done where I might have made my seeding worse. 

 

Learned some good lessons though. 

[Jbr]

woops I posted in the wrong topic yesterday.

 

So I left my house at 4:30, trying to make sure I'd be there around 5 to have plenty of time to collect my chip, number, get ready, go to the toilets and and... BUT google maps and the adress on the facebook event were both leading to the wrong place... So I only ended up at the right location at 5:30. Had to park quite far from registration, so I had to do a bit of walking in my cycling shoes (my cleats are looking very 2nd hand now) and the stress levels were going up. But I have to say the registration process is really on point and I ended up ready more than 5 mins before the C-E group start.

 

The last 20k were brutal   I was in / or chasing most (unsuccesful) brakeaway attempts but the group always caught up (as far as I know), until 80k into the race when suddenly the group started to not look like anything anymore. Very cool event though !

 

EDIT : some pics are on the PPA facebook page glad I got one for once

Edited December 9, 2019 by Jbr