Argus 2003 - Results and Discussions

Quoted post said:

Cyclist dies in Cycle Tour

Posted on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 09:25

A 42-year-old Cape Town man died from cardiac arrest during the Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour on Sunday.
The name of the Pedal Power Association (PPA) cyclist has not yet been released as his next of kin have yet to be notified.

The unfortunate side of cycling in such a big event, never seeming to fail each year.

My condolences to the family.

I will excuse everybody who rode the Argus for not posting their times here.

Seems that WinningTime has #($* up again. There overall winner's time is not even showing. The times keep on changing.

Ladies were off the record time of the men with 5 minutes. Cyclist in group LL (that is waaaayyy back in the starting times) have done times that is 4 hours better then it ever was.

Hopefully you guys (and girls) will have your correct times in lets say 2 years ??? 🙄

Hi all, back at work again!

RO I got my time off the cycletour site and it seems to be right, I also got SMS updates which gave me the same times as the site.
My race started badly with a puncture about 7km into the race, but from then on it went very well. I was hoping to do sub 4:30 after last yars 4:53 but I only put in about 600km of training before the race so wasn't expecting to much. I felt exelent throughout the race, went up OKW in granny and was still able to smile wen I got to the top.
Started cramping a bit at the end of the blue route, and found that its better if I stand up and work, so those last cuople off hills was not to bad. 😉
Got to the end and finnished with a 4:15 🙂 🙂 On my Cateye I did 4:05, so the puncture didn't set me back too much.
Next year = sub 4:00

Excellent Lazy Legs, that's an improvement of over 38 minutes. well done.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by RalleighOke
Seems that WinningTime has #($* up again. There overall winner's time is not even showing. The times keep on changing.

Hopefully you guys (and girls) will have your correct times in lets say 2 years ??? 🙄

🙄

Did a 4:03 according to my watch, but 4:06 according to winningtime. Race was good and I felt strong until the 60km mark. OKW onwards was a bit of a problem for me with my legs taking strain and eventually cramping on hospital bend.

I missed the elusive sub 4 but just a few minutes and by the sounds of things I wont be able to compare next year as we will be doing the old route again.

I was happy with my result though in light of the fact that I threw my back out on Friday and was unable to even move.

I did a 3.07 and was very pleased as my target had been 3.15. I was actually only two minutes behind a 3 hour time at the top of OKW but managed to lose 5 more minutes on the blue route back in ! I have to say that I consistently find those last hills to be very difficult to maintain pace over and will need to work on that for next year. Having come that close I am a little disappointed not to have managed a sub 3 on my last chance over the detour route.😎

I wonder if I would do the Argus again.
The day started off with me doing a warm up on the road to cyclelab and back. I was feeling strong. Then headed to the start I had a blow out. Checked the tyre to see if there were debris. None. 😕 Put in a new tube and used a bomb to pump it (I don't carry pumps in races). Just hard enough and the tube blew again.😕 The same thing happened on the next tube. Then I discovered the reason - the tyre had a hole in it. I had to get a friend who was already in his pen to bring me a tyre.
Eventually I start in M rather than G. I was cruising and having a great ride when close to misty hills I saw a riding partner on the road in pain. So I stopped to help. Took the paras almost 20 mins to get to us. Then I continued with the race, but something was missing. the ride just was not the same anymore.
Eventually finished on 3:38 - not bad considering that included the 20 min stop midway, but up to Misty Hills, I thought that a 3.05 at least was a possibility.

Enjoyed my ARGUS...slayed a few dragons on the way but OU KAAPSE BLIKSEM got the better of me again. Was 15 minutes up on a sub 4 hour and lost it all on OKW, cramped near the top as well as at Hospital Hell. (NO correct spelling!!!!!!) The tandem went extremely well. Will mow never know if a sub 4 was within my reach. Organisation on the whole was good. Liked the km distance boards. Never saw the fancy flags though.

Winningtime was up to their old *(&!@#$%!@#$@$# again.... that chicane at the start and the "drukgang" (narrow space where cattle go trought to be loaded for the abbatoir) at the end. I think it was dangerous and unnecesary. Does Shumacher do another lap and end in the pits after a grand prix!!!!!!! My times are also not complete. Only my finish time and ave speed. Our two computers on the tandem gave me that infor and my HRM also confirmed the time. Do we really need this type of low standard [censored].

Just like my cycling buddies on this website, I ride every race as hard as possible. The aim: a good time.
However, this year's Argus was different for me. I rode the entire race at "base pace" speed! I had no intention or desire to sit in any bunch and race the distance. I took in the scenery along Simonstown and Smitswinkel, I took deep breaths of fresh sea air along Misty Cliffs and stopped just before Ou Kaapse and phoned my wife to notify her of my whereabouts. I've never stopped and phoned anyone before during a race, even if I had bailed, and she is still perplexed by it. 😄
My trip up Ou Kaapse was great, and even after 80 kliks my legs were in good shape. The ever constant cyclist urge was there to kick back and ride that hill as fast as possible, but I didn't. I was amazed to find that my average heart rate for the distance was 153, true base pace!
I crossed the line in 3:45, altho my time is indicated as 3:48. I'm almost sure that your start time is taken as the start time of your seeded bunch, and not the time when you cross the timing mats at the start. But whatever the case, I enjoyed the race this year.
Had I raced for time, I'm sure that I would of done 3:30, but I have no regrets or if's and but's. I enjoyed myself and had a great time speaking and motivating some of the guys and gals that were finding it difficult along the way.

Well done to everyone! C ya all next year on the old route. 😄

I enjoyed my (first) Argus very much. Unfortunately I had a very upset stomach the day before. I missed my four hour target by four minutes and my time is within 2 seconds of the "official" time.

Next year it WILL be below four.

I found the pacing times to be realistic untill OKW but after that I lost time.

I see the positions are not yet updated on the Website. Are they still busy or am I missing something ?

Some other interesting Stats:

Average HR : 166
Max HR : 188
Calories : 3622
Total Ascent :1200m

See you all next year !

Leon

Sounds like you guys had some serious fun. D@#$ I wish I was there.😠

I'll definetly be there next year, It's just a shame that OKW will not, I read in this months Ride Magazine that they have handed Chapmans Peak to a subcontractor to maintain the road. So it should be safe to ride next year....and that means no OKW :sad:

Oh well, maybe I'll go there a week earlier and take on OKW in my solo capacity 😄

Next year I will be doing the Argus with my wife. It will be her first ride. I will use my mountian bike and ride slowly with her and have as much fun as possible. I'll carry extra drinks and other goodies to keep the wife smiling.

Ouzo

We found that training becomes virtually impossible and frustrating if you want to train together. We found the answer in a Tandem. At first our times were slower but it keeps on improving now. One thing about tandemming though is there is only two options Either you pedal straight into a honeymoon or straight into the divorce court. If you want to give it a try, try lending one to try it out for a ride or two. Expensive if it is going to take you to option two!!!!!

Big H

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by big_h
Ouzo

We found that training becomes virtually impossible and frustrating if you want to train together. We found the answer in a Tandem. At first our times were slower but it keeps on improving now. One thing about tandemming though is there is only two options Either you pedal straight into a honeymoon or straight into the divorce court. If you want to give it a try, try lending one to try it out for a ride or two. Expensive if it is going to take you to option two!!!!!

Big H

BigH, I dont think we will be training together all the time, just the occasional rides. I will still try and train as per usual, just fitting in different rides to train with her.

The idea is to coach her through the first Argus and thereafter she can ride on her ace if she feels she likes it.

A Tandem is not yet out of the question, but from what I can gather you need a strong relationship to do that.

Compared to some of the stories I've heard, my ACT '03 was positively boring!

No punctures, no near misses, no dropped water bottles/pumps, no mechanical damage, no melted energy bars.

The highlight of my ride was stopping to water the fynbos on Smitswinkel.....what a view...had to drag myself away and get up the hill.

My only gripe was the start. If they are going to take your time from the gun, then they need to ensure that you are afforded the opportunity to trigger the mat asap!

My hrm said 3:58; the MTN Info Service still says 3:59 and the ACT results page 4:01.....guess which one I prefer!!

Had one too many at the end, and tripped over my bike, whilst collecting it from the bike park. I nearly p*ssed myself laughing when the paramedics were insisting on taking me for a check-up...guess they were just doing their job.

Another brilliantly organised event, but next year I'll fly down, that road trip is just too long and dangerous.

Hi everyone.. back after a long absence from cyclingforums!

I started the argus on Sunday with a lot of apprehension, since two weeks before the big day I did a scuba course which took up my whole week.. so no training at all for seven days. Then in the week leading up to the big one I picked up a nasty cold, which side-lined me for three days... so my first ride in 2 weeks was on Thursday before the argus... scary stuff, I wasn't feeling to confident.

Anyway... the morning of the argus I made peace with the fact that I'm not going to improve on my previous time. From the start I felt as uncomfortable as hell... my heartrate was sitting at 182bpm going up Eastern Blvd... and I was just trying to keep up with the bunch!
Finished a respectable 3:09 (at least I think so)... so an improvement of 10mins on last years time... totally surprised me! I guess when you don't worry too much about your time you actually start enjoying the day.... even though I'm sure the cool weather must have been bliss for everyone!!!

Sorry for the long absence (whole off last week) had a problem with our IT guy who blocked my internet access! 😠
Well done to all of you! 🙂
reynhardt, I agree with you, if you relax things seem to go much better, I only did about 650km training since the end off Jan. as training this year and was just hoping to improve on last years time. I thought that if we had cooler weather this year it shouldn't be impossible, but the amount of training I've put in scared me, so I decided to just go and do it and ENJOY the trip. It worked and I cut 38min. of last year’s time! 😎

Pity we won’t see OKW (ons kak weer/ we [censored] again) again, I wonder if the organizers won't consider alternating the 2 routes like they do with the "Up & Down" runs @ the Comrades? It would be nice to do OKW one year and Chapman’s the next. Maybe we should suggest something like that or run a poll to see how the other cyclist feels?

My race was pretty good except for a punture coming back on the blue route. I lost about 5 minutes and ended up with a 3:22. It was my first one so I think I did pretty well. I did not think Ou kaaps was that bad. Returning ove Edinburgh drive and Hospital hill was my killer.