Rating 8/10
Taking it's name from the most listened to pop-rock radio station on the South African
highveld, this is reportedly the world's largest timed bike event - 26,000 cyclists were expected for the 2010 edition - and it's one not to be missed!
The station's broadcasting frequency is also the approximate distance of the race whose route, which changes slightly every year, rolls up, down and around Johannesburg and its northern suburbs. There is nothing flat about this course and you'll clock up 1,200m of climb by the time you finish. Here's my review of the 2010 Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge.
This is a go-big or go-home kind of race with major sponsors, huge buy-in from the municipality and residents and impeccable logistics. Entries close approximately 2-months ahead of the race, so don't go leaving this to the last minute. A race this size requires the field to be set off in groups of between 300 and 500 riders. The elite and
tandoms lead the field and then groups are seeded based on official race times in the last 12-months and then a large open category brings up the rear. Registration was pretty smooth, although there was no queue for groups D through G. The 2010 Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge expo was comprehensive with glamour stands showing the latest 4.7kg bikes and everyday stands for the last minute purchases for hydration, nutrition and accessories. I'm not a huge expo fan, but this was on par with the expos at the Paris and London marathons.
It was also great to see
Hervé from Maxi Pom (
http://www.maxipom.co.za/) with a stand for his terrific new apple compote
squeezy.
And so to race day. Parking is plentiful, directions to the start are clear and using both sides of a dual carriage-way enables the organizers to set the groups off at precise intervals - there was even sufficient time between starts for the officials to remove the inflatable start sign which collapsed due to a power cut! There is no bun fight to get into your start pen because there is plenty of space along the start area. Loos abound and last minute calls of nature take place in lavs with loo paper and that flush (Paris marathon organisers take note!). Having a radio station host the event meant decent music to get going and some celebrity starters:
François Pienaar of
Invictus fame for one.
The route is not for the faint-hearted: nothing Alpine, but a collection of power hills, false flats, rollers and some short surprisingly steep kickers combine to test your legs. It's uphill from the Start for about a kilometer until you reach the M1 highway (motorway if you prefer), which you then follow - climbing gently through a series of long slow drags - for 14km or so until the road bends to the right below the
Joburg General Hospital and you start the first longish hill. It's 4-6% I'd say and after 1.5km you're done, but it takes you off the highway and under the King of the Mountain (
KOM) banner on St Andrews. Rather naughtily after a fast, sharp plunge down St Andrews there is a short kicker hill to bring you to the first water station at the top of Joe
Slovo. Irrespective of your start group, people will have fallen off the back at this stage.
You then plunge down
Conti hill and join the M2 highway for a short while before turning off for a quick detour through the
Joburg CBD taking in
Ghandi Square. The road surface was not great but I found expansion points to be well covered in mats and the small potholes I saw were well identified with fluorescent paint.
Ghandi Square felt a bit gimmicky, a series of bus stops, cobbled sections (we're not talking
Roubaix here) and chicanes seemed all rather unnecessary - there must be a better way to show case the real Josi.
You rejoin the M2 only to exit it a few kilometers later and drop down to the foot of the Nelson Mandela bridge. I love bridges and this one, which spans 40 railway lines, is a little cracker. However, I'd quite forgotten that there is a ramp up to it and the legs got a workout there they were not expecting. You have to patiently negotiate a couple of small uphills before you can enjoy the first adrenalin rush descent down Jan Smuts Avenue. At 80-90km/h you'll not notice the Zoo flash by on your right and momentum pretty much sees you through the next few clicks. South Africans love to
braai (barbecue) and although it was not yet 8:00am they were already up and at it as we rolled through
Sandhurst on Jan Smuts.
Kim and the girls were supporting on the stubby hill up to
Rosebank - I'd been leading the pack for the preceding kilometers and hoped to pass in glory, but the small bunch I was with seemed to sense this and swallowed me whole right in front of my family.
You've covered a good 35km by now, but there is an overriding feeling that you haven't really started. I was looking forward to the next stretch of road: a very fast downhill from Hyde Park Corner to the bottom of Conrad Drive and then a couple of hills up into
Randburg which are very familiar to me as I climb them almost every ride I make from my house in
Craighall Park. Unfortunately I enjoyed this part the least. Any hopes of a fast descent were scuppered as our bunch caught a
sizable chunk of group D who started ahead of us. 15 abreast across the road there was little else to do except sit up on the hoods and take in some fluids. On the second hill into
Randburg came the decisive attack from the winners of my group and I couldn't respond. Although this was not a top spot for me, this is a great spot to stand as a spectator as the rough surface and steep hill mean that there is plenty of time to see the person you're supporting and cheer them on.
Randburg crests one of the many
Joburg hills and after the hard climb there is the reward of a further long downhill run with a couple of good corners for the thrill-seeking among you. During the week before the race I had driven the route in torrential rain and this section had the potential for some nasty accidents in inclement weather. I found that with only 300 people in my start group there was never any issue with space on the road. Being in the upper-middle
seedings I also found that bike-handling was good and respectful to fellow competitors.
And now the 94.7 Cycle Challenge starts. Truly. At the bottom of Douglas you turn sharply onto
Witkoppen and the road soon rises up to meet you. It's a seemingly interminable 3-4km drag until
Malibongwe. The road surface is fine, but the road is very wide and there is little perspective to appreciate the degree of slope. Our group and I'm sure a good many others were whittled down to small numbers here. A short way along
Malibongwe was the worst section of tarmac on the route - there was almost no way of avoiding the potholes, but at least they were clearly marked and riders had plenty of time to exercise caution.
Kya Sands heralds the next big riser - not an out-of-saddle climb like the top of
Randburg but a long energy sapping power hill. A short
flattish section provides a breather before the dreaded N14. This was my first 94.7 and whomever I had spoken with about racing the event had had a story about this 13km length of highway. None of the stories had been positive!
Is it so bad? Well firstly, you've left behind the suburbs and the supporters and the smell of beer and
braai-
ing food. Secondly, the road looks pretty ugly: it's two lanes wide in either direction and separated by a broad grassy central reservation. Thirdly, flat it is not: the large rollers are larger on the up than the down and there are a good five or six in a row. Yet despite this I dug it: to the right there are some good views of
Sandton and to the left is the Cradle of Mankind and some cracking vistas, the road surface is pretty good and you could sit in the saddle and power away - I actually caught most of the guys who dropped me at
Randburg! We were lucky to have the wind slightly on our backs and although the mercury was nearly at 32° the conditions helped make this easier than I had expected.
I only saw one accident all day and it happened just after leaving the N14. For a few moments you are on the William Nicol before a sweeping
lefthander takes you up the first hill of the R562 (Summit Road), halfway up the incline one of the stragglers from C group appeared to just keel over and took the two guys riding alongside with him to the ground. A bizarre incident perhaps attributable to dehydration?
I found the surface here to be tip-top: my
HED Stinger 60s were whirring away nicely and I had the occasion to marvel at those who clung to the left hand side of the road as it swept around long
righthanders -
erm! The clicks fly by nicely and once you reach the brow of the R562 where it joins the R55 there are just 10km to go. Signage BTW is good: there are markers every 10km and a sign for halfway, like many I least enjoyed the one that said 80km to go!
Friends'
pre-race advice had been to ride the downhills on the R55 flat out as the uphills were short and steep but could be carried with your momentum from the descent. Clearly they had been
smokin' something for as fast as I rode I could not make the ups without some out-of-saddle
TDF type riding. There was no sign of the fat lady and the race was far from over. In the lee of the hills the sun was roasting and the tarmac was getting sticky. I found myself riding next to some stallions, raging bulls,
call'em-what-you-like 80kg plus guys who left me for dead as we dropped and came back quickly as we rose again as if bound to me by a giant elastic band.
Although home is almost insight from above the
Kyalami Estate, the wickedly fun descent past the race track where thrill-seekers can get their final fix is followed by a couple of friendly reminders that the race is not flat. Many later starters will find this final drag torturous, but just a little perseverance and you're turning left into the Waterfall Estate. You actually don't see the finish line until you are 250m out because from the R55 the narrow entrance to the estate descends to a very tight almost right around the roundabout corner which then finally ramps up to the finish.
Crossing the line the race is over but the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge is just about to show you how great it is. Many races in France leave you with the feeling that you should just be grateful for having been allowed to compete; the medals are two-bit, a dull gymnasium plays reluctant host to downbeat racers too earnest by far, there is no place to leave your bike and the prospect of an alcoholic libation is non-
existent. Well not here. Hostesses hand out solid medals as you roll gently along, energy drink is bestowed upon you by eager helpers and stands of fruit are ready to be devoured (well this was the case before 10:00am later starters will have to share their views). There's a bike park, laid out triathlon style, where you can leave your trusty steed before heading off to the entertainment village, where there's public and corporate hospitality a plenty. There's a huge sound stage, vast beer dispensing points and generously proportioned open-sided marquees cooled by fine water sprays which enable you to share war stories with acquaintances for the day.
To really savour you'll need partners in crime and the day would have been far less fun without the street savvy Andrew
Klinkert and Brent. They ensured a constant flow of cold beer and good humour!
Muchos kudos too to Dean for the hospitality at Lombard Insurance - where a bevy of Spurs supporters and handy
masseuses made for a ripping couple of hours. Cheers Johnny - it's not every day the
Hotspur tame the Gunners in their own back yard!
So why only 8 out of 10 in my review of the 94.7 Cycle Challenge? This is a tough race which runs like Swiss clockwork, but it's not a sexy route, supporters are lacking and it's not the easiest event to enter if you don't live and race in South Africa. Should you do it - absolutely! So come on down.
