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Cape to Cape 1 hr doco Today (1/12/13) 1pm SBS 2


Scratchy's picture

By Scratchy - Posted on 01 December 2013

NB: Originally posted elsewhere on the Global Riders Network and appears via syndication.

Awesome to see a whole hour to this. In previous years it's been a chopped down half an hour version

Sunday Dec 1 on SBS 2 @ 1pm-2pm

Monday Dec 2 on SBS ONE @ 4:30pm-5:30pm

(edited to avoid confusion as Maadness pointed out).

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maadness's picture

Yep, the Cape 2 Cape doco is being shown on SBS. But not at 10am-11am Sunday and 1:30pm-2:30pm Monday as you suggest. Smiling

Scratchy's picture

Good pickup Madness. Yes the national broadcasters delay the telecast so it is screened at the same local time (double checked before posting on www.yourtv.com)

So 1pm today, regardless of which state you live in.

Smiling

maadness's picture

It's standard broadcasting unless the channel is broadcasting something live. Not to be confused with delayed live as they have been known to do often.

But anyway, I found Andrew Liddawi pretty inspiring giving the 3rd stage ago on his trike. I reckon some engineering uni students would be able to design something more suitable for single track (hint hint). His x-ray looked way nasty, and made my fractured transverse processes seem lame (but it did hurt).

Good for him to give it a go and i hope he will be back next year.

CyclinAl's picture

You're certainly right Maadness, Andrew is an inspiration. And I'd put Jonathan West, his support rider, right up there with him. I'd been wondering how Andrew had managed to get over the logs and around the berms and so on. Watching Jonathan on the tely, pushing and pulling and towing the trike to keep it going was bloody heartbreaking. I felt such an urge to jump in and give him a hand, as I'm sure pretty well every rider watching the show would have felt.
Regarding the trike, I'm sure it would be technically feasible to add a certain amount of steering capacity to the crankset. Seems enormously frustrating to not be able to do both at the same time.
And don't feel too "inferior" about your transverse process fracture. I can imagine how little separated you from being as you are today, and ending up even worse than poor Andrew...

Oldernslower's picture

Certainly was inspirational, and I'm usually blasé about those things - but found myself clapping them when they got over the log and the way Jonathon helped him up the hill and their effort after the hub broke (wonder what hub it was?).

Whilst not decrying the focus on Andrew, I would have liked to see more of the actual course and riding than the 'tourist' visuals and interviews, but well done SBS - make it 1.5 hours next year Smiling

cruzer's picture

I turned on the telly right at the beach section on day 1 and wondered - and this is for you participants...
Doesn't that kill your bike for the next 3 days of riding? Wet salty shoes, sand grinding into a paste in your BB and gears?
Sea water and wet sand cant be good for anything so whats that part of the race/ride included for?
Alloy doesnt rust but surely corrosion is an issue longer term?
What about carbon- any negatives with Salt water and beach sand?
Judging by the vision most people were pushing or trying to keep upright on and in the waters edge.( with limited success) .

Going by the posts on this forum for people seeking the answer to a mystery creak i cant imagine what noises are coming out bikes after this stage.. seems to me its a bad way to start a multi day MTB ride....Or do you Ride all morning and strip down the whole bike that night?
And what about those that don't have the tools or skill?
I've never done it so I'm just curious..

shano's picture

No one posted this ride....Evil

geekman's picture

Don't be fooled by the doco, 95%+ of the field walked that beach section. A good wash and the sand and salt isn't really a problem. The pro's bikes would have a full rebuild I'd imagine!

CyclinAl's picture

Funny that. I was going to make it 99% that walked the beach with just 1% that sort-of rode it. Smiling
The rumor at Hamelin was that only one elite rode it. Perhaps they meant: all the way. Pity we didn't get a proper view of the creek crossing on the beach. For those who weren't there, there's a creek mouth half way along the beach. Usually, it's dry so you hardly notice it but because of the rains this year, it was flowing about 6 or 7m wide and quite swiftly. You had to slide down this soft sand embankment into it and wade across about mid-shin deep while the current was undermining the sand around your shoes.
It was like: At least it can't get any worse than this trudging 1.3km in soft sand. Well, try this one for size, kiddo!
Thank goodness I made it across before cramping up!

Antsonline's picture

I was with the 'pros' (we really must use the term Elite though - as honestly, literally none of us / them get actually paid to ride our bikes) as we hit the sand.

There was a break of a few up the 'road' (beach). And, yes, I beleive that the winning rider managed to stay on his bike the whole way.
I was with Paul VdP, and together I can honestly say that we rode maybe 50% of it and ran 50% of it. It was stop start riding, and more than once I fell over, getting yet more sand onto my salty, wet drivechain. There were some laughs, some swearwords, and then a few more laughs.
The bike did get a full strip-down - but no, there was no 'travelling mechanic' to do it for us. I raced, washed myself, and then washed my bike - BB out, chain cleaned, headset out. It was 90mins worth of work.

The whole race was FANTASTIC. Great vibe, and probably one of the best races I have been to to 'take the family'. The stages are done by midday, so the rest of the day is good for wine-tasting, looking around, getting to the beach without the bike etc.

I'll be back.

wicksey's picture

We parked behind you on Day 1, and my girlfriend commented something along the lines of "this guy doesnt even look like he is racing."

I disappeared into the back of the car continuing to prep until she blurted out your name from the race plate, in which I proceeded to laugh my ass off when she couldn't correlate my explanation that "Mr Casual" would probably end up in the Top 25 riders.

Antsonline's picture

Well - lovely to be refered to as casual. It was probably due to the fact I was thinking about the wine tours we had planned for the coming days!
Seriously though, myself and my riding buddies have been working on not getting too stressed before a race - it only ever leads to things not working out, and not being able to finish you pre-race breakfast / lunch etc. Since then all of us have raced better and been nicer people to be around!

I probably was a bit casual throughout the whole race though - I went there looking for a top ten and ended up with a +/- top 20.
But - it was a stellar field, and there were 20 places in the first 5mins of finishers most days it seemed.

I've just finished planning my calendar for 2014, and Cape to Cape was one of the first on the list....I'll be back for more relaxed racing!!

pharmaboy's picture

So Ants, have you entered the Port to Port then?

Wonder whether it will sell out, because if I enter something that exxy, I'm destined to have something happen at work......

Lach's picture

...looks like a huge number of entries compared to the Ingekerreke in Alice Springs. Must help to be (relatively) near a (relatively) major capital city. The sniggle they showed looked great, but the beach bit was a worry. Maybe they need some flexibility on timing of that stage to match a bit better with the tides?? Might upset the wineries though.... Smiling

BAS's picture

Beach section is a joke, i'm sure it was a novelty at the start but surely the race has outgrown it. Its not a bike race when you are pushing your bike along. IMO that first stage needs some work.

pharmaboy's picture

Beach section has worked ok previous years, presumably because the race got there at a lower tide. By the look of the pictures it was high tide so no hard sand to ride on.

Low tide - all good

High tide - bike and soul destroying not fun time.

Smiling

maadness's picture

Cape to Cape has sand. Megavalanche has snow.

CyclinAl's picture

BAS, I can understand how you'd feel dejected about the first day. I think it totally derailled away from what the organisers had planned, courtesy of the heavy winter rains. Normally, a good deal of the big climbs are reasonably rideable, which makes it more acceptable for the beach to be on or off if we're unlucky. This year, it just escalated the problem from tough challenge to frustration. I don't think it's the beach that needs "fixing", but the course alignments up those big climbs. Let's face it, these fire trails going straight up aren't sustainable. Realistically, they need to be decommissioned and new erosion-friendly alignments created. I'd be surprised (Disapointed) if they don't do something about it for 2014.
Pharmaboy: I was under the impression that the late start on Day 1 was to reach the beach at low tide (?)
The secret to its rideability is the gradient of the beach. If it's been torn away by heavy swell, it's steep and the sand can't compact down. If it's been built up, it's nice and flat, which allows the sand to compact down.

NeverSayNever's picture

Hey guys,
Cheers for the mentions and support. Always nice to read and hear how my story affects people.

There were two moments were Jon really showed his true colours,
1) When he refused the quad bike from towing me out after the hub failed, and
2) When one of the staff, meaning good, carried Jon's bike while he was pushing me up the 'last hill' and again blasted the staff for assisting. I can't remember his exact words but they were along the lines of "No! Put down my bike, now!"

We set out at the beginning of this journey to complete the ride together and by ourselves, and if that meant Jon running back and forth for his bike while pushing me... well, actions speak louder. Not to forget, he had only ridden with me once prior(the day before stage 3).

I'll sum it up by saying Jon went above and beyond the call of duty and that he's definitely crazier than me! Bring on 2014!

As for the equipment, I'm happy doing it the hard way, just as long as it gets me onto some dirt!

- Andrew

P.S. Please don't compare my injury with others. Everyone is unique and has their own respectable challenges to battle. It's not what happens, it's what you do next.

CyclinAl's picture

Great to get it from the horse's mouth Andrew! Or was Jon the actual horse? Eye-wink
Seriously, it's enlightening to hear about him chucking a wobbly about his bike being carried. It would seem like the obligatory thing to do for any decent person watching on the side line but when you think of it, Jon would have also set himself up with his own very personal challenge, which included getting the both of you and your steeds to the finish. It's not hard to then imagine that any action by well wishing bystanders to help carry the load, would rob him of the well deserved satisfaction of having fulfilled his "contract". So quite understandable.
If you're going to participate again next year, it could be a good idea to ask the C2C, during the pre-start briefing, to ask people not to help, even if you've both turned blue in the face.
Personally, I'd also encourage anyone, if they felt you weren't putting your back into it, to give you both a good kick in the ribs as they go past Smiling
And regarding the equipment, sorry Andrew but it is not proper for a mountain biker to be satisfied with what he's got "just as long as it gets me onto some dirt". Goodness me, what sort of an attitude is that?
As a matter of fact, I believe there should be a discussion on the best wheel size for a trike...Evil

NeverSayNever's picture

Haha, thanks Cyclin! I take your last paragraph light heartedly.

The equipment is very limited, and I'm constantly improving what and where I can on the trike design I ride. Until someone locally is willing to take on the mechanical challenge of improving the overall concept/functionality, there's not much on the market to dabble with (unlike the world of bikes).

There have been discussions on ideal wheelsize for trikes, and it ends up a discussion like any other wheelsize discussion - inconclusive and ride bias.

Will be taking it on next year. If I can sort out some fat tyres for the beach stage, I'll be looking at all 4 stages.

CyclinAl's picture

I certainly meant it that way!
I imagine the mechanical options are indeed limited. And you can't get too carried away with major mods on the trike you've got or you could end up without a ride for some time.
Maadness has it right about making a great Uni student engineering project...
I reckon you might have a real good advantage on the rest of us on the beach, especially with fat tyres. Having 3 wheels instead of our 2 for starters, and the fact that 2 of them are at the front, which means limited tendency to dig in (The enemy of sand riding). Perhaps you could get away with using big standard tyres like 2.5 and dropping the pressure. You might even have to tow Jon along! If he lets you...Smiling
All the same, if you plan on tackling the beach, my advice (Based on the past 3 C2C) would be that you must be able to do so in the dry soft sand, on the upper part of the beach. The rideability of the damp part is just too unreliable, in fact, it's more often not.
Just make sure you've got some aggressive knobs on your rear tyre.
All the best!

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