You do something wrong (I wish I knew what it was), and you get invited to do the annual Jonaskop hill climb, which this year took place on 10 Dec.
Jonaskop is between Worcester and Villiersdorp. The road is tarred, and leads to a signal tower. The ride starts at an altitude of 400m, and climbs to 1550m, in 15km.
It works on a handicap basis, where they let the slow guys leave first, with the idea of getting everybody at the top simultaneously.
The rear cassette on my bike is an 11-36. The night before the ride I changed the cassette to an 11-40. This proved to be the second best thing I could have done. I stood with an 11-42 in my hand - I should have rather fitted that. I'm still running the old fashioned 24/32/42 tripple in front.
There were about 20 riders participating. Many of them doing their umpteenth ride. They let us sl(ou) toppies off first. I have never in my life done so much climbing on a bicycle in such a short distance. The speed I mostly saw on the computer was 5 or 6 km/h. Me and a friend rode together and reached the tower after 1h51min, at an average speed of 8.7km/h.
Apparently one should "go back next year" to try and improve your time. Me, I'll give it some thought.
Jonaskop is between Worcester and Villiersdorp. The road is tarred, and leads to a signal tower. The ride starts at an altitude of 400m, and climbs to 1550m, in 15km.
It works on a handicap basis, where they let the slow guys leave first, with the idea of getting everybody at the top simultaneously.
The rear cassette on my bike is an 11-36. The night before the ride I changed the cassette to an 11-40. This proved to be the second best thing I could have done. I stood with an 11-42 in my hand - I should have rather fitted that. I'm still running the old fashioned 24/32/42 tripple in front.
There were about 20 riders participating. Many of them doing their umpteenth ride. They let us sl(ou) toppies off first. I have never in my life done so much climbing on a bicycle in such a short distance. The speed I mostly saw on the computer was 5 or 6 km/h. Me and a friend rode together and reached the tower after 1h51min, at an average speed of 8.7km/h.
Apparently one should "go back next year" to try and improve your time. Me, I'll give it some thought.
