The course data

Some stats around last Sunday's course.

Klondyke Road tops out at 377m asl, and is the high point of the race.

The first climb is 2.5 kilometres in length, with an average gradient of 9.5%, but there is a kilometre at an average of 11.1% and a maximum gradient of 15%. 

After the short descent the next climb is 2.9 kms @ 5.2% average.

The climb after you came off the metal, and up to Onewhero is 2.8 kms @ 4.1%.

To Wairamama hall it's 4.1kms @3.1%.

Back up to Onewhero (where the supporters where) is 3 kms @6.6%

The climbs on SH22, while numerous and sapping were small in comparison to these. (well, that's what I told my team at the time).

The total length of metal was 17.3 kms, Klondyke Road was 14.4kms and Churchill Road was 2.9kms.

First up, here are some photos of Klondyke Road on a less than wet day. This is what it looks like without mud in your eye.

This last photo is what the final kilometres of Klondyke Road at the Onewhero end looked like before the council dropped fresh metal on it, the Friday before the race. It was fast, smooth and very rideable.

Here are the final placings after taking into account all (undisclosed, arcane and obscure) handicap factors.

1 Pure White Racing
2 Speed Goats
3 Lunn Ave Bicycle Club (Fast)
4 Clipped In
5 Steel Springs
6 Lunn Ave Bicycle Club (Slow)
7 Defy Evolution
8 Rode Riders (1)
9 The Right Revolution
10 Rode Riders (2)
11 Six Feet Under
12 Ngati Velo
13 Axis of Mischief
14 Team Test Cycles
15 Tim’s Hot Angels
16 The Coffee Runners
DNF The Outlaws
DNF Roy’s Rebels
DNF Exceed Coaching
DNF Hot Cycles
DNF Moments of Extreme Madness

The actual finishing times and overall places were:

1 Speed Goats 4.56.06
2 Pure White Racing 5.09.41
3 Lunn Ave Bicycle Club (Fast) 5.21.08
4 Steel Springs 5.30.56
5 Defy Evolution 5.38.01
6 Rode Riders (1) 5.52.16
7 Rode Riders (2) 6.07.31
8 Lunn Ave Bicycle Club (Slow) 6.14.00
9 Clipped In 6.21.08
10 The Right Revolution 6.29.31
11 Six Feet Under 6.54.25
12 The Coffee Runners 6.56.47
13 Axis of Mischief 7.03.36
14 Mrs Doyle & Ngati Velo 7.07.35
15 Tim’s Hot Angels 7.15.21
16 Team Test Cycles 7.37.12

Thanks to everyone who participated despite the ugly weather.

Thanks too to the sponsors, Hot Cycles, Specialized, Tea Total, Allpress Coffee, Continental, Wheelworks, Trade Tools, Rocket Kitchen and Solo.

Commiserations to those who didn’t finish, whether on account of punctures, crashes or other mishaps. Better luck next time (which is likely to be some time in Autumn 2012)

Where to send your supporters

Where to send your supporters!
Two places, one is the corner of Wairamama-Onewhero Road and Kauri Roads, from 10:30 onwards. this is at 69 kilometres, and
is at the top of a climb, the riders will be approaching from Wairamarama up a climb, this climb is a reasonable length and sealed, there are places to see the race from on the climb. If your supporters do drive down the climb, please ask them not to drive any further along the course than the one lane bridge at the bottom of the climb as the road on the other side is quite narrow and riders will be approaching at speed.


The second point is Pukekawa-Churchill Road and Glen Murray Road at around 12:00. This second point is ready accessible from Rangiriri on SH1. If the supporters head along the Pukekawa-Churchill Road they will find they are at the section of flat metal, the riders will be readily visible as they approach for a couple of kilometres. Take banners and make it look like a real classic.

Please also, no supporters following the race, esp in the first half as the roads are very tight in places. Any team found breaking this rule risks being disqualified.

Sponsors

We have been very fortunate to be well supported with a number of excellent sponsors.

It is through this sponsorship that we are able to offer such depth of great prizes.

Theses sponsors are listed out to the right of this page, and include everything one needs to ride a bike, from bikes, components, wheels, tool and components to sustenance and liquid refreshements.

Please do support our sponsors whenever you can.

Thank you.

Abandoning, Accidents and DNFs

Hopefully the day will be accident free, and you will all finish the race with your team mates and still be on speaking terms. However if the worst does happen and you, or a team mate, suffer an accident, there are several things to consider. These are quiet and deserted country roads, but for a large portion of the course there is cell-phone coverage. It would wise for each team to carry a cellphone.

As organisers, we will have a couple of first aid kits on the course at the supply point, as well as a roaming one on the more rugged sections of the course.

If you do have an accident, abandon the race, or don't finish, can you please inform us, so that we can mark you off the list at the finish.

Final, final, final start times

Another minor change has been made, which will defer the start of half the teams by 3 minutes. Please check your times below and remember Daylight Saving

Team Test Cycle 8.00
Tim’s Hot Angels 8.03
Mrs Doyle and Ngati Velo 8.06
The Coffee Runners 8.09
Moments of Extreme Madness 8.12
Six Feet Under 8.15
The Right Revolution 8.18
The Outlaws 8.21
Clipped Inn 8.24
Axis of Mischief 8.27
Roy’s Rebels 8.30
Rode Riders (1) 8.33
Hot Cycles 8.36
Rode Riders (2) 8.39
Lunn Ave Bicycle Club (Slow) 8.42
Lunn Ave Bicycle Club (Fast) 8.45
Defy Evolution 8.48
Steel Springs 8.51
Exceed Coaching 8.54
Pure White Racing 8.57
Speed Goats 9.00

Course teasers

Here are some facts about the course that may be of interest.
The start and finish of the race is in Tuakau, and is a loop.
Broadly, it is very similar to the first course, with a similar amount of ascending, distance and metal roads.
It differs in that it has fewer rated climbs, five instead of the eleven in the first edition.
The maximum gradient on the course is 15%, as opposed to 18% in race one and the longest climb is 4.1 kilometres, but is under 4% average gradient taking the race up to 178 metres above sea level.
At various points you may be able to see the Waikato River, Tasman Sea, Hunua Ranges and Coromandel Ranges.
Similar to the first race, most of the roads are very quiet, back country roads, being in the country
you will need to be vigilant for wandering stock and wildlife. So far in course recon I have seen on the road Hares, Turkeys, Rabbits, Cattle, Sheep, Pheasants and roadkill.

Supporters

On race day we face a couple of logistical support issues compared to the last race. The single biggest issue is the lack of a store at an appropriate point in the race, in fact, after the first hour of racing there are no shops on the race route (although some nearby). The second issue is that although the roads we will be racing on are extremely quiet and have little or no traffic, many of them are also very narrow.

To help get around this problem Race Organisation will be providing water, sweets and bananas at the 67km point. This will also be one of two feedzones, where supporters can supply food and drink to their teams (this point is about twenty five minutes drive from the start). In addition to the supplies that Race Organisation are taking to the feedzone, we can also carry individual supplies for a team.
For this to happen the team will have to bag up, and label their supplies and hand them over, prior to the start, to Race Organisation their bag of goodies. It is entirely up to the team to ensure the contents of the  bag, and while Race Organisation will do their best to ensure that the contents are delivered to the feedzone, there is no responsibility taken for any missing items.
Each team is allowed to pack a maximum of six bottles and a reasonable amount of food.

The other spot supporters can be present will be at the 92 km point where they can also hand over bottles, food etc. At that point, it would be great to see flags and banners, as teams will be exiting a metal section, and this should be quite a spectacle. From there supporters will then have to drive back to SH1 (about 5 kms away from the race at that point) and back to Tuakau via SH1 to keep them off the race course and driving in the direction of the race.

What I want to avoid is vehicles following the race (which did happen a little last time) especially with one section of road which is so narrow that stopping and backing up is the only way to pass a vehicle coming the other way!! In this section there is no way to safely pass a cyclist when moving in the direction of the race at all. In the four times I have been through the road, I have only encountered two other vehicles. We will have an observer in that section of road, and any vehicles will be noted and if found connected to the race, that team will be disqualified.

Please help us to keep the race safe and fair by ensuring that you don't have any following vehicles on the course.

In the same manner as last time, I will disclose the location and directions to those points on Saturday evening.

I am also putting together a Supporters Ride, where, on race day, supporters can ride out to parts of the course to witness the carnage. This ride will not go through any metal, and will for the most part be on separate roads to the race. The maps for this will be available on race day at the start.

Some thoughts around gear

Some statistics around the R6F V2 course. As I have already mentioned in an earlier post, broadly speaking the course is similar to the first addition with a similar distance, ascending and descending. There is a bit of metal thrown in for good measure. However this time the maximum gradient is only 15% and the longest climb is 3 kilometres.

But it would be remiss of me not to add a cautionary note as to gearing. Do think carefully about your bottom gear, as I have found a couple of short sections of road that will test most riders. Wayne and I have both ridden the course, he had compact cranks and I ran a 39 x 25, I would suggest that these are minimum required gears, and going lower may be a wise idea. Also consider your tyre choice carefully, learn from any issues that you encountered in the first race.

The weather forecast will help no end, at present it is looking like on race day we should have a rain free day with westerlies. More importantly where the weather will help will be with the rain we have had lately, and with the forecast rain over the coming week, the metal road sections will be infinitely more rideable than if they were bone dry.

Caution

Having now been over the course a couple of times, and also having had two of us ride it at separate times, I feel confident to pronounce it race ready and a lot of fun. Similar to the course in the first race it does have some metal sections, and these are great riding and offer a good challenge and an opportunity to travel some roads that you will never go near any other time.

However this time there is a small hazard, that both Wayne and I encountered separately, it is a small set (maybe 10 metres in length) of stutter bumps on a short downhill section, that is otherwise very smooth. Rest assured I am not trying to cause alarm or fear. Why the caution? These bumps are not readily visible due to some shading on the road, and come as a pretty unpleasant surprise. I will note it well on your race map with a distance marker, and all it will need on the day is a little care.

It's nothing overly sinister, and certainly not as rough as Haruru Road in the first race, but it's more that they are a surprise if you aren't ready for them, as two of us found on two separate occasions.

Race Day Checkpoints

On race day there will be a total of four checkpoints. One, where you will collect your teams playing card (essential for the post race prize draw), and three where you will be required to take team photos.
The team photos will be the same as last time, and must feature five members of the team in the photo along with the prescribed landmark, unless you are a clever bugger with the camera and can get all six in as well as the landmark.
The points for the photos will be announced as part of the race briefing and will be notated on the race map.
They are all reasonably obvious, and are effectively are located at the extremes of the race circuit. The points themselves are quite obvious and consist of a building, a road sign on an intersection and the above sign for free range eggs.

The Course

Broadly speaking the course is the same as the last one, about 125 kilometres, 1800 metres of ascending and a bit of gravel. The steepest pinch is only 16%, and there are a couple of excellent descents. There is a motley collection of wildlife that may possibly be spotted as you race. This may include, and is not limited to, cattle (Friesian, Hereford or Angus), turkeys, pheasants, hares, pigs, lambs, feral cats, magpies, sulphur-crested cockatoos, assorted road kill and a noisy Pomeranian.
The shape of the course will enable you to have spectators to witness you in a couple of key moments of glory, I will disclose those very close to the event, both are quite easily reached from state highways. One of the big considerations on the course is the lack of a suitable shop to stop at, with this in mind we will have a marshall on the course with some water at a set point, additionally, we will also allow your supporters to feed you and water you at the designated spectator points (and nowhere else).
However, it is still very much an unsupported event, and the rules still stand from the first race on the matters of on-course support and following vehicles.

Welcome

This is the official blog of Race of Six Friends. We will still have the Facebook group running, and will link any posts on here through to there, but the purpose of the blog is to have a place to announce news, updates, information, etc about the race, as well has list out a few teases and tidbits.

Our sponsors for the Race of Six Friends to be run on September the 25th are all listed off to the right, with links through to their websites, please support them.

Stuart and Wayne