Tour of Wessex
Comments
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Great event, terrible weather unfortunately.
Like Vermooten, I came off the back of the Fred and etape du dales and with mate hammered it on Day One clocking 5:27 thanks in large part getting into a fast chain gang for the last 30 miles.
Day Two....hmm? Mixed bag to say the least. The weather was grim but bearable until my party had a puncture and it was then that the cold hit you. I went 'light' with a gilet, arm warmers and mitts which wasn't one of my greatest decisions. Was making reasonable time with my cycling buddy until I came off on a cattle grid (I think around Wareham, after dropping down from the military base!) which was on a tight left hand bend. We saw about 3-4 others almost come off as I was being seen to.
Later in the ride was the only point where we missed a turning and ended up at a junction with 15 other riders in the same predicament. Anyway, we made it back with 106 miles on the clock so did an extra few miles but our time was 6:50. The hot showers were life savers!
Sad to say I opted out of Monday with sore ribs following my brush with the tarmac. My travelling companions on seeing the weather at 7am decided to bin it and we headed back north.
We'll definitely be back down there next year......praying for 3 dry, still days :0)0 -
I had a great three days, but am glad it's over. Lots of hard miles, and towards the middle of yesterday's ride, I didn't really want to be on the bike any more.
Day 1: fantastic, great weather, good hard riding and happy with my time of 5:27.
Day 2: terrible weather, completely soaked after 5 miles, but riding strong with a German guy. All went well until a missed turn (a local taking down signs), which meant we did another 7 miles and spent 10 minutes at a garage trying to work out how to get back. 30 minutes lost all up, 6:34.
Day 3: Fast ride out to the first big hill, feeling strong, then completely died. I just couldn't push hard, so had to settle for slowly seeing the miles pass, but then felt strong again in the last 35 miles, a great chaingang of 3 averaging 20+mph, but a dissapointing 8 hours flat.
Total time: 20:02; next year I hope to do an hour quicker.
As for all the girls, my triathlon club Serpentine had about 10 there. Many of them used two days as part of their Ironman training.0 -
Oh forgot to say that I think the event organisers did a good job. They seemed to be a bit understaffed, and yes there were a few problems, but I'm sure they'll work at getting those fixed next year. It must have been a tough weekend for them.
The motorbike marshals were from the National Escort Group: http://www.negwales.com/0 -
I abandoned on Sunday.
I came-off at the corner where there's the viewpoint for the Cerne Abbas giant, although with the rain he was only just visible and I would have missed him if I wasn't stopped at the side of the road trying to readjust my brake levers back to where they should be.
It was a open left turn, but the front wheel hit a patch of no-grip or more-grip, I don't know which because it happened so quick, and I had a big tank-slapper before being dumped on the road.
Somebody else came back to check I was OK, so thanks if that was you.
It was ironic it happened there, because it was a low-risk corner - what was worrying me was when my specs were steamed-up on one of the narrower twisty bits with potholes and gravel.
There was also the car going the other way which went though a puddle and the wall of water nearly wiped-out the front wheel...
I'd only bounced and slid, sore but nothing apparently broken and the bike seemed OK so I carried-on for another 5 miles or so and then decided I'd had enough : I was wet though and freezing, starting to shiver so much that it was affecting my steering, so I rang for the wife to pick me up. I did a further very miserable 11 miles until she met me, which was plenty for me to decide that, for me, it was the right decision.
Well done to those of you who did finish though. Something to view as a definite achievement in your end-of-year retrospective !
On Monday morning I couldn't straighten my arm or turn my neck, apart from the big patch of skin missing from my hip, so I decided it wasn't sensible to ride like that and since the forecast is for more rain and wind all week I think I'll perhaps limit myself to the rollers indoors until next weekend.
It would be interesting to get some figures from the organisers as to how much the weather messed it all up - how many people finished, how many entered but didn't turn up, how many abandoned.
I sent a text to the emergency number saying I'd abandoned and been picked-up so not to send-out search parties when I didn't finish, got a reply some time later - perhaps they were busy dealing with a lot of other people.
The weather must have caused quite a few problems to event organisation, so thanks to all organisers, marshals, helpers, etc.
The motorbike marshals were doing an excellent job, probably almost as wet as we were.
Time to dig-out the Summer bike (why's it just started raining ? Is it something I said ?)0 -
Just back home after 3 days of very mixed emotions/biking.
Day 1 fast and furious averaging over 30kph
Day 2 did on a single speed just for fun
Day 3 drained from day 2 but managed fine until the very last hill (the one that was not on the stage profile....)
Advice for anyone going for future:
1. Sherborne is a very nice town but not the best place to stay if you plan cycling to the event. It has a 2km 4% hill going out (which is a good way to warm up) but on the way back it has 1km at 9% which you definitely dont want between you and a good bath.
2. The Marston Inn on the road back to Sherborne is one hell of a great pub.
PS did anyone Garmin the actual routes used? If so any chance they could load up to bikely or whatever..Martin S. Newbury RC0 -
I just did the Saturday - my first sportive. Bent my rear mech on the journey to the start line and did the ride with the gears wandering a bit which was a bit of an *rse.
I loved it - route was awesome (cheddar was fun!) with some shocking hills when you're used to E anglia. Plenty of good bunches to help pull you along and generally well organised.
I'll definitely be back next year, hoping to avoid the bad weather that's plagued the event (that's why somerset's so green I suppose!)
Ah well, I've got the Norwich 100 on Sunday - should be a lot easier!
Fat people are so insensitive
Fat people are so insensitive0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by bahzob</i>
PS did anyone Garmin the actual routes used? If so any chance they could load up to bikely or whatever..
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Day 2: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/To ... day-241236
Day 3: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/To ... day-341232
No day 1, long story dull too.
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<font size="1">"I'll do what I can to help y'all. But the game's out there, and it's play or get played. That simple."
</font id="size1">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<font>"I\'ll do what I can to help y\'all. But the game\'s out there, and it\'s play or get played. That simple."
</font>0 -
Thanks v much for the maps.Martin S. Newbury RC0
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I've uploaded day 1 to bikely at
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/To ... ssex-day-1
There were 110 women registered for at least one day of the event compared to 920 men. Not sure how that compares to other events. I met several women who used it as training for a Triathlon Ironman event.
I hope everyone has got their energy back now after the gruelling three days.
Janette0 -
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What a fabulous event. I was shattered yesterday.
Saturday was great fun, Sunday was just awful, terrible weather, nothing in my legs and three punctures. I had to stop at a cafe after 37 miles to warm up. My thanks to rider number 232 and his companion who gave me one of their spare tubes.
Monday was good, but still not much in my legs, although I was definitely feeling better. Even managed that last big hill. Next year I will try not to get drawn into riding too fast early on.0 -
Mug shots now online too - though some seem to be missing.
http://www.dephotos.co.uk/album.html
Edit: Select "cycling/BMX" then "Tour of Wessex" on the bottom row.0 -
But who can be bothered trawling through literally thousands of pictures? I was hoping to see a pic of myself of that first steep hill on the last day biut they aren't on that site. Oh well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<font size="1">"I'll do what I can to help y'all. But the game's out there, and it's play or get played. That simple."
</font id="size1">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<font>"I\'ll do what I can to help y\'all. But the game\'s out there, and it\'s play or get played. That simple."
</font>0 -
Me too. I saw at least two photographers on that first mega-steep hill in the Quantocks and one at the top of Dunkery but they were clearly not official (D E Photos) people. Have done google searches for other freelance photographers who may have been there but with no sucsess. [:(]
Was keen to see a picture of myself crumpled over the handle bars having lost all climbing technique and experiencing in a world of pain...0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">There were 110 women registered for at least one day of the event compared to 920 men. Not sure how that compares to other events.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote"> That sounds like an unusually high ratio - to get 1 in 10 female/male ratio for a similar event in Italy (where there womens' granfondo teams) would be amazing too.
<font color="black">london</font id="black"><font color="red">phoenix</font id="red"><font color="black">.co.uk</font id="black">0 -
See y'all on Saturday at the Dales Grimpeur? Mmmm??
Failing that then it's the White Rose Classic the week after - and may the Flying Spaghetti Monster have mercy on all our souls.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<font size="1">"I'll do what I can to help y'all. But the game's out there, and it's play or get played. That simple."
</font id="size1">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<font>"I\'ll do what I can to help y\'all. But the game\'s out there, and it\'s play or get played. That simple."
</font>0
