Saturdays Bike Radar Sportive

glynjervis1966

any idea how many riders will take part in Saturdays sportive..??

rusty nuts

Apparently not that many according to some insiders.

Has anyone noticed that the Bike Radar website has been pushing this event relentlessly, to the detriment of any news relating to other sportives.

mgcycleguy

Well I'm doing it as its local... but i think the "1st 500" discount still applies, so i guess you can figure its less than 500 !.... lol

dead sheep

rusty nuts wrote:

Apparently not that many according to some insiders.

At £45 that is not surprising. Move the decimal point one place to the left and a rider would get better value for money on an audax.

mgcycleguy

... but in truth its really, £25 ( as im sure the discount still applies) and you get free entry to the show... so actually its costing an extra £10 to do the ride... seems fair enough.

... that should have been made clear from the off, as whats the point of keeping the £45 price business, if they have no intention of actually charging that price ?

geoff_ss

Sure paying £45 to ride roads I ride regularly anyway seems a heck of a lot. Certainly the 100km riders will probably see the wheels marks we'll make tomorrow

I was thinking of having a ride over to Castle Donnington on Saturday to have a look but seeing the £18 entry price put that idea out of my head pretty quickly. There's less there than at the York CTC rally and it's a lot more expensive.

I attend a lot of model aeroplane shows and they cost about £7 for entry - £10 maximum. Why is this so expensive?

I suppose I'm tight-fisted.

Geoff

sicrow

Geoff_SS wrote:

I suppose I'm tight-fisted.

Geoff

Yup

Burton

I'll be there along with about 5 other guys from work.

One of whom is one of the "star attraction" guests!

Tom Butcher

Well it looks to be good weather and I've ridden most of the route now and I reckon it's pretty good - looking forwards to it - must admit I wouldn't have paid full whack though.

leedsmjh

The eight hour cut-off doesn't seem particularly friendly - there goes my plan of taking it steady and having nice long breaks!

Can't say I remember such a cut-off being advertised when I signed up all those months ago ....

Tom Butcher

Are they asking us to pay for the food at the 2nd and 3rd feeds ? I can't believe they are but that's the way it reads on the essential sportive information page.

mgcycleguy

Tom... I've just re-read the essential information, and I'm not sure you do have to pay for SIS stuff at the 2nd and 3rd food stops... as it states earlier on ....

"...Science in Sport are providing free sports hydration products for all riders. These will come in the form of hydrate mix, gels and bars. These will be available at Donington Park as well as all three of the refreshment stations on route, which are located as follows..."

Burton

Yeeee Haaaa, that was fun!
Bloomin hot, a good event I thought. 1 sign missed early on by our entire group added an rxtra 5/6 miles on.

What did the rest of you think?

mgcycleguy

My first event... and I really enjoyed myself, traffic was light, plus the weather was fantastic

Tom Butcher

General consensus was good - hopefully it'll be an annual event

canon dale

Tom Butcher wrote:

General consensus was good - hopefully it'll be an annual event

Agreed wholeheartedly Tom

dodgy

It coincided with the FA Cup final, that's why the roads were quiet I reckon. It was the same for my ride yesterday to Audlem and back.

Hugh A

Yes - enjoyed that a lot!

Although might have been more restful if one of the guys I was cycling with decided that it was time to up the pace as soon as we got back onto the flat bit for the return.
Sunny days

And another thing - it was nice to chat to the great Flying Scot as he slowed for a few words

Things that might have gone better -

missed a sign somehow as a marshal took us right past it - otherwise nice to have occasional motercycle escort!

the feed stations and getting hold of drinks took a while but the SIS stuff was good (although only water at the second feed for some reason) - bars, drink and gels - great!

And didn't the race track seem gently undulating the first time round, becoming a nasty hill after 100 miles!

geoff_ss

Hope you all enjoyed your ride. The weather was certainly OK.

I was on part of the route on Friday and saw a few of the signs (one, at least had been turned round). I use some of the lanes a lot by car as it's on the way to my model aircraft club's flying site (carrying an 84" WS plane is difficult on a bike ) but I'd had a ride over on my bike because it was so nice.

I hope you left 'our' lanes in as good a state as you found them. Though I won't mind if you left a few useful tools/spares lying around for us to scavenge

Geoff

canon dale

Only saw lots of used SIS Gel sachets on the road I think Geoff :roll:

geoff_ss

canon dale wrote:

Only saw lots of used SIS Gel sachets on the road I think Geoff :roll:

I wish you hadn't told me that. I'm obsessive about litter and Matthew Parris won't like it

Geoff

mgcycleguy

Geoff.. I'm the same about litter... so you will be pleased to know I did the ride using my little Gel bottles... you can get 3 gels in each bottle !... great little idea

chrisga

First time I have ever done anything like that (mtber through and through - hence the baggy shorts!) and I quite enjoyed it though there was too much lycra on display for me at 8am in the starting area! Everyone passed us I think and noone said anything derogatory which I was worried about and generally always checked we were ok, getting on ok etc etc which was very pleasing. Might give it another go next year and see if I can better my time. Not quite ready to hang up the enduro yet though......

alanmcn1

Good god that 100miler was bloody hard!!!!!!!!!

leedsmjh

I had a great day, it was a really pretty route, everyone was really friendly and I got up all the hills

itisaboutthebike

GOOD POINTS :

1. Good Route (altho some of the descents were a liitle narrow)
2. Friendly riders
3. T-shirt
4. Medal

Despite the bad points below I did enjoy myself once on the ride.

(not too fussed about 3 & 4 tho)

BAD POINTS: (sorry but there are lots of these - in no particular order of priority)

1. Numbers on jerseys (and the front ?). When I asked at sign on whose idea was this they said it was the police. Er sicne when have the police known anything about cycling ? Numbers (like every other sportive ive ridden) should be on the front of the bike - easy to spot. But not if the number is on the front of the jersey (or the back) if you're in a tuck position or you're taking you r gilet/rain cape off or on during the ride.

2. Price - I entered early for £25. I certainly wouldn't have paid £25 for it. £45 smacks of profiterring. Oh sorry they were in for a profit weren't they ?

3. Start fiasco - why were we hered into a pen hanging around for over 1/2 an hour for some guy to tell what we'd already read on the route sheet ? They should have got us onto the racetrack asap and off that crappy ground

4. Feed Stations - these were poor compared to other sportives I've done. At the previous w/e's Tour of Wessex there were ample supplies of bananas, fig rolls, and even tuna and egg rolls at the halfway feed ! ( I did see some rolls at the Ilam feed but wasn't sure whether these were for us or whether we had to pay for them..............luckily I always carry a couple of piece of fruit cake on 100m sportives just in case). I thought it was poor for £25, and I'd have been mitely p*ssed off if I;d have paid £45.

5. Unclear Info - the info implied that some of the food at the feed stations was to be purchased.

REST of BIKERADR EVENT:

Poor - I'm not interested in BMX jumping or MTB so didn't hang around. The CTC York Rally (and befgore anyone asks I haven't got a saddle bag yet !) is a much better event and much better value.