Cyclone - Congrats Peter for organising a great event again

nickwill

The first thing I must say is that I didn't do this ride. However my sympathies are with Peter and the farmer. By leaving gates open, cyclists were putting the farmer's livelihood at risk. Farming is marginal at the moment and the last thing farmers need is lost or injured stock.
It beggars belief that cyclists should open gates by cattle grids, and then not shut them. If riding across cattle grids was a big issue, it would be difficult to ride anywhere in my part of the world. I don't blame the cyclists who followed on from those that opened the gates, the rule is usually to leave a gate as you found it. However the original perpetrators should be ashamed of themselves. They must know who they are! In the future the answer might be to put a large sign by each gate, indicating whether it should be open or shut.
As someone who has observed the amount of work and heartache that goes into organising a sportive, I think it's a great pity that Peter has been subject to unfair critiscism.
There are few enough people who are prepared to get off their backsides and organise events, without them being driven out by ill informed comments.
As stated before, I hope the original perpetrators feel ashamed of themselves. I intend to ride the Cyclone next year to show my support for Peter's hard work.

hazychris

Peter Harrison wrote:

This has, at least, given me some heart to continue with the event next year which is, of course, not just the saturday sportives but also the racing on the sunday and friday.

Hoorah!!

And thank you for making this year's ride such an enjoyable day out.

Sorry you've had so much grief.

Cheers,
Chris

LardLover

Title change.


Shame about the email though

Never mind, I will be back next year, hope you are too (with marshalls on that section if it's included )

I-S

As one of the silent majority it's time for me to say that the Cyclone was an excellent event. This was the first event I've ever entered, and I'm not a member of any club.

A few complaining voices don't represent the majority view – this was a well run event that deserves to be popular and grow. Litter dropped by riders is totally unacceptable, and in future the gate problem will be easier to anticipate and plan for.

If 750 riders covered 101 miles that's 75,550 miles cycled on that day .. incredible.

See you next year.

wiffachip

just so I can compare it with other sportives I could be tempted to enter, does anyone know how much climbing there was on the 101 mile route, it says both 2374m and 1701m on the official website.

nickwill

We measured the route for sportive central, using memorymap and knocking a percentage off, and came up with 1980m.

Peter Harrison

Nickwill wrote:

We measured the route for sportive central, using memorymap and knocking a percentage off, and came up with 1980m.

every programme I use seems to come up with a different figure. However one of the guys in my club using his Garmin and actually doing the ride had a reading of 2268.37m.

Next year it will increase slightly - I promise!

tynevet

Bring it on - I'll be on my road bike next time!

Peter Harrison

tynevet wrote:

Bring it on - I'll be on my road bike next time!

As those who have done the ride will know it's not that there are just a few long climbs - the route is like a camels back ( I was going to say whores knickers but I'm too polite for that) - it's up and down all day

tynevet

Well we must have looked a bit like a camel on our tandem
That challenge is done - going for a faster time next year.

teulk

I did the 62mile ride but i can see Peters point of view. Who ever opened the gate or gates (and you know who you are) should be ashamed of themselves. At first i didnt quite understand thinking that you had to go through the gates but then after reading they were next to cattle grids just makes it more unacceptable. I personally wouldnt have opened the gates if closed but would have went over the cattle grid - if they had been open open when i reached them i would have used the gates. If i found it open i would leave it open and vise versa after all why should you think otherwise? The problem arose after it wasnt closed by the person who opened it and subsiquent riders found it open thinking it was meant to be open and left it as they found it which is what the majority of riders would do in that situation.

It was a well organised event and i will definately be doing it again next year - well done Peter for your hard work.