Wantage Sunday Sportive

moorjohn

Anybody doing it.

I'm travelling over from Aylesbury with a friend.

Both hoping for some cooler weather.

Otherwise I'll be towing a bob yak loaded with l'evian

8)

jhop

Yes I'm in this one as well.

moorjohn

coming from far away?

magliaceleste

I am. The only Sportive I can actually ride to!

edit: OK ride to, ride and then ride home (without dying of exhaustion).

moorjohn

d'you dig the dinky timing chips?

lurcio

I'm going too! From Ludgershall (sort of between Bicester and Aylesbury).

nicky_7751

I'm there doing the mid route, only my 2nd sportive so looking forward to it.

jhop

moorjohn wrote:

coming from far away?

Henley on Thames.

Jaeger

I'll be there, just a shame the first train from Reading arrives in Didcot (the nearest stn at 12 miles away) at 9am. :roll:

Could be a long day....

moorjohn

Nice weather in the end.

Bit windy.

Lovely day + well organised.

I was suprised by the 17% hill halfway round

Anybody out there get a gold time ?

hitthewall

First sportive for me.

Thanks to the organisers for a great event and excellent organisation.

Yes, the steep hill out of Ogbourne St George was a surprise. Whole group of us struggled up but made it.

Thanks to Martin for the good commuications pre-event.

lurcio

I had a great day too. The website claims a maximum gradient of 12% so I was also a bit surprised at the 17% hill. I thought I was in for an easier day!

Finished the long route in 4:48 so I *should* be within the gold time, but I'm anxiously awaiting confirmation on their website.

Off to click refresh again...

moorjohn

Finished the long route in 4:48 so I *should* be within the gold time

blimey

I saw some Bicester millenium shirts at the start. Would you be one of them?

I took 6.5 hours, but 0.5 an hour was waiting for mate who had p*nct*re.

Maybe I'll try without mudguards next year.

SouthernSportive

Hi all

Slightly delayed today, so sorry for that, but results are on the website now.

lurcio

Many thanks Martin!

How do you calculate the average ride time? I make it to be 5h 16m myself Yes, I am sad enough to write little programs to sort the data into time order...

moorjohn: I had a greeny Bianchi shirt on. Bad luck with your mate's p*nct*re and I'm sure mudguards only add speed.

Now off to find something more productive to do. Like watch the TdF highlights

levad

This was my first Sportive event as well. I did enjoy it despite the chain off 3 times and the air out of my front tyre at West Ilsley.

I didn't make it all the way up the 17% hill, had to walk the last bit. What gears did folks use, my lowest gear is a 36x25 which I think is probably still a bit high for these events.

Anyway, a time of 5hrs 40min for the full route is quite pleasing.

SouthernSportive

lurcio wrote:

Many thanks Martin!

How do you calculate the average ride time? I make it to be 5h 16m myself Yes, I am sad enough to write little programs to sort the data into time order...

Yes, I looked at that after I published the results and thought "that doesn't seem right..."

I've restructured the results database over the past couple of events, to work better with our new timing system. The calculation should still be fine (it's simple division by the number of riders completing the course), but I'm wondering if something has gone off kilter in the way I'm selecting the data to feed into that calculation.

I'm looking into it... (and seeing as you've just saved me a reference calculation, I'll be the last person to call you sad!)

SouthernSportive

SouthernSportive wrote:

lurcio wrote:

Many thanks Martin!

How do you calculate the average ride time? I make it to be 5h 16m myself Yes, I am sad enough to write little programs to sort the data into time order...

Yes, I looked at that after I published the results and thought "that doesn't seem right..."

I've restructured the results database over the past couple of events, to work better with our new timing system. The calculation should still be fine (it's simple division by the number of riders completing the course), but I'm wondering if something has gone off kilter in the way I'm selecting the data to feed into that calculation.

I'm looking into it... (and seeing as you've just saved me a reference calculation, I'll be the last person to call you sad!)

Cheers John, that's fixed and it tallies with your calculation too!

It was the DNFs that were causing the problem. Rather than counting them as null, my new formula was treating them as a 'false positive' that was knocking down the average.

I've excluded them properly now, so you can make a true (and rather more flattering) comparison between your times and the field average!

hitthewall

Levad,

I had 34 x 27 and it was a struggle on the 17% incline but made it (just).

magliaceleste

My home territory. Amazing how the same old roads are so different when you ride them with others.

Managed the long route in 4h 30 exactly. I thought I had done OK, but someone has managed it in 3h 10. If my maths is correct that's 44kph!

SouthernSportive

magliaceleste wrote:

My home territory. Amazing how the same old roads are so different when you ride them with others.

Managed the long route in 4h 30 exactly. I thought I had done OK, but someone has managed it in 3h 10. If my maths is correct that's 44kph!

Corrected - I've moved them to the short ride. We do sometimes get riders who change distance and don't tell us at the end. I try and catch them before the results go up, but the odd one can slip through. Either that or we had a truly exceptional talent in our midst!