Tales from the Tour of Exmoor

TheDrunkMonk

Fat boys don't climb, and that was relentlessly hilly, so I was out longer than anticipated and am now sporting a lovely salmon coloured head with matching sleeves and legs.

Spare a thought for wrong direction guy:

We were riding for a bit with a guy on his first sportive who'd lost his mates after climbing to the top of the Porlock Hill toll road, turned left back down Porlock Hill proper, and had to cycle back up it. (25% in places) We rode with him for a while, but seperated when he seemed to misunderstand the signs and turned off to complete the 90 mile route, rather than his intended 75 miler. I expect he was feeling 'not good' by the end, but chapeau to the guy, because he did more riding, more climbs than anyone on the course!!!

gmillsy

what an amazing ride yesterday - so brutal - i dont think there was any flat sections at all? it seemed to be 25% up or 25% down! the scenery was mind blowing though - riding along the top of the moors looking out to sea was pretty special.

rode the ride with a mate who dropped out after 60km citing lack of energy - so had to totally bury myself for the rest of the ride on my own!

great ride though, will def do it again next year!

xover_runner

Certainly the toughest Sportive I have done this year as part of my Etape training. It was just relentless up and down, the climb out of Lynton near the end will live in my memory for a long whole. Some of the descents were just fast and scary, no other word for it, my arms have never ached so much as they do today. The feed stations were brilliant - the most variety and best stocked I have ever seen. Not sure I would do this one again, getting to the West country from Hertfordshire on a Friday afternoon is not something I want to repeat in a hurry, 6 hours it took me and the ride itself was just brutally hard.

TheDrunkMonk

Sorry to the organisers for not saying what a fantastic route it would've been, if I wasn't packing an excess 3 1/2 stone of lard.

I was a little surprised how low key it seemed, the views and scenery were fantastic. Definitely not a relaxing pootle in the Somerset/Devon countryside though.

If you peeps like that kind of punishment, might I recommend the Tour of Dartmoor that these guys also organise in September, scenery is breathtaking and dare I say it, it seemed to have more climbing in it, though at least I remember some flat sections on that one.

RR75

An awesome day out - incredible route and I second the point about good feedstations - very good to see, and why can't all organisers do them so well.

One minor gripe - signage. Some points where there was no warning sign, just a single arrow on the junction itself. Easy to miss when you're hurtling downhill burning your brakes.

Pendragon

Thank you all taking part and glad you had a good ride despite the downpour.

The results are now up : www.tourofexmoor.com/results.html

Photos also up: www.sportivephoto.com

All the best for the rest of the summer, for those of you riding the Tour of the Black Mountains or the Tour of Dartmoor see you there and I'll be doing some riding in between myself..........

si. d

Really enjoyed it, my first sportive and first time doing that sort of distance (90). Met alot of nice people on the way too which really made it(I was on the black & white Cinelli with a pump tied onto my top tube with rubber bands).
Highlights were riding in a big group up until the 30 odd mile mark. Low point- the rain.

Did anyone make it up THAT hill without stopping?!

vs

Yes. But then I've climbed that hill many times and knew where the top was; which always helps!