pendle pedal

andy_from_embsay

Eee, that were 'ard, weren't it? Just back from doing the 160k (which I think was 168km due to the diversion). You weren't kidding about that finish, were you? Felt ok pretty much all the way round, but was into "working hard" territory after Clitheroe - that climb after Nick o' Pendle's evil, and we both found the bit after Roughlee hard going, especially the A road.

Was hoping to average about 15mph, and in the end came in just under that with just over 7 hours of cycling, and was hoping for 7:30 total time which was blown the moment we decided to have a savoury luncheon at Woodies at Crook o' Lune - best part of half an hour there so we were 7:54 overall, which seems respectable. I do wish more sportives would provide something savoury - cakes and energy bars are fine, but if you're out most of the day I'd murder a cheese butty or a sausage roll! We've decided pork pies may be the answer...

Great event though, epic course and friendly, helpful marshalls on the whole, although there were a few younger looking ones who looked like they might have had a heavy night on Saturday - maybe best not to put one of the sleepier looking ones in Chipping - my mate missed the feed stop there and he reckoned the marshall was actually asleep!

OneFactHunt

I hurt, I hurt lots.

5hrs 55min for my second ever cycling event. Happy with that.

I can see where the work needs doing to improve.

Thanks for the gentle push in getting me to do it, and to all those who gave me a lttle word of encourgement on the hills. I think I died on nearly all the hills/mountains

All in all a good friendly day out.

andy_from_embsay

Hey well done - it's a toughie for your second event!

oldnewbiker

Got round in 5.30 felt ok only struggling once up that bastard hill up to Barley,This is my 3rd Pendle Pedal and I was a bit disapointed ,no food stop ay Chipping and some of the stewards were only there for decorative purposes ,the one in Clithero toown centre was sat on a wall 20 odd yards away :roll: from the junction.Met and chatted to nice people all the way round.Gott around of applause it the top of the Nick.I would second the point about something savoury at the foodstop.

davelakers

oldnewbiker wrote:

Got round in 5.30 felt ok only struggling once up that bastard hill up to Barley,This is my 3rd Pendle Pedal and I was a bit disapointed ,no food stop ay Chipping and some of the stewards were only there for decorative purposes ,the one in Clithero toown centre was sat on a wall 20 odd yards away :roll: from the junction.Met and chatted to nice people all the way round.Gott around of applause it the top of the Nick.I would second the point about something savoury at the foodstop.

There was a food stop at Chipping, but you had to ask the Marshall. He just raised his arms and pointed me the way of the route, its only when I asked him he waved his arms in the direction of the stop. Not as pleasant an experience as last year, partly because half the Marshalls couldnt give a toss.........

andy_from_embsay

There was a food stop at Chipping - but you had to carry on past the left turn (with the astoundingly dopey marshall who didn't seem to know what he was there for).

I think they should have bacon butty vans at all food stops, but as I said we're thinking carrying pork pies with pickle built in might be a suitable compromise.

Stelvio_W

I agree with everything said. The best bit was at the start,. I was in the first bunch to set off, as you leave Barlick you had to make a left turn down to the canal literally 500 metres from the Start. The marshall was half-asleep there, and left the first ten or so riders carry straight on. As I have done it before I knew to turn, after which he woke up. Sure the guy was only 16. I hope the other ten didnt get to Skipton before they realised what happened.

And the Chipping feed station was poorly signed. I missed it but luckily my Sister was on had with some high quality H20.

Did the long route, which on my Garmin came in at 105 miles in total, I assume due to the diversion. Happy with my time of 6 hours 40 odd. Forgot to stop the Garmnin when I went over the line... to busy doing a Cav style celebration.

Great days ride, some elements made it not as good as last year.

The ride had so many stings in the tail.... pain throughout. I have it as 11,000 feet of ascending. Thats why it hurt!

deets

1st time round the 100m (104.7m!) route, managed 7:48. I'd agree with the comments about the marshals, some of those kids were more of a hinderance than a help. I'd also recommend a couple of signs up around Barnoldswick to help us actually find the start in the morning! Brilliant route though, definitely a tough day in the saddle

ColinJ

OneFactHunt wrote:

I hurt, I hurt lots.

5hrs 55min for my second ever cycling event. Happy with that.

I'm pretty impressed with that performance, especially since it took me over 7 hours last year... :oops:

oldnewbiker

I have emailed Pennine events about the marshalling ,and to balance my comments added that I thought the lad on the main road before the Nick was doing a great job.However anyone who was riding assuming they would be replenshing their water at Chipping and due to the dope there simply getting waived on could have been in a spot of bother.

Edit another rant from me is the number of discarded gel packets Inoticed around the route is putting them in your jersey pocket till you get to the next bin that difficult.

parky53

I have also emailed Pennine Events with a rant about useless, lethargic iPod wearing numpties masquerading as "marshalls" and getting paid for doing nothing. Also, having paid £27 to a commercial business it is shameful that their "website" has not yet been updated with the results - surely this should be quick to do having used chip timing?

I was counting on the third feed stop to fill my bottles and was really annoyed when it failed to materialise. I assumed (wrongly) that it was in the usual location for Feed 3 which was signposted as "refreshments 1Km" but turned out to be an ice cream van! There was no evidence of a feed stop at/near/around Chipping.

andy_from_embsay

I was a bit confused by the ice cream van sign, but carried on assuming it'd be a bit up the road - however I then remembered in my fevered state that the route mam showed the stop at Chipping, so I was looking out for it. As others have said the marshall there was one of the more useless ones.

I've also emailed the organisers with the marshalls comments, but I've complimented the lad on the crossroads just out of barlick who i thought was doing a good job. I also asked for cheese butties and complimented them on their signage, which I thought was pretty good.

Paul Walker

Having done quite a few sportives i was impressed by the clear signs and also the amount of energy bars/ gels and drink available at each checkpoint.
I recently did the 3 counties event where only water and sandwiches were on offer..It was the first sportive i have done in 2 years where there was no energy drinks/gels. There were lots of dry uneaten sandwiches which most people cannot eat when they are hot and thirsty.
I agree that the marshalls were not up to much but the majority of sportives i have done don`t have any marshalls.
I think this is an excellent event, the weather yesterday was lovely albeit a bit windy and the scenery stunning.

andy_from_embsay

I think the event yesterday had the SIS stuff for free (one of the girls on the table was saying they didn't have just water) which is why there was plenty of that. I'm all for flapjack and energy bars (actually forget energy bars - hate 'em), but several people have commented on how they'd prefer something savoury as well - I think it might be the etape du dales where they have sausage rolls and sandwiches available. Woodies (apart from the slow service) was a godsend. Perhaps ring ahead next time!

parky53

Still no results... and no reply to my email. The "race website" is still saying how to enter. I wouldn't normally moan like this but I paid £27 to enter (and brought along 6 mates as well at £27 per head) and this is being run by a commercial business who are making money out of all these inflated entry fees. Most Sportives are organised by unpaid volunteers on behalf of worthy causes and most manage to give a more professional service than this.

Having said all this it is a great event and well worth doing from a sporting point of view but the organisers really have to deliver better value for money than this.

matt1972

I road it with a load of mates.

The general consensus was that the signage was excellent, the marshall at the chipping ice cream van was an idiot (lack of training maybe?) and the lack of choice at the foodstops was really poor.
I don't like drinking energy drinks all day, and I had to search out water. At one feed station the water was held in a small teapot, and when that ran out the lady poured me water from a watering can! That was funny! To limit the food to energy bars and bananas was not great. It will be a long time until I buy another energy bar having eaten ten yesterday!

Overall I'd recomend it as the ride is excellent, but for next time please can there be cups of tea, water, and perhaps a few sandwiches, flapjacks etc....

Matt

little upstart

Whats wrong with you people, you only need 2 water bottles, a couple of bananas and a gel for 100 miles ploding aroud lancashire lanes.If you were proper hungry stop at a cafe, plenty on route and have beans on toast.Its not as though it was race. :roll:

ColinJ

little upstart wrote:

Whats wrong with you people, you only need 2 water bottles, a couple of bananas and a gel for 100 miles ploding aroud lancashire lanes.If you were proper hungry stop at a cafe, plenty on route and have beans on toast.Its not as though it was race. :roll:

I think it's the concept of paying £27 for "ploding aroud lancashire lanes"!

I often ride round those lanes free-of-charge and use the local cafes but I'd be very miffed to spend £27 and then still have to use the cafes...

parky53

Dear "little upstart"
I presume you haven't done this route. If you had I suspect that you wouldn't use the term "ploding aroud" (sic) if you had. And you would certainly need more than 2 bottles, a banana and a gel - unless you are superman. ColinJ is correct - it is the point of paying top dollar for something that isn't there that is annoying.

oldnewbiker

little upstart wrote:

Whats wrong with you people, you only need 2 water bottles, a couple of bananas and a gel for 100 miles ploding aroud lancashire lanes.If you were proper hungry stop at a cafe, plenty on route and have beans on toast.Its not as though it was race. :roll:

Luxury


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

little upstart

parky53 wrote:

Dear "little upstart"
I presume you haven't done this route. If you had I suspect that you wouldn't use the term "ploding aroud" (sic) if you had. And you would certainly need more than 2 bottles, a banana and a gel - unless you are superman. ColinJ is correct - it is the point of paying top dollar for something that isn't there that is annoying.

Done it loads of times mate, both directions and usually nick o pendle both ways and Birdy brow.,On my own 2 bottles and gels, if on a clubrun then a cafe stop.. Spend yer £29 on gels and ride yer Sportives any weekend of the year, job sorted.If you want to race enter one or a tt, cheap as chips, or if yer really rich a triathalon.

Stelvio_W

Any chance of some results. Has anyone seen any / know when to expect ??

parky53

Stelvio_W wrote:

Any chance of some results. Has anyone seen any / know when to expect ??

Just had a lengthy conversation with a Pennine events spokesperson. She says she doesn't know why the results aren't published yet, can't say when they will be published and she will "look into it". She was unaware of the problems with the feedstation and was sorry that she didn't really know much about the event. Oh... and the boss, Mark Sandamas, "has been in a series of meetings all day" so was unavailable for comment. How convenient.

Stelvio_W

Thanks Parky53. In a word they are all useless!

Is it just me, or is there a place in the market for a single company to organise all these sportives, instead of local authorites / small companies trying to do it. There would be economies of scale, for example you could buy a set of chips and mats etc instead of having to use a provider each time.

And then you could have a well put together website, with up to date details and results etc. On top of that, garmin users could download routes etc. You could get big sponsors on board..maybe Ginsters.. and then there would be a definate flow of savoury food.

I know that Evans are trying something like this with the "Ride It" series, but I have ridden a few of them and they dont seem to have the same feel as something like the Pendle Pedal.

parky53

Results are now online:
http://www.pennineevents.co.uk/News/Pendle_Pedal_Results.html

I had a long conversation with Mark Sandamas - who is a really nice guy - and voiced all the complaints about the event. Let's hope it survives for the future.

ColinJ

parky53 wrote:

Results are now online:
http://www.pennineevents.co.uk/News/Pendle_Pedal_Results.html

I had a long conversation with Mark Sandamas - who is a really nice guy - and voiced all the complaints about the event. Let's hope it survives for the future.

And they are not correct!

Someone I know was down for the 160 km event but opted for the shorter route on the day. They made a big fuss of him crossing the line in about 5 hrs 30 mins which was about 20 minutes faster than the previous best time for the event. He told the organisers that he'd done the shorter route but he's still down in the 160 km results in 4th place. I suspect that a lot of the other 5 hours-ish riders did the same as him too, unless this year they had some super-talented riders taking part!

andy_from_embsay

I'd have thought that all the top 7 or 8 who haven't got a split time did the short route - it'd be hard to miss the timing mats at Crook o'Lune.

ColinJ

andy_from_embsay wrote:

I'd have thought that all the top 7 or 8 who haven't got a split time did the short route - it'd be hard to miss the timing mats at Crook o'Lune.

Ah, good point! It's a tough route and even the great Dave Lloyd was taking nearly 6 hours to do it so I didn't believe all those 5-and-a-bit hour times.

oldnewbiker

Tee hee Im down for having done 160k in 5.45 chapeau to me ,I told them before the start I was doing the 100 k ,as it is I would be about last on the 100k time sheet :roll: .I really hope this is just a blip for the PP this year cos its agreat ride and stewards aside it was pretty well organised this year ,the signage makes stewards a tad obsolete,I think that as these thing get bigger they seem to get too organised ,I suspect stewards in the pasthave been local authority employes helping out for a few bob and someone has said we need proper stewards .Bring back the middle aged ladies doing knitting and students reading books it all adds to the charm and also they were much better than the "proper stewards"

andy_from_embsay

Agree about the signage - a marshall on a couple of main roads, and a big sign in Chipping saying FEED STOP would be miles better than paying for morose youths.