stoke - tour of britain

spanspoon

looking for a bit of advice, i'm thinking of doing this in sept

http://www.tourride.co.uk/rides/stage_5.asp

i'm undecided as to whether to go for the 70km or the 145km, i wouldn't be racing but would like to get a decent time, the biggest ride i've done is 140 miles over 3 days (coast to coast) which i found fairly easy, this was done carrying all my camping kit etc. so doesn't really compare to putting some miles in on my roadie. one of those i covered 60 mile and i did it in june.

what would be a decent time for a 145km event and a 70km event?

i normally ride 3 to 4 times a week and do 20 mile rides and average around 18mph which is over fairly hilly terrain.

do you think 90 miles might be pushing it a bit? i'm 27 and pretty fit

JC.152

i saw this the other day in local paper (live near ish to stoke) but then saw it was about £40 to rider the route that they've put out on their website somewhere so i'll probly just go across sometime in the summer and ride it without the inner city route.

if you can find the link to the map you could do some sections of it like the hillier bit towards the end (leek gun hill, peak district, through cheadle to stoke) which would give you an idea of which route to choose

nickcuk

Even on a typical gloomy Sterk day, the crowds and other riders will almost make 90 miles feel like half the distance. Considering the food and drink points, the general support you'll find, and the opportunity to raise a bit of cash for a good cause, I can think of no better way to cover your first 90 miler

avoidingmyphd

why on earth would there be supporters?

I agree that it's a bit sniffy to say "i'll ride the route on my own for free on another day" when the money goes to charity though. fair enough, I suppose, but it's a weird answer to give someone thinking of doing the ride!

JC.152

yeh sorry bout the reply of not doing the charity ride because of the cost :oops: which I thought was a bit too much but then again they'll have already raised 20grand from pre entries from what Ive seen in paper which is good

but what i was saying as well was if he lives near to stoke and not sure which one to do (flatter 40 mile route) or the proper 90 mile route he could go across and do the last sections towards peak district-leek-cheadle-stoke for a rough idea cos otherwise you might regret riding the 40 mile flat route when your able to cope with the hills in 90mile route for a similer entry fee


Joe

simon_e

avoidingmyphd wrote:

I agree that it's a bit sniffy to say "i'll ride the route on my own for free on another day" when the money goes to charity though.!

Are you saying that if someone posts a route no-one (including someone who lives near the route) should ride some of it another day?

And do you want to support that particular charity? Perhaps he already donates time or money to another cause. I'll be raising money on a charity ride in Ironbridge next month. Anyone is welcome to sponsor me... or ride themselves.

@spanspoon I think choosing the route shouldn't be about what you want to do. If you prefer to do 40 miles then do that and enjoy it. If you fancy a challenge then sign up for the 90 but do some training beforehand. Or toss a coin. It's simple, isn't it? I don't understand why you think we can advise you on this decision.

Jbish

I'm doing the 40. Wanted to do the 90 but a mate didn't fancy that so I decided on the 40. Plus being new to road cycling and never having done something like this before I thought it wise to sign up for that just to get the feel for some big group riding as i'm looking at doing some sportifs next year.

It's a good thing for stoke too I guess. It's worth doing so that stuff like it happens on the regs! Don't know if anyone else went to the tour series in Hanley but the atmosphere was awesome! Despite the usual naesayers moaning and whining about the whole thing.

It's a worthwhile cause but, as simon pointed out if you already do something for another charity it's understandable some people wont pay that out.

But flipside of the coin, if you do big organised charity walks (which I've looked into) they require you to raise a minimum ammount before you can even take part (250 each in a team of 4 seems to be kind of normal) so £30 - £40 dosn't seem that bad!

Toks

spanspoon wrote:

looking for a bit of advice, i'm thinking of doing this in sept

http://www.tourride.co.uk/rides/stage_5.asp

i'm undecided as to whether to go for the 70km or the 145km, i wouldn't be racing but would like to get a decent time, the biggest ride i've done is 140 miles over 3 days (coast to coast) which i found fairly easy, this was done carrying all my camping kit etc. so doesn't really compare to putting some miles in on my roadie. one of those i covered 60 mile and i did it in june.

what would be a decent time for a 145km event and a 70km event?

i normally ride 3 to 4 times a week and do 20 mile rides and average around 18mph which is over fairly hilly terrain.

do you think 90 miles might be pushing it a bit? i'm 27 and pretty fit

Assuming you remember to fuel up (carbs etc) regularly during the ride especially if you're gonna be 'pushing things' you should be ok. Don't start off too hard because you may pay for it later. If you can find a few other to share the work and you could get a pretty good time.