King of the Downs

ugo.santalucia

deanstacey wrote:

Hi All.

Sorry for the late reply, I had to sort out the carnage at the event centre, unload 4 vans, load it all into one and drive home via checkpoint one to drop off the keys we forgot to give back!!

It's great to know you guys enjoted the ride, makes the hard work worthwhile.

To answer some of the points:-

Cake. Cooked by Jon (the Gore Man) He usually does 3 or 4 for us, This event he did 25 and even had his mum cooking them as well.

Route choice. Yep, making the challenging route for all those who relish a challenge whilst leaving the easier route for the masses sounds about right.

Marker on Yorks Hill. I could write an essay on this! Basically, there are issuse with one resident, I know this so visit all the houses on the hill before the event, if I can't speak to the owner I leave a letter, last year I got an anonomous letter, this year an e-mail saying that they did mind. We have a route checker driving about an hour in front of the first rider checking the markers. They were removed on the lower section of the hill so they put some more up. Realising they had made a mistake they went to move it two minutes later only to find them gone again and a landrover disapearring up a drive. This is why there was a marshal at the bottom of the hill. The only thing I can think is that the git came out and took the Hill Marker down. There were reports about a landrover going down the hill beeping and swearing at the riders,probably the same guy.

Free Ride. Is in the process of being sorted. We were going to mail everyone a code but realised this could be put up and everyone could enter for free. You should recieve a mail in the next few days.

Rider on the last hairpin. Is fine, had his chin stitched and came back to get his bike later.
Think that's it.

See you all next year.

Dean

Don't you just love Britain? In Italy, France and Belgium the locals walk out on the road to cheer you (often with pic nic tables and wine), while in Britain they get annoyed for the little delay on their way to Tesco...

TheStone

Dean, thanks for the great effort. Was a top event.

Photos are up:
http://sportivephoto.thirdlight.com/vie ... 513&home=1

Here's me struggling. I think this is Yorks Hill, so I didn't have much left.
http://sportivephoto.thirdlight.com/vie ... d=12553174

Heckler1974

Here's me:

http://sportivephoto.thirdlight.com/vie ... d=12552461

Not sure which hill, I tried to smile for each photo but mostly it looks like I'm passing wind.

Results are in I see and I clearly spent much longer than I thought at the feed stations :oops: ride time was 7hr 30 but total time just over 8hrs. A quick excel exercise from the results and I worked out that puts me in the top half at least.

gweeds

Will the results be up in Excel rather than PDF?

Heckler1974

Gweeds wrote:

Will the results be up in Excel rather than PDF?

You can 'select all' in Adobe reader then if you paste into excel and select space delimited, after about five minutes of fiddling you can get to a point where you can sort by elapsed time (and by length, i.e. half or full) and work out where you are.

Having said that there are some no start / no finish times riders and also still some full riders that only did half (so their average speed and elapsed time is eye-watering) but you can get an approximate idea.

wombler

+1 on the route and organisation. It was a great day and the excellent signage and food stops helped a lot. Thanks to all involved.

Heckler1974

BTW did anyone get one of the golden sprockets?

I have a bright red sprocket after Sunday but that's another story.

deanstacey

Excel results available from the Rider times tab on the Ride It page of the main Evans Website

Ta
Dean

jnr_h

What do you think the fastest real time is for the full?
06:16:53 ?
Thats going a bit :shock:
Total time for me of 7:06:14 - a tasty hour and a half better than last year.
(It's a little bit easier when you don't get lost, bonk and it isn't pouring with rain and windy)

gweeds

111th in the half here. My mate came in 15th for the full route, an awesome ride.

gweeds

jnr_h wrote:

What do you think the fastest real time is for the full?
06:16:53 ?
Thats going a bit :shock:
Total time for me of 7:06:14 - a tasty hour and a half better than last year.
(It's a little bit easier when you don't get lost, bonk and it isn't pouring with rain and windy)

I think the 5hr 52min one is the quickest full. Any of the 4 hour ones are the half (big jump from that to the first 5hr one).

My mate came in 6hrs 34mins IIRC.

jnr_h

Big Respect to those okes! (the sub 6's)

TheStone

There was someone out there for nearly 12 hours. Top effort, hope they're not too burnt.

8:47 for me. I make that 399th (of 612)

gweeds

12 hours. That's some effort.

PhilA

The results make interesting reading. There are some super-quick times in there, but if you dig a little deeper, you find out why!

If you check the race numbers against the photos on www.sportivephoto.com, you see that some of those achieving sub-5 hour times for the full sportive riders don't, ahem, 'look the part'. I can only, therefore, assume these folk were signed up for the full sportive and only did the half, giving them amazing times.

Also, there are some folk in the top 10 with no photos of them at all. None. Did they ride the course at all?! I suspect not.

Anyway, once you filter them out it gives you a better idea of where you sit in the shake-up.

There were still some amazing times in there, though, so chapeau to those riders who bossed the course.

My chip didn't have a start time, sadly, but knowing what time I left and what time I got back, I sit in about 45th place, so happy with that.

Well done all.

Phil

gweeds

PhilA wrote:

The results make interesting reading. There are some super-quick times in there, but if you dig a little deeper, you find out why!

If you check the race numbers against the photos on www.sportivephoto.com, you see that some of those achieving sub-5 hour times for the full sportive riders don't, ahem, 'look the part'. I can only, therefore, assume these folk were signed up for the full sportive and only did the half, giving them amazing times.

Also, there are some folk in the top 10 with no photos of them at all. None. Did they ride the course at all?! I suspect not.

Anyway, once you filter them out it gives you a better idea of where you sit in the shake-up.

There were still some amazing times in there, though, so chapeau to those riders who bossed the course.

My chip didn't have a start time, sadly, but knowing what time I left and what time I got back, I sit in about 45th place, so happy with that.

Well done all.

Phil

The timings are odd there. I signed up for the full but had a heavy cold and sore throat so just did the half, and I'm listed correctly as a half.

Heckler1974

PhilA wrote:

Also, there are some folk in the top 10 with no photos of them at all. None. Did they ride the course at all?! I suspect not.

£25 to get bragging rights and a goody bag, superb, unless of course there was money riding on them (if you pardon the pun) doing an awsome time in which case fair play having such brass neck to cheat so grandly.

deanstacey

The problem with the electronic timing, and our old paper system for that matter, is that it requires anyone who changed route to inform us when they finish. Hopefully you were all asked if you did the route you went out to do. If there is a big group of finishers the guys at the finish might not get around to asking, or exhausted riders might just nod in order to get to the pasta faster.

Anyway, we have to make a decision based on the average times for the routes and may not have got everyone, hence some very fast times from riders who might not have looked the part.

Cheers
Dean

dave milne

I did 6:10 - the guy we were riding with until I couldn't hopld the pace anymore did 5:56, he was super strong

ashnbecs

I echo the comments above - excellent ride, well signposted, well organised and Dean really appreciate your posts on here as well.

I opted just for the 1st lap and chilled out (or rather baked quietly) in the sunshine waiting for my much stronger buddies to finish the rest of the ride. Given how much longer it took them than I expected and the state they were in when they came back I am pleased to say I made the right decision. Otherwise I might have beaten the 6.15 pm return!!

My buddy mnentioned a very nasty accident on one of the descents culminating with a car with its windscreen shattered. Is this the one to which you refer? It sounds like a stitched chin may have been a good outcome from how it was described to me. Wish him a speedy recovery.

Looking forward to next you - when I'll be a bit fitter, a bit lighter and have a few more gears left for the hills.

AndyB_1

Being a newbee to the world of sportives I've found some great info on this site so thought I'd get round to actually posting something. 1st off I have to agree with all the above, great event and fantastic day out.
Only my second ever sportive having signed up for the Etape this year so wasn't sure how I'd get on but was pleasantly surprised. Hot and v steep in places, had to dig pretty deep on the last couple of climbs but 6:39 for me and given the computer said just over 6:20 I must have faffed a bit at the feed stations.... I'll learn for next time. Anyway met some great people and hopefully a good indication that my training for the is heading in the right direction.

parajba

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Don't you just love Britain? In Italy, France and Belgium the locals walk out on the road to cheer you (often with pic nic tables and wine), while in Britain they get annoyed for the little delay on their way to Tesco...

+1

Why are locals so angry in this country ?!? Why do they hate cyclists so much?

mroli

Yeah, they're ALL dicks aren't they? :roll:

I only saw two bits of inconsiderate road behaviour - one was the driver of a jag who beeped riders behind me and passed too close - the other was from a cyclist (not part of the KOD) with tri-bars who rode too quickly through an accident area and generally behaved like an arrogant cock. 1-1 in my book. Otherwise, other road users and peds were considerate as you like.