Evans Ride It - Esher

Beatmaker
Beatmaker Posts: 1,092
edited February 2010 in Sportives/audaxes/training rides
Is anyone driving to the Esher Ride It sportive at the weekend from South London, that has room for another rider and bike in their car? I will obviously pay the petrol money and supply coffee / cake on the way! I was hoping to do the long ride.

Cheers

Chris

Comments

  • G-Wiz
    G-Wiz Posts: 261
    You could try the train, first one from Clapham junction gets to Esher at about 7:40, it's only 5 minutes ride from there.
  • Beatmaker
    Beatmaker Posts: 1,092
    Cheers G-Wiz, may well do that.
  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    is the route going anti or clockwise any one know? GPX imported into bikely seems to show anti, so you'll see I marshalling a TT.

    could get interesting!
  • TheStone
    TheStone Posts: 2,291
    Is the map on the website the long route?
    Seems to be about 90km, bit shorter than listed.

    Weather looks good. A tropical 4C, nice.
    exercise.png
  • Lazywheeler
    Lazywheeler Posts: 7
    Why is this organised along a TT route do Evans not care?
  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    Lazywheeler wrote:
    Why is this organised along a TT route do Evans not care?

    all sorted.

    http://evanscyclesrideit.blogspot.com/
  • Lazywheeler
    Lazywheeler Posts: 7
    Well done Roger ,thank you Evans
  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    Lazywheeler wrote:
    Well done Roger ,thank you Evans

    I just alerted our TT organiser, having spotted it.

    cheers must go to Dean for rerouting the ride so late in the day.
  • TheStone
    TheStone Posts: 2,291
    Good route, but still too cold to fully enjoy the day out.
    Didn't seem to be many people riding (early at least).
    exercise.png
  • G-Wiz
    G-Wiz Posts: 261
    Bloody miserable more like! Forecast was for no rain until lunchtime, it was already sleet when we started.

    Good route though, consistently rolling course and only Whitedown was a real horror. I've not done that bottom loop before.

    I wish they'd stick another £2 on the entry and provide something better than raw bananas at the stops though. In the cold and wet you need a lot more fuel than that.
  • 5milestogo
    5milestogo Posts: 224
    Cold, wet, but not a bad morning if attire could handle it. Would wish for it to start a little earlier as standing round for 30 mins was no fun before first off. Got only puncture in Esher 1/2m from finish which was a real p**ser. Looking forward to some sun on my back in months to come.
    Rose Pro DX Cross 3000
    GT Edge Ti
    Ribble Audax
  • deanstacey
    deanstacey Posts: 33
    Hi

    Thanks for the comments guys.

    I think the overall opinion of the riders coming back was that it was a bit chilly out there! I drove out at 4am this morning to check the course in a blizzard, thoughts of last years cancelation in mind.Luckily this only lasted a couple of miles when it settled on wet and cold for the rest of the day.

    Roger, hope you guys had a good TT and the cold wasn't too much of a hinderance.

    We change our routes on a fairly regular basis. Saturdays Off road ride, for example, was also changed due to Race Horses being ridden on the original course, We even drafted in another staff member to marshall the area. Last years King of the Downs was re-routed to miss a Tri. Our problem is that we do 25 events a year around the whole country with each event averaging 100miles of trails/roads which equates to 2500miles. It's simply impossible to check for all clashing events, especially as we book upto a year in advance. We do care!

    Sorry about the bananas. Don't think I've every seen so many come back! There was also some home made friutcake, but I think that may have been in hot demand..... What sort of food would you like to see at the drink station?


    Cheers
    Dean
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    Fruit cake would have been fab; I obviously should have started earlier :-)

    Bananas would have been fine if they'd been ripe; I tried the yellowest one I could see, but physically couldn't peel it... Flapjacks also good, or maybe the sponsors could be persuaded to provide some energy bars?

    Really enjoyed the ride; it was my first ever sportive, and I'll definitely be back for more!
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • G-Wiz
    G-Wiz Posts: 261
    Hi Dean

    Thanks for the reply. All in all it was a good event, the weather's hardly down to you guys, and to be honest the food situation was my own fault for not stocking up on extras for the cold weather.

    Any of the long ride recommendations in some of the other threads would go down well. Fig rolls, soreen loaf and flapjacks all seem popular.

    I know gels and bars are expensive, but having some for sale at the manned stations wouldn't be a bad move? Get the prices down to £1 a unit and you won't have to worry about change too much.

    I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!
  • TheStone
    TheStone Posts: 2,291
    deanstacey wrote:
    Sorry about the bananas. Don't think I've every seen so many come back! There was also some home made friutcake, but I think that may have been in hot demand..... What sort of food would you like to see at the drink station?

    I was too cold to stop and drank less than a half bottle all day.
    Pity about the weather. Was a good route and seemed well signed and organised thanks.
    exercise.png
  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    deanstacey wrote:
    Hi

    Thanks for the comments guys.

    I think the overall opinion of the riders coming back was that it was a bit chilly out there! I drove out at 4am this morning to check the course in a blizzard, thoughts of last years cancelation in mind.Luckily this only lasted a couple of miles when it settled on wet and cold for the rest of the day.

    Roger, hope you guys had a good TT and the cold wasn't too much of a hinderance.

    We change our routes on a fairly regular basis. Saturdays Off road ride, for example, was also changed due to Race Horses being ridden on the original course, We even drafted in another staff member to marshall the area. Last years King of the Downs was re-routed to miss a Tri. Our problem is that we do 25 events a year around the whole country with each event averaging 100miles of trails/roads which equates to 2500miles. It's simply impossible to check for all clashing events, especially as we book upto a year in advance. We do care!

    Sorry about the bananas. Don't think I've every seen so many come back! There was also some home made friutcake, but I think that may have been in hot demand..... What sort of food would you like to see at the drink station?


    Cheers
    Dean

    TT went very well, partically once back in the warm dry HQ all your lot seemed in a jolly mood, what I saw from the roundabout at west horsely.
  • J4zzDogg
    J4zzDogg Posts: 41
    Really enjoyed the event and thought the course was excellent and very clearly marked. I attempted to peel two bananas and then gave up... Agree with earlier comments about alternatives.

    I was hoping to trial one of the demo bikes but there were none listed on the site for ages and then all of a sudden they were all booked up.

    Will definitely do another though...
  • deanstacey
    deanstacey Posts: 33
    The problem with the bananas was a combination of not being ripe ( I was a bit optamistic I'm afraid! ) and being left in the van overnight/all day. Will do better next time.

    With regard to selling food, I tend to shy away from this for two reasons. One is that some riders don't carry money and saying no to a starving, knackered rider for the sake of 50p is not in my nature. Even if they say they'll pay when they get back it's very rare we do get paid, like two tubes we handed out on Sunday for instance. ( I'm not suggesting people do this on purpose, they just forget.) Secondly, some people want everything free and moan about being charged for a Mars Bar when they've paid an entry fee. I'd rather not display goods for sale so that people don't feel this way. We had this on the King of the Downs when we suplimented 3000 SIS bars and 2000 bananas with some extra Mars Bars. Despite the fact that each rider had access to 3 SIS bars and 2 banans each, people begrudged paying 40p if they wanted something else.

    I've taken the comments onboard and will look into some alternatives.

    Demo bikes. We're in a bit of a transition at the moment with the old fleet being retired and the new one being phased in. Added to this, Jon, our demo fleet manager was on training last week. This meant that he didn't have much time to prepare the few bikes we have at the moment and thus a limited service. If you keep an eye on the ride pages over the coming weeks, there should be new ones apearing soon.

    Thanks
    Dean
  • G-Wiz
    G-Wiz Posts: 261
    Thanks Dean, shame the petty nature of a few has to spoil it for the people who are happy to pay for good service.

    Might be worth sticking the manned stop near a village shop next time, I can thoroughly recommend the one in Peaslake for top notch cake and they even stock Mule Bars ;-)

    Anyway, I'm already plotting the rest of the season and getting my green cards sorted with the missus, so take that as a vote of confidence.
  • Cannonit
    Cannonit Posts: 14
    Hi Dean,

    I would like to thank you guys for doing a fantastic job of providing these rides which I thoroughly enjoy, I am sure others do too, and I look forward to the next one. Please do not let a few spoil it for the majority of us who do appreciate the efforts you make on our behalf.

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