Wiggle Super Series - New Forest (Epic)

Cornish-J

Anyone else doing this?

I'm signing up, looks like a nice ride around the new forest national park.

Cornish-J

no one?!

gllewellyn

Yep - planning to. Although I haven't signed up yet...

I'm only down the road in Bournemouth, so it'd be daft not to!

Renster

Or if you fancy another New Forest alternative, bookings have now opened for the New Forest Rattler: www.newforestrattler.co.uk

stokepa31

im doing the standard. had to compromise and turn it into a weekend break for the family. anyone got gpx files for this??

stuaff

stokepa31 wrote:

im doing the standard. had to compromise and turn it into a weekend break for the family. anyone got gpx files for this??

Same here, doing the standard- my first sportive. They'll post the routes a fortnight before on the UK Cycling Events site. I'm pretty sure they had files available for those who wanted them for last year's events, and as Garmin are a sponsor I think that's a safe bet for this time around.

Airwave

Did the Rattler last year.It was very well organised&signposted.Pan flat apart from one hill which was very short.Just watch out for the mad ponies&cattle.Expect i'll do it again this year as it's just up the road.Might do the Wiggle one as well.

coopster_the_1st

StuAff wrote:

stokepa31 wrote:

im doing the standard. had to compromise and turn it into a weekend break for the family. anyone got gpx files for this??

Same here, doing the standard- my first sportive. They'll post the routes a fortnight before on the UK Cycling Events site. I'm pretty sure they had files available for those who wanted them for last year's events, and as Garmin are a sponsor I think that's a safe bet for this time around.

Another entry for the standard and this will be my first Sportive to.

Doing it with 3 mates and it will be an each to their own pace.

Turbo Man

I've signed up for the Wiggle New Forest Spring Sportive Epic ride, if that's the one you mean. Hopefully the weather will be kind as I really enjoy riding in that part of the country.

stokepa31

Had the route through now and cant wait till the day. first sportive of the year. look out for a fat guy going backwards down hills

rrsodl

I signed for the epic ride - my first event and my only concern at the moment is that I don't want to get lost

I saw the route in the Garmin website..... can the route be found anywhere else?

rjsmith

I've entered the standard as I'm racing Saturday. Weather looks good.
Routes for each standard can be found as below-

Epic Route:
Bronze – http://connect.garmin.com/player/25986731
Silver – http://connect.garmin.com/player/25986933
Gold – http://connect.garmin.com/player/25986891
Standard Route:
Bronze – http://connect.garmin.com/player/25987009
Silver – http://connect.garmin.com/player/25987086
Gold – http://connect.garmin.com/player/25987042

cjw

Three of us from the L2P 2010 group are doing the Epic.

Should be a nice run - this is my 4th sportive this year so far as we need to get in the training

iPete

In for the standard, 170 miles during the week is putting me off doing the epic & its my first sportive, going for gold mind!

2bak860

I'll be there filming the event. If you see me, come and say hello!

Cornish-J

We're just about to set off to our hotel, good luck to you all tomorrow! 8)

WindyRob

Me, I'll be there. Signed up for it this week. Just finished cleaning my bike in prep. Standard only mind

stokepa31

What a stunning day it was. Wonderful weather and a great great course through some of the most beautiful countryside. One or two big grinds (well they were for a fat boy lol). I finished with 3:37 for the standard just missing the silver time by 7 minutes. Still, it was a massive pb for me over that distance.

Just had a nice long soak in the bath and now it's time for a big feed at the lamb inn.

Superbly signposted and good selection of food and drink at the feed station. Well done wiggle. I'll be back

rjsmith

I agree, a well-organised event with great signage. Couldn't fault anything really. My Garmin said 2.55 for the standard course but need to add a couple of minutes for the food stop. Fingers crossed for gold!

Cornish-J

great event, i was almost bang on 5hours for the epic (85miles) - which i was very pleased with considering i'd never cycled more than 60miles before in one hit.

rrsodl

stokepa31 wrote:

What a stunning day it was. Wonderful weather and a great great course through some of the most beautiful countryside. One or two big grinds (well they were for a fat boy lol). I finished with 3:37 for the standard just missing the silver time by 7 minutes. Still, it was a massive pb for me over that distance.

Just had a nice long soak in the bath and now it's time for a big feed at the lamb inn.

Superbly signposted and good selection of food and drink at the feed station. Well done wiggle. I'll be back

+1

This was my first ever event and I thought it was fantastic.

I thought the epic part, over the first 56 mls for standard was much more difficult, unless of course I was too tired hence I found it harder.

I now realise that my training was completely inadequate so I'm very pleased with my ride.... it's not easy carrying 17.5 stones

WindyRob

I had a great ride today. 3hrs 27mins (16.7mph) for the standard route ride time, 3.33 for total elapsed, so if they don't allow for the extra mile on the route 57.6miles compared to 56.4 published on the website with a silver time of 3.31 or better then i've just dipped out. I'll be disappointed not to have silver posted but am totally stoked at the time that i actually did.

I have to say though that it wasn't the friendliest event that i have ever done. It wasn't until the top of Blissford Wall that i actually rode with anyone for a periiod of time, (my thanks to the Irish guy in the Green top who dragged me along at a fair lick for a while). very few people that passed me acknowledged my existence in fact most looked the other way as they passed.

Regardless of the above i had an excellent day and punched well above my weight considering the lack of training this year.

Bring on the Rattler in August, I have some demons from last year to exorcise!

Windy

howiejmidlands

I have to agree with all of the comments so far.

I have done 6 events this season so far, only another 18 to go. The one thing that has caught my eye this year is that the bar has been raised one notch by all organisers of events.
And as for the Wiggle event, they have raised it one notch higher.
They even have contacts with the weather gods!
I have previewed the Jurassic Beast fide on cyclosport.org and that too will be a great ride.

justrideallday

I did the standard course and agree with everyone. Great ride but same about the friendlyness of other riders - but it was was still a great day.

I wish I knew how they booked the weather because it was absolutly perfect.

Managed to do it in 3h spot on and clocked it at 57 miles so hopefully a gold (19.2 mph ave).

Many thanks to the guy I rode with after the steep hill until the course split - one of the friendlier riders out there.

Just got to decide on my next event.

homercles

I agree, it was a very well organised event, though perhaps not the friendliest ever. Still, managed to chip in on few chain gangs over the route - one of them with a guy on a white Trek helped me out a great deal when crossing open heathland for about 5-6 miles.

And good luck to the guy in the Andover Tri gear I chatted to for a while: Lanzarote Ironman sounds like another level.

Did 3h13m12s for the standard. I was pleased with that as had 3h30m in mind. On the official finish list on ukcyclingevents site that's down as gold (as are a lot of slower times), despite being way off the original 2h58m limit. Did they change the route or something? I got 58 miles dead, not 56, but still seems generous to give 15 extra mins for two miles. Not that I'm complaining!

cjw

Excellent ride with perfect weather and lovely quiet roads for the most part. Stragely I remember lots of long sweeping descents but almost no hills going up, they must have been pretty gradual apart from the one killer.

Managed a Silver on the Epic (85 miles) in just over 5 hours.

I didn't notice anyone being particularly unfriendly or different to other rides - had a brief chat with quite a few riders over the day, but the last 10 miles I wasn't talking to anyone due to the pain

coopster_the_1st

My first sportive and it was a good ride.

I am not trusting the event timing as even though a mate of mine started with me, the results say he started 6 minutes later. Apart from that, a very well organised event.

As the the friendliness of other riders, I am not sure on the etiquette here. I did say hello/morning to some as I passed but it felt rude saying that as I was passing them at speed and they did not jump on the wheel to start riding together.

@Windyrob. I think I just missed you as I was riding in a group with that Irish guy before the 1st feed stop. I had a shorter stop and never saw him again.

Made it up 'the wall' as well

homercles

It was great to see the supporters at the top of Blissford Hill. Made my day to hear "Allez! Allez!" as I pushed the final few turns to crest the top!

iPete

Fantastic day, weather, organisation, facilities etc. the people I rode with were friendly etc.

Coopster the 1st wrote:

My first sportive and it was a good ride.

I am not trusting the event timing as even though a mate of mine started with me, the results say he started 6 minutes later. Apart from that, a very well organised event.

This is a worry, annoyingly I rode without any timing! As my mates times, recorded on 2 different pedometers read 3hr 11 & 3hr 12 vs 3hr16 & 3hr17. Some what curious how far under 3 hours I was now, wiggle time was 2hr 59.

Aside from that everything was great but I'd happily spend a few more quid to get a half decent medal, maybe I'm just used to running events but they have always been worth keeping.

gert_lush

What a fun day, great course, pretty flat, some really quick roads and sun sun sun..yay!
I thought it was pretty friendly, had some good chat with a few guys, although being "a little competitive" I was out of breath a bit and pushing on, so didn't chat all the time. But found lots of randoms to ride with and share the load so all good.
thoroughly enjoyed the day though and thought the organisation was great, all the volunteers were all really cheerful and happy which was great, although a few extra toilets at the start never goes amiss!
Did the epic, not sure what my elapsed time was but I only stopped at the stops to top up the bottle so didn't waste much time, Garmin said 85.1 miles and 4hrs18 mins so absolutely over the moon with my time and very very surprised at an 19.8 average, never ridden anywhere near that speed before, must be the Bristol hills that normally slow me down!

rjsmith

Where are the results?