anyone doing the Devil this sunday in Brecon ????

ginger J

1st time at the devil, looking forward to it

anyone else been before ?

J

JamesB

Yes; although this is a modified route for this year; nevertheless don`t underestimate Devisl Staircase (34 x 29 my personal recommendation for this one! ) and the following climb of Gamallt AND the ups / downs Upper Chapel >>Builth road ----weather looks OKIsh, not as windy as has been here recently.

wicked

A tough route yesterday made harder by the headwind. Not all impressed by the feeds, custard creams and haribo is not my idea of ideal refuelling! Got to the last feed after what seemed like a lot of climbing having ran out of water some time ago only to find no water! 20 miles to go as well. :roll:

majorlyseankelly

I have to agree with the above post. This is my first post on Bikeradar and I am generally not prone to complaining about events for the sake of it but I have taken part in a number this summer, both here and on the continent so know what to expect. Whereas most similar events have a set number of feed stops (3 being par for 100 miles), there are also intermediate water stops where energy drinks, water and gels are available.

Yesterday, there were only 3 stops in total (where one was expected to get both food and water). Stop one, in an old schoolhouse, was apparently not staffed very well - the two plastic containers were empty (water only) and nobody was around to refill. There were only a handful of custard creams left and some Haribo - sum total of the food. Normally one would expect a mixture of cake, proper biscuits, fruit, gels and energy drinks. The second stop was al fresco with water only and a handful of poor biscuits and Haribo – although there were bananas this time.

The final stop had the same poor collection of biscuits and Haribo albeit without bananas and also, with 30km to go, NO WATER and no imminent plans to get more water. The stop was also located in an area without mobile phone coverage so the staffer could not phone for a top-up. After waiting for five or so minutes in the vain hope of getting water, I headed off. After some time, the food stop van passed me and stopped at a local residence. I asked the guy to zip down the road to me with some water in a few minutes when he had filled up – he agreed to this but did not follow-up. Just as well it wasn’t a hot day. Nevertheless, no water at the final stop and without water from from 85 – 160kms is a bit much.

In short, throughout the food was very, very poor and meant reliance on my own supplies – I try to balance out the processed foods of my own stash with the cakes and fruit at stops but couldn’t do this yesterday.

Another gripe – no water at all at the finish line. The catering unit could only supply one of hot boiled water, tea or coffee (the last two being of a dehydrating nature). This obviously made having a recovery drink pretty tricky and I had to mooch around looking for water and eventually found a nearby leisure centre. I also don’t recall seeing the final results posted up anywhere although I may stand corrected on this.

Notwithstanding this, the route was pleasant enough, well lined out, well marshalled (particularly the motorbike riders warning of steep descents and generally advising cars that cyclists were in the vicinity). The day would have been much more enjoyable had there been properly stocked food and water stops.

GeorgeBurgess

Pics are up now!

Some nice scenic ones and the usual grimaces/ smiles!

Enjoy!

George

www.georgeburgessphotography.com

PS On the issue of water... I normally have a 5 litre container of water and a track pump/ spare tubes & tyres. You are always welcome to stop and ask me!

gniz80

completely agree with the food issue. Ive sent an email to the organisers informing them of this so hopefully next years and thos eto follow will be improved in this respect.

apart from this I though though the marshalling was great and the route spectacular.

Come to think about it I've just realise whilst penning this reply that for the cost of entry, £26 its definitely at the upper end of sportive entry fees so one would think they'd include at least sis energy drink/gels? :shock:

well done to all regardless!

Mr Smooth

Is there something about S Wales sportives that cause them to have poor foodstops and run out of water?

I did the Dragon Ride a few years ago and had similar issues, and as a result will not do that ride again - a shame as a good route, and from comments I've read, things haven't got a lot better one that ride since.

I did the Gran Fondo Cymru out of Bala 2 years ago (sadly cancelled due to the death of the organiser in 2009) and that was really well stocked, so stuff does get across the border!