Tour of Britain route???

spinningcreeps

I see that the TOB organisers are trying to bore us again. Going through the Trough of Bowland East to West is hardly inspiring.
That is Le terrier country and there is nowhere else like it for blowing a field into smithereens!!! But what have we got- just plain boring.
The organisers have the roads but neither the balls or belief to make a special event..

cougie

I'm sure they have their reasons - its not as easy as just picking a route - they have a lot of constraints to deal with.

spinningcreeps

Of course Cougie. But why settle for mediocrity.

gsk82

spinningcreeps wrote:

Of course Cougie. But why settle for mediocrity.

sweetspot who organise TofB are all about making money, the event has nothing to do with BC or anyone else with a real interest in cycling. the race goes to the places who pay for it, hence last years start been in scunthorpe and this years in rochdale.

no local council will pay for a race to go through the lakes or penines or the like because there isnt a big local population to make sure they get their moneys worth

Cheesyman99

A Tour of Britain stage finished in my town two years ago so I love the organisers.

morstar

gsk82 wrote:

sweetspot who organise TofB are all about making money,

Do you really, honestly think anybody is making a killing out of the ToB?

I have a keen interest in ice hockey also and this "only in it for the money" line always gets dragged out when somebody doesn't like some decision or other. Nobody is making any money out of minority sports (not debating that term either) in this country.

Make the most of it, as I stated on another thread on the subject...There likely won't be any funding for a race next year!

gsk82

morstar wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

sweetspot who organise TofB are all about making money,

Do you really, honestly think anybody is making a killing out of the ToB?

I have a keen interest in ice hockey also and this "only in it for the money" line always gets dragged out when somebody doesn't like some decision or other. Nobody is making any money out of minority sports (not debating that term either) in this country.

Make the most of it, as I stated on another thread on the subject...There likely won't be any funding for a race next year!

i was told the owner looked to be doing ok driving around in his ferari at last years stoke stage. i worked on it last year btw, its completely idle gossip

GroupOfOne MkII

The Ferrari at Stoke last year was the Zipvit owners. It has Zipvit logos on the side and their girls draped all over it. I got a nice energy gel from them

Pross

gsk82 wrote:

spinningcreeps wrote:

Of course Cougie. But why settle for mediocrity.

no local council will pay for a race to go through the lakes or penines or the like because there isnt a big local population to make sure they get their moneys worth

Surely the idea of a Council paying for it to go to their area is to put them in the shop window and encourage tourism? From that point of view the Lakes would be ideal but you could also argue everyone knows the delights of the Lakes so there's no point in spending the money.

Cleat Eastwood

They tend to favour cities that are designated cycling cities too. I'm sure it has its benefits, blackpools just rolled out the bikehire similar to London, but agree with the OP though Can't see why the organisers dont take a chance and go to wales or the lakes or the hilly bits darn sarf.

For a tour of britain it's pretty exclusive. Shame, but its better than nothing I suppose.

avoidingmyphd

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

They tend to favour cities that are designated cycling cities too. I'm sure it has its benefits, blackpools just rolled out the bikehire similar to London, but agree with the OP though Can't see why the organisers dont take a chance and go to wales or the lakes or the hilly bits darn sarf.

For a tour of britain it's pretty exclusive. Shame, but its better than nothing I suppose.

Surely it's more likely that designated cycling cities are more inclined to pay for a visit, rather than some charitable impulse by the organisers?

Bikefotos

At least they are visiting Wales this year, long overdue IMO, from Newtown to Swansea.

I drove over the Black Mountain on the weekend (not to be confused with the Black Mountains of Hay/Llangynidr etc) and the climb goes on for about 5-6 miles. Should be a good stage.

TheHelpfulDevil

very happy as it is going through my local area and i will try to watch the race in 4/5 different spots dedpendant on which conteccting roads they close and for how long.

last year I had a tour sereis event 30 mins from my home which was very good but not one this year.

spinningcreeps

I agree with pretty much of all your posts- very sensible lot, them cyclists.
It is just that going through the Forest of Bowland could provide some real hard racing, big gaps and Lancaster is a cycling demonstration town as well.
There are extremly quiet roads that could be used. On Le terrier some riders thought that the roads must have been closed.It is that quiet.
It is not the fact that there are massive hills. It is the fact that it is probably the hardest cycling countryside and would produce big time differences, or maybe that is what the organisers don't want!