pedal for scotland 100 mile sportive + feed stops?

GD73

folks,

does anyone know where and when (what distance on the route) the feed stops will be
for the 100 mile pedal for scotland sportive route.

I can't see the info on the web site anywhere.

i have emailed them but i've had no response

also whats the terrain like?

Crapaud

Pedal for Scotland site. Don't know where the feed stops are, but I'd guess that there will be a few of them as it's aimed at beginners to sportives.

100 mile sportive route (with elevation profile). It's largely flat. The climbs out from Glasgow are more of a long slog, but not steep. When I checked it out I was spinning up the hill at 17 kph.

I won't be doing this now. Life's given me another boot in the knackers.

pneumatic

Crapaud wrote:

I won't be doing this now. Life's given me another boot in the knackers.

Sorry to hear that; whatever it is, I hope things work out. I'm still probably up for the PfS sportive but keeping options open as I have a sick relative to keep an eye on.

If I do go, I'll eat your share at the food stops!!

Crapaud

pneumatic wrote:

... If I do go, I'll eat your share at the food stops!!

Ya greedy b@stard! I hope you make yourself ill.

It's nothing too major, but a question of priorities. I'm having to work long hours, esp at the weekends, and it's keeping me off the bike. Fitness is up and down like a pair of whoors knickers.

If eveything does go belly up, I might have to relocate to Fife. So not all bad.

Barbes

There are 3 feed stations - not sure where exactly or what they'll have. Terrain's a bit lumpy but no major climbs and probably about 1200m or so of ups. The main factor will be the wind if it blows from the east.

Crapaud

Barbes wrote:

There are 3 feed stations - not sure where exactly or what they'll have. Terrain's a bit lumpy but no major climbs and probably about 1200m or so of ups. The main factor will be the wind if it blows from the east.

I've done the first half around 6-7 times and the wind's always been from the west, so likely a tailwind for the second climb.

Andrew Pankhurst

Hi All

Andrew here from the Pedal for Scotland team. There are three stops on the Sportive route - the first is at Loudon Acandemy in Galston, which is about 25 miles in, the second is at Douglas Primary School in Douglas, about 50 miles in, and the third is at the playing fields in Carnwath, about 70 miles in.

The middle stop at Douglas will have a timing mat at it, so you can stay and have a proper break and it won't affect your time. The other two are more like pit stops and are counted as part of your overall time.

Also, for info, the final timing mat which gives you your overall time will be at Roseburn Park in Edinburgh which is 93 miles in. This is because the Sportive route joins the main route after Roseburn Park, so there will be cyclists from the main 50 mile ride on there as well, which we figured would be quite frustrating if you were still being timed as it will be quite busy on the cycle path. So the last few miles to the main finish in Victoria Park are just a bit of a warm down.

If anyone has any other questions about the ride you can phone our info line on 0141 348 7998.

Hope you enjoy the ride.

Best Regards

Andrew Pankhurst
Pedal for Scotland

Steve_F

That's great info thanks Andrew.

Out of interest how many people are you expecting to do the 100? Is there going to be a decent crowd to get into groups or are there only a few of us daft enough?

Cheers

Andrew Pankhurst

Hi All

we have 550 riders signed for the sportive so far - looks like we may end up with about 700 overall.

It turns out i was wrong about a few things though - the food stop is at Carnwath, 70 miles in, and there is no timing mat there - got my wires crossed.

regards Andrew

GD73

andrew,

is there still stops at galston (25 miles) + douglas ( 50miles)?

do these stops have water and food? what food if any?

it's so i can roughly work out what i need to bring with me.

Andrew Pankhurst

Hi - yes there are still stops at Galston and Douglas, I just got my wires crossed about which stop had the free sandwiches. There will be food and water at Douglas and Galston as well - it will be snack bars, granola, bananas and those energy gel sachets etc and bottled water.

Jock D

Thanks for the info, Andrew. The PfS sportive is my first organised ride, and you've helped me decide what food and drink to take.

I can see the Loudoun Academy pit stop not being as well used as the others. I'm hoping not to stop before Douglas.

I know there are loos at the start and finish. Do you know if there are any at the feed stations?

wthrelfall

Andrew Pankhurst wrote:

Hi - yes there are still stops at Galston and Douglas, I just got my wires crossed about which stop had the free sandwiches. There will be food and water at Douglas and Galston as well - it will be snack bars, granola, bananas and those energy gel sachets etc and bottled water.

Hi Andrew. just to clarify, the timing mat is at the Douglas feed station @50 miles? and our time spent there won't be counted for our overall finishing time?
ta.

bazjakestan

not sure that i've followed the flow - is there a food/water stop whereby there is a timing mat that means your time there is not included in your full route time?

ginger_girl

From what Andrew has very helpfully said, the middle stop will have a timing mat so you can stop for as long as you need to. Any other stops will be included in your final time. But I guess if that sort of thing matters to you, you will be timing yourself anyway.

The major PITA is getting to Glasgow for 7-7.30 start window. That's a bit on the early side, is it not? I've not heard of many other sportives starting at that time- except Etape Caledonia and that was probably because of the road closures.

wthrelfall

Looking for a wee favor - my lift home has canceled and I'm really reluctant to take the bus and put my beautiful bike on the nasty truck (did that last year - the bus took forever and I nearly pee'd myself, and the bike packing looked dodgy). So if anyone has space in a car coming back to Glasgow and wants to be a good Samaritan please get in touch
willie.

Crapaud

So how did it go, guys?

By chance I was driving down to Troon early yesterday morning and spotted a couple of pelotons climbing out of Newton Mearns and crossing the M77 on their way to Galston, at around 8.15 - 8.30. Weather looked perfect.

I was feckin' green.

pneumatic

Crapaud wrote:

So how did it go, guys?

I was feckin' green.

I didn't go in the end. Decided on Saturday afternoon that I couldn't face the logistics of driving to Glasgow for a 7am start, riding to Edinburgh, going back to Glasgow and then coming back to Fife. Went out to a party instead and had a wild night.

On Sunday I was totally depressed (hungover?) as it was such a beautiful day and I had been too lazy to organise myself to take part. :roll:

Lesson learned! (again!)

bilbo.baggins

The weather on the whole was very favourable. Mostly sunny (very sunny at the end) and a nice tail wind, but an odd shower threatening here and there.

The route was mainly on quiet roads, even the bits on A70/71 that I thought would be busy were pretty quiet. Nothing overly challenging in terms of hills, undulating but definitely not flat, apart from a big steep lump about 60 odd miles in. But I'm not complaining, not every event has to have a profile that looks like a saw tooth.

I've done a fair few sportives and some lack the feel of an 'event'. This can't be said of Pedal for Scotland. As you start and finish the same place as the 8,500 or so others doing the 50 mile route (but a separate route apart from that, other than the last couple of miles cool down at the end) there is a BIG event atmosphere. Plenty of food stalls, goody bags, medals, crowds, etc. Plus transport for you and your bike back to Glasgow should you need it. Plus you can even enter on the day.

Whoever decided to put the finishing timing mat for the 100 miler just before the route met up with the last few miles of the 50 miler had thought this out well. Meant the two streams could merge at a sensible relaxed pace.

All in, a very well organised event.

AndyD2574

Great day.
Nice easy route that didnt really challenge but good fun.

Good food stops and good crack.

Thanks to the Edinburgh Road Club guys n gals who I joined up with for the last 30 mile...........great run into Edinburgh!

Teddy Westside

My first post and my first sportive. I've done Edinburgh to St Andrews before (and cycled back to Edinburgh in heavy rain) but this was my first organised 100 mile ride.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience despite the odd setback. Things got off to a poor start however. I took the Roseburn cycle path to Victoria Park (thank you to the police car which moved off the path to let me past!) and arrived at 5:40am, joining the queue in time to be loaded onto the first bus and truck. I had already wrapped a couple of areas of my bike in bubblewrap where it wouldn't affect my cycling but there should really have been someone marshalling riders towards a supply of bubblewrap as it was only as we were about to be loaded up that it was obvious there actually was some available.

I found the TNT guys very respectful of the bikes, despite my concerns about possible damage. But the crazy thing was our bus and truck being full, starting to pull out to head to Glasgow and then being told to wait! We were supposed to leave at 6am and it was around 6:20 before we actually did. As a result, we arrived in Glasgow so late that the start was delayed and the main field had already set off by the time I and some others had retrieved our bikes, fitted the timing chip and had a necessary "comfort break"! So, I was playing catch-up for the first 20 minutes or more and it wasn't until the first feed stop that I caught up with the peloton.

The feed stops were well stocked with water, cereal bars, energy tablets for your water, bananas, chocolate and gels. I'm glad I had my own Hi5 gels though as the supplied cola & caffiene gels (by PowerBar IIRC) were truly vile and I wasn't the only one who thought so! Still, it was all included in the price of entry so it's unfair to complain too much. And there were free sandwiches at the 3rd stop, much appreciated.

I liked the route on the whole, though one or two of the road surfaces were murder on fully pumped tyres! The "stones thrown into wet tarmac" approach may be good for motor vehicle grip but it's terrible for rider comfort and headset health. The first couple of climbs out of Glasgow were a slight challenge for a body still waking up, but certainly got the muscles warmed up. They were no preparation for the 3rd of a mile climb (24.5%) near Carmichael, which everyone around me walked up. I managed to make the top bend but it was quite a slog with tired legs and I could actually feel my front wheel lifting off the road a few times.

I was really suffering with cramp in my calves as I'd made a long stop to assist a fellow rider with a puncture as his mate had all the tools and was somewhere up ahead. Nobody else had stopped to assist the guy (hello Mark if you happen to be reading). I was happy to assist but I paid for it with that cramp and probably lost a total of an hour from my finishing time. I had a solo ride of 25 miles up to the final feed station and needed the Glentress ambulance crew's magic spray to hide the cramp (although it started to come back shortly after leaving the stop).

The last 20 miles or so was much more fun (a few idiot motorists aside - though fair to say the majority had been better than I'm normally used to on a solo ride), especially when I passed a farm I recognised from a reccy run a few weeks previously. I was on the home straight (albeit a very curvy and lumpy one!).

Crossing the finish to cheers and outstretched kid's hands was a great feeling and I spent most of the afternoon just sitting on my top tube enjoying the sunshine and drinking the free Fresh n Lo milk. There were some really friendly people on the ride. Didn't get any names but if you're reading, it was nice to chat along the way: a couple of guys who shared my dislike of the gels and who I joked about constantly overtaking them , a German couple who I spoke to during and after the ride and several others who I'd catch up with after feed stations. And Kudos to the Edinburgh Road Club members who I generally found friendly and teased about stopping for a team meeting, although they spoiled my chance of being at the head of the field for a minute or two by overtaking me just as I had the leader in sight! :twisted:

So, for the most part, a great day and I hope to be able to take part again next year. Only downside apart from those mentioned earlier was that there was no sign of the timing mat mid-ride as Andrew had claimed. Sensible though to have the finish mat where it was as has already been said. Hated getting up that early (had 2 hours sleep!) but I think it was a good time to head out of Glasgow - better still had things started on time!