shakespear100 stratford upon avon sportive

always.lanterne.rouge

Hi folks, whilst riding this event a chap told me about this forum so I thought i'd come by and give a little review of todays ride.

I am always a great supporter of charity events and I really hope this doesn't affect the charity but as a cyclist I feel I should warn others thinking of riding this event in the future.

This was described to me as a "cotsworld countryside sportive" however I feel this wasn't entirely accurate.

The most polite way I can describe the "route" is dull, on the 100km ride there was just one hill, not exactly challenging and the flatness of the course was more suited to leisure riders looking for a trundle, rather than hardened cyclists looking for a fun, charitable challenge.

This however was only applicable to the "route" when you could find it! The signage was absolutely awful! Myself and others got lost on countless occasions and the total lack of marshals (I spotted three over 100km) really worried me in the event of an accident and again worryingly that the marshals were placed on quiet roads, not on the busy ones! we waited for 3 or four minutes at one particular A road junction as it was far too busy to cross safely at any point and the speed the cars were travelling at down this road, even on a sunday, was astonishing and was in no way suitable for cyclists to cross at any point!

The roads chosen have to be some of the worst I've ever ridden, they were very potholed, very gravelly, far too tight in places and shockingly there were no signs warning cars of our presence!
I witnessed one incident of an audi driver swerving to miss an onslaught of cyclists and consequently ripping the wing of his car off by hitting a tree, I'm not worried about the car however I am concerned as to the consequences should the driver chosen not to swerve!

I rode "the great shakespeare ride" in stratford upon avon last month and I have to say, that event made the shakespeare 100 look amateurish.

The roads chosen for "TGSR" were in much better condition and much more challenging, which made for a much more enjoyable day.

Now down to the unfortunate issue of the price, The great shakespeare ride cost me £15 and with that I received:
1. Free food and drink at all 3 of the feed stations, including powerbar products at the start, and a BBQ at the finish.
2. A free electronic timing chip for accurate ride timing.
3. A fully signposted and marshalled route
4. An event! the ride had a full lead out, lead by some local bike shop chaps and followed by a traffic police officer, with a wonderful mass start and cheering, clapping and a goodie bag on the finish line.
5. 3 photo opportunities with digital prints available the next day.
6.A fantastic hotel base site with excellent facilities and a bar!

The shakespeare 100 ride cost me £28 and I received:
1. A rubbish, dull and dangerous route that was most certainly not suited to some of the expensive carbon road bikes (including my own) that were brought to the event, (part of the route was on a footpath for goodness sake!)
2. No free food at the 1 feed station on route, not even squash was free!
3. one photo site
4. A medal on the finish line.
5. an "event" run out of a car park and public toilets

And finally not a single piece of this so-called event was inspiring any confidence in wishing to do it again.

After riding both "TGDR" and the shakespeare 100 I can safely say I shall only be riding the one warwickshire sportive next year and shall instead put £20 in a macmillan coffee morning.

all the best for the charity but please stick to leisure rides!

stevo1602

I agree with all of the above.
The signage was a complete joke, I was in a lead group of 5 guys, and because we did not want to stop at the first feed station (not signed) we went flying past, and missed the turn to the right for the course....we ended up going round a 10 mile loop back to the feedstop. Plus loads of times seeing the sign way too late to slow down to take a turn, or just not seeing a sign at all.
Also far too may busy junctions to get across, hardly touched the Cotswolds as was advertised, only one tame hill climb, and some really dangerous narrow pot holed lanes.
I will just give £25 to the Charity next year, and go out for a training ride.

turboslave

+1


There are so many better route options in this area than the one used, and the signage was disapointing, people will judge it by thier attendance next year, TGSR for me next year.



TS

spanner boy

got to say i agree with every you have said.
I did the 100 miler, god it was dull!! we had two "climbs" one of which i almost missed due to the sign being behind a tree!! I spoke to a lot of rider who had added upto 20miles to there ride as the signage was poor (and thats bing kind). i was told this event was poor before i entered, but i will give anything a chance once. but i will never do this event again, and all the 12 riders i did it with will never enther.
Rob, i think it's time to call it a day... and you gave the other shakespeare such a hard time.
hand your head in shame, :evil: we the cycles are not happy

always.lanterne.rouge

Sorry who is this Rob chap? is he the organiser?

spanner boy

yes he is,
gray haired bloke didn't see him at the end, maybe he was in hinding after all the pee-ed off rider had given him a hard time when they had finished,

http://www.shakespeare100.org.uk/index. ... Itemid=108
here he is

MYOB

Rob is the organiser - and given the whinging and shite stirring he has done about The Great Shakespeare Ride only a few weeks ago, I did expect something better from him than last year.

I am pleased that someone else mentioned the Audi at Harrow Hill, doing god knows what damage to his car to avoid an accident that would have taken out a good ten cyclists or so.

That hill was an accident waiting to happen, and I saw three guys fall off just before it as unfortunately a group of cyclists and an overtaking car at a 90 degree bend on an 8 percent gradient that is about to become about 18 percent just do not go when the road is only wide enough for a car.

I thought that was bad but nothing prepared me for several miles of dirt and gravel tracks between Lowsonford and Little Alne, again with riders literally falling into hedges to avoid oncoming vehicles. The track between the A3400 at Wootton Wawen and Little Alne is frequented by horse riders a lot of the time, and with it being Sunday you could guarantee meeting one, but I manage to meet two! Who would have thought.

I didn't bother to stop at Great Alne for a feed, as last year the food and drink were dire/minimal and the carpark made up of gravel - no chance of £200 carbon soled shoes touching that crap. Was it the same this year?

At the A46 at Billesley I had a 4 minute wait as well. The organisers were made aware of the stupidity of that junction last year, but I guess that was put down to the minority of moaners. And from there on it was just as boring, albeit the roads a little safer.

Given the large number of roads in South Warwickshire and the Cotswolds, you would think it would be simple to set a route that didn't cross South Warwickshire's biggest accident blackspot, the A46 between the Wildmoor and Haselor, that didn't take in narrow lanes, often with little tarmac to speak of, or as also galled me last year; twice passing within a few hundred yards of where you had been already (Little Alne and Mickleton).

Who did the GPS route for these rides? Stevie Wonder? I uploaded the GPX the night before to bikeroutetoaster.com and had a shufty at it before putting it into my Garmin. Straight away I could see that the route had been created with straight lines from point to point. I knew the route anyway so utilised the official GPS points in my Garmin for a chuckle and guess what, I was "off route" 176 times! The roads don't go straight, they bend!

I had planned to pay to ride the Macride this year, but as entries closed earlier than last year and "on the day" couldn't be done until 9.45am, I almost didn't bother to turn up. But then when Rob started to stir the s*** over the rather brilliant Great Shakespeare Ride, I felt obliged to sample the wonders that he would be delivering this year (and put my money to Macmillan elsewhere). Having ridden the GSR and seen how brilliant the setup was there etc., I really thought the Macride would have pulled its socks up. I actually feel sorry for all those wonderful people who volunteered to help out, they deserved better too!

I for one am looking forward to the GSR next year, free energy stuff, easy sign-on, good facilities, free barbeque, free massage, goodie bag, timing chip, brilliant signing...all of which I would have happily paid more to enter.

Macride Rob...you need to speak to the organiser of the GSR - she knows how to run a sportive/fun ride/great event - give her a bell and ask for some advice. Despite your shameful conduct over the GSR, I actually think she would be willing to give you some advice. Signing especially

spanner boy

What about the route!! There must be a better way

always.lanterne.rouge

oh, that was rob was it? I didn't really see him do anything, just sort of swan around. was carole the nice blonde lady who organised tgsr? if so this rob chap can take a leaf out of her book!
on the finish line of TGSR I was congratulated by the organiser, and given a goodie bag and personally thanked for the support.
after signing off on the shakespeare 100 that rob fellow walked straight passed me to the chap who was wearing number 1 and shook his hand and thanked / congratulated him, this was done to no-one else that I saw! even if this chap is a celebrity (though I didn't recognise him) basic manners dictate that you thank everyone equally.

is he a cyclist? I seriously doubt it as cyclists tend not to be as rude as that!

oh and to MYOB yes still gravel at the feed stop (when people found it), very basic provisions that had to be paid for, and only tap water for free in jugs,

FOAD

Rob is a cyclist. Twice Lands End/John O'Groater as he reminds people in here when he can squeeze it in. Totally up his own arse is the feeling I get.

http://www.shakespeare100.org.uk/index. ... &Itemid=94

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... ht=macride

This is the measure of the man..sniping in public but not liking it back at him.

Well if the best you can find to cry about is the car parking (NFU opened the CP late) and yellow lines on the road Rob, clearly the GSR whooped your ass.

Pwned, Kthxbye.

always.lanterne.rouge

so not a pleasant chap then! and lejog?! come on everybody's doing that now!

So by the photos on that website and lejog *groans* I take it he is more of a touring cyclist then? if so, who gave him the impression he could organise a (albeit non competitive) road race?!

my word and I haven't seen any of this sniping against TGSR until now, what a heartily unpleasant chap, charities should not compete against one another, they should help people, and it seems the chap is just setting up the charity rides to increase his smugness.

I wish macmillan all the help they can get and I for one will continue to support them, however I fear that they may lose out in the future if cyclists who won't be doing next years ride (and there was a car park full of them) don't remember to support the charity by other means.
purely by poor organisation, poor form by the organiser and complete and utter disregard for the safety and well being of the cyclists in his event

dead sheep

This is probably very undiplomatic, but.....

Whilst many of you were displeased with yesterday's event, I was riding the Kidderminster Killer audax which started from not too many miles away. The route was tough, challenging and highly scenic. Not a route for those looking for an easy ride but it was worth it.

From reading your accounts, I am glad I opted out.

Philip Whiteman

dead sheep wrote:

This is probably very undiplomatic, but.....

Whilst many of you were displeased with yesterday's event, I was riding the Kidderminster Killer audax which started from not too many miles away. The route was tough, challenging and highly scenic. Not a route for those looking for an easy ride but it was worth it.

From reading your accounts, I am glad I opted out.

Dead Sheep, of course it is undiplomatic. Go on, rub the salt in. You have every right to righteous, the Killer was excellent.

I too opted for this event. For £6, I received an excellent day out on an event that was well organised and passed along routes that glorious. The only problem came with alll those bloody hills but anybody that expects a flat day on an event that advertises 13,000ft of ascent has got to be a complete muppet. My day was spent hurtling down unmentionably grubby lanes, submerging myself in fords and then climbing countless 25% ascents only to return back at HQ covered from head to toe in utter filth and feeling the knock. This Kidderminster Killer was totally criminal, disgusting, a disgrace and dispacable but utterly worth it. It was a hard, hard day and probably too difficult for those softies over at Stratford who expect pampering

What time did you arrive back to HQ? I was in the Beacon jersey and one of three breakaway riders that finished first at 5.40pm.

It is such a shame that the Shakespeare, Tour of Worcestershire and Killer are scheduled all on the same weekend and within such a close vicinity of each other.

sibike

if anyone reads this and did the 100 mile route ,what was your final milage on your bike computer at the the finish as long as you didnt go off course , cheers

twotyred

I did the Shakespeare 100 yesterday and whilst many of the critisisms above are valid I think that complaining about gravel marking the soles of your shoes and a bit of bumpy road not being suitable for expensive bikes is going a bit far. I was quite happy taking my brand new Kuota over the bumpier bits. Frankly if your bike is going to be damaged by a bit of bumpy road its not a very good bike. If I worried about gravel damaging the soles on my carbon shoes I'd never go anywhere by bike as my drive is gravel.

OK the course wasn't tough enough to test the cycling gods lanterne rouge and stevo but complaining about it now when the course profile has been up on the site for ages well before entries closed leaves you with only yourselves to blame. The hill at Saintbury was still enough to make the guy in front of me keel over with severe cramp.

dead sheep

twotyred wrote:

OK the course wasn't tough enough to test the cycling gods lanterne rouge and stevo but complaining about it now when the course profile has been up on the site for ages well before entries closed leaves you with only yourselves to blame. .

Quite!

always.lanterne.rouge

twotyred wrote:

I did the Shakespeare 100 yesterday and whilst many of the critisisms above are valid I think that complaining about gravel marking the soles of your shoes and a bit of bumpy road not being suitable for expensive bikes is going a bit far. I was quite happy taking my brand new Kuota over the bumpier bits. Frankly if your bike is going to be damaged by a bit of bumpy road its not a very good bike. If I worried about gravel damaging the soles on my carbon shoes I'd never go anywhere by bike as my drive is gravel.

it's unfortunate that not all of us are as wealthy as you twotyred! I'm afraid I shall need to keep my bike in the best possible condition for it to last me as long as possible and despite your claim of bikes being rubbish if they are damaged by bumpy roads, I can safely say I have seen plenty of damaged, broken and shattered carbon frames which have been caused by riding through large, deep potholes, such as were present on the Shakespeare 100 and not on "tgsr" this was my point.

Oh and "cycling god" made me chuckle, definitly budha rather than Adonis!

twotyred

Well you won't be cycling far in this country if you try to avoid pot holed and bumpy roads.

ledburyloafer

always.lanterne.rouge wrote:

so not a pleasant chap then! and lejog?! come on everybody's doing that now!

So by the photos on that website and lejog *groans* I take it he is more of a touring cyclist then? if so, who gave him the impression he could organise a (albeit non competitive) road race?!

my word and I haven't seen any of this sniping against TGSR until now, what a heartily unpleasant chap, charities should not compete against one another, they should help people, and it seems the chap is just setting up the charity rides to increase his smugness.

I wish macmillan all the help they can get and I for one will continue to support them, however I fear that they may lose out in the future if cyclists who won't be doing next years ride (and there was a car park full of them) don't remember to support the charity by other means.
purely by poor organisation, poor form by the organiser and complete and utter disregard for the safety and well being of the cyclists in his event

Well lantern rouge until this post you had made some valid points, re read your post, you sound like a knob, have you done lejog? touring cyclist? so what...heartlily unpleasant? how do you know, your talk of of pot holed roads is codswallop, try doing the tour of Ireland, perhaps you could do it with the guy in the £200 carbon and by no stretch of the imagination is a sportive a road race did the organiser ever call it one?
And how do you know this organiser did this to to uincrease his smugness? If the ride has its faults keep them valid and relevant

ledburyloafer

[quote=" relevant

ledburyloafer

always.lanterne.rouge wrote:

so not a pleasant chap then! and lejog?! come on everybody's doing that now!

So by the photos on that website and lejog *groans* I take it he is more of a touring cyclist then? if so, who gave him the impression he could organise a (albeit non competitive) road race?!

my word and I haven't seen any of this sniping against TGSR until now, what a heartily unpleasant chap, charities should not compete against one another, they should help people, and it seems the chap is just setting up the charity rides to increase his smugness.

I wish macmillan all the help they can get and I for one will continue to support them, however I fear that they may lose out in the future if cyclists who won't be doing next years ride (and there was a car park full of them) don't remember to support the charity by other means.
purely by poor organisation, poor form by the organiser and complete and utter disregard for the safety and well being of the cyclists in his event

Well lantern rouge until this post you had made some valid points, re read your post, you sound like a knob, have you done lejog? touring cyclist? so what...heartlily unpleasant? how do you know, your talk of of pot holed roads is codswallop, try doing the tour of Ireland, perhaps you could do it with the guy in the £200 carbon and by no stretch of the imagination is a sportive a road race did the organiser ever call it one?
And how do you know this organiser did this to to uincrease his smugness? If the ride has its faults keep them valid and relevant

George_Barker

I didn't ride this event and don't therefore know whether the criticisms are justified. However, I can't help thinking that it would be more polite and more likely to elicit improvement if those of you who have posted above sent the organiser polite e-mails or letters setting out your grievances and suggesting improvements. I know him slightly and my guess is that he would respond well to constructive criticism.

I'm also surprised that ALR talks about organising a road race, since:
a) elsewhere in this forum the organiser talked in advance about "this great family event"; and
b) racing on the public road, except in the context of a properly sanctioned event, is against the law.
I know that it's sometimes hard to decide exactly where the perfectly acceptable practice of hard riding and testing yourself against others ends and the illegal practice of racing on a public highway begins. However, if we forget that there is a distinction between the two when we ride sportives and other events, we are shooting ourselves in the foot: by turning the non-cycling community against us, we generate resistance to our sport.

Also, personally, I look at the profile of an event before I enter, and I don't ride the ones that don't suit me.

shuckburgh

sibike wrote:

if anyone reads this and did the 100 mile route ,what was your final milage on your bike computer at the the finish as long as you didnt go off course , cheers

My computer read 170km, so about 106 miles. I got the route spot on. In fact only had one issue with a sign - heading into Chipping Campden when a sign directed right down the high street instead of heading left. Fortunately I was behind someone local who took me the right way.

spanner boy

i did 106 miles too, but i didn't think it would be died on 100 miles, and yes it was down as a sportive, which in my very limited knowlarge of road cycling is a fast road ride with signage. on good road you could if you wished race on.if that is wrong then i'm sorry.

dead sheep

It is probably worth noting that 'always.lanterne.rouge' has only ever posted on this thread. This makes me question the genuine nature of the complaints.



Nonetheless I have read the complaints mentioned in this thread and give recommendations to Rob should he wish to repeat the event next year:

1. The Route Is Boring

Please make sure that in any future events we have a clear view of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Wilderbeest walking majestically across the plain. The major hill climb should be up the North Face of the Eiger.

2. Too Many Potholes

You should personally fund the Council's road resurfacing budget and prioritise all expenditure on your sportive route.

3. Damage to Bicycles from Road Grit

You should provide new Trek Madone 6.2s for the free use by all participants. That will prevent the ruination of their vulnerable carbon bikes by little stones.

4. Other Traffic, Re: the Audi Incident

The Police should be approached to close all roads along the route for the day. An armed helicopter should also be supplied to blast any errant cars sky high.

5. Signposting

2 metre high LCD displays should be erected at all junctions along with a Gendarme waiving a baton at the cyclists from the intersection.

6. Poor HQ facilities

A five star hotel should be used for the HQ. What about Walton Hall Hotel just outside of Wellesbourne?

7. Improving the food stops

Well hote cuisine of course

8. The entry fee

We should not be paying the entry fee, you should be paying us.


Alternatively, you could just heed Mr Barker's advice. These moaning minnies may just go away.

Caer caradoc

I wonder if those people bitterly complaining about this event have ever organised one themselves?
What contribution have they made to charity by organising events?
Have they ever volunteered to provide an event for other cyclists?
What is the amount of time they have spent making a contribution to society?

I suspect the answer to each of these is, 'none'.

MYOB

It's good to see that a few people who didn't even do the event or actually know how bad the organiser has behaved in the last few weeks towards another charity have jumped on the bandwagon and slagged those who did of as whiners, fakes etc.

As for the one such person asking would we not be better off telling the orgainser constructively about what we perceived to be wrong, tried that last year mate. Several people including myself that I know of did, no reply, no changes. If people I know did, then I suspect there were others.

You think I am a bit sad for not being happy to walk over gravel in £200 carbon bottomed shoes? Well my apologies for wanting to look after my kit, and lucky you for having money available to ruin your kit so readily.

I should get a better bike if I think mine will break on dodgey roads? Actually I didn't say anything about breaking my bike, when I suggested the roads were bad I meant the risk of falling, which plenty did just to my knowledge. Having said that, do you think if I had a better bike the wheels would be any less likely to buckle if I hit a pot hole.

At least the guy with the "list" of recommendations to the organiser had a sense of humour:

1. The Route Is Boring

Please make sure that in any future events we have a clear view of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Wilderbeest walking majestically across the plain. The major hill climb should be up the North Face of the Eiger.

Given that the organiser advertised it as "The Best Ride In The Midlands" and that it took in te Cotswolds, I think most people could expect more, such as a visit to the Cotswolds.

2. Too Many Potholes

You should personally fund the Council's road resurfacing budget and prioritise all expenditure on your sportive route.

Actually he could have just used some of the many thousand roads that weren't covered in snow two weeks after it had melted from most places last winter, and thus remianed in a better state of repair, ie. very few pot holes.

3. Damage to Bicycles from Road Grit

You should provide new Trek Madone 6.2s for the free use by all participants. That will prevent the ruination of their vulnerable carbon bikes by little stones.

I think mention of the state of the gravelly roads is covered above, and was from a crash perspective rather than getting paintwork chipped.

4. Other Traffic, Re: the Audi Incident

The Police should be approached to close all roads along the route for the day. An armed helicopter should also be supplied to blast any errant cars sky high.

Or they could have just used less narrow roads, or identified the bad ones and puts signs out, or applied to the Highways Authority for temporary closures on those stretches. The first option would have been so easy

5. Signposting

2 metre high LCD displays should be erected at all junctions along with a Gendarme waiving a baton at the cyclists from the intersection.

The signs, had you done the ride, were great from 30 feet away but from 100 metres or so were difficult to tell which way the arrow was pointing due to the amount of black sponsors text also on the signs...the ride a few weeks earlier that this organiser so readily slags off were spot on.

6. Poor HQ facilities

A five star hotel should be used for the HQ. What about Walton Hall Hotel just outside of Wellesbourne?

Not sure that the Walton Hall is 5 star - more 4 according to their site. The toilets at the local Park and Ride with no facilities otherwise weren't brill, would you agree? The ride slated by this organiser that took place a few weeks earlier used a 4 star hotel as it's HQ and Walton Hall as a refs stop!

7. Improving the food stops

Well hote cuisine of course.

or maybe haute cuisine or at least not having to pay for everything they had at the stops - dare I mention the ride the organiser has been slating where all the food and drink was free?

8. The entry fee

We should not be paying the entry fee, you should be paying us.

I don't think anyone would begrudge the entry fee, if the ride had managed most of the above.

Let's face it, some of the posts negative about the Macride/Shakey100 sportive are less than objective, but this bloke has put the noses out of so many people by openly and publicly attacking another local charity that held its first sportive a few weeks before where everything pretty much was spot on.

Yes people have posted on here with newly created accounts, I would assume because they have seen first hand the effects the stuff this guy comes out with can have on people and would rather not be on the end of that. Call it spineless, call it sensible, I doubt they really care. However the organiser of this one has done the very same thing on forums under various names that I can see.

And have they ever organised anything or raised money for charity before etc. Someone who doesn't actually know suspects not? Well you would be wrong but that doesn't really matter.

People are slating a bloke's event because in their opinion it was absolute crap and he has openly accused another event that he sees as a rival of all sorts of things including criminal conduct. Their (and my) complaining on this forum may be misguided and distasteful to you, but does it make you any better than us for slagging us off when even less informed? Of course not however much you argue.

Forums are of course for opinions, everyone has expressed them and we all live happily ever after.

ledburyloafer

you still came across as a twunt, with the comment about carbon soled shoes, you chose tp spend that much money on some shoes to ride a sportive.

MYOB

ledburyloafer wrote:

you still came across as a twunt, with the comment about carbon soled shoes, you chose tp spend that much money on some shoes to ride a sportive.

A twunt? Oh do MTFU. Name calling to someone you don't know, over an issue you clearly haven't read correctly? Grow up.

I didn't pay £200 for shoes just for a sportive, but one assumes, if it's ok with you, that if I own £200 shoes I am entitled to wear them, decide for myself if I want to ruin them, and complain when a sportive decides to have a rest stop at a place where the surface will do just that?

twotyred

I own £200 shoes I am entitled to wear them, decide for myself if I want to ruin them, and complain when a sportive decides to have a rest stop at a place where the surface will do just that?

In your opinion.

In the opinion of me, ledbury and on the evidence of many other cyclists wearing expensive shoes happily walking over the gravel at the feed stop saying that a few scratches on the soles of your shoes will ruin them is leaving yourself open to accusations of twuntishness..

Cleat Eastwood

I'm sure i'm like loads on the forum who use this section as a first port of call for any planned ride and i'd rather know of the pitfalls of an event as any ride is bound to have its good points

for what its worth i didnt ride this event but it was one I was interested in and have considered doing it next year. So all the feed back whether negative or positive is welcome.

and on the shoes/gravel, i think it is important to highlight small details like this as its often a better experience when you feel the organisers have taken the time to consider the needs of the riders.

It is telling though that after a few posts trying to encourage all to sign up for the ride before the deadline the organiser has not posted a response to the criticisms.