Severn Bridge Sportive

jackfeeder
jackfeeder Posts: 269
edited October 2010 in Sportives/audaxes/training rides
Hi, is anyone doing this? I tried to enter last night but the website has been suspended?????
Is it still on do you know?
Ta.
All my life I've wanted to be someone; I guess I should have been more specific.

Comments

  • risi
    risi Posts: 231
    http://www.entrycentral.com/index.php

    Still says you can enter & nothing on cyclosport.org to indicate otherwise. Only 125 out of 350 entries taken though.
    Specialized Allez
    Trek 6500
  • vs
    vs Posts: 468
    Well the weather was fantastic after a 0c start. It might have been just me but I missed a few signs, didn't think the red/white were as easy to spot as the normal yellow/black.

    Ended up in Fishponds which is miles off course within the first 20 miles. Found my way up to and over the bridge and in to the Forest of Dean. Missed another sign and had to track 20 miles up the A48 to Gloucester. Then things really got confusing! Think I went under the same underpass twice, so I must have gone around in a circle.

    Luckily saw my first cyclists for a couple of hours and followed them; even with four of us, three of us missed another sign, went around countless roundabouts, bike paths, housing estates, was this the route or did we do it all twice! I really don't know.

    Finally got out of town and then someone got his foot stuck in my front wheel. Off I came, cut knee and hand and some bemused drivers. Back on the bike we finally found the only real hill on the course (at least the one that I did!) and then back to the race track. I had done 115 mile in just over six and a quarter hours of cycling and navigation.

    Not my best day of the season. 20th sportive, first missed sign, first crash, but the weather WAS fantastic.
  • stevo1602
    stevo1602 Posts: 43
    Yes the signage was a bit hard to spot sometimes with the glare of the sun. The first feed stop in Chepstow where the course split was a nightmare. The out and back 2nd feed and check point near Gloucester was not well signed either.Then Gloucester itself was an even bigger nightmare with loads of very busy main roads and junction...luckily I knew where I was going, otherwise I could well imagine people getting lost.
    But despite all that, it was a glorious day (weather) and the ride over the bridge and then up through the forest (the long route) was stunning. As was the ride back up into the Cotswolds, worth all the above course and signage disasters I think.
    Oh and the "hot meal" at the end was a small poly cup of soup and a finger roll, and a small poly cup of tea. All in all I enjoyed it, even managed to stay with Magnus and his group till Chepstow.
  • vs
    vs Posts: 468
    That's what it was, the sun was shinning 'through' the signs - very hard to see.

    I also missed the second feed stop, so didn't have a refill from the first at 27 miles (too early but luckily I stopped) until the third at 87 miles (which was over 100 for me). Still it wasn't hot and once I'd realised I had missed the second stop I was careful when I drank.

    I had no idea what was going on in Gloucester and I think I could well still be looking for the way out now if I had been on my own...
  • banditvic
    banditvic Posts: 549
    Better get some yellow signs for next year guys :wink: . Three of us missed the first feed station.
    Gloucester lots of signs but very busy ,then got lost on the small lane out of Glouster.
    Ended up going down the A38 and cut through Dursley which i'm sure had a 45% long climb out of it. But who cares when you have weather like that at this time of the year.
  • stevo1602
    stevo1602 Posts: 43
    Hey banditvic

    That climb out of Dursley back up, is not as bad as the Frocester climb that was on the official route.....same Cotswold escarpment...just a bit before the Dusrley one...so you did well.

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