Wiggle - No Excuses Sportive

3Pears

Anyone doing this FREE event this coming Sunday ? Weather looks promising 8)

Anyone entered and is unfortunate enough that they can't make it and will get charged the £25 'no show charge' ? :x

I would of popped up for the B.R. Spring fling Pt2 but Free is FREE lol

ugo.santalucia

I am doing it... weather looks great too... however, I will use the cross bike with road tyres, as I'm not sure what sort of roads and lanes they've in stock for us. I know in the area there is a sportive called "porkpies and potholes" so that's not very promising...

I wonder how they're going to charge people who don't show up... I have used paypal when I booked... :shock:

3Pears

Fingers-crossed re the pot-holes, new area to be cycling in for me, really looking forward to it tbh :P

It will be interesting how good the turn out is percentage wise !!!

hammerite

I'm doing this. I don't know much about the roads north of the A14, but I know most of the roads south of the A14, I've been riding them all winter and they're not too bad. There maybe the odd hole on the edge of the road, and occasionally one a few feet into the road, if you're in a group riding on the inside be a bit careful in case the guys in front don't call them out.

If you're on your own then you should have no problem avoiding anything.

Jonny7c

I'm signed up but can't make it

As i booked through the Wiggle website i' sure they won't have any problems collecting my £25?

eiger30

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I am doing it... weather looks great too... however, I will use the cross bike with road tyres, as I'm not sure what sort of roads and lanes they've in stock for us. I know in the area there is a sportive called "porkpies and potholes" so that's not very promising...

I wonder how they're going to charge people who don't show up... I have used paypal when I booked... :shock:

Porkpies and Potholes sportive is based around Melton Mowbray in Rutland/Leicestershire, about an hour northeast by car from Huntingdon. Plus it is now called the Pork Pies and Stilton Challenge, so guessing they have sorted the roads out.

ugo.santalucia

eiger30 wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I am doing it... weather looks great too... however, I will use the cross bike with road tyres, as I'm not sure what sort of roads and lanes they've in stock for us. I know in the area there is a sportive called "porkpies and potholes" so that's not very promising...

I wonder how they're going to charge people who don't show up... I have used paypal when I booked... :shock:

Porkpies and Potholes sportive is based around Melton Mowbray in Rutland/Leicestershire, about an hour northeast by car from Huntingdon. Plus it is now called the Pork Pies and Stilton Challenge, so guessing they have sorted the roads out.

Even better then... I will still use the 12Kg cross bike with 23 mm tyres, good training for the Tour of Flanders
I bet it's flat as a pancake round there anyway...

DIESELDOG

ugo.santalucia wrote:

eiger30 wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I am doing it... weather looks great too... however, I will use the cross bike with road tyres, as I'm not sure what sort of roads and lanes they've in stock for us. I know in the area there is a sportive called "porkpies and potholes" so that's not very promising...

I wonder how they're going to charge people who don't show up... I have used paypal when I booked... :shock:

Porkpies and Potholes sportive is based around Melton Mowbray in Rutland/Leicestershire, about an hour northeast by car from Huntingdon. Plus it is now called the Pork Pies and Stilton Challenge, so guessing they have sorted the roads out.

Even better then... I will still use the 12Kg cross bike with 23 mm tyres, good training for the Tour of Flanders
I bet it's flat as a pancake round there anyway...

Flat as a pancake round Rutland? Not going to say what was said to the route designer for the Discover Rutland CiCLE Tour but it wasn't pretty.

There are some SERIOUS hills in Rutland!

Love n hugs

DD

Brakeless

Route here

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/29254396

1500ft of climbing over 80 miles is hardly hilly. I'm sure there'll be one or two short sharp sections but the highest part of the course is only 260ft above sea level!

DIESELDOG

Ah, different ride to the one I was referring to.

love n hugs

DD

hammerite

The countryside is pretty tame. The odd incline, but only in a rolling countryside type way rather than proper long or steep hills.

eiger30

Even better then... I will still use the 12Kg cross bike with 23 mm tyres, good training for the Tour of Flanders
I bet it's flat as a pancake round there anyway...[/quote]

Good training for Flanders is what it is not. Just got back from a week in Oudenaarde and don't remember seeing many cobbled stretches of road around Huntingdon or anything approaching the Koppenberg.

Still Flanders has got to be one of the very best places for cycling.

spokegeezer

Brakeless wrote:

Route here

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/29254396

1500ft of climbing over 80 miles is hardly hilly. I'm sure there'll be one or two short sharp sections but the highest part of the course is only 260ft above sea level!

Memory map gives total ascending as 2,742ft

Mike67

eiger30 wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I am doing it... weather looks great too... however, I will use the cross bike with road tyres, as I'm not sure what sort of roads and lanes they've in stock for us. I know in the area there is a sportive called "porkpies and potholes" so that's not very promising...

I wonder how they're going to charge people who don't show up... I have used paypal when I booked... :shock:

Porkpies and Potholes sportive is based around Melton Mowbray in Rutland/Leicestershire, about an hour northeast by car from Huntingdon. Plus it is now called the Pork Pies and Stilton Challenge, so guessing they have sorted the roads out.

I did the Pork Pies and Potholes last year. The Potholes refers to the fair few miles of rough track sections that the Sportive takes (though you did have the option to go around them on the road if you decided to wuss out ). I guess this made up for the slightly less steep nature of the terrain.

Plotting on MapMy RIde I got just about 3000ft of climb. I only remember one really stiff climb though at about 25 miles in. Saying that I don't remember much of the last 30miles of the 110mile route.
Overall it was a great ride out in a very picturesque part of the country....would recommend it.

3Pears

I've got to say, Not done a 'Wiggle' event before but I was very impressed, slick parking, HQ with signing on and smoothly out the traps over the start line.

The signage was some of, if not the best I've experienced. Not as flat as I'd anticipated with some rolling countryside but the pesky wind is very noticeable on some of those exposed flats :evil:

Wiggle please bring one or two of your events bit further North, we don't bite

Great event, all for FREE - Thank you all at Wiggle :P

Paul Holtom

Have to agree, a great ride very well organised and signed. My only niggle was the lack of enough toilet facilities at the start, one trap and two stand ups for with a very long que.

Having done the shorter route in good time kind of wished i'd done the longer one, but plenty of time for longer ones later in the year.

Well done Wiggle.

jzed

Great sportive - signage was great and the feed stations too - so much so I forgot to look for signs coming out of the second feed station and ended up to miles off course and then to mile back into a monster headwind.

The wind seemed to be in my face most of the way around.

Great job wiggle

AndyF16

I had signed up but then couldn't attend, so did the route last Friday instead as the start/finish is only a mile from my front door - scraped in at 4:42:49, interested to hear what sort of times others posted for the Epic route?

Big Hairy Wallapers

Hi there,
My first ever sportive or experience of group riding.
I managed the Epic route of 80 miles in 4hrs 25mins ave 18mph.
Yes the wind seemed 'in yer face' all way round.
Great day, superb organisation, couldn't believe how slick and efficient it was, no waiting at registration or the start / finish.
Any ideas when the results will be up?

hammerite

Yes really enjoyed today's ride, first sportive for me too. Was fine until our group split up, found the lumpy 15 miles after the second feed hard going mainly because of the head/cross wind. Nice to turn for home with 10 to go and have mostly a tail wind.

4h 18 riding time for me, but we had 2 x puncture stops for a clubmate so probably ended up with around 4h 33.

essexian

Rider times are up: which is impressively quick.

It was my first sportive as well and, looking back, it was enjoyable, although I thought Cambridgeshire was supposed to be flat! Not that there were a lot of proper hills, just loads of long drags into a head wind.

One slight moan: its very slight, it would have been nice if there had been a timing mat at the feed stops.

On the plus point, I thought the car drivers behaved really well. Not one close pass all day!

ugo.santalucia

Annoyingly, ten miles to the finish, I had to go on the small ring for the first and only time... I was hoping to do it all in the big one...

4.36 is not a bad time with the 13 Kg cross bike... thanks to the St. Ives guys for a fast lift towards the end and to the local Bedfordshire guys for a well paced lift until the first feed

Praise to Wiggle for the impeccable organisation and the choice of traffic free lanes with good road surface. In fact the event was better organised than many famous and expensive sportives in the country (read in Wales)

hammerite

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Annoyingly, ten miles to the finish, I had to go on the small ring for the first and only time... I was hoping to do it all in the big one...

4.36 is not a bad time with the 13 Kg cross bike... thanks to the St. Ives guys for a fast lift towards the end and to the local Bedfordshire guys for a well paced lift until the first feed

Praise to Wiggle for the impeccable organisation and the choice of traffic free lanes with good road surface. In fact the event was better organised than many famous and expensive sportives in the country (read in Wales)

That'll be us. We had a couple of puncture problems after the first feed which set us back a bit.

ugo.santalucia

hammerite wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Annoyingly, ten miles to the finish, I had to go on the small ring for the first and only time... I was hoping to do it all in the big one...

4.36 is not a bad time with the 13 Kg cross bike... thanks to the St. Ives guys for a fast lift towards the end and to the local Bedfordshire guys for a well paced lift until the first feed

Praise to Wiggle for the impeccable organisation and the choice of traffic free lanes with good road surface. In fact the event was better organised than many famous and expensive sportives in the country (read in Wales)

That'll be us. We had a couple of puncture problems after the first feed which set us back a bit.

Mmmhh, not sure... one of the guys had a spoke bust, I would have stopped to help, but I didn't have my spoke key with me... plus with these modern wheels there isn't much one can do... I am glad he continued anyway

hammerite

ugo.santalucia wrote:

hammerite wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Annoyingly, ten miles to the finish, I had to go on the small ring for the first and only time... I was hoping to do it all in the big one...

4.36 is not a bad time with the 13 Kg cross bike... thanks to the St. Ives guys for a fast lift towards the end and to the local Bedfordshire guys for a well paced lift until the first feed

Praise to Wiggle for the impeccable organisation and the choice of traffic free lanes with good road surface. In fact the event was better organised than many famous and expensive sportives in the country (read in Wales)

That'll be us. We had a couple of puncture problems after the first feed which set us back a bit.

Mmmhh, not sure... one of the guys had a spoke bust, I would have stopped to help, but I didn't have my spoke key with me... plus with these modern wheels there isn't much one can do... I am glad he continued anyway

Ah, was it red kit or a black/grey kit?

izza

hammerite wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

hammerite wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Annoyingly, ten miles to the finish, I had to go on the small ring for the first and only time... I was hoping to do it all in the big one...

4.36 is not a bad time with the 13 Kg cross bike... thanks to the St. Ives guys for a fast lift towards the end and to the local Bedfordshire guys for a well paced lift until the first feed

Praise to Wiggle for the impeccable organisation and the choice of traffic free lanes with good road surface. In fact the event was better organised than many famous and expensive sportives in the country (read in Wales)

That'll be us. We had a couple of puncture problems after the first feed which set us back a bit.

Mmmhh, not sure... one of the guys had a spoke bust, I would have stopped to help, but I didn't have my spoke key with me... plus with these modern wheels there isn't much one can do... I am glad he continued anyway

Ah, was it red kit or a black/grey kit?

I was just behind the guy when his spoke bust (in Cat in the hat jersey) and am glad he got going again.

Pushed on and came in at 4.33. Chuffed to be in the gold category for the first time. Many thanks to you guys and the guy in the faded blue leggings (and biggest case of Chalfonts/VPL I ave ever seen) for setting pace and getting across the "crosswind" section just prior to the second drink stop.

ugo.santalucia

izza wrote:

hammerite wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

hammerite wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Annoyingly, ten miles to the finish, I had to go on the small ring for the first and only time... I was hoping to do it all in the big one...

4.36 is not a bad time with the 13 Kg cross bike... thanks to the St. Ives guys for a fast lift towards the end and to the local Bedfordshire guys for a well paced lift until the first feed

Praise to Wiggle for the impeccable organisation and the choice of traffic free lanes with good road surface. In fact the event was better organised than many famous and expensive sportives in the country (read in Wales)

That'll be us. We had a couple of puncture problems after the first feed which set us back a bit.

Mmmhh, not sure... one of the guys had a spoke bust, I would have stopped to help, but I didn't have my spoke key with me... plus with these modern wheels there isn't much one can do... I am glad he continued anyway

Ah, was it red kit or a black/grey kit?

I was just behind the guy when his spoke bust (in Cat in the hat jersey) and am glad he got going again.

Pushed on and came in at 4.33. Chuffed to be in the gold category for the first time. Many thanks to you guys and the guy in the faded blue leggings (and biggest case of Chalfonts/VPL I ave ever seen) for setting pace and getting across the "crosswind" section just prior to the second drink stop.

Yes, that's Alan, who was riding with a T-shirt he borrowed from me... I was the one with the disc brakes

Ron Stuart

AndyF16 wrote:

I had signed up but then couldn't attend, so did the route last Friday instead as the start/finish is only a mile from my front door - scraped in at 4:42:49, interested to hear what sort of times others posted for the Epic route?

Andy, I did the Epic and it took 4hrs 14mins ride time at an average 19.38mph (helped by riding in a group most of the time, my overall time after adding two feeds was 4hrs 26mins and got a Gold Standard.
The event was very well organized with nice dry roads and the lanes were in much better condition than here in Shropshire.
Only two improvements to make and that is more toilet facilities at the start and the introduction of age standards as I am 60 years old and like to rub it in

AndyF16

Ron Stuart wrote:

AndyF16 wrote:

I had signed up but then couldn't attend, so did the route last Friday instead as the start/finish is only a mile from my front door - scraped in at 4:42:49, interested to hear what sort of times others posted for the Epic route?

Andy, I did the Epic and it took 4hrs 14mins ride time at an average 19.38mph (helped by riding in a group most of the time, my overall time after adding two feeds was 4hrs 26mins and got a Gold Standard.
The event was very well organized with nice dry roads and the lanes were in much better condition than here in Shropshire.
Only two improvements to make and that is more toilet facilities at the start and the introduction of age standards as I am 60 years old and like to rub it in

bloody good going then Ron, nice work! The roads were pretty good I have to say, just a few short stretches with mud really. my actual riding time nett of feedstops was 4:25:??

i'm aiming to do it again on wednesday on my new bike, hoping to improve on the time....

izza

ugo.santalucia wrote:

izza wrote:

hammerite wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

hammerite wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Annoyingly, ten miles to the finish, I had to go on the small ring for the first and only time... I was hoping to do it all in the big one...

4.36 is not a bad time with the 13 Kg cross bike... thanks to the St. Ives guys for a fast lift towards the end and to the local Bedfordshire guys for a well paced lift until the first feed

Praise to Wiggle for the impeccable organisation and the choice of traffic free lanes with good road surface. In fact the event was better organised than many famous and expensive sportives in the country (read in Wales)

That'll be us. We had a couple of puncture problems after the first feed which set us back a bit.

Mmmhh, not sure... one of the guys had a spoke bust, I would have stopped to help, but I didn't have my spoke key with me... plus with these modern wheels there isn't much one can do... I am glad he continued anyway

Ah, was it red kit or a black/grey kit?

I was just behind the guy when his spoke bust (in Cat in the hat jersey) and am glad he got going again.

Pushed on and came in at 4.33. Chuffed to be in the gold category for the first time. Many thanks to you guys and the guy in the faded blue leggings (and biggest case of Chalfonts/VPL I ave ever seen) for setting pace and getting across the "crosswind" section just prior to the second drink stop.

Yes, that's Alan, who was riding with a T-shirt he borrowed from me... I was the one with the disc brakes

I remember studying those whilst wheelsucking - cheers.

Ron Stuart

AndyF16 wrote:

Ron Stuart wrote:

AndyF16 wrote:

I had signed up but then couldn't attend, so did the route last Friday instead as the start/finish is only a mile from my front door - scraped in at 4:42:49, interested to hear what sort of times others posted for the Epic route?

Andy, I did the Epic and it took 4hrs 14mins ride time at an average 19.38mph (helped by riding in a group most of the time, my overall time after adding two feeds was 4hrs 26mins and got a Gold Standard.
The event was very well organized with nice dry roads and the lanes were in much better condition than here in Shropshire.
Only two improvements to make and that is more toilet facilities at the start and the introduction of age standards as I am 60 years old and like to rub it in

bloody good going then Ron, nice work! The roads were pretty good I have to say, just a few short stretches with mud really. my actual riding time nett of feedstops was 4:25:??

I shall be back to do the Quattro from Wollaston on the 3rd of April

i'm aiming to do it again on wednesday on my new bike, hoping to improve on the time....

Cheers.
First outing using new Mavic Cosmic Carbone SL's and I do believe on this course they made a difference, well they looked good and made a nice sound anyway.
It was nice to see Red Kites (not red kit) around the area in good numbers now, I used to live in South Northants and remember them being introduced at Rutland Water and now they are established which is great.
In all, a total of 43 young Ospreys have now fledged from nests in the Rutland Water area, with twelve chicks fledging from five nests in 2010. Encouragingly it is not just translocated birds that are now breeding; four Rutland-born chicks have returned to breed themselves and Scottish females are now helping to swell the population too.
I used to sail there quite a bit as well.
Off to Lake Vyrnwy for a ride now as I am retired (nice), Sunday’s countryfile program has wetted my appetite, lovely part of the world with great climbs nearby,
Bwlch-y-Groes (Pass of the Cross) up to 25%, the back of the Bwlch from Bala (Lake Tegid), The Eunant Pass to the Bwlch and the Hirant Pass (Used to be featured on Channel 4's intro to their Tour coverage) up to 20%, the film was descending it.
Should be a 5hr or so round trip and the weather looks great
. 8)