Tour Rides - Tour of Britain

Dr U Idh

Just back from dropping the van off in Dumfries. Route signposting looks great (Loads of arrows at junctions) though a bit confusing approaching Dock Park. In fact, I'm still not quite sure of how that bit works given we're going round it twice. Hopefully, there will be some good marshalling tomorrow.

Oh - and another reminder that the Peel Cafe at Glen tress is opening at 7am for us, so there's time for a last minute coffee, cake, bacon roll.....:-)

TanukiRider

My thoughts on the Welsh ride from a local club member point of view and some, I hope, constructive points.......

On the whole, bloody fantastic, but a few minor niggles. Cutting the hedges during the few days before the ride through Powys Castle grounds - really?? First puncture in months coming down the bank to the main road after 5 minutes riding. Not impressed! Could have happened to anyone anywhere I know, but ask the nice Powys Castle people to cut the hedges AFTER maybe?

No energy bars/gels/drinks at the start - FAQs on the site said there were.

First feed station had run out of gels by the time we arrived - and we were by no means last.

Lunch stop in Builth superbly stocked, well done!

3rd feed station had run out of energy drink when we arrived - again we were by no means last.

Crossing the A470 to ride into Brecon - no marshall or signage that I noticed there on a very busy and dangerous crossing. Not clever.

Goody bag was a bit pants! My malt loaf was out of date and my magazine 3 months old!)

Echo the sentiments about the transport - we ended up loading the bikes ourselves on the 5 o'clock van.

But otherwise, enjoyed the route, the climbs were awesome (would love to meet the evil b*****d who decided Caerphilly mountain was a good idea after 111 miles though! ) stunning scenery, weather perfect, all the staff polite, and very helpful. Will definitely be back to do it again next year!

AlistairTR

TanukiRider wrote:

My thoughts on the Welsh ride from a local club member point of view and some, I hope, constructive points......

Hi TanukiRider,

Thanks for taking the time to set out your thoughts on the Tour Ride in Wales. I have emailed it on directly to the manager in charge of the Tour Rides at the charity and I know that they will act on your comments.

No doubt all of the feedback will be passed onto the organisation that deals with all of the setup and logistics for the charity.

Alistair

AlistairTR

Hi Thegibdog,

Thanks for your message. The application/entry fee from your entry of the Tour Ride in Wales does go to the charity, however as with all sportives, there are standard costs that will always have to be paid for, insurance of the event, for example. Certainly a lot of help is received by event sponsors and for that the charity is very grateful. Part of the reason for holding the event is an awareness exercise and some costs can be offset here. A high percentage of riders in a sportive are male and of an age that they should be made aware of prostate cancer, so you can see that is money well spent with a double benefit, but still a cost.

I have worked with a number of charities over the years and can clearly see that The Prostate Cancer Charity is focused on making all of the money raised by application/rider entry fee and sponsorship works very hard and effectively for the charity.

I hope that has clarified things a bit.

Thank for supporting the charity this year and I hope that you will again in 2012.
Alistair

thecrofter

Good day yesterday. The weather was better than we could have hoped for, given the last few weeks. It was even warm and sunny on some sections.

Well organised event, I thought the signage was excellent, some of the turnings there must have been about a dozen red arrows pointing the way, I pity the poor sod who's got to take them all down again. The food stops were regular enough and well stocked, if a little unimaginative. The usual flapjacks, bananas and gels.

The route was great I know the first 45 miles pretty well, down to Moffat, then it was off into the unknown (on a bike atleast) The roads were unfortunatly pretty busy by this time and some of the drivers on the A701 were not slowing down, which was a bit of a worry, esp. as they weren't even observing the 60 limit.

My friend and I had a few mishaps, he punctures going along Talla, then in Moffat we tried to sort his front mech which was rubbing, unsuccessfully. Then leaving Moffat some guy in a Golf stopped right in front of us, without indicating, and we ended up in a heap on the ground, no damage though. The main problem, however, was my crash. About half way between Moffat and Dumfries I caught a bit of wet, dirty tarmac underneath some trees and the front went from under me. I hit pretty hard, hard enough to cut my leg, photo attached, smacked my head, always wear a helmet, and dislocated a finger. So it being a "Pro" ride just like a Pro I popped my finger back in and finished the last 50. Top marks to the paramedics at the end who patched me up and many,many thanks the Charles from Aberdeen who stopped to assist me and stuck with me down to Dumfries until I felt OK.
All in all a good day out, not spoiled by my crash and a really well run event. Back next year???? Probably

AlistairTR

Thanks for the very quick report Thecrofter. I'm really sorry to hear about your crash, but well done on getting back on your bike and finishing!!!!

Thanks also for all of your very helpful comments on this thread

I'll let everyone know about 2012 as soon as I hear anything.

Alistair

Dr U Idh

I'd mostly echo what The Crofter said.

Signing was excellent. The only bit that seemed to catch folk out was the first approach to Dock Park in Dumfries, with some folk not looking closely enough at the signs and taking a left instead of a right.

I only stopped at the Dumfries food stop. Loads of cake and so on available, plus water and energy products, so no worries there.

Route was pretty good I thought. I didn't have, or see, any problems with other traffic. As above, I didn't know the roads south of Moffat, so that was a nice addition. It still didn't follow the updated route that was sent out on Thu/Fri though.

The traffic lights through Dumfries were a bit of annoyance, especially at the end. A couple of us were catching one rider just before a set of lights and when they went to red he just charged through them as we stopped. Hardly a great advert for cycling.

I passed one poor fellow with a puncture and stopped to see if I could help. He's managed to puncture both his spare tubes, but another rider had then SOLD him one for £5. On fitting that, it turned out that one was already punctured too. As I also had two spares and we were only 25 miles or so from the finish, I gave him one of mine, reckoning there was no chance of me having two punctures in that distance. 5 miles later, I punctured! Thanks to the rider who stopped to give me one of his three spares, "just in case". I waited for him at the end and gave him his spare back. No thanks to the couple of riders who just rode by and didn't even glance in my direction to see if I needed any assistance.

It's a great idea mirroring the ToB route, as it'll make next weeks comparison even more disheartening :-)

I take it that any 2012 event would similarly follow the ToB route, so I can't wait to see where it will be held.

lochindaal

A good well organised ride it was just a shame more people hadn't enter as the section around the Solway Firth was mainly solo riding

A full report is on my blog here http://www.amateuretape.com/tour-of-britain-ride-2011-scotland/

thecrofter

I know I'm probably being a bit dim (maybe it was the bang on the head yesterday) but where do I get my time?

lochindaal

Times here
https://www.raceplus.co.uk/raceplus-index.php?content=1&event_id=TRSC11

holmeboy

Well done guy's, really wanted to do this but could'nt arrage a lift home. Ended up at Matalan instead, would rather cycle 100 miles any day. "A well" hope to make the road side at Megget/Talla next Sunday.

thecrofter

lochindaal wrote:

Times here
https://www.raceplus.co.uk/raceplus-index.php?content=1&event_id=TRSC11

Thanks

173rd 7.35

Dr U Idh

60th 6:27.

Might have made top 40 if it hadn't been for the two puncture incidents, but then again I might not have tried quite so hard at the end if I hadn't been so mad :-)

Dr U Idh

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... d-14791263

AlistairTR

Thanks to all of you for your feedback, I'm glad the weather was kind to you and that you had a good day.

Punctures!!!! There are times when you can feel let down by tyres, especially when you're trying to get a good time! I've mostly found cyclists to be really helpful when I've had a puncture, so let's keep this good Samaritan approach going.

Anybody riding the Tour Rides in London or Stoke? I know that the numbers in Stoke-on-Trent are pretty good.

Alistair

thecrofter

Dr U Idh wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-14791263

SH1T, must've been on the Tour of Tweeddale which was on then, I'm guessing on the descent from Talla. (The Tour of Tweeddale goes the other way from the Tour ride so not such a dangerous descent, on the face of it)

F365Eli

I enjoyed the Challenge Ride, I managed to beat my target time by just over 10 minutes and even came in the Top Ten with a 6th place finish which I was well happy with.

There was a bit of confusion at the end when we were mis-directed by a marshall when approaching the park who tried sending us over the bridge and out on the loop rather than left and up the hill and round to the finish, which added a little while onto the time and messed up the finishing order.

Also unless there are more yet to be posted, I can't see any photographs of any of the guys I saw on the Challenge ride, despite there being a photographer in attendance both before the start and after the finish. I finished just behind a large group all from the Kelso Wheelers and a photograph f them was on today's email from the Tour Ride, yet none of them, nor any others I saw or rode with appear on the link from the Results page.

It's almost as though the first group caught everybody by surprised by coming back as soon as we did, but that's only a minor gripe. It seemed on the whole to be a well run event, and we're certainly looking at entering again next year!

iesous77

ill be riding the stoke ride, did it last year and was brilliant.

out of curiosity when will the rider pack be sent, im sure i got it alot earlier last year?

Haggish

Hi
I managed the Scottish tour ride on Sunday past, my 1st 100 miler & loved it !
No complaints what so ever well organised great banter, well stocked feed stations the last one even had filled rolls!
For me the best bit was the run up to the Devils Beef Tub managed to stay with a group all the way up & the long wide road all the way into Moffat was brilliant.
The other two i was with were blethering so much we missed a turn & ended up in Lockerby then Lockmaben but soon found the route in Dumfries !! looking on the map we did about an extra 3 miles.

Haggish

AlistairTR

It’s great to hear the positive news coming back from the Tour Ride in Scotland, I’m glad it went well and wish I’d been able to join you.

The Tour of Britain starts on Sunday and leads up to the next Tour Ride in London and then onto Stoke-on-Trent (Iesous77 - rider packs should be out very soon).

Enjoy watching the Tour of Britain and best of luck to those riding in the last two Tour Rides

Winds dropped today!! So off out on the bike!

Cheerio
Alistair

jackfeeder

Good article in this months Procycling on the Welsh stage - their Garmin hit 23% on Caerphilly Mtn, that's more like it!
I'm going there on Wed in plenty of time, get a beer+grub & a good spot & pray 2 the weather gods. Come on G

Cleat Eastwood

Just signed up for the Stoke one.

The registration says that i'll have to pick up my rider pack on the day. What info do i need to bring along to say its me.....oh and is parking etc in Trentham gardens, and are we allocated start times. ta muchly.

AlistairTR

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

Just signed up for the Stoke one.

The registration says that i'll have to pick up my rider pack on the day

You should get them in the post this week

No set start times for each individual, just turn up with your number attached and you are ready to roll! Have a great day

Alistair

graememacd

Any ideas where the car park is for this weekends stoke ride?? it just says on the guide that there are signposts to the designated car parks, it also said that last year and i only found it by following someone with a bike rack on a whim!

Cleat Eastwood

AlistairTR wrote:

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

Just signed up for the Stoke one.

The registration says that i'll have to pick up my rider pack on the day

You should get them in the post this week

No set start times for each individual, just turn up with your number attached and you are ready to roll! Have a great day

Alistair

Excellent. Many thanks.

Brian B

Did somebody die on the descent of the Talla on the Scottish Stage Sportive? Just a rumour I heard but could actually see it happen there.

I know the roads pretty well around the borders and thought it was a bit risky for the TOB actual stage.

Dr U Idh

The death was the previous day.

thecrofter

Peebles CC had their sportive, the Tour of Tweeddale the previous day, it uses the Talla road but the opposite direction from the Tour ride. Dave Stanners, an Edinburgh Road Club member, came off on the decent and hit a wall, dead at the scene......

http://www.edinburghrc.co.uk/news/853/5 ... e-Sportive

AlistairTR

Online registration has now closed for the final Tour Ride in Stoke-on-Trent.

Registration on the day from 7am and on Saturday between 2pm and 5pm.

For those already registered, have a brilliant day

Alistair

T.C.

Alistair, my friend was down to ride the short route Sun, he's wife has had a baby- honest. Can anyone use his chip instead > cheers T.c.