Tour of the Roaches

Kurlz

Anyone doing this on sunday?
At a loose end and looking for something to do and see that this is still taking online entries until saturday but with no entry list (that I can find anyway) I don't want to be the only one turning up!! :shock:
It's new this year by the look of it, not sure if it replaces a previous one as am still new to all this. :?
Cheers

thebigredone

Yes, doing the 75 miles. My first Sportive :? Emailed info arrived today.

gonetothehills

Blimey that was a toughie! Great day out - did the 75 miles (measured a bit longer on my compy), but it was a good, hard ride. I suspect for some of the riders it was a walk in the park but a lot of the people I spoke with had enjoyed a good challenge.

Xtra Mile Events organise a lot of triathlons, but this was their first sportive, and in my experience did a top job of it. The whole team seemed really accommodating - couldn't do enough to help and it was well signed throughout. Good grub, superb pies (from the bakery that was one of the sponsors) and Chorley cakes at the finish and a very good route too.

The headwind was a bit evil at times, and for a route that claimed to 'not draw a line between all the big climbs' it was pretty lumpy. 7 or 8 decent hauls and some cracking descents too.

Great fun all round - in spite of the torrential squall that dumped on us about 5 miles from the end :-)

Big thanks to Simon and his team.

thebigredone

Toughie is an understatement! As mentioned higher up it was my first Sportive. Maybe I should've picked something a little flatter! My chain snapped on a climb after Buxton and I went flying. Can barely walk now although I was OK pedalling the last 25 miles.

Can't fault Xtra Mile Events...very well organised.

Any idea how many took part?

pickled

I think it was less than 200 people, which was a bit of a shame. My and a mate did the 100 mile route mostly on our own.
Met a guy in Bollington that had snapped his chain. Was that you? Hope you are ok.
Someone also came off on the descent down Gun Hill, but was apparently ok. :shock:

Thought it was pretty well organised, but a couple of comments.
First, feed stations shouldn't run out of water. It's free!
Second, they should probably try and find some feed stations with indoors available.

I registered over 3500m in climbing all told, so I'd rate it pretty tough!
Really enjoyed it though. Loved the free pies. Very welcome.

thebigredone

Yes, that was most likely me, very tall with a red and yellow shirt? It's was a long way down to the ground when I came off when the chain snapped! I managed to limp back to the finish and upon looking at the results that are now online http://www.xtramileevents.com/results I see I wasn't the last one home! Sore as anything today

I must thank the gentleman who gave me a couple of links to repair the chain and the other gentleman who helped, or rather, did all of the repair. He was following his wife 'round in the car. So if either of you are on here, many, many thanks

The results page shows there were 161 entrants across the three routes. Not bad I suppose as there was no mention of the event in any of the main magazines. Nothing in Cycling Plus or Active which list all the events and nothing in this week's Cycling Weekly. Shame.

Just Another Dave

It was my first sportive too - I rather got the impression it was a popular choice for a first go? - probably half of everyone I spoke to on the 75 route hadn't done one before!

gonetothehills

I think a lot of the entrants were triathletes - Xtra Mile are predominantly organisers of tri / duathlons and it was their first sportive event. Given that; I think the attendance was pretty good and the organisation spot on.

On another note - I know it howled with wind yesterday and that just made the route tougher, but the local weather today has been grim. Solid, unrelenting rain that would have lasted from the off through to the finish of the 75m! It makes me grateful for the breeze we had yesterday...