Etape Cymru prize
6654henry
Posts: 105
Has anyone seen the Etape Cymru Competition going? Have a look on their Facebook page, you can get a £65 closed road sportive for free.
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Comments
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Well thats absolutely fabuuulass
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You can get a £65 closed road sportive for free by turning up and riding FFS0
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That is true. But if everybody did that... there would be no event - and the roads would be open! LOLP_Tucker wrote:You can get a £65 closed road sportive for free by turning up and riding FFS
As someone who thinks that events that have closed roads are a real bonus... I'm not sure I like the idea of encouraging 'freeloaders' and hence killing such events!Simon0 -
A word of warning here.....
Don't assume the roads will be entirely free of traffic; there have been cases in the TOB where cars have gotten on to the route. The chances are much greater on the Etape Cymru as there will be far more bikes spread out around the course and the course itself will have narrow pothole strewn descents with every likelihood of sheep wondering on to the lanes.
Do yourself a favor if you have entered this event then ride with extreme care and don’t think you’re on the TDF.
:idea:0 -
Ron Stuart wrote:A word of warning here.....
Don't assume the roads will be entirely free of traffic; there have been cases in the TOB where cars have gotten on to the route. The chances are much greater on the Etape Cymru as there will be far more bikes spread out around the course and the course itself will have narrow pothole strewn descents with every likelihood of sheep wondering on to the lanes.
Do yourself a favor if you have entered this event then ride with extreme care and don’t think you’re on the TDF.
:idea:
Did you watch the TDF this year? Broken bones, car crashes . . .0 -
Ron Stuart wrote:A word of warning here.....
Don't assume the roads will be entirely free of traffic; there have been cases in the TOB where cars have gotten on to the route. The chances are much greater on the Etape Cymru as there will be far more bikes spread out around the course and the course itself will have narrow pothole strewn descents with every likelihood of sheep wondering on to the lanes.
Do yourself a favor if you have entered this event then ride with extreme care and don’t think you’re on the TDF.
:idea:
Yep... even if the roads are 90% traffic free, then the biggest issues will potholes and the cheaply surfaced roads (spread a bit of tar on the road, and cover with grit!) for the average rider.
I would hope that people are stupid enough to shoot out of junctions without looking to see if anything is coming... but nature seems to partly take care of itself in removing this kind from the gene pool.
Would love to do the event but sadly will be on holiday. Hopefully if it's a success we'll see more of these closed road events in the future.Simon0 -
PeteMadoc wrote:Ron Stuart wrote:A word of warning here.....
Don't assume the roads will be entirely free of traffic; there have been cases in the TOB where cars have gotten on to the route. The chances are much greater on the Etape Cymru as there will be far more bikes spread out around the course and the course itself will have narrow pothole strewn descents with every likelihood of sheep wondering on to the lanes.
Do yourself a favor if you have entered this event then ride with extreme care and don’t think you’re on the TDF.
:idea:
Did you watch the TDF this year? Broken bones, car crashes . . .
Yep and what's your point Pete?0 -
springtide9 wrote:Ron Stuart wrote:A word of warning here.....
Don't assume the roads will be entirely free of traffic; there have been cases in the TOB where cars have gotten on to the route. The chances are much greater on the Etape Cymru as there will be far more bikes spread out around the course and the course itself will have narrow pothole strewn descents with every likelihood of sheep wondering on to the lanes.
Do yourself a favor if you have entered this event then ride with extreme care and don’t think you’re on the TDF.
:idea:
Yep... even if the roads are 90% traffic free, then the biggest issues will potholes and the cheaply surfaced roads (spread a bit of tar on the road, and cover with grit!) for the average rider.
I would hope that people are stupid enough to shoot out of junctions without looking to see if anything is coming... but nature seems to partly take care of itself in removing this kind from the gene pool.
Would love to do the event but sadly will be on holiday. Hopefully if it's a success we'll see more of these closed road events in the future.
If the estimated 3000 do take part it might be more than those that initiate the problem that pay the price.0 -
Ron Stuart wrote:PeteMadoc wrote:Ron Stuart wrote:A word of warning here.....
Don't assume the roads will be entirely free of traffic; there have been cases in the TOB where cars have gotten on to the route. The chances are much greater on the Etape Cymru as there will be far more bikes spread out around the course and the course itself will have narrow pothole strewn descents with every likelihood of sheep wondering on to the lanes.
Do yourself a favor if you have entered this event then ride with extreme care and don’t think you’re on the TDF.
:idea:
Did you watch the TDF this year? Broken bones, car crashes . . .
Yep and what's your point Pete?
dunno, Just sayin
Anyways. I'm undecided on this event. On paper it looks amazing! ! I think complaints about potholes aren't really valid as there are potholes all over the flaming country at the moment. Stray cars and sheep is another matter although I suspect dangerous cycling could be a bigger issue.
I've ridden similar routes with friends in the past . . . so is it worth £65 + £30 petrol to ride the route on closed roads with 3000 other cyclists
Still undecided but I'm swaying towards not worth it0 -
Ron Stuart wrote:springtide9 wrote:Ron Stuart wrote:A word of warning here.....
Don't assume the roads will be entirely free of traffic; there have been cases in the TOB where cars have gotten on to the route. The chances are much greater on the Etape Cymru as there will be far more bikes spread out around the course and the course itself will have narrow pothole strewn descents with every likelihood of sheep wondering on to the lanes.
Do yourself a favor if you have entered this event then ride with extreme care and don’t think you’re on the TDF.
:idea:
Yep... even if the roads are 90% traffic free, then the biggest issues will potholes and the cheaply surfaced roads (spread a bit of tar on the road, and cover with grit!) for the average rider.
I would hope that people are stupid enough to shoot out of junctions without looking to see if anything is coming... but nature seems to partly take care of itself in removing this kind from the gene pool.
Would love to do the event but sadly will be on holiday. Hopefully if it's a success we'll see more of these closed road events in the future.
If the estimated 3000 do take part it might be more than those that initiate the problem that pay the price.
When I got taught to ride a bike, I was told that I should look out for myself as well as other road users, and assume the worst from them. . TBH, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. I've done a few MTB races which have their far share of lunatics.Simon0 -
PeteMadoc wrote:Ron Stuart wrote:PeteMadoc wrote:Ron Stuart wrote:A word of warning here.....
Don't assume the roads will be entirely free of traffic; there have been cases in the TOB where cars have gotten on to the route. The chances are much greater on the Etape Cymru as there will be far more bikes spread out around the course and the course itself will have narrow pothole strewn descents with every likelihood of sheep wondering on to the lanes.
Do yourself a favor if you have entered this event then ride with extreme care and don’t think you’re on the TDF.
:idea:
Did you watch the TDF this year? Broken bones, car crashes . . .
Yep and what's your point Pete?
dunno, Just sayin
Anyways. I'm undecided on this event. On paper it looks amazing! ! I think complaints about potholes aren't really valid as there are potholes all over the flaming country at the moment. Stray cars and sheep is another matter although I suspect dangerous cycling could be a bigger issue.
I've ridden similar routes with friends in the past . . . so is it worth £65 + £30 petrol to ride the route on closed roads with 3000 other cyclists
Still undecided but I'm swaying towards not worth it
Maybe give it a miss this year and check out how it went on afterwards, you never know if it's a success there's always next year.
Regards roads the route leaves the start on narrow lanes then bigger roads up until Garth at 10 miles then small lanes giving way to very small lanes with many potholes, shale, rock falls around Eglwyseg and Esclusham Mountains, these lanes have steep ups and downs and with 3000 bikes they are unsuitable for this type of event. Maybe an audax ride with numbers less than 100 spread out which I have done in the past, I hope for goodness sake bad weather doesn’t add another dimension.
This event has been squeezed into one small corner of North Wales so it minimizes the number of police authorities involved but alas at a price.
Plenty of great rides to be had around North Wales for around a 13th of the price. Here’s a few…..
http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/11-451/
http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/11-266/
Other shorter rides on each day.0 -
Haven't ridden around there yet but have seen some pics etc of the Horseshoe Pass and The Garth and they look like nice climbs. Presumably like other sportives people will be set off at different times and split up?0
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6654henry wrote:Haven't ridden around there yet but have seen some pics etc of the Horseshoe Pass and The Garth and they look like nice climbs. Presumably like other sportives people will be set off at different times and split up?
I think it's a big groups start, this can be done because of the closed roads.0 -
6654henry wrote:Haven't ridden around there yet but have seen some pics etc of the Horseshoe Pass and The Garth and they look like nice climbs. Presumably like other sportives people will be set off at different times and split up?
If the anticipated 3000 or so turn up then there won't be time to split the total number of riders into nice sized groups (check out what happened on the Dragon Ride this year :twisted: ) plus this is only done because of the potential traffic problems. The ride will funnel out together, some at break neck speed to miss the walk up Garth when everything in front slows down and the rest of the field catches up. If I remember Garth is around 16% or so and the road before the turn is the main A539 road from Ruabon. The parcours from the start to Garth are slightly up but there is a relatively fast down to the turning for Garth then a 16% bank (should be interesting). :shock:
Same thing has happened in the Etape proper and the Nove Colli before, the front of the race (sorry challenge ride) usually ride up the first climb but then as the bulk of the riders arrive there is less and less road/pavement to ride on.
Been there done it
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