Evans Dorking Sportive 4th december NOT GOOD!!!

denzzz28

I was not too happy with this sportive that Evans organized. A lot of people got lost several times!! I did the long route which was (65miles) but I ended up doing 72miles! why?? i got lost several times too, it was very poorly signed. it was too bloody small (about 1/4 of A4), few and too far in between the next sign (makes you feel that your not going the right way) and worst of all about 4-6 crossing, split road and t-junction have no sign at all. i would often see one or two cyclist looking at their maps trying to figure out which way to go. yes they provided a very nice waterproof map but its quite difficult and somewhat useless if have no point of reference where you are.

no goody bags, no timing chip, energy drink taste like 98% water. but hey should I complain for £12 plus £3 on the day registration charge?. I guess you get what you pay for. wiggle events is far better.

bigpikle

The Evans rides I've done have all been as good, or better, than those priced 2 or 3 times as much. Seems like you had a poor experience last weekend.

I do use a Garmin 705 ad download the route, as paper maps are a pain sometimes, but I'd rather pay £12 and stuff the useless goody bag and timing chip any day of the week. Were they still offering the chance to borrow kit for free as well?

Chriscommuter

denzzz28 wrote:

. but hey should I complain for £12 plus £3 on the day registration charge?. I guess you get what you pay for. wiggle events is far better.

That's £15 for a day's ride.

If you join a local Club for £30. There will be rides on 52 Sunday's a year and a range of rides going out each time. You can get subsidised kit, a 10% discount at many cycle shops, helpful advice from members, skill sessions if you wish, discounted BC membership and a friendly social environment including Club nights, cycling trips abroad, yearly parties etc...

jibberjim

Yes Chriscommuter, but sometimes the ride is advertised by the leader as being 55miles, but we end up going longer, or yesterday when it started to rain I decided to take the group the quick way home knocking about 5 miles off the route, so there would be the same complaints as denzzz28 had.

natrix

jibberjim wrote:

it started to rain I decided to take the group the quick way home

Surely that should have been the LONG way home??

cougie

Hang on Jibberjim - you cut a ride short because it was raining ??

Why only this week you said :

" I don't need mudguards to protect me from the wet and mud because I dress appropriately, and so do my ride companions, so there is no social penalty for me."

You see -if you had the guards on -you'd not have had to take the easy option ;-)

denzzz28

Bigpikle wrote:

The Evans rides I've done have all been as good, or better, than those priced 2 or 3 times as much. Seems like you had a poor experience last weekend.

I do use a Garmin 705 ad download the route, as paper maps are a pain sometimes, but I'd rather pay £12 and stuff the useless goody bag and timing chip any day of the week. Were they still offering the chance to borrow kit for free as well?

Im not really after the goody bag TBH, its just not funny when you are constantly in fear of getting lost and your not really enjoying the ride. would have been great if i own a satnav but i cant justify buying one when im supposed to be riding an organized sportive with a highly visible marked route. I rather spend the money to buy a nice wheel set and just use my iphone for satnav.

danjwilkinson

I thought it was a very well marked route. I ended up riding a lot of it alone but never got lost once. Agree that the energy drink was a bit weak, but the cake was nice.

denzzz28

danjwilkinson wrote:

I thought it was a very well marked route. I ended up riding a lot of it alone but never got lost once. Agree that the energy drink was a bit weak, but the cake was nice.

I like the cake too!! yum! yum! but i should have gone to spec savers so i can see those arrows.. but seriously, they could have at least used and A4 sized arrows signs and gap of at least 500 meters (or shorter) after every sign. the problem was you either miss the sign because it was small or keep on thinking if you are still in the route because the signs are too far from each other. UK cycling events sportives are very very well signed, I can see them hundreds of meters away even without my glasses. proper sign post and not wrapped around trees and light post.

nunowoolmez

In fairness i have also experienced problems on Evans rides with small / sparse signs but take this into consideration with the quality of the course (always good in my experience) & the price (cheap). However, when you are halfway down a quick descent & then see a tiny sign pointing you right but cannot stop because you are caning it, this seems like a lack of cycling common sense. A warning sign or arrow 50 yards before the turn would have done the job so we could slow down in preparation rather than miss it & then waste energy climbing back up to find it again. Small gripe, but it is irritating. UkCycling sportives are cracking though. Most impressive.

dandrew

I did the Evans Sportive from Dorking in the summer. It was great. I missed a turn (marked but me not looking properly). Luckily I was followed down the road by a 'race' car that told me to ride back to the top of the hill and take the turn!

lpretro1

Me and OH did an Evans ride - Parking at start was ok if you got there very early otherwise problematic. Yes,signs were very small or non-existent but we luckily managed not to get lost. The feed stations had run out when we got to them of any kind of drink let alone food - fortunately we had our own energy bars.If you had been relying on them you'd have had problems. I had to change part way round fom the long to the short route as I felt unwell - but they didn't give me a time - just a DNF. Not that that matters too much.
I'd rather do Audax rides - this just happened to be close by where we were visitng a friend for a few days. Wouldn't do one again as I couldn't see what we had paid money for.