Hell of the Ashdown

rodgers73

Cracking ride today - worth the drive down from Doncaster for it. Marshaling was best on any event I've ever done, just a shame I overdid it on the first 45 miles and really struggled on last stretch.

delvsie

Agree with all of the positive feedback. Great course, if not a bit challenging in places :-) ; fantastic marshalling and perfect cycling weather. Feel pretty good as this was the second tough ride of the season for me, having done the Kentish Killer last Sunday (really nasty hills on that one!!). Must confess, regretting cycling to and from the event, adding another 15 miles to the overall journey. Suffering now.

Congratulations to the Catford CC for doing such a good job

Fixed Wheelnut

If you like hills, the Kent Invicta Grimpeur 100km with 1700m of climbing is on 11th March from Otford Church Hall

Lovely little ride from Otford taking in quite a few "views" around North Kent. Not many miles, but lots of hills! Come on down if you like a challenge! Entry form here for the 100km: http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/12-190/ or here for the 50km: http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/12-189/

gabriel959

What a fantastic day out.

Best marshaling I have seen in any event.
Decent amount of food and drinks
Really good, tough route with some fantastic weather to boot!

Thanks guys!

TheStone

I skipped both the feed stops and headed straight off at the end (didn't realise there were freebies), but have to add to the positive feedback.

Great day, excellent marshaling and really well organised (no waiting at the start etc).

slow_step

Best organisation for a sportive I have ever entered, a really good day out in the saddle. Dragon ride organisers take note, you could learn something from the organisers of this event

mikenetic

I'd also say it was the best organised event I've ridden on. The marshals deserve a special note, every key junction was manned and managed well. I noticed that a lucky few also had a convenient pub at their spot.

It amuses me to hear people complain about parking. It's started out of a school in a quiet backwater of Kent. You're about to ride 100kms around some hills - park a bit further away, then man up and ride to the start.

racingcondor

I'll add another comment of 'well done the marshalls'. Really was the best marshalled event I've done, bunch of flag I like to think it's the added calm that drafting in some of my fellow Dulwich riders to help added ;-).

Well done though Steve and the other Catford people involved. Great job (few people manage to get a start to run that smoothly).

ashnbecs

An excellent ride in excellent conditions. Very well organised, clear signage, clear signals from Marshalls who really helped me keep my momentum on some of the tighter turns and road crossings. No problem parking nearby. A great start to the Sportive year - thank you.

On the run back after Star Hill I passed an accident. It looked quite serious. Does anyone know what happened and more importantly how the rider is?

Fixed Wheelnut

ashnbecs wrote:

An excellent ride in excellent conditions. Very well organised, clear signage, clear signals from Marshalls who really helped me keep my momentum on some of the tighter turns and road crossings. No problem parking nearby. A great start to the Sportive year - thank you.

On the run back after Star Hill I passed an accident. It looked quite serious. Does anyone know what happened and more importantly how the rider is?

Broken collar bone apparently he hit something in the road, we are trying to find out more about it.

Aminasquintina

slow_step wrote:

Best organisation for a sportive I have ever entered, a really good day out in the saddle. Dragon ride organisers take note, you could learn something from the organisers of this event

Completely agree with slow step. This is by far the most organised sportive that I have ever entered, the numerous marshalls were all fantastic, the feed stations fully stocked (I am usually at the back, so appreciate this) and the box of goodies laid out at the end was the silver lining.

ashnbecs

Thanks Fixed Wheelnut, I could see a car there and him on the ground wrapped in blanket and was worried it was much more serious.

Brakeless

Holy Cow !!!

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... d-cow.html

rodgers73

That's pretty gruesome, but more worrying that it might have been deliberately left on the route. My guess is that it dropped off a truck or something - if you were going to drop something on the road just to mess up riders there are lot more things you could use that wouldn't be so repulsive to handle. Half a dozen bricks would probably do it.

I saw some dreadful middle aged woman harranging the poor old organiser at the HQ (asking him if the local police were aware that the event was going on in their area. Christ...). So it sounds like he's had plenty of crap to handle off the back of this event!

Road Red

Holy cow-thats terrible. (Sorry , but someone had to)

Where exactly did it happen? Anywhere near Cowden? (Really sorry)

On a serious note, it's a pity about the poor guy, bet he's not over the MOOn about it. (OK, I'm off now)

FransJacques

Maybe it just fell off a truck? I'm sure they slaughter a few cows in that area, the fields are full of them...