King of the Downs 2012
Balint @ Evans Cycles
Posts: 12
Hi All
If you're looking for a training ride, Evans Cycles are holding the King of the Downs sportive on Sunday May 27th.
This is a 113mile sportive with over 9,000ft of climbing. The event begins at Camino Park, Crawley (RH10 9TZ)
This is an amazing ride and we're pulling out all the stops to make sure everybody gets some great riding in and has a wonderful time.
All the information is here: http://www.evanscycles.com/ride-it/king-of-the-downs-27th-may-2012.
The ride was reviewed by Cycling Weekly last year, so have a read if you'd like an unbiased perspective! http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/routes/south/530657/cyclo-sportive-evans-cycles-king-of-the-downs.html
Happy Riding!
If you're looking for a training ride, Evans Cycles are holding the King of the Downs sportive on Sunday May 27th.
This is a 113mile sportive with over 9,000ft of climbing. The event begins at Camino Park, Crawley (RH10 9TZ)
This is an amazing ride and we're pulling out all the stops to make sure everybody gets some great riding in and has a wonderful time.
All the information is here: http://www.evanscycles.com/ride-it/king-of-the-downs-27th-may-2012.
The ride was reviewed by Cycling Weekly last year, so have a read if you'd like an unbiased perspective! http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/routes/south/530657/cyclo-sportive-evans-cycles-king-of-the-downs.html
Happy Riding!
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done this twice before and it is a great and challenging ride. Hope we get better weather than other years i've done it.
Still checking if i'm free that weekend0 -
This event is creeping closer!
We've got a new video up: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=king+of+the+downs+you+tube+2011&docid=4793205493989598&mid=B78A20269CEB752BEA3AB78A20269CEB752BEA3A&view=detail&FORM=VIRE1 and a blog: http://blog.evanscycles.com/uncategorized/king-of-the-downs-challenge-ride/v which shows what will be in the goodybag!
Places are flying off the metaphorical shelf, and we've had a couple of our sportives sell out recently, so sign up here if you're up for it!: http://www.evanscycles.com/ride-it/king-of-the-downs-27th-may-20120 -
Anyone doing this ride at the weekend? Great prep for those of us doing Marmotte/Etape sportives in July...
Weather is looking fairly promising so reckon I'll throw my name in the hat...0 -
I'm in, but I don't want to think about it till the alarm goes off at 4am on Sunday!
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yeah i'm doing it. Might be a struggle for me coming off the back of the Fred Whitton & the Wiggle Ups n Downs tho. Fingers crossed for good weather tho!!0
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giving it a miss this weekend. Usually do it but the cost this year seems a bit too high0
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Yep, I'm entered with a few High Wycombe CC mates. Four of us using as training for L'Etape Acte 2 in July. Starting to crap myself
:? 
8) 
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according to the gps files evans posted, it is only about 7000 feet, not 9000. admittedly, including a few nasty steep hills on the second half which also have me seriously freaked out. the first half isn't too painful, but that is when cycled at a reasonable hour in the morning!0
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Yea, Yorks and Whites are buggers, but they are short. After all the Catford hill climb up Yorks is done in under 2 minutes. How bad can it be? :twisted:
Dig in hard for a few minutes and you will be fine!!0 -
bikergirl17 wrote:according to the gps files evans posted, it is only about 7000 feet, not 9000. admittedly, including a few nasty steep hills on the second half which also have me seriously freaked out. the first half isn't too painful, but that is when cycled at a reasonable hour in the morning!
I've done it a couple of times and it's around 2550m of climbing. (google says that's 8366ft)0 -
Hydration will be key for this ride. Temps likely to hit 25 degrees by midday.
2 x 750 ml bottles on the agenda me thinks..0 -
Here's my 2009 trace: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/77171533 Pretty close to 2500 meters I'd say. It was year the rain was bucketing down, it was really horrible. 2010 was sunny and warm but I was ill. Last year was sunny, windy, and a bit cool - I did the half. This year I'm back on for the full. See you out there.When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.0
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I signed up for the half - can't see that I could have made it down to Gatwick that early. Looking like it'll be a nice day so going to get out the sun tan lotion and the bigger bottles!0
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i did the half in 2009 -- boy that was miserable (after an hour shivering at the half way rest stop i packed it in!).0
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don't forget the sun tan lotion!!!0
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I have an entry for tomorrow's Evan's Cycles King of the Downs Sportive that I can no longer use.
It takes in some nice Surrey Hills and there's great weather for it. I did a similar route last year and had a great time. It starts tomorrow morning from 6am (27/5/2012) near Gatwick Airport, Junction 10 off the M23.
If anyone wants the entry, PM me and I'll reply with details when I get home tonight. First PM get it.0 -
Well the temperature certainly played a role today. Garmin registered 29 degrees at one point!
Event was superbly organised and feed stations were well-stocked. Did the full route in under 6hr 40 mins on my Allez training bike...
High temperatures took its toll towards the end. Sporting a bit of sun burn 8)
Road surface was very rough at places with 2nd loop climbs being considerably harder than the 1st.
How did you guys fair?0 -
wow on that time. Also thought well organised and food was plentiful -- only quibble is they should have done an extra water station (was without water for most of second loop. So went at really moderate pace as had serious bike accident last time I dehydrated) and clearer signage in charley wood (I redid about 1/2 mile of the ride up that small climb!). Beautiful route too, esp the second half after the wall. Also cycled almost entire route alone -- wasn't like a lot of people passed me either. I guess the 3 hour starting time keeps everyone spread out?0
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yeah the heat was pretty oppressive & i was really suffering at one point. My muscles began to seize up & it was hard going. That last feed station took ages to come but gave me a chance to recover & stretch. Put in a big effort after that & finished the full route in 7:05. Didn't help that i lost one of my contact lenses as it flew out of my eye whizzing down Ranmoore? (the very quick descent before boxhill comes). The other one moves about a lot too so it was quite dodgy on the descents after this as i basically couldn't focus! Had countless bugs fly in my mouth, which added to the days nutrients i spose! Great route, very hilly & varied. Would ride it again. Next up...The Dragon!0
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Good going for 6:40! Ride time for me was 6:44 with 6:55 total time: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/182858016 Happy cuz it was 25 mins off my 2009 time which was rainy and cold.
Agreed the heat played a part - my body eventually stopped to digest gels and drink, it was all sitting like a big, distended ball in my stomach. I was bloated and bonked badly at about 120kms in. Made the rest of the ride hard.
The second loop was some of the most beautiful riding I've done in ages - just gorgeous. Really nice. The hills weren't too bad as they were mostly short.When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.0 -
FransJacques wrote:Good going for 6:40! Ride time for me was 6:44 with 6:55 total time: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/182858016
"You do not have sufficient privileges to view the activity with id 182858016." =(
One of my mates did it - http://app.strava.com/rides/9468363 - looks a long way to me! I was pleased I managed 38 miles yesterday.
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I don't know what's wrong with that link, I've allowed sharing of ride files.
Looking at the results I think more than a few folks who signed up for the full just rode the half, esp with times of 5 hrs. Not that I couldn't be done, just maybe on a bike with an engine.
Anyone going to Wessex this weekend?When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.0 -
The registration process was easy
Not so easy getting a map before the event.
Non - Evans software was a pain to download and install but this was my problem and not Evans. However a pre-ride PDF would have been very useful.
Ride was quite well marshalled (where there were marshals) but was quite poorly marked with many turns missed by many cyclists, at times the sportive felt more like an auddax than it should have.
The post-race 'food' consisted of tasteless overlooked pasta, but the tea was most welcome.
The goody bag had some nice stuff in it the BMC hat had a slightly fetishistic PVC coating on it, (hence the giveaway) and the high5 bits were the highlight.
The race photos look quite good and the prices seem reasonable.
The aid stations had the feeling of being understaffed and with poor infrastructure. I understand the benefits of having a big drinks dispenser, but being able to dispense drinks to one cyclist a time per dispenser meant unacceptably long queues on a very hot day. In some continental sportives, the organisers had staff with 3 ltr jugs filling bottles while cyclists waited queued for food. This means that participants can get on their way without unreasonable delays. Unfortunately these queues were particularly at the second and third stops on the long course.
There was no bike racking at any of the stops. This meant that people were leaving their bikes where ever they could find a space, which was not acceptable given the value and number of of bikes parked up. A simple post and rail system would have been easy to assemble and take down, and welcome for the participants.
Evans have an affluent, mature rider profile who have money to spend and service level expectations to be met. This was another example of where the execution failed to live up to the expectation.
This is something that is consistent with my ongoing Evans experience. It is clear that Evans corporate strategy is dominated by the finance and marketing functions and that the Evans brand values the shiny side of the business (ie the glass boxes and bikes all lined up in nice rows in the shops) but the delivery of the customer experience appears subordinate to all other aspects of the strategy. The firm would seem to need a chief delivery officer, who was a sophisticated consumer, a keen cyclist and knowledgable of high touch emotive products bought by other affluent and sophisticated customers via multiple channels.
It would also be nice to have the race data in Excel format including moving time, age categories, genders etc.
Despite these shortcomings, Evans should be applauded for putting this on and it was an enjoyable day and a good ride.0
