Forest of Dean Classic Sportive 6th May

hatone

Anyone doing this event this Sunday 7th? With the bank holiday weekend I'm tempted to do it.

What is the event like if you did it last year? Quite like the idea of riding around the forest all day..!

WorcsPhil

Hi Hatone, me and a few friends have done this sportive for the last couple of years. It is not easy that's for sure. Although it's 'only' 90 miles, there is virtually no flat sections except for one 4-5mile section before the last 20% climb up Symonds Yat. Apart from that, it's up and down all day, and therefore excellent training for the planned Alpine rides in July.

I read that there are 20 numbered climbs this year.... last year, I think it was 18, so it's only gonna be harder...and as long as it doesn't p*** down, then the views and scenery really make the ride stand out in my opinion....just don't expect to be hammering along at 20mph+ in a pelaton as in many sportives, it's basically a ride that you ride at your own pace.

Bobbinogs

Failing that, I recommend the Lumpy Scrumpy on Saturday. Only costs a fiver!

3Pears

It is a real testing event through some stunning sections of the Forest of Dean Yes it loops around in a clover leaf pattern but as said before excellent prep for any European Challenges later in July :?

I'll be entering in the morning, part of my prep for the Maratona :P

dead sheep

I rode this event a couple of years ago and vowed NEVER AGAIN.

Excellent route
Excellent signage

BUT

Crap controls which ran out of supplies
Crap HQ
Crap promises never delivered
Crap timing systems that did not work
Crap 'freebie' - a single cup of tea!

All for £30

A friend decided to gate crash by following the route as a highway user.

Take Bobbinogs advice and think about the Lumpy Scrumpy or just follow the Forest of Dean Classic route for free.

parsons1927

I did this sportive last year and am signed up for this year.
In contrast to the above poster I found this well organised, the food stops were well stocked and it was really friendly atmosphere. The route is tough, up and down all day is about right and it's through a beautiful rural setting.
The post-ride meal was veggie bean chilli iirc and the freebie was a goody bag from Chain Reaction with a few bits and bobs in
No problems with the timing chips last year and there is a "village" with some stalls to buy stuff and see bikes (last year it was al BeOne bikes on show, this year I'm guessing it will be the new Vitus range)

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for dry weather!

Bobbinogs

Just in case you are tempted by the Lumpy Scrumpy, here is the route I mapped out last year but it may have changed a little: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/31521648

Actual climbing is 1,850m.

richiebones

rode it last year, great event and well organised with a pretty well thought out route, (i liked the way the numbered the climbs, help to guage your progress)
meal at the end was a nice touch aswell.

JamesB

Just received final details---anyone explain how registration time open 7 - 9 am yet last start time is just 9 am, just one hour after start opens for 2 000 possible riders surely there are later starts than that possible ??

hatone

Well it looks like the weather will be on our side come Sunday. Cloudy but dry...

Using this event to prepare & test my legs ahead of the Fred Whitton next Sunday...

benno68

I'll be the one in Cardiff Ajax Kit going backwards on the hills - and possibly walking on the final climb.

parsons1927

JamesB wrote:

Just received final details---anyone explain how registration time open 7 - 9 am yet last start time is just 9 am, just one hour after start opens for 2 000 possible riders surely there are later starts than that possible ??

I think it got around 800 riders last year, I'd be very surprised it there are 2000 entrants for this. I get early for an 8am set off, and they put you in pens and stagger your start.

@Benno68, I'll be also sporting my new Ajax kit

benno68

parsons1927 wrote:

JamesB wrote:

Just received final details---anyone explain how registration time open 7 - 9 am yet last start time is just 9 am, just one hour after start opens for 2 000 possible riders surely there are later starts than that possible ??

I think it got around 800 riders last year, I'd be very surprised it there are 2000 entrants for this. I get early for an 8am set off, and they put you in pens and stagger your start.

@Benno68, I'll be also sporting my new Ajax kit

Might see you there then.

Have an enjoyable ride folks!

hatone

I entered the event for the 1st time.

Here are my thoughts:

Postives

1. Excellent signage (and warning signs). Loved the numbered climbs. A great way to judge progress
2. Good turnout & nice weather for once!
3. Tough route. A good mixture of flat, climbs and fast descents.
4. Road conditions were better than I thought but some parts were rather nasty.
5. Good facilities & support
6. Great mechanical support - esp. that chap on the motorcycle carrying spares wheels/tyres. Reassuring.
7. A good number of photographers at different locations
8. Feed stations were definitely well-stocked, albeit rather limited (just cakes, bananas and liquid). This was the 2nd feed stop BTW.

Negatives

1. The start line wasn't ideal. I hand't planned to start and finish off-road!
2. Goodie bag was rubbish! All there was, a water bottle and leaflet. Come on!
3. Entry fee a tad high I feel. £28 would have been more acceptable by sportives standards
4. More portaloos please!

bobhitch

My thoughts:

1) room for 2 thousand was clearly overoptimistic, i entered on the day,and as although, i have done the event the last 4 years my usual partners in crime couldn't make it this year so i was waiting to see if the weather played ball.
i was entry number 542 so they were short of last years numbers never mind about 2000!

2) It's a killer route, one of the best uk sportive routes around - i got round in 6:14 , it's the fastest i've ever done it and the weather was actually excellent for riding

3) The main reason i enter is that i only live 5 miles out of monmouth , it's certainly not for the facilities ( I bring my own food and don't rely on the feed stations -as on past years they have been poorly stocked)-so can't comment on this years offering

4) the promised bean stew ( which was crap anyway in previous years ) didn't appear and was replaced by a cheap carton of vegetable gruel and the goody bag was crap

5) the off road start was dodgy - they could have made it slightly better by having the timing mats /start at the road exit

6) Value for money ? -bearing mind i paid £35 to enter on the day -I'm not sure, I actually don't mind paying because it gives me the opportunity to ride with 500 hundred other silly fools which i really enjoy -particularly getting dragged along the flats and up the climbs, and someone has made the effort to plan,organise route /signage etc

The organisers should focus on improving these things rather than just thinking about expanding a mediocre product and assuming the customers/profits will follow.
The sportive market is getting saturated - The fact is, it is a cycle event and it is like any other business, if these guys stand still they will get left behind

Anonymous

I did this 3 years ago, hadn't enough miles in my legs as it was a last minute decision and suffered for it. I cramped badly at the bottom of Bull hill (thibk it was called that), managed to cramp 15 ft from the 2nd feed stop and fall over still clipped in and then because of cramp could not stand up out the saddle on the last climbs. Also remember that they had a photographer on an unlisted climb after the 2nd feed stop, which was abot (or felt like) 20%, I looked like I was going to die in the photo. Symonds yat wasn't as hard as I thought though, others on there were worse.

Thoroughly enjoyed it and am planning to do it next year.

JamesB

The organisers should focus on improving these things rather than just thinking about expanding a mediocre product and assuming the customers/profits will follow

absolutely spot on; whilst route and signage great first feedstop big queues, `soup` at end was just some thin barley gruel and goodie bag an offence, left mine behind, just a poor quality bottle and an embrocation rub. KTG / Wiggle Cheshire Cat goodie bag was bottle + several energy gels / powders--but no post ride feed. Advertised showers, well what can be said about one , probably cold shower, in a cold building ??

Nevertheless I think it`s about time some organisers take note of what makes good sportive (eg current thread), ie challenging route (yes in this case), good signage (yes also) and don`t need goodie bag but a decent feed at end (no in this case).

It woudl be nice also to vary the route a bit year to year

Bobbinogs

bobhitch wrote:

My thoughts:

... I bring my own food and don't rely on the feed stations

... the promised bean stew didn't appear and was replaced by a cheap carton of vegetable gruel

... the goody bag was crap

... Value for money ? ...i paid £35 to enter on the day

So, for £35 you basically got a signed route, fed yourself and probably carried a watch/computer for timing. You could have spent the day riding with the Forest of Dean club for nothing. I'm all for good sportives that provide VFM but I am left wondering if this one fits the bill.

bobhitch

Results are up , so are photos

Kneesaway

I did this yesterday and thought it was quite tough. My Garmin says I climbed 2800m, which was more than I expected and explain the aching limbs this morning. I don't mind hills, but I thought this route was a bit 'going around in circles looking for climbs' without enough flatter sections between them. Some descents were fantastic, but others were pothole strewn tracks with small rivers flowing across them.

Signage was good and other riders friendly. Trouble was, with so many hills, I didn't stay together with anybody for longer than 1/2 miles before the next hill split us up.

I'd consider doing it next year, but would want to be a bit fitter.

schleck_wannabe

Hi everyone,

I did this with 3 mates yesterday, and whilst we all had a good day the event was far from perfect. So much so, that I've written to the organisers with the following e-mail, as I really don't think that £30 was good value for what was on offer yesterday. I'll let you know if I receive any comments back from them.

For those that are interested, here's a link to strava for my ride:

http://app.strava.com/rides/7991214

and here's the e-mail that I sent to the organisers:

Sir/Madam,

Further to mine and my friends participation in yesterday's events I thought I would write and provide some feedback on our experience in terms of what we felt was good and what was not so good.

What was good:

* Excellent signage
* The numbered and named climbs (this was a great feature)
* General organisation for start, sign on and finish
* The overall route, and location
* The shimano mechanics en route


and what was not so good:

* The cost - £29.50 is pretty much at the very top end of what we would expect to pay for Sportive entry, so for this sort of price we would expect a premium service in terms of what is available at the event village, feed stations and what goodies are in the finisher's pack. For example both the Cotswold Classic and the Dartmoor classic cost less than £29.50 and these are exceptionally well organised events.
* Feed station toilets - at the first feed station there was only a single cubicle for the men, and this had a broken seat. I was one of the first riders to get here, and it was already in this state, so it was not the case that this got damaged during the day by participants. Also general cleanliness of the toilets was very poor.
* Event village toilets - for a potential 1000 riders (plus partners etc) there just simply was not anywhere near enough.
* Feed station stocking - sorry to come back to this, but for the best part of £30 I would expect more than a few bits of fruit cake and some browning chopped up banana. Typically I would have expected perhaps some biscuits, and maybe flapjacks or even a choice of cake.
* Road choice - some of the descents were very dangerous even though the weather was good. Had the weather been poor, I'm sure that there would have been some accidents. One road wasn't even a proper road (junction near the end). People were riding several £0000's worth of their pride and joy, come on - you can't expect them to ride down what would be questionable on a cyclo cross bike!
* Lack of interim timing checkpoints. I know for a fact of at least 3 riders that did not complete the full route, yet they will have appeared to have recorded 'gold' standard times because of it. Other Sportives would have a couple of strategic timing points around the course to identify riders that don't want to complete the full distance. Again for the price I would have expected this. Whilst I know that these people might not necessarily be concerned about their timing, but other people 'below' them could be disheartened by the fact that they are placed lower than they would otherwise have been.
* Timing standards - so I think that I've worked out that Gold standard for males between 31-40 is 5hrs30 and below, so that means that just 1 rider achieved this standard out of all the entrants. Do you think that this might be setting the standard just a little high? Then only having a 30 minute window for 'silver' riders of the same age/sex pretty much means that the majority of the field achieved a bronze. I'm not saying that you should relax the timings significnantly, as people want something to strive for, but if you compare the number of Gold standard riders in the 41-50 bracket then this might give an indication of what is reasonable.
* De-registration. I generally keep all my event numbers as souvenirs of all the rides I've done, and I'm pretty sure that most people do the same, but the person who took my number proceeded to keep it after removing the timing chip. Unfortunately by the time I'd realised this had happened, my number had been placed in a filthy bin with several hundred others, along with coffee cups and general food waste.
* 'Goodie bag' - I was massively disapointed with this. I know that events cost a lot to put on, but when you compare what was in the bags with what is given at say the Dartmoor Classic you will understand my dissapointment. A bottle, and a recovery cream sample in a bag does not really seem like good value to me. I would have perhaps expected a gel and/or some recovery drink/bar, and maybe even a t-shirt. Perhaps there could have been some flyer/handouts about the chainreaction offers or the shimano wheels, or even some information about upcoming events.


Overall we were generally pleased with the event, however I think we will very carefully consider as to whether we participate again next year.


Thanks for you time in reading this mail, and I look forward to receiving your comments.

Regards,

-Gordon.

benno68

Kneesaway wrote:

I did this yesterday and thought it was quite tough. My Garmin says I climbed 2800m, which was more than I expected and explain the aching limbs this morning. I don't mind hills, but I thought this route was a bit 'going around in circles looking for climbs' without enough flatter sections between them. Some descents were fantastic, but others were pothole strewn tracks with small rivers flowing across them.

Signage was good and other riders friendly. Trouble was, with so many hills, I didn't stay together with anybody for longer than 1/2 miles before the next hill split us up.

I'd consider doing it next year, but would want to be a bit fitter.

It was a bit hilly for me too, my mates Garmin recorded 2800m or thereabouts too. I agree that the hills split things apart and I couldn't get into a group either. Suffered with cramp a couple of times and was thinking of getting off and walking up the final climb but the saw the photographer which gave me a shot of MTFU (I couldn't face seeing a photo of me walking my bike up a hill). Got my legs together after that and gave it some welly, a guy who clung onto me to the finish mentioned at the end that I must have left too much in the tank - did I hell - lol. 6hr:55 for me, must do better on climbing! Some of the decents were quite tricky due to the roadsurface and a couple of places would have been better suited to cyclocross, well signposted and feedstations were decently stocked - I didn't hang around for the post ride food etc as my legs were crying out for a hot bath! I may do it next year but will need to drop from 85kg's.

parsons1927

I enjoyed the sportive again. It's a challenging course but you know that when you sign up. Not sure why people are moaning about the food stations, I thought they were well stocked. Gels, clif bars, shot blocks all provided along with cake, bananas enegy drinks so I can't see what else people expect tbh.

Some of the roads are quite rough but it it a fairly rural ride and withthe weather thats to be expected on country lanes. Managed a silver standard time (5hr 43) so was quite happy with that.

pantsani

Enjoyed it overall, the route is hard , cramped up from broadwell climb onwards , which was nice

I know where Gordon is coming from, but I am local so will be back next year , I also think the cyclocross start/finish wasn't needed given the numbers of riders was less than last year so the centre of Monmouth is a better location

My other advice to the organisers would be to ditch the gimmicks like crap goody bags and gruel , and lower the price a little , I don't know anyone who was pleased with either but it didn't take away from a good day on the bike

The food stops were actually well stocked with all sorts of good stuff btw, but you had to ask for it, I guess to stop the front runners loading their pockets and leaving others without , but seemed a bit strange given we'd all paid 29 quid

vespario

I was expecting a t-shirt at least for the £29.50 at the end.
Was my first sportive above 70 miles and the hills killed me. Couldn't get the lactic acid out of my thighs after 45 miles. Clearly need to put a lot more miles in my legs but was really pleased to finish.
First feed station the toilets were very poor but the food stations were well stocked.
Was a bit gutted that all I have to show for the pain is my race number.
Staff were friendly. Soup was poor. Tasted like Army Compo!

lemon63

parsons1927 wrote:

I enjoyed the sportive again. It's a challenging course but you know that when you sign up. Not sure why people are moaning about the food stations, I thought they were well stocked. Gels, clif bars, shot blocks all provided along with cake, bananas enegy drinks so I can't see what else people expect tbh.

Some of the roads are quite rough but it it a fairly rural ride and withthe weather thats to be expected on country lanes.

I agree with the above, there was plenty of choice at the feeds and not just for the early arrivals, if you wanted Cliff Bars or Shot Blocs you just had to ask for them which wasn't a problem.
I think the route is awesome and has to be one of the hardest going (especially for the larger riders ) , shame about having to start & finish across a farm track and the pointless goody bag.

benno68

lemon63 wrote:

parsons1927 wrote:

I enjoyed the sportive again. It's a challenging course but you know that when you sign up. Not sure why people are moaning about the food stations, I thought they were well stocked. Gels, clif bars, shot blocks all provided along with cake, bananas enegy drinks so I can't see what else people expect tbh.

Some of the roads are quite rough but it it a fairly rural ride and withthe weather thats to be expected on country lanes.

I agree with the above, there was plenty of choice at the feeds and not just for the early arrivals, if you wanted Cliff Bars or Shot Blocs you just had to ask for them which wasn't a problem.
I think the route is awesome and has to be one of the hardest going (especially for the larger riders ) , shame about having to start & finish across a farm track and the pointless goody bag.

That comment makes me feel a lot better!