Northern Angel

Brian B

Anybody doing this event?

spatt77

yeah, I`m doing it, its my first one so just doing the "fun" one and to be honest i`m worried!

Bordersroadie

Since booking up for this one I've been asking myself the same question.

I was away for the Virgin Cyclone (which is a very similar route and was a big well attended event) so took a stab at this one. The 92 mile epic is really nice hilly route on fantastic, deserted, scenic roads and the weather forecast looks great, but I'm getting the sad feeling (based on almost complete lack of internet chat about it) that it'll just be the three of us!

I know several of my old northeast buddies (I lived there until 5 years ago) did the Cyclone and decided not to do the Wiggle event because it's so similar.

Ah well, at least we won't have to queue for bananas, I suppose.

Seriously though, it's a shame that Wiggle decided to run an almost-identical event to the north-east's big established one, as their conclusion may be not to run it again if it's poorly subscribed.

Brian B

I am looking forward to it but only just saw the event yesterday on Cyclosport and decided to go but will need to pay on the day. Havent done that much near that corner of land apart from around kielder and along the hadrians wall.

trek_dan

I am, my first Sportive (and centurion, well nearly), was booked to do the Cyclone but came down with a nasty stomach bug 2 days before so going to do this instead. Just paying on the day aswell, didnt want to book in advance incase the weather was awful. Flying solo for this one as my riding buddy has family commitments.
To make matters worse I blew out 2 spokes on my front wheel this morning on way to work so going to have to run the old heavy front I have spare that I use on my singlespeed :roll:
So if you see someone struggling like hell on a white and green Trek feel free to give me some encouragement

Brian B

I did a whopping 173mile run just north of the border last week and know every inch of the Scottish Borders and looking forward to extending my knowledge into Northumberland as its really the only area I have not cycled over the years.

Havent done as much sportives this year due to weather, work etc and need to remedy that for the 2nd half of the season.

Bordersroadie

Blimey Brian, that's some ride, kudos to you for that! I presume you'll be doing the Ken Laidlaw in August, a mere 107 miles!

Brian B

I have done the K Laidlaw the last 3 years and at present unfortnately I am on call that weekend. Funnily enough my big milage run was basically combining the bethany and laidlaw sportives together. The return from Newcastleton back up to Lasswade felt almost uphill all the way.

dan_cup

Im doing it, just booked up on thurs morning once i knew work times n weather. Doing the 80 miler

Bordersroadie

Thoroughly enjoyed the 94 mile route. More participants than anticipated. Nice cool day but a bugger of a 40mph+ wind on some very open moorland made for a much bigger challenge than the hills.

trek_dan

Yes was a good day, the climb out of Otterburn with the horrendous head wind was tricky.
First ever sportive and centurion (nearly recorded 97miles on computer) managed 6 1/4 hours ride time, would guess total time about 7 and a bit hours.

spatt77

yeah, i did the "fun" one, it was my first ever sportive, so was just happy to finish! its hard to gauge because its my first but was that a hard one?

Brian B

Great day out and came in at just after the 6hrs(door to door time including stops) but got a really bad blow out on my front tyre before the 1st feed and then got stuck at the traffic lights for the bridge for about another 5 - this buggered up my average time.

Really lucky with the blow out as it took the tyre clean off the rim as 10s before that I had been hurtling down the mega long downhill section at top speed and had just started going uphill when it went bang.

Broke my nose on Saturday and made breathing and eating while riding interesting since my nose was blocked solid - on the plus side it kept the dreaded nose drip at bay which I usually get when out riding

The wind was awful for around 40miles or so and I lost a lot weight years ago to get better on the hills and suffer more now as I dont seem to have the power to force through the wind. I had a bit of a group going who basically tucked in behind me from just after the 1st feed to the 2nd but did not want to contribute any at the front - I dont mind as I train and mostly ride solo anyway but to be corteous they could have taken a shot at the front for a little while

The event itself was 1st class. No fuss for the resgistration and I signed up on the day. Probably the best marked route of any sportive I have done and the feed's were great, well stocked eat now/later foods and they had a track pump to pump up your tyres fully if you have had a puncture. I got my moneys worth plus with the goody bag and mag made it seem to me to be more than reasonable. Hope the event goes again as it ranks up there with the very best of sportives.

Was also glad to see a lot of riders on the 'epic' route as lately I have seen the longer routes on sportives pretty thin on the ground with riders and at times you feel that you would be as well riding on your own.

Brian B

spatt77 wrote:

yeah, i did the "fun" one, it was my first ever sportive, so was just happy to finish! its hard to gauge because its my first but was that a hard one?

Compared to some family/fun routes on other sportives it was harder than most.

dan_cup

I done the 80 mile route as I thought 94 was a bit too much for my current level, usually only ride 20 - 50 miles when I do go out.

with about 15-20 left my back was starting to complain and a touch of cramp in the left leg.

As mentioned the head wind was rather interesting although I was happy to be crawling past other people.

Some friendly faces out there toiling away

enjoyed some of the long descents nearly clocked 50mph on a couple

did the route in 5h17 total targeted 5h47 to get inside the silver grade as im usually a bronze kinda guy..

My 4th Sportive and I would say the best or on par. Nicely sign posted with some nice views, and the first one ive done without a rain coat ha.

spatt77

yeah, well i found it pretty hard, hills were`nt to bad, but the wind just made it that bit harder, but would do it again!

spatt77

PS, yeah have to agree , seemed well sign posted and the feeding stations had plenty of food stocked!

trek_dan

Yeah it did seem a good event, very well organised. My total times was just under 7 hours on the Epic route, which was bronze, think I could have done silver if I took it a bit more seriously and spent less time chatting at the feed stations
Pleased just to have finished since it was my first sportive and only been road cycling a year,

Bordersroadie

Brian B wrote:

I had a bit of a group going who basically tucked in behind me from just after the 1st feed to the 2nd but did not want to contribute any at the front - I don't mind as I train and mostly ride solo anyway but to be corteous they could have taken a shot at the front for a little while

That sounds familar. . .sounds like a train that I led for a while on a long grinding into-headwind section. I'd barely joined the group and was getting the old head signal that says "ay up, lad, take your turn", so immediately to the front I went, after which the buggers were happy to let me stay there, for a much longer period than was polite, so I swung off and let them go on.

I caught some of them and passed them on some of the hills near the end of the route, as they had blown up and lost the wind protection of their buddies, which gave me a pleasantly warm smug feeling.

It didn't spoil a great day, I agree with all the positive comments about the organisation/food/route marking and despite being from the northeast I discovered some lovely new (for me) roads, which (as expected) were virtually traffic free.

I did just over 6 hours (with no slipstreaming ;0) ), which I was happy with as a 48 year old who's had 25 years away from cycling until 12 months ago.

Lifeboy123

The Wiggle Northern Angel is a well organised event. I expect in its second year and cycling becoming increasingly popular there will be at least twice the entrants to last year.

Unfortunately the 94 mile route is almost the same as the cyclone so we did the 60mile 'fun' which is a lovely ride.
Planning on doing the same again this year