Moor 2 Sea

mustol

Riding the Moor 2 Sea event this Saturday, Extreme Route (112 miles 12,000ft climbing). After doing lots of training in the rain and strong winds, looks like weather's going to be kind. Should be a cracking event - anyone else out there doing it? I'll be on start line at 7 - see you there?!?

Pumpkin Positive

I'll be there but only doing the 65 miler. Familiar roads for me except the climb up from the Exe to the finish through Mamhead which I don't think I've ever done. Looking forward to it but a foggy forecast might make things interesting on the Moor!

mustol

A seriously tough ride (made the Dartmoor Classic seem relatively 'easy') - apart from the fog early on, weather conditions were perfect - would be absolutely brutal in the wind and rain! For a first event, organisation was pretty good, but some signposting, particularly around the tight country lanes heading E from Ashburton could have been positioned better. Feed stations were well stocked with a good variety of foods. Nice glass of ale at the end and free tickets for a day at the races - mean it was good value for money. If you want a serious challenge, put it in your diary for next year!

Pumpkin Positive

mustol wrote:

A seriously tough ride (made the Dartmoor Classic seem relatively 'easy') - apart from the fog early on, weather conditions were perfect - would be absolutely brutal in the wind and rain! For a first event, organisation was pretty good, but some signposting, particularly around the tight country lanes heading E from Ashburton could have been positioned better. Feed stations were well stocked with a good variety of foods. Nice glass of ale at the end and free tickets for a day at the races - mean it was good value for money. If you want a serious challenge, put it in your diary for next year!

Agreed!

It was a properly brutal ride (by my standards anyway!) tougher than the Dartmoor Classic without doubt. I have to say I didn't enjoy the singletrack roads between Ashburton and Kingskerswell. I avoid 'devon lanes' when I'm out because when you meet a car there's nowhere to go but into the hedge. Having said that the organisation was good for a first event and having timing mats at the extremes of the course gives the 'results' some credibility.

I thought the standard of rider was pretty good compared to other events I've done recently - on the Dartmoor Classic I saw people pushing bikes up the first climb!.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the results were published in an excel spreadsheet rather than the more usual PDF. I know it's not a race (and I don't ride as though it were) but I find these events useful to benchmark my fitness against other recreational cyclist.

Interestingly I saw three riders with 'race' numbers on their handlebars who clearly wanted to avoid the last KOM climb coming along the A380 and rejoining the course at the bridge over the A380. I think I'd take my chances with the hill rather than cycle along what is effectively a motorway.

mustol

I actually prefer narrow country lanes to busier roads - the less traffic the better for me, but those lanes were not ideal for a sportive - they would have been pretty sketchy if they were wet!

Why would riders want to avoid the KoM stage? That was an excellent feature which I was looking forward to (sort of!), I'd certainly rather do that than ride along the A380! On which subject, I did the climb in 11:11, so pretty pleased - I've done it in 10 mins before, but I hadn't ridden 106 miles beforehand!