Tour Ride, Stoke on Trent

Wardster00

Did anyone else do this yesterday?

I was a little disappointed in the organisation, the feed stations were Ok but the signage was rubbish and everyone ended up getting away later than expected due to queueing for their numbers. (they had originally said that they would be posted out prior to the day but changed the plan 2 days before). There was a load of people milling about who didn't get a number as they couldn't find them on the list.

It all felt a bit haphazard for such a big event.

The real nail in the coffin was that the route was advertised as being 105 miles and came in at 109. 4 miles doesn't sound a lot but when it is cold, wet and blowing a gale it was a long soul destroying 4 miles.

woolie68

Yes mate we are just sat having a brew discussing it. Five of did the pro route as a group having done last years. This years was very disappointing. The route was tough but we knew that, and you're right the extra miles made a difference as by then it was raining and cold so the extra five were tough.
The feed stations were no where near as we'll stocked as last year, the first was after twenty and second about forty then nothing till 85 miles when we were all knackered . No hot drinks at the third when we all said we could do with a brew.
No hot food at the Finish. A chain reaction bag with a bottle and small chain lube? And to top it all my mum brought the kids to the Finish and got charged 14 quid to get into the Italian gardens to stand about for an hour.
The issue of ride numbers was poor too. We are local so were able to get them Saturday but that was still another trip we didn't need to do.
All In all, we have all said we will not be doing it a third year and will stick to kilo to go and the brain rourke cat and fiddle ,which is pure fun and only 15 quid .

aspender

This was my first Tour Ride event. Not sure I'll be doing another based on yesterdays experience.

The sign-in was ok for me as the queue was short, but seemed badly organised. Two ladies, one for pro, one for challenge, but when I was queueing everybody was on the pro ride so one lady went un-used. Surely a register by surname option regardless of what ride you are doing would work better (as it does at nearly every sportive I've ever been to!)

The food stop locations for Pro rides were poor. Twenty miles in is too soon so I simply bypassed that one. The 45 mile one was less than halfway round and so you had two stops on the easiest part of the course. Then to cap it all the final one was signed with a 5KM to go marker - great I thought. However some bright spark put that sign 5 MILES from the feed. I was suffering big time at this point and just wanted that feed station to appear...

Signage was ok but I was mildly surprised that there were no on-course marshalls at all on some of the busier junctions.

And yes, the sting in the tail of the extra unannounced distance wasn't particularly welcome. I swore when I saw the final 5km to go sign when I thought I was home and (not) dry. Thankfully at least it was a flat, fast, well surfaced final 5k!

The weather, combined with oversleeping and not having breakfast before a two hour drive to get there made this a tougher ride for me than the hillier Ride With Brad last month. Both had the trick of back-loading all the climbing into the final half.

Cleat Eastwood

sad to hear - i did it last year and it was the ride of the year for me - well stocked and well placed foodstops. Glad I didnt do it this year now. How did you all do on gun hill?

carl69

For me yesterday was by far the worst organized sportive i,ve done. Signing in took too long, as others have said too many feed stops on the easier sections and only one badly stocked one on the latter stages of the long ride. I,d been told about the fantastic organization of other years ie timings up gunn hill etc, none of that this year and to be honest a cup of tea and a manky sandwich at the end with a poor goody bag doesn,t cut it when we,d all paid 35 quid. Where was the warm food that would have been so welcome. Missus and kid were also charged to come and watch the end in the wind and rain. Good on them shame on the organisers, I,m afraid they took our money and ran. Poor, Poor, Poor. Here endeth my rant.

Wardster00

Cleat - Gun Hill was ok yesterday as we managed to get up it before the weather came in. I am not the quickest but Strava clocked me at 12mins for the segment. The climb out of Oakamoor was harder 2 miles long and an average of 7%.

I'm glad that I am not the only one that was disappointed with the organisation and it wasn't me just being grumpy. I agree that the Kilo to Go events are much better organised and the communication is miles better.

I can only assume that it was a different company organising this year's tou ride?

mf123456

I did this yesterday, and loved it! I'm surprised by all the negativity - maybe its because it was a hard ride, in the wind, and the rain made the ending a bit miserable? So here's my thoughts...

I think most of the complaints on here are valid. Registration could have been better. I was disappointed not to receive my registration in the post, and we did start later than expected due to the "50 riders every 3 mins", but we were told that beforehand. I think the organisers need to get on social networks like the folks at kilo to go, to create a bit more of a buzz about the event in the build up, and the aftermath - i.e. where are the results/timings/photos - none of this is on the organisers site.

We missed the 20 mile stop - but thats probably a good distance for people challenging themselves to do the 60 mile ride - probably not for the 100 mile riders. I think the organisers should be commended for the hot drinks, coca cola, and sandwiches at the 45 mile food stop - this is far better than only having the option of gels/bars/water/energy drink (pay attention kilo to go!). This stocked me up well for the hilly part of the ride. It was then a long way to the stop at 85 miles, but hey, its supposed to be a tough ride, right? Hot drinks would've been good at 85 miles too, but by then I was glad for 10 mins in a warm room.

My missus, baby, and the inlaws came to see me at the end, as well as have a look at the gardens - £11 entry for them all as they got in half price with my entry. They'll be back again on a sunnier day as they were impressed with what they saw.

BUT, all of this shouldn't be that important! When I enter a sportive, I look for a challenging route with great scenery, so I can follow signs, enjoy my ride, and enjoy the views. The route was awesome. The group of riders I sat with from Cannock to the 45 mile stop rode at a crazy speed I would never manage on my own. The climb out of Oakmoor was ridiculous and brilliant. The downhill corners on the B5053 flowed beautifully, and I got close to 50mph down the A53 before Gun Hill. Then I bettered my only other time on Gun Hill from the Cheshire Cat. There were some cruel unexpected punchy climbs in the last 20 miles, and rolling in to Trentham on the the smooth (wet) tarmac was a treat to my legs, and my average speed! Thoroughly enjoyable, and I would do it again, although hopefully with better weather, and some improvement on the organisation. Don't lose sight of why you're there folks!

skyblueamateur

I only did the challenge ride (as I'm doing the Pro ride this Sunday) and was a bit disappointed with the organisation.

Before hand the issues stated with registering and also the fact the GPX files on the site don't work.

Two feed stops for the challenge ride was excessive and not really well planned for those doing the Pro ride.

In terms of the ride I really enjoyed the route and thought it was signposted a lot better then other rides I've done.

Surprised they haven't put the times up yet and is anyone aware of where they'll be posting the photo's?

Wardster00

Mf I agree entirely abut the course and why we were there, however, my gripes were more about getting value for money. For £35 I expected a little more than we got. This was probably due to all of the reports that I had heard about the excellent organisation of last year's event. I have also done a few Kilo to Go events and they are generally cheaper with better facilities and organisation.

If these little things were not important, I would not bother paying and just go and ride the route with a bunch of mates and time it myself.

mf123456

I agree, £35 was a bit steep - I wonder if there was some cost saving as entries were down? Kilo to go is a lot slicker operation overall. Maybe they could save a few quid by not employing that DJ to chat rubbish all day. :-)

aspender

Photos are meant to be available later today according to @tourride and @sportivephoto on twitter.

I did neglect to mention the rolls at the food stops - always good to have something savoury. I devoured two of them at 85 miles :-)

dangerousdave.

Have to agree on the whole, i thought that @ £35 it was pricey. I have had better days riding doing local audax's for £7 (and to be honest with far fewer dicks taking part). Would I do it next year? - maybe if my riding buddy was desperate to complete it, otherwise no probably not.

Anyone know where and when the results are posted?

DD

skyblueamateur

Photo's are up on Sportive Photo. Still no timings though. Pretty poor show.

woolie68

Also, has anyone tried the discount code for the cycle show. We've all tried it as we are going on Friday. Out of five codes none of them work. Are we doing something wrong or is it another foul up by the organisers.

Stearn-Joe

My discount code for the cycle show doesn't work either!

The route this year was fantastic, real challenge but that's all i can praise, it was not as well planned as the previous years, poor feed stop positioning, would have loved a coffee at stop 3, and where was the pasta from last year at the finish line?

having to pay to support the participants was ridiculous.

Not too impressed with the photos either as i have 2 from gun hill and 3 from cannock chase and thats all.


BUT, i'm not going to lose sight that i did this for charity, raised a good amount of money, had a nice ride and thats what i do it for every year!

woolie68

Joe- just had a reply from the tour ride people and the code cannot be used online, only on the door . So not that bad.

Disco Dolly

The organisation at the registration was very poor

I rode the Pro-Ride, the route was a real challenge, generally I found signage to be ok, there was one confusing junction which was not far from the final feed station which sent people down a hill and presumably explains the 109 miles?

Marshelling was not up to the standard or the numbers I would have expected from something associatted with the Tour of Britain and certainly not as good as Wiggle events or the Excellent Etape Eryri Event.

The absence of a feed station in the hills must have been a significant factor that affected many peoples performance when the going got tough, whilst no hot drinks was not the end of the world at 80 miles, it would have been nice.

However, the draconian tea lady at the end of the event insisting on one tea per rider was out of order, how much does a tea bag cost? All of us were wet, tired and cold, this was not what I had expected. To be treated as if we were greedy pigs having ridden 100+ miles is really a poor show.

The goody bag was like many but honestly how many water bottles do I need

Charging spectators to see a Sportive finish is all wrong, bad move.

I'm riding the Cycle Show Sportive so lest see how it compares

aspender

Disco Dolly wrote:

there was one confusing junction which was not far from the final feed station which sent people down a hill and presumably explains the 109 miles?

No, myself and a few others stopped there, had a discussion and agreed that it meant straight on (along the top of the hill, not down it) which was correct. My Garmin read 109.7 miles.

Times are now available here:

http://www.tourride.co.uk/section.php/7 ... and_photos

aspender

The fastest time on Strava is 20th in the official list of the Pro ride and that was a 17.9mph average. I suspect that most of the places above are people who dropped down to the challenge ride distance on the day.

howsy

Interesting reading!
Having only done a couple of organised events this year (Stafford RC realiabilty and The Dragon Ride) wanted to do another event so with all the TOB hype I thought I'd give this a go. I was early to the sign in arriving at 07:30ish there was only a small que to a very small sign on area,I was fortunate to get through quickly and be on the start line for 7:50 got away at 08:05 very lucky by the sounds of it! Being a local Lad I'm familiar with the climbs except the Cannock Chase section which proved to be nice and easy perfect to get the legs prepared for what was to come. Having skipped the first feed average speed was quite impressive to the second feed stop which was well stocked with hot drinks available.
The serious climbing started at the Oakamoor Star Bank climb and remained "lumpy" all the way back to Stoke with the exeption of a fast run in from Meir Heath, Gun Hill came at around 75mls, a sticky bottle from the team car would have been appreciated at this point!
The route direction was well signed (i think the sign on Biddulph Moor had been moved to point back down to Rudyard) thought we would get KOM signs etc,which would have added to the event, after the second feed I'm sure I saw Geoff Saxon from "Kilo to go" and he said no more hard climbs after this! did I imagine it?
Think the route and the scenery saved the day
Being a local Club rider we ride these roads on a regular basis for me these events are about meeting other riders which I did and enjoyed chatting with them and finding how much they enjoyed what is spectacular countryside.

dangerousdave.

howsy wrote:

Being a local Club rider we ride these roads on a regular basis for me these events are about meeting other riders which I did and enjoyed chatting with them and finding how much they enjoyed what is spectacular countryside.

Interesting comment howsy - I remember thinking during the ride that nobody was talking to anyone else and it had a very strange atmosphere. To be fair it will all depend on the people you are around.

Something else that tickled me was when we had to stop at the traffic light roadworks near rugley, at least 5 people took the opportunity to relieve themselves intra-queue will still seated on their machines!

Times now up, pleased with mine, need to keep the miles up during the winter in order to attack the pro length ride next year.

DD

Disco Dolly

howsy wrote:

Interesting reading!
after the second feed I'm sure I saw Geoff Saxon from "Kilo to go" and he said no more hard climbs after this! did I imagine it?

I saw a guy in a kilo van and I asked him how far to the final feed..i was starving by then