The peaks challenge.

pinarellokid

Planning on doing this ride next weekend.

http://bike-events.com/Ride.aspx?id=359

Has anyone done it before or know how hilly this ride is, not local to the route so don't know
If its a killer ride or nice rolling hills.

No info on site on total climbing or anything like that

pilot_pete

The Peaks are hilly, but it is all relative. 49 miles in the hills is equivalent to about 75 on the flat, but it depends on how fast you ride, how much you weigh, your power to weight ratio etc etc. I ride the Peaks around there all the time and they hold o fear, but if you don't ride hills very often then they will be challenging.

However, have you really considered the value for money of this event? £17 to ride a 49 mile route on open roads? None of that goes to the charities....

Refill your water bottle and purchase food and drinks at the official refreshment stops along the route.

so any food will have to be purchased, not even included. They'll even sell you a helmet if needs be.....

I'd give the £17 to charity and just ride the route, taking what little food you would need with you, filling up water at a pub or shop...

PP

pinarellokid

Fully agree with you pete

Few mates are doing it so was going to tag along.

These rides can usually be tagged along on if you know what I mean,

I'm a heavy rider and certainly not great at going up hills, but great at going down them,

Here is my biggest climbing ride so far and I did find it really hard if I'm honest, But I did enjoy the descent back to glossop

https://www.strava.com/activities/46789998

I know it's not going to be a flat ride as the peaks challenge gives that away but wondered if it's a 5000ft climbing nightmare again.

pilot_pete

Bang the route into bikeroutetoaster and all will be revealed.....

http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx

PP

pinarellokid

If I knew the route I would !!!!

kayo74

Doing the Tour of the Pennines this weekend starts just up the road from me and good challenging hilly route, good price with feed stations all in. 3 routes to choose from as well.

pilot_pete

pinarellokid wrote:

If I knew the route I would !!!!

There's a map at the bottom of the page you linked to....just plug that into the toaster to get the detail.

PP

pilot_pete

kayo74 wrote:

Doing the Tour of the Pennines this weekend starts just up the road from me and good challenging hilly route, good price with feed stations all in. 3 routes to choose from as well.

£25 to ride a 50 mile route, £30 if you enter on the day! It's all relative, but I wouldn't consider that a good price. I don't eat on a 50 mile route; an energy drink and water is all I would take after a hearty bowl of porridge and whole meal toast and high fruit jam. So the bananas (cheap), flapjacks (cheap) and fresh water (very cheap) which they are offering together with High 5 products (how many of these do you need on a 30 or 50?!) don't sound like good value to me. As for the hotdogs and fruitcake post ride....thanks but no thanks! A cup of tea would be welcome, but not for £25. Mind you they are offering a timing chip, so you wouldn't need to start your bike computer I suppose, and you wouldn't need to plan a route as they have done that for you (bit expensive though). And you get a free bidon! Is it really free, or are you payingoverthe odds for it? The changing room and showers are probably worth a couple of quid I guess but you can park for free in the countryside if you look for it out of town. So I can't quite see the value. It's more fun to plan a route in the Peaks/ Pennines using an O/S map, carry the small amount of food/ drink you will need or stop at village shops and ride the whole thing for a tenth of the sportive price....do half a dozen of these in a year and thats a lot of money that you could spend on cycling gear...like I said though, each to their own.

PP

kayo74

Plus the 75 mile if you read correctly so you would need a bit more than your hearty bowl of porridge!!.

pilot_pete

You reckon? I do 150-200 miles a week. At least one ride is 75 mile plus. To fuel for that I eat porridge and brown toast before i go out. I take a small bag of mixed dried fruit and nuts and a flapjack to eat during the ride and carry 3 sachets of powdered Gatorade energy drink and that's all I need to average 18mph. When I finish I eat a proper meal. If I ate more than this when riding I would end up putting weight on. I don't eat on a 50 and wouldn't contemplate taking in any more fuel on board than a normal day for a 30. In fact I popped out last night before dinner and did 30 with just a bidon of water. Seemed to work ok as I was back in an hour and 25 minutes.

So my reading is fine, thank you. Are you saying that a 50 miler for £25-30 is value for money and you could go the whole hog of 75 miles on a buy-one-get-another-50%-free? We all have our own opinions, and mine is that £25 or £30 to ride a route which you can go and do at any time (including when they are holding a sportive as they are public roads) by yourself or with mates is a rip off. I cant see that another 25 miles on a map makes it vfm. I also dont see anyone putting the counter argument of why it is value for money...

Most sportive riders don't need a constant stream of High 5 products to get round but if that is your bag, well you could get a box full for £25 and they would last much longer than 75 miles....

Like I said, each to their own.

PP

pilot_pete

Oh and just to add, £25 would just about get you annual membership of a cycling club. A Sunday club run costs me nothing, is usually about 60-75 miles long, is lead by an experienced old hand who knows every lane within 100miles of the club, you get to ride with a great bunch of people who know how to ride in a group, nobody is dropped and you get several experienced mechanics who have solutions to every problem.... This is the bit you'll like - we have a cafe stop, where beans on toast seems to be most riders preferred choice, cheapest cafe we've stopped at does a double beans on toast for £2.50.....you could have 10 plates of that for your £25, or maybe just 9 if you make it a little more daring and have some cheese sprinkled on it too!

A time trial on Tuesday nights costs £3 to enter and most of that is the fee to CTT, the governing body. The club make 50p from each rider for which they provide support staff, marshals, official timekeepers, vehicle cover, free parking and even a cup of tea, or two with biscuits when you finish!

Now that is value for money...

Plus they wouldn't dream of offering you Frankfurters as a post ride food stuff..... :shock:

PP

pinarellokid

http://www.mapmyride.com/gb/ashbourne-e ... -180553486

Here is the route

Thanks for the help