Wiggle Wight Ferry sportive
topcattim
Posts: 766
What a great weekend for a sportive. Third time I've done this - the first year was a glorious sunny day, spoilt for me by buckling my front wheel as I rode (stupid, stupid 
) onto the ferry on the way back to the mainland; the second year was an exercise in survival in the face of horrible weather, and I was glad they shortened the route round the island; but this, the third year was a great ride.
Weather was perfect, and the riding through the Island was superb - the views to the West of the island as we climbed up from the second feedstop on the island were brilliant. Company was great - this event always strikes me as that little bit more friendly than some sportives as people are going along knowing that they will be forced to take a rest on the ferries. Signing was great - although there was the odd descent to a T-junction that could have been better marked.
I only have two minor niggles, and I hope that someone from Wiggle/ukcyclingevents reads these forums.
1) its a real shame that they have moved the start from Brockenhurst college to the showground. I know it is because the event has got too big for the college, but the new ground just doesn't seem suitable. No shower facilities (thankfully no repeat of the car park farce from the spring event) - and a paltry 10 portaloos.
2) How can they get away with advertising a 103 mile event, but count the ferry ride in that total? I rode this with my son, with the intention of him grabbing his first 100 miler. I'd forgotten from the first year that it was only 96 miles, so we had to go out and slog 2 miles up and back along an A-road just to tick the total over past 100 miles. Poor show by the organisers, who could easily have added 4 miles on a more pleasant stretch.
That said, its a great event, and I trust that they can resolve these issues for future years. I'll certainly be planning to return!
) onto the ferry on the way back to the mainland; the second year was an exercise in survival in the face of horrible weather, and I was glad they shortened the route round the island; but this, the third year was a great ride.Weather was perfect, and the riding through the Island was superb - the views to the West of the island as we climbed up from the second feedstop on the island were brilliant. Company was great - this event always strikes me as that little bit more friendly than some sportives as people are going along knowing that they will be forced to take a rest on the ferries. Signing was great - although there was the odd descent to a T-junction that could have been better marked.
I only have two minor niggles, and I hope that someone from Wiggle/ukcyclingevents reads these forums.
1) its a real shame that they have moved the start from Brockenhurst college to the showground. I know it is because the event has got too big for the college, but the new ground just doesn't seem suitable. No shower facilities (thankfully no repeat of the car park farce from the spring event) - and a paltry 10 portaloos.
2) How can they get away with advertising a 103 mile event, but count the ferry ride in that total? I rode this with my son, with the intention of him grabbing his first 100 miler. I'd forgotten from the first year that it was only 96 miles, so we had to go out and slog 2 miles up and back along an A-road just to tick the total over past 100 miles. Poor show by the organisers, who could easily have added 4 miles on a more pleasant stretch.
That said, its a great event, and I trust that they can resolve these issues for future years. I'll certainly be planning to return!
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Comments
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Yes, great day out on Saturday - great weather, good route, nice atmosphere.
I was doing it with my wife and her girlfriends so a more moderate pace than I'm used to.
Yes, there was some lack of clarity on the actual distance - but actually a quick look at the GPX download showed that the total distance included the ferry.
Timings seem to have been scrambled though - my wife was recorded as finishing in 06:44:00 while I had 05:24:46 - but we started and finished together! Anyway we know what time we did it in, and it's not a race!0 -
Yes times well strange I finished 50 mins before my partner but its got them finishing before me with a time for me over 7 and a half hours with my gamin saying 5. 39 bit cheesed off what's the point of timing if they can't do it right. Good event though and can't fault any thing else0
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There is definitely something funny going on with the times.
Initially I was chuffed to bits with having the sixth fastest time on the epic route (I know, I know, it isn't a race
) but then I realised that...
- One of the guys I started with finished a good five minutes ahead of me but his time did not register
- Another guy I started with is showing as having finished just before me despite the fact that I caught him on the final hill and sprinted (slowly) away from him and probably beat him by about a minute
It's very disappointing if they can't even get the times right.
Dave0 -
They used an utterly ridiculous system to record the times..........namely,manually punching rider numbers into a smartphone which had to be accurately performed 6 times. I'm sure when you're faced with a queue of up to 200 riders all in a hurry it is quite easy to punch an erroneous number.
What was the point of the timing chip stuck on the side of each crash helmet?? This system was used successfully, to alert sensors during the dragon ride ( also organised by wiggle ) and there were no problems with the timings.
Also, as the OP points out, to include the ferry ride in the overall distance is very misleading.
A good ride with excellent weather slightly marred by a few small details.0
