Wiggle Hellfire Sportive

Vinn

I was one of the 4! Seriously, there's no way of knowing how many finished without punctures because nobody asked at the end! I do sympathise with you guys though. I have just heard from a friend of mine who got 5 punctures! It'd be interesting to know what the 'record' was. I must admit that there were loads of roadside repairs being done.

I feel really lucky now.

Regarding the conditions, they were exactly what I was expecting (except the floods) - I cycle on such lanes all the time. The conditions did limit the sort of average that was attainable though.
Vinn

hughgabriel

I agree about the conditions and also won't be returning unless it gets moved to a summer fixture. I was regretting leaving the overshoes behind as the water splashes my feet were frozen.

I got round with 3 punctures, typically n+1 for both tubes and gas, fixed the tube but had to scrounge the loan of a pump. All were before feed station 1.

I thought it was well organised by the roads ruined it for me.

terry2708

Agree with the above few posts. Never seen so many people changing punctures, mine was after 5 miles but managed to do the other 75 without another one. My mate only had one as well. That was a miracle as the roads were appalling. Will not be returning as the roads ruined what could have been a lovely ride. At least I finished the 80 but I am sure many others turned off to the 52 and I don't blame them.

On a plus the food stops were great and the marshals did a great job.

kentphil

My friend and I both punctured. Lots of riders at the side of the road fixing flats. Some of the roads were more like tracks than roads with the amount of debris in the road. I'm sure this wasn't helped by the torrential rain that fell on Saturday.

Overall a very well organised sportive. Great signposting, and very good feedstations and hq. Thankyou Wiggle!

We both finished the Epic route in around 6.5hrs. Brutal ride.

pipipi

I think this should have been called Hell Tyre.

I didn't ride due to injury but about 8 others did ride and only one escaped without punctures.

And a strange route that seemed to cross the motorway as many times as possible. Some nice roads but lots more wierd choices. I wonder who designed. Obviously won't know what weather conditions will be like in advance but there were definitely some gravelly roads that aren't pleasant in the summer, let alone the autumn.

Probably plenty of tubes sold...

zcapp96

As this was my first sportive I have nothing to compare it to but there did seem to be a lot of people by the side of the road repairing punctures, although I was fortunate enough to escape without incident. I live locally so use many of these roads all the time and can safely say that the poor weather over the last few weeks has made them much worse than normal. Even found myself being held up by a marching band at Upchurch!

ManOfKent

pipipi wrote:

And a strange route that seemed to cross the motorway as many times as possible. Some nice roads but lots more wierd choices. I wonder who designed.

Not a local, I'm sure of that. Anyone who lives around here knows that the Downs will always be a puncture-fest in autumn and the route was a waste of decent countryside. 5/5 for toughness? Only because of the surfaces, surely - there wasn't a proper hill in there.

All the same, I'm sorry to hear it was mostly a bad experience for everyone, as feared. I hope you'll all give Wiggle appropriate feedback about what was good and what was bad, and maybe they'll move next year's event to a better time of year and improve the route.

jonnyr5

I was one of the lucky ones not to puncture and my mate had one. Not a great route, particularly with the finish, plenty of cars and horses meaning lots of stopping and waiting. We both did the epic. Well organised event, let down by poor route planning.

Bookwyse

Poor signage saw a lot of mistakes including one poor chap who actually came off whilst trying to slow down for a very poorly marked right hand tuen at the end of long downhill straight.... Very few marshalls, in fact I counted THREE. Very badly thought out route including roads that we should never have used despite the fact that the organisers were emailed about the state of the roads and even offered local helop but declined.

pipipi

It certainly seems a shame to have missed out Hollingbourne Hill having gone so close.

I'm not saying that designing a course is easy, but there were some much nicer routes missed. Even with the starting point where it was.

hughgabriel

ManOfKent wrote:

I hope you'll all give Wiggle appropriate feedback about what was good and what was bad, and maybe they'll move next year's event to a better time of year and improve the route.

I have emailed UK cycling events, its not fair to criticise it here without giving them feedback as well.

kentphil

Good point Hugh. Here is a link:
http://www.ukcyclingevents.co.uk/contact/

Vinn

Bookwyse wrote:

Poor signage saw a lot of mistakes including one poor chap who actually came off whilst trying to slow down for a very poorly marked right hand tuen at the end of long downhill straight.... Very few marshalls, in fact I counted THREE. Very badly thought out route including roads that we should never have used despite the fact that the organisers were emailed about the state of the roads and even offered local helop but declined.

That sounds like the same turning I missed! Just about the best descent on the whole route, so maybe I didn't pay attention. Went flying past it at speed (probably the fastest I went all day) and saw the solitary Wiggle sign at the last moment. I didn't come off but I did lock my tyres up braking!

Gunnsie

I'm kinda glad I decided not to do this in the end. I live very local and use a lot of those roads on my usual routes and have noticed them getting more and more gravelly/stoney/potholey recently.... in the summer they are brilliant though.

Chris

itsnotarace

Left home at 5am for the 2.5 hour drive to the start, got to the M26/M20 junction before realising had left helmet, shoes, hat, gloves and overshoes at home so called it quits

To make matters worse one of my friends had his Giant Defy stolen from the rear rack of the car when he went to registration at the showground, so our group called it a day but from reading on here sounds like we didn't miss too much

pipipi

Stolen off a rack? What a shame. I have always thought that my bike would be 'safe' at one of these events because everyone is already on a bike. Like leaning it up against a tree to use the facilities.

Possibly a local who knew that lots of expensive bikes would be on show. Still very risky walking up to racks and trying your luck, given the amount of people coming and going.

And leaving your helmet behind only happens once!

hughgabriel

I'm also shocked to hear of the bike disappearing from the rack. It makes me very thankful my car was ok after I managed to leave the key sat on the roof for the duration of the ride.

Vinn

HughGabriel wrote:

I'm also shocked to hear of the bike disappearing from the rack. It makes me very thankful my car was ok after I managed to leave the key sat on the roof for the duration of the ride.

Why was that - to save weight during the ride?

GaryMcG

My experience of Hellfire Corner Sportive same are other posts. Did the standard route and was my first sportive. Roads were appalling and was clear from the outset it wasnt going to be pretty as there were several riders with punctures on the first road out of Detling Showground minutes into the ride. Roads covered in debris, potholes, standing water and deep muck in places I ended up with 3 punctures (last one two miles from finish) and had only brought 2 spare tubes and no repair kit...schoolboy error on my part. Thankfully several people offered me a spare and made it over the finish. Thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of my first sportive but won't be doing again unless they design better route which cant be that hard with such a great selection of roads in the area. I will give feedback as suggested.

Terrible that you cant leave a bike on a car rack at an event like that without it being pinching!!

terry2708

GaryMcG wrote:

My experience of Hellfire Corner Sportive same are other posts. Did the standard route and was my first sportive. Roads were appalling and was clear from the outset it wasnt going to be pretty as there were several riders with punctures on the first road out of Detling Showground minutes into the ride. Roads covered in debris, potholes, standing water and deep muck in places I ended up with 3 punctures (last one two miles from finish) and had only brought 2 spare tubes and no repair kit...schoolboy error on my part. Thankfully several people offered me a spare and made it over the finish. Thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of my first sportive but won't be doing again unless they design better route which cant be that hard with such a great selection of roads in the area. I will give feedback as suggested.

Terrible that you cant leave a bike on a car rack at an event like that without it being pinching!!

I was one of those at the bottom of the hill punctured 5 miles in! Nice to get one in early!!

Kingsmill1

This was my 2 nd sportive and I did the short because of time constraints , Cox Lane was awful and despite being told single file some idiot decided to ignore this and endanger all the others going down the hill. I rode this with a friend and it was his first sportive we saw lots of riders with punctures but we got back without any. I know you can't guarantee a thing in the autumn but the first part of the route was awful. If wiggle had hired a small road sweeper just to clear that lane the day before it would have been something. Shall not be doing any more winter sportives prefer the warmer weather . Turbo trainer is already hooked up with my allez sport and shall use my TCR for more drier days this winter.