Etape Caledonia 2014

Omar Little

Spatulala wrote:

2 return train tickets from Exeter to Pitlochry - £866

2 return flights from Exeter to Edinburgh - £188

:shock:

The cheaper rail tickets only go on sale 12 weeks in advance of the travel date

RallyBiker

So what was the point of the pre regestration? I've booked a 4 star hotel for me and the wife to make a weekend away of it from North Wales. Bunch of amateurs! I did the Mercia this year, but won't be bothering with the Etape Series again after being treated like this! :evil:

alan_a

RallyBiker wrote:

So what was the point of the pre regestration? I've booked a 4 star hotel for me and the wife to make a weekend away of it from North Wales. Bunch of amateurs! I did the Mercia this year, but won't be bothering with the Etape Series again after being treated like this! :evil:

See if they will let you postpone it for 3 weeks and come do this event that also starts in Pitlochry but goes in the opposite direction.

http://www.3pistescycle.co.uk

RallyBiker

It's only a week before the Dragon ride that I've an entry on. After that it's Etape Eryri, so the wife wouldn't be too impressed I'm afraid. Hope it works well for you and your team though as it looks interesting!

Spatulala

Pumpkin Positive wrote:

Spatulala wrote:

2 return train tickets from Exeter to Pitlochry - £866

2 return flights from Exeter to Edinburgh - £188

:shock:

I'm driving from Newton Abbot (and will collect brother in law en-route somewhere). Not sure exactly what our plans are at the moment but we could probably take you with us for a share of the petrol.

I'm saying probably at this stage because we might make a long weekend of it in Scotland although that's looking a bit less likely than it was a few days ago. If you're happy to fit in around our plans we'd be glad to have you.

That's kind of you thanks, we may fly as its so cheap, but will discuss with my buddy and come up with a plan.

thegreatdivide

Omar Little wrote:

Spatulala wrote:

2 return train tickets from Exeter to Pitlochry - £866

2 return flights from Exeter to Edinburgh - £188

:shock:

The cheaper rail tickets only go on sale 12 weeks in advance of the travel date

Yip.

The providers don’t put any cheap tickets on sale until three months before date of travel so you won’t see anything yet. I think they all let you set an email reminder for the date you want to travel on and they’ll contact you the day before. East Coast did it for me when I went to the London 100 – bagged a return ticket for about £65 from Dundee plus free secure bike storage.

If you fly you still nedd to add on the extras. Edinburgh to Pitlochry will be about £35 return on the train if not booked in advance plus you need to get to Waverly from the airport so that’s another £7 each on the shuttle bus.

Spatulala

Ok thanks. So the sleeper option sounds appealing if we can take bikes with us. Is there any way to know what the fare might be, is there a danger of selling out before the cheap fares kick in, can you guarantee space for bikes on sleepers? I'm guessing we'd go up Friday night and come back Monday night.

Thanks for all your help.

RandG

Turns out I can't do it this year, anyone know if you can get a refund ? Failing that, anyone want to buy my slot ?

Omar Little

RandG wrote:

Turns out I can't do it this year, anyone know if you can get a refund ? Failing that, anyone want to buy my slot ?

Dont think it is possible to get a refund - however you can defer entry for a year.

RandG

How do I go about doing that ? I have no contact details for them.

rollemynot

All a bit quiet about the etape cal this year...... Are people still pissed about the entry fiasco - I know I still am

bianchimoon

Had an emai from them last week
"We were overwhelmed by the demand for the Marie Curie Cancer Care Etape Caledonia when we went on sale late last year and we're sorry that not everyone managed to secure a place.

After looking closely at the strict capacity of the event, of which withdrawal rate is a consideration, we have been able to put a small amount of withdrawn places back on sale.

These coveted places will go very quickly so make sure you book yours now to get a place on the start line!


seems still possible to get in!

RallyBiker

Rollemynot wrote:

All a bit quiet about the etape cal this year...... Are people still pissed about the entry fiasco - I know I still am

Too right!! I'm doing the Hog now instead.

Stedman

RallyBiker wrote:

Rollemynot wrote:

All a bit quiet about the etape cal this year...... Are people still pissed about the entry fiasco - I know I still am

Too right!! I'm doing the Hog now instead.

I only got in because I phoned up on the day asking where my e-mail was!

nweststeyn

Over 5000 entrants but still noone is getting excited by this? Miserable bunch

adr82

I'll be there! Not sure how excited I am though, tbh after entering it for 4 of the last 5 years it's getting a little boring. Need to look at other sportives I think. I'm more looking forward to the week after, taking it off work and staying in Pitlochry to do some more riding around that whole area, lots of good routes to do

Omar Little

Looking forward to it however I put myself down for under 4 hours (which ive managed the last 3 years) with an aim of getting under 3.35 so was really hoping for Wave A or B starting slot to try and achieve that.

However for some reason i am in wave AA :x

adr82

Omar Little wrote:

Looking forward to it however I put myself down for under 4 hours (which ive managed the last 3 years) with an aim of getting under 3.35 so was really hoping for Wave A or B starting slot to try and achieve that.

However for some reason i am in wave AA :x

That's quite a target to go for, I just checked and last year only about 35-40 people finished in that sort of time, although the weather might make it easier this year. But yeah you'd definitely want to be away as early as possible. I'd say feel free to ignore your wave number :P Just turn up at the wave A start time and barge your way in. People do it every year - I managed to get away in wave E last year (should have been D but the start pen was already packed with other people :roll:) and then spent ages passing people with race numbers in the thousands who shouldn't have been starting for another 30+ minutes. It's all a bit messy.

Spatulala

Where can I see what wave I'm in? I logged into the website and it logs me in but there's no links to any info?

rollemynot

Event info on www.etapecaledonia.co.uk - click on the link and an excel doc will appear.

I am wave M hoping for 4 45

Spatulala

Thanks. Am in wave Y! Don't ever recall estimating a time when I entered (via the Double Cally/Pennines). Should be a sociable trip round!

crescent

To some extent, the wave number shouldn't affect your performance although it is possible to get held up by slower riders obviously. I was honest about my expected time for the Etape Loch Ness yesterday and ended up in wave J with an expected time of around 4.5hrs. There were plenty of riders ahead of me who were never going to get anywhere near that and I found it quite a boost to be passing so many people. I actually think it contributed to me posting a sub 4 hr time as my confidence was soaring about 15 miles in. Conversely, when I did the Etape Caledonia a couple of years ago I was in the 5hr group and found myself getting passed by many people quite early on. My confidence suffered and I had a bit of a stinker and ended up with a +5.5 hrs time.
This is probably why I don't race, I don't have the mental toughness :oops:

adr82

Crescent wrote:

To some extent, the wave number shouldn't affect your performance although it is possible to get held up by slower riders obviously.

The issue for people who are aiming for a time close to 3.5 hours doesn't have much to do with getting held up by slower riders. It's just that it's much much much easier to average 20+mph on an 80 mile ride if you manage to get yourself into a group who are doing that kind of pace right from the start. If it takes you 20 or 30 miles of solo effort to catch up with a good group you could be too knackered to hang in with them all the way to the finish. The less time you spend riding in the wind the better

Spatulala

Certainly not aiming for a 3.5hr, 4.5 would suit me fine. Rode the Exmoor Beauty a couple of weeks ago in 4.08, that was only 67 miles and only 100m or so more climbing. Weather probably similar, was pretty grim at the top of Dunkery Beacon. Looking forward to it though, roll on the weekend!

Alain Quay

Has anyone done it on a fixie/single speed - just to make it interesting like, after having done it a few times?

Omar Little

adr82 wrote:

That's quite a target to go for, I just checked and last year only about 35-40 people finished in that sort of time, although the weather might make it easier this year. But yeah you'd definitely want to be away as early as possible. I'd say feel free to ignore your wave number :P Just turn up at the wave A start time and barge your way in. People do it every year - I managed to get away in wave E last year (should have been D but the start pen was already packed with other people :roll:) and then spent ages passing people with race numbers in the thousands who shouldn't have been starting for another 30+ minutes. It's all a bit messy.

I've done so much moaning over the last couple of year about guys starting in waves they shouldnt be, i'm going to hate myself on Sunday morning if i try to sneak in

adr82

Omar Little wrote:

I've done so much moaning over the last couple of year about guys starting in waves they shouldnt be, i'm going to hate myself on Sunday morning if i try to sneak in

One more won't make any difference

Alain Quay wrote:

Has anyone done it on a fixie/single speed - just to make it interesting like, after having done it a few times?

I'm sure some people must have, you see all sorts of bikes if you start further down the field.

The weather forecast is looking reasonable at the moment, mild temperatures and wind, possibly some showers. Keep an eye on the wind direction though, if it stays northerly that's going to be a change from most previous years. The prevailing winds are usually from the west so you get a nice tailwind along the south side of Loch Rannoch and then all the way back from Fearnan to Logierait. If it's northerly the wind isn't going to be much help at all, except maybe on the way up Schiehallion.

slowbike

Omar Little wrote:

I've done so much moaning over the last couple of year about guys starting in waves they shouldnt be, i'm going to hate myself on Sunday morning if i try to sneak in

hah ... we managed to start the ELNess ride 14 minutes ahead of where we should've been ... with the A82 completely closed for 33 miles it wasn't exactly difficult for others to overtake us ...
I'd say there's more of an issue of having 100+ riders going the same speed in the same start segment - that's where you're going to get congestion ... better to mix it up a bit in my experience.

Omar Little

As usual barely slept at all the night before! Managed to change my starting slot to F not ideal but will do.

Forecast looks ok for early on...Hope you all have a good one

rollemynot

Hope everyone has a great day - strained my back on Friday, hoped to recover with deep heat, paracetamol and ibuprofen.......but my back is hurting typing this - totally gutted.........