Velothon Wales - June 2015
Comments
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I also thought the organisation was very good.
Easy registration and start seemed to go very smoothly.
No bunching or any dramas that I noticed (from pen F1).
Lanes approaching feed stops seemed particularly well organised and not the usual sprawl of riders to negotiate.
My only whinge on the day was groups of riders passing and then pulling over in front of me, virtually pushing me further to the left as each one passed.
Happened a couple of times and I found it very odd, especially when they had 20' of clear road to their right with no chance of a car appearing on it.
It was like they were magnetised to the left of the road lol0 -
The food stations were i) overcrowded and badly laid out. ii) Only had Welsh cakes and bananas. Something savoury would have been appreciated. Really there was no need to stop as it's possible to carry enough food for this type of distance.
Great to see most of the locals out cheering us. This who put 'PRISON' signs outside their houses are probably feeling a bit silly now.
All in all a great fast course and lots of fun.0 -
Living on the Route of the Tour of Cambs and having the abuse about closed roads in the build up I have massive sympathy for cyclists around Cardiff.
Even an extensive set of pot hole filling and decent signage didn't stop me almost daily stick at home and at work. Lots of threats of action and scowls from 4x4 drivers whilst out training.
One village got the road halved for them to go in and out and suddenly the egging threats subsided and then on the day they got in the spirit.
Maybe reasonable compromise could be reached in certain areas to ensure all are happy?
I agree that its only one day and if you plan you can get round it, but if you aren't remotely interested in bicycles you naturally would think "why should I?".
Direct action is deplorable on every level. But with fields on 10,000+ in some events now this is only going to get worse.0 -
First 25 miles, blasting along the Newport flats in the blazing sunshine at over 20mph will live in the memory. Great atmosphere throughout
Blew spectacularly on the Tumble. Thought I had got a reasonable distance up it, but I think I had barely got 1/3 of the distance before having to get off and walk. Never want to go near that climb ever again. The 10 miles of descent from the top of the Tumble was fantastic though.
Didn't like the A-roads/Dual Carriageways between Ystrad Mynach and Caerphilly. Very dull and uninspiring and just felt like one long slog at that point, but otherwise the route was fantastic.
Blew spectacularly (again) on Caerphilly mountain. Barely got going on it tbh. Never been much of a climber but even by my standards I wasn't feeling good on them.
Very minor niggles - the bottom of some of the dual carriageway sections were really bumpy (felt worse than the cattle grid coming off the Tumble), could have done with some warning about them. Perhaps some hay bales would have been appropriate at that tight left corner after the first section of the Caerphilly Mountain descent. I wasn't going very fast at all and I nearly didn't make that corner. Could have done with some sort of recovery drink at the finish too. As I say, on the grand scheme of things they are minor issues though.
Overall, absolutely loved it. Wonderful weather, brilliant support throughout (particularly the last section from the top of Caerphilly mountain down to Cardiff), and the work (confused.com) crew raised about £1,700 in total for SANDS.
Loved it :-)0 -
If there were other riders in front of you then the group was exploiting their draught, even while going faster this is a noticeable effect.My only whinge on the day was groups of riders passing and then pulling over in front of me, virtually pushing me further to the left as each one passed.
Happened a couple of times and I found it very odd, especially when they had 20' of clear road to their right with no chance of a car appearing on it.
It was like they were magnetised to the left of the road lol
And of course you should just jump on the passing group. Daft not to. But otherwise just don't yield, hold your line and make them go around you.
Paul0 -
If there were other riders in front of you then the group was exploiting their draught, even while going faster this is a noticeable effect.My only whinge on the day was groups of riders passing and then pulling over in front of me, virtually pushing me further to the left as each one passed.
Happened a couple of times and I found it very odd, especially when they had 20' of clear road to their right with no chance of a car appearing on it.
It was like they were magnetised to the left of the road lol
And of course you should just jump on the passing group. Daft not to. But otherwise just don't yield, hold your line and make them go around you.
Paul
Spot on. I was in a fast train and it just makes sense to pick up any draft from a slower rider.
Some riders were however slow to move over, but generally they were pretty good and no one was passed too close at an excessive pace, but I guess there will have been lots of people unused to riding with large groups..
It was a very fast course - we averaged just under 25 mph for the first 40 odd miles, and I was comfortably over 21 mph average for the whole event on moving time, and just under 21 mph total time including the one stop.
It was generally well organized and was great being on closed roads. the weather couldn't have been much better either.0 -
Don't think one minor tacks incident should detract from the fantastic support that I saw in the villages pretty much all the way round. Thought it was a superb event and loved the closed roads, first 20 miles in particular was fantastic. I found the Tumble horrendous and got to the stage where those walking were going quicker than I was on the bike! I actually found Caerphilly more manageable as it was short bursts up steep ramps with some flatter bits in-between. Only minor quibble for me was the lack of safety notices for the speed bumps immediately after the first stretch of dual carriageway, saw one poor bloke who had clearly taken a very nasty spill as you hit them at 40kph. Food stations didn't look fantastic but as I only paused very briefly at the top of the tumble to fill up my water, can't overly comment. Was also very impressed with the friendliness of the participants, the group I joined at 80k-110k was an absolute life saver up that dispiriting bit of dual carriageway!
Will be back next year for sure.0 -
I agree with most of the posts above. The organisation on the day was very good, at least for the early starters/finishers (I was in wave B2) and we got through before the tacks incident too. There was a marshal at every junction and some of them seemed to have lists of vehicles that might be allowed through, for example from a remote hotel where presumably the guests would need to leave during the course of the day. And after all the dark murmurings on here, it was wonderful to see people at the roadside cheering us on - I didn't expect that, knowing how inconvenienced the villages were for so little benefit.
The feed station at the top of the Tumble was disappointing, but I concur with dandrew above that you shouldn't need to stop on such a short ride. I just wanted to stretch and grab some water so the very limited food options weren't a concern for me.
A minor gripe is that I don't think the course did justice to south Wales. Maybe the organisers' original 120km route would have been better. All those miles through industrial estates are presumably there to provide the thrill of pacelines, and I like bombing along at 25mph as much as the next person, but turning inland was a blessed relief, even though I wasn't strong enough to stay with the group over undulating terrain so I probably enjoyed the landscape less than I should have! The A472 dual carriageway was downright horrible and I ended up feeling the route was neither one thing nor the other: not enough climbs to be an alternative to the Dragon Ride, but not a fast urban sightseeing tour like RideLondon.
I'm always glad of a reason to visit Cardiff, but I probably wouldn't go back for the same route. Hopefully if it becomes a regular event on the calendar, the Velothon organisers will make adjustments and improvements to showcase south Wales rather better, and decide exactly what they want the event to be.
One final point: I hope all those caught up in crashes are OK, particularly the person who fell on the fast descent in Blaenavon and was covered by a foil blanket waiting for an ambulance when I passed.0 -
Really enjoyed the event, but there good and bad points.
Parking and getting to the start was excellant, no traffic getting to the stadium and then a 5 minute ride to my pen (H2).
The route was a good contrast of fast flat sections with two tough climbs, but as others have said the dual carriageway sections were just tedious (i'm no TT'er).
Got caught up in the tacks/drawing pins hold up, but only for about 10 minutes or so. Interestingly I did not see any tacks or drawing pins on the road, nor did I see anyone suffering from punctures (which I have seen before in events I have ridden that have been sabotaged). Maybe they had all been cleared away by the time we got there?
I have to say, the feed stations were woeful. I try to avoid them but my riding partner needed water at the top of the Tumble and it was carnage. Maybe it was because we started in the last but one pen but they were chaotic, over crowded and to only offer half a banana and portions of Welsh cake when you did fight your way to the front was poor. The first one was also effectively bringing the whole ride to a halt because there was such a que to get in and out of it, and the Tumble one was nearly as bad.
The amount of rubbish in and around them was also disgraceful, as was the amount of gel wrappers out on the roads, why can't people just put it back in their pockets?
Maybe they had spent all their money paying for the closed roads (do they actually pay the councils for this luxury) but they will have to do better next year.
I will stick to petrol stations for my stops next year, as I am happy to pay what I did for the pleasure of riding fast on closed roads!0 -
One final point: I hope all those caught up in crashes are OK, particularly the person who fell on the fast descent in Blaenavon and was covered by a foil blanket waiting for an ambulance when I passed.
I saw that. Looked quite bad, and that was a very fast section. I hope they're OK.Shut up, knees!
Various Boardmans, a Focus, a Cannondale and an ancient Trek.0 -
If there were other riders in front of you then the group was exploiting their draught, even while going faster this is a noticeable effect.My only whinge on the day was groups of riders passing and then pulling over in front of me, virtually pushing me further to the left as each one passed.
Happened a couple of times and I found it very odd, especially when they had 20' of clear road to their right with no chance of a car appearing on it.
It was like they were magnetised to the left of the road lol
And of course you should just jump on the passing group. Daft not to. But otherwise just don't yield, hold your line and make them go around you.
Paul
Nope, pretty sure no riders were in front of me that were close enough to get any benefit from, they were just being sheep and moving around for no reason.
I didn't yield, I pushed them out.
Ended up joining one lot (by default lol) and just sprinting off from the other.
No train I was in has ever done that to anyone and I don't remember ever being bothered by it before.0 -
If there were other riders in front of you then the group was exploiting their draught, even while going faster this is a noticeable effect.My only whinge on the day was groups of riders passing and then pulling over in front of me, virtually pushing me further to the left as each one passed.
Happened a couple of times and I found it very odd, especially when they had 20' of clear road to their right with no chance of a car appearing on it.
It was like they were magnetised to the left of the road lol
And of course you should just jump on the passing group. Daft not to. But otherwise just don't yield, hold your line and make them go around you.
Paul
Nope, pretty sure no riders were in front of me that were close enough to get any benefit from, they were just being sheep and moving around for no reason.
I didn't yield, I pushed them out.
Ended up joining one lot (by default lol) and just sprinting off from the other.
No train I was in has ever done that to anyone and I don't remember ever being bothered by it before.
I had one or two close calls, I didn't mind on the tight roads (particularly when climbing) but when you've got an entire two lanes of A-road/Dual Carriageway and someone passes within inches of me it's just unnecessary. Could have clipped a front wheel, ended a race and injured someone for, what, a tenth of a second?0 -
Surprisingly few walkers. That I saw anyway.0
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Surprisingly few walkers. That I saw anyway.
They were probably behind you, the photos on the Velothon FB page showed a LOT of people walking.0 -
Tacks on the road then. Makes you proud to be Welsh.
Unfortunately over 30% of the population of Wales is now English incomers so there is a one in three chance the tacks were not put there by a Welsh person.0 -
It's possible, I suppose, that the lead rider didn't know what was going on behind and was just keeping left as generally requested.Nope, pretty sure no riders were in front of me that were close enough to get any benefit from, they were just being sheep and moving around for no reason.
Anyway, it doesn't seem very important.
At one point we had 50 or more doing through and off, which was a bit of a miracle in itself, and came across some relative dawdlers in the middle of the road, so it was simultaneous 'on your left' and 'on your right' and the lines split around them. They're probably grumbling on some forum about close passes...
Paul0 -
It's possible, I suppose, that the lead rider didn't know what was going on behind and was just keeping left as generally requested.Nope, pretty sure no riders were in front of me that were close enough to get any benefit from, they were just being sheep and moving around for no reason.
Anyway, it doesn't seem very important.
At one point we had 50 or more doing through and off, which was a bit of a miracle in itself, and came across some relative dawdlers in the middle of the road, so it was simultaneous 'on your left' and 'on your right' and the lines split around them. They're probably grumbling on some forum about close passes...
Paul
Its not very important, It happened and I dealt with it.
I only mentioned it as being the only distraction from an otherwise hassle free ride.
I just found it annoying, but can see how it would be more than a grumble to a lot on the ride.
Close passes are one thing, but crap passing is something different.
To seem to have the viewpoint that anyone in a train on an event of mixed ability riders must be passing correctly is an odd one IMO.
Far more likely that, as you suggested, the guy in front was unaware, and the guys behind just followed each other like sheep I would have thought.
Am sure people did much worse and its to be expected anyway. All part of the fun.0 -
Tacks on the road then. Makes you proud to be Welsh.
Unfortunately over 30% of the population of Wales is now English incomers so there is a one in three chance the tacks were not put there by a Welsh person.
They were sprinkled in Caerleon and Caerphilly. Having been to both many times I can say for certain there is no way in hell that 30% of the population of those two towns is English.English Cycles V3 | Cervelo P5 | Cervelo T4 | Trek Domane Koppenberg0 -
Overall, I really enjoyed the event.
As has been mentioned above, I thought the organisation was good in terms of registration and starting. We didn't need to stop at any of the food stops as we brought enough with us, but if it had been any hotter we would have needed to fill up on water at some point - not something I would have looked forward to as they all looked like chaos when we went past. Maybe have water stops separate from food stops next time?
I really enjoyed the tumble and Caerphilly - was also quite surprised at the number of people walking up both. Found the route from Cardiff to Newport to be a bit 'meh' and then got caught up in the queue after the tack incident by the Celtic manor.
The descent after Blaenavon was a lot of fun. I did however see the guy who looked in a bad way under the foil blanket and neck brace - hopefully it looked worse than it was and he makes a quick recovery.
My favourite section of the route was from Caerphilly to Cardiff - the support from the locals was excellent and I really appreciated it getting up the last bit of the mountain!
My biggest gripe about the day was around overtaking. The worst offenders seemed to be people in groups of 3 - 4, so not what I would call a 'train'. They were coming past way too close on my right and then immediately pulling in without so much as a shoulder check. There really was no need for this behaviour given the fact we had 2 lanes to play with. A couple of times I did make my feelings known, but they just carried on without looking back.
All in all it was a good day and the weather was spot on!0 -
Overall, I really enjoyed the event.
My biggest gripe about the day was around overtaking. The worst offenders seemed to be people in groups of 3 - 4, so not what I would call a 'train'. They were coming past way too close on my right and then immediately pulling in without so much as a shoulder check. There really was no need for this behaviour given the fact we had 2 lanes to play with. A couple of times I did make my feelings known, but they just carried on without looking back.
Agree on that, same effect on RideLondon. Larger groups (particularly a good one I got into after food stop 1 towards the Tumble - many thanks to the group of five or six guys in white, red and black shirts at the front of it, fast and well organised) were better at holding a fairly steady station on the road - usually to the right of the centre line. Smaller groups coming past other small groups or solo riders tended to be a bit obsessed with riding on the left and pulled over a bit early.
I suspect it's psychological, in that people are used to having to pull in when overtaking in their normal open road riding. Was a bit of a pain when you're on a dual carriageway with some large cateyes running up the road six inches to your left. Or going through square speed humps in town.
Overall was a good event though. A bit of a redesign of the feed stations to make them easier for people to get in and out of without a traffic jam would be a good bet. Some more caution signs on some of the slightly more technical descents might be sensible too. All that said - great route, really good fun.0 -
Overall, I really enjoyed the event.
My biggest gripe about the day was around overtaking. The worst offenders seemed to be people in groups of 3 - 4, so not what I would call a 'train'. They were coming past way too close on my right and then immediately pulling in without so much as a shoulder check. There really was no need for this behaviour given the fact we had 2 lanes to play with. A couple of times I did make my feelings known, but they just carried on without looking back.
All in all it was a good day and the weather was spot on!
Couldn't agree more, closed roads so no need for the close passing. A number of times I had to feather the brakes as the group who had passed on the right drifted across to the left without anyone checking. Had one idiot in a Strava top barrel through the middle of me and my riding buddy as we split to avoid a water bottle not a shout or anything. Another cyclist almost caused a pile up at the summit of the Tumble just as we went past the feed station he shouted on your right no where for me to go she he elbowed me out the way. We had a few words and went our separate ways.
Thought the route was ok, highlights the fast down hills, the two hills and Caerphilly to Cardiff. Probably wouldn't do it again.Moda Prima 2013
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The long sections of dual carriageway would have been ideal for a feed station. Cone off a lane for people carrying on. Then could have loads of tables in the other lane0
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^ very sensible idea. On stretch between Hafodyrynys descent and Newbridge.0
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Tacks on the road then. Makes you proud to be Welsh.
Unfortunately over 30% of the population of Wales is now English incomers so there is a one in three chance the tacks were not put there by a Welsh person.
They were sprinkled in Caerleon and Caerphilly. Having been to both many times I can say for certain there is no way in hell that 30% of the population of those two towns is English.
Caerphilly no but Caerleon? I wouldn't be surprised and I know the area very well.
There was also apparently a spate of punctures on the A4042 but that was cars as some muppet appeared to get their timings wrong and put tacks down before the closures. Must have been more than just drawing pins to blow out car tyres though.
Glad people generally enjoyed it. Unfortunately starting and finishing in Cardiff will always lead to some industrial landscapes but sticking in Caerphilly Mountain added to the urban feel. There's a better alternative to the A472 (first road I ever helped design!) but I guess using the main road reduced disruption. To be honest I'd have taken them further into Monmouthshire before doing the Tumble and then taken a route back to Cardiff without doing Caerphilly Mountain.0 -
did the 50K , mmm on my "sporty" Hybrid ( does that me me bad?) really enjoyed it! ace all around!Giant Trance X0 (08) Reverb, Hope Hoops 5.1D, XT brakes, RQ BC, Works Components headset 1.50
