Evans RideIt - Newbury - 24th January 2015
redrabbit
Posts: 95
Today I did my first MTB sportive and decided to go for the medium distance. This was advertised as 25 miles I think, but it was actually 22 miles.
Weather was great, dry and sunny. I wrapped up warm.
First problem was... I really needed to the toilet (and not a wee! :oops: ). I would have went when I left home but didn't need to go then. So I find the toilets, only two cubicles. One was out-of-order, and the other had no lock on. So that wasn't fun.
The ride itself was treacherous and grim, with miles upon miles of swampy, muddy, wet, slippery narrow lanes. This meant that the bike tyres filled up with wet mud, which in turn got into the forks, causing constant jamming of the wheels. Riding was impossible for me and many others. Pushing the bike was essential and really difficult as at times I was pushing with a front wheel which didn't even move.
There were limited periods of flat graval and grass. Very few roads which were welcomed as it meant you could actually ride the bike and allow the mud to flick off a bit.
Come the 15-16 mile mark I had had enough. The gears were starting to jam properly, and I was limited in which gears I could select.
Again, miles it seemed of boggy muddy lanes.
The worst thing was ...
Whilst cycling, I stopped and heard a couple of riders. One said that his friend's bike had broken and the "emergency number" wasn't working... or at least no one was answering. This rider who had broken his bike had just one arm. So the poor guy was stranded.
They went back to try to help him and I continued on to the feed station. I heard them telling the guy working there about the problem. He said "Well what do you want me to do about it? He's stuck down a lane..."
Disgusting I think, for a start the emergency number doesn't work, and when you ask staff for help I was less than re-assured to hear that. I became a bit worried about my own bike breaking as it was jamming in places.
Bike ride over
I had absolutely nothing left at the end. There were two hoses which offered a flow of water with no pressure. I tried cleaning the bike but it didn't do much good.
In short... a fairly grim first experience of my first mountain bike sportive. Less than impressed with Evans.
Weather was great, dry and sunny. I wrapped up warm.
First problem was... I really needed to the toilet (and not a wee! :oops: ). I would have went when I left home but didn't need to go then. So I find the toilets, only two cubicles. One was out-of-order, and the other had no lock on. So that wasn't fun.
The ride itself was treacherous and grim, with miles upon miles of swampy, muddy, wet, slippery narrow lanes. This meant that the bike tyres filled up with wet mud, which in turn got into the forks, causing constant jamming of the wheels. Riding was impossible for me and many others. Pushing the bike was essential and really difficult as at times I was pushing with a front wheel which didn't even move.
There were limited periods of flat graval and grass. Very few roads which were welcomed as it meant you could actually ride the bike and allow the mud to flick off a bit.
Come the 15-16 mile mark I had had enough. The gears were starting to jam properly, and I was limited in which gears I could select.
Again, miles it seemed of boggy muddy lanes.
The worst thing was ...
Whilst cycling, I stopped and heard a couple of riders. One said that his friend's bike had broken and the "emergency number" wasn't working... or at least no one was answering. This rider who had broken his bike had just one arm. So the poor guy was stranded.
They went back to try to help him and I continued on to the feed station. I heard them telling the guy working there about the problem. He said "Well what do you want me to do about it? He's stuck down a lane..."
Disgusting I think, for a start the emergency number doesn't work, and when you ask staff for help I was less than re-assured to hear that. I became a bit worried about my own bike breaking as it was jamming in places.
Bike ride over
I had absolutely nothing left at the end. There were two hoses which offered a flow of water with no pressure. I tried cleaning the bike but it didn't do much good.
In short... a fairly grim first experience of my first mountain bike sportive. Less than impressed with Evans.
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Comments
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Thanks for sharing your feedback with us. We’re really proud of the quality of our events so disappointed to hear you had issues with our Newbury mountain bike ride on the weekend.
I was somewhat surprised by the comments, and keen to briefly address some of these areas. Toilets were functioning and clean in the morning (conditions can degrade through the course of the morning), but we didn’t receive any complaints on the day – if anyone notifies us of an issue the team will rectify the situation ASAP. The emergency number was always manned during the day (we operate two numbers across two different networks to make sure we’re in coverage), sometimes we can’t answer immediately if we’re dealing with another incident, but we do respond as soon as we can (over the weekend we undertook 6 emergency pick ups plus numerous other calls so were quite busy). As for chap with the one arm that was stranded I’m happy to say he made contact via the emergency number and we were able to retrieve him and his bike and take him back to the event centre. He is actually a member of staff in our Canary Wharf store and rides a converted full suspension BMC.
I have spoken to the staff on the drink station who did say that they then went on to explain that they couldn't leave the drink station to recover the rider and that he should keep trying the emergency number. He obviously did do this because when the Drink station phoned me to make sure I knew about the one armed stranded rider I was already on my way to pick him up in the van
I must admit I’m not completely surprised about the comments on the ground conditions. Mountain biking in in winter is a messy, boggy, muddy affair, it is the nature of the sport, whilst we choose routes that have a mix of terrain, we can’t completely avoid challenging conditions.
Running the RIDE IT events are a complex and ever changing affair and we strive to provide a great experience for our riders. I know this was your first event with us and I’d like to make sure it’s not your last, so would be delighted if you were able to make contact with me at dean.stacey@evanscycles.com so I can allay your concerns and comments in more detail and provide you with the confidence to join us again.1
