Velothon Wales
Has anyone seen teams announced for this yet? It looks a really challenging route with over 8,000' of climbing in the 125 mile race including 2 circuits of the Tumble and 3 of Caerphilly Mountain. I can't help feeling it will be chaos on the Caerphilly circuits as they are quite short and the race is likely to be quite broken up by then. I also think it's going to result in a lot of p*ssed off locals given the extent of road closures often from early morning until mid afternoon including many of the A roads in the area, some areas are going to be virtually cut off with the main access roads on both sides being closed for the duration of the sportive and race and other than a few signs in Cardiff I haven't seen any advanced notice signs despite the race covering roads I travel on everyday.
It doesn't appear to be the best organised event I've ever seen and I'm concerned that it might damage the image of the sport given the likely disruption it will cause. The irony is that most of the route would probably have been dealt with safely using rolling closures for the race but they are fully closing the roads to accommodate the sportive. I guess it's similar to Ride London but the difference is that it is taking place on a lot of the main roads serving rural areas.
It doesn't appear to be the best organised event I've ever seen and I'm concerned that it might damage the image of the sport given the likely disruption it will cause. The irony is that most of the route would probably have been dealt with safely using rolling closures for the race but they are fully closing the roads to accommodate the sportive. I guess it's similar to Ride London but the difference is that it is taking place on a lot of the main roads serving rural areas.
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Pross wrote:Has anyone seen teams announced for this yet? It looks a really challenging route with over 8,000' of climbing in the 125 mile race including 2 circuits of the Tumble and 3 of Caerphilly Mountain. I can't help feeling it will be chaos on the Caerphilly circuits as they are quite short and the race is likely to be quite broken up by then. I also think it's going to result in a lot of p*ssed off locals given the extent of road closures often from early morning until mid afternoon including many of the A roads in the area, some areas are going to be virtually cut off with the main access roads on both sides being closed for the duration of the sportive and race and other than a few signs in Cardiff I haven't seen any advanced notice signs despite the race covering roads I travel on everyday.
It doesn't appear to be the best organised event I've ever seen and I'm concerned that it might damage the image of the sport given the likely disruption it will cause. The irony is that most of the route would probably have been dealt with safely using rolling closures for the race but they are fully closing the roads to accommodate the sportive. I guess it's similar to Ride London but the difference is that it is taking place on a lot of the main roads serving rural areas.
How can one race damage the image of the sport?
As opposed to what? years of doping?
Come on. Get a life son.
:roll:0 -
Possibly because the vast majority of the population who aren't cycling fans don't give a sh*t about doping, but will care if their local roads are needlessly closed all day because of a cycling event that could have been better organised?Ashbeck wrote:How can one race damage the image of the sport?
As opposed to what? years of doping?
Come on. Get a life son.
:roll:0 -
Ashbeck wrote:Pross wrote:Has anyone seen teams announced for this yet? It looks a really challenging route with over 8,000' of climbing in the 125 mile race including 2 circuits of the Tumble and 3 of Caerphilly Mountain. I can't help feeling it will be chaos on the Caerphilly circuits as they are quite short and the race is likely to be quite broken up by then. I also think it's going to result in a lot of p*ssed off locals given the extent of road closures often from early morning until mid afternoon including many of the A roads in the area, some areas are going to be virtually cut off with the main access roads on both sides being closed for the duration of the sportive and race and other than a few signs in Cardiff I haven't seen any advanced notice signs despite the race covering roads I travel on everyday.
It doesn't appear to be the best organised event I've ever seen and I'm concerned that it might damage the image of the sport given the likely disruption it will cause. The irony is that most of the route would probably have been dealt with safely using rolling closures for the race but they are fully closing the roads to accommodate the sportive. I guess it's similar to Ride London but the difference is that it is taking place on a lot of the main roads serving rural areas.
How can one race damage the image of the sport?
As opposed to what? years of doping?
Come on. Get a life son.
:roll:
Take a look at the road closures map and consider that there are literally no signs on the majority of the roads affected giving advanced notice and the race is little more than a week away. I knew there was a race on so took a look to find out about the extent of closures which even I was surprised at. In 99% of cases people won't be aware of the race let alone the closures as it has been so badly publicised and they are suddenly going to find they can't get away from their houses all day. When I say ruining the image of the sport I mean at a grassroots and leisure level rather than on the pro scene. Some of us have to try to organise amateur races on these roads and rely on the goodwill of the local population to a degree. This supposed 1.1 rated race has less advanced warning than the Ras de Cymru which is a Regional A amateur event!0 -
I'm doing the sportive and didn't even know there was a race afterwards!
I believe it's a legal requirement to have the road closure signs up at least a week beforehand.0 -
Think i read somewhere that they weren't going up the tumble anymore because of road works?0
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ozzzyosborn206 wrote:Think i read somewhere that they weren't going up the tumble anymore because of road works?
No, that's the Grand Prix of Wales which is the race that's been run for a few years (and was also run throughout the late 80s and 90s).0 -
It does seem very poor.
On the grassroots level round here we pretty much lost one of the local road circuits due to complaints and threat of sabotage from NIMBYist villagers. Interestingly though the same village parish council allow the use of their village hall as a race HQ.
I decided to use a different course for the road race I organise to avoid the aggro. The course had never been used before. So I put up advanced warning signs around the course a couple of weeks before. Then put a note through the doors of every house directly on the route (just to make them aware of the minimal disruption and also asking if possible they could park off the road), I included my contact details in case they had any questions. Granted we weren't closing the roads it's only a 3/4 race, it was just a courtesy thing. The only questions I got were from people who wanted to know where would be the best place to watch the race, or people offering to help (including someone who offered to put a feed station on their driveway - lovely gesture, but they obviously didn't understand road racing!). After the race I got emails from villagers pleased that such a sporting event was gracing their local roads! The circuit has since been used many times since and for (slightly) more prestigious races.
Anyway, long winded point is a bit of courtesy goes a long way to keeping people happy. Now I know the circuit was only 16km, but if a bloke who works every week day can do it over a weekend, then I'm sure professional race organisers can manage it.0 -
Road closure signs finally going up now but are already being defaced to say 'No' Road Closure. I genuinely think there's going to be a few issues and this is in an area that has hosted plenty of decent road racing in the past including 2 Nationals in the last few years. I hope I'm wrong though.
I still don't know what teams are actually racing though but who cares when they have sold 15,000 sportive places at around £50 a pop?0 -
I saw a post on FB by Gwent police earlier today advising people of the closures etc. There were quite a few comments regarding tacks and drawing pins, and even people saying they were going to ignore the closures and drive on the roads (that was probably just mouthing off but the tacks and pins don't sound too good).0
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NorvernRob wrote:I saw a post on FB by Gwent police earlier today advising people of the closures etc. There were quite a few comments regarding tacks and drawing pins, and even people saying they were going to ignore the closures and drive on the roads (that was probably just mouthing off but the tacks and pins don't sound too good).
Yep, it happened on the Etape Caledonia a few years ago and wouldn't be surprised to see it happen here. I've just read comments under the article road.cc did on this and the selfish 'feck em' attitude that many of those comments made was embarassing. Some of us ride these roads on a regular basis and will be the ones left to take the bad feeling their attitudes will leave behind. I guess I should have put this in the sportive section really as I'm pretty sure that had it been just a 1.1 road race there wouldn't be anywhere near as many full road closures.
Found the teams riding now though. I know it's only a 3rd tier race but it seems a little bit of a poor line up.
THE TEAMS
Team Wiggins
Madison Genesis
NFTO
One Pro Cycling
Team Raleigh GAC
JLT Condor
Great Britain Cycling Team
Cult Energy Pro Cycling
CCC Sprandi Polkowice
Team Rietumu Delfin
AC Sparta Praha
Alpha Baltic
Team 3M
Start - Massi Cycling Team
Roth - Skoda
Team Marseille 13 KTM
Wallonie – Bruxelles0 -
Pross wrote:
Found the teams riding now though. I know it's only a 3rd tier race but it seems a little bit of a poor line up.
Strange how Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne only manages .1 and pulled in 8 World Tour & 13 pro Conti teams. This has no World Tour & only 2 of the weaker pro conti teams and is also a .1. Probably one of the weakest .1 on the Europe Tour
I appreciate it is a new event and hopefully it will develop, but that field is not far off Premier Calender level. Probably the easiest big money pay day and UCI points most of these guys will ever get a chance of claiming.0 -
Yep, that was pretty much my thought too. It's probably a lower level field than the Melton-Rutland Classic. It's a shame as it's a good, challenging circuit and despite my concerns on the road closures it isn't often you get to see racing on fully closed roads in this country. I'd have thought the likes of An Post and Topsport would have been there even if hoping for a WT team or two is a bit too much.0
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Pross wrote:Has anyone seen teams announced for this yet? It looks a really challenging route with over 8,000' of climbing in the 125 mile race including 2 circuits of the Tumble and 3 of Caerphilly Mountain. I can't help feeling it will be chaos on the Caerphilly circuits as they are quite short and the race is likely to be quite broken up by then. I also think it's going to result in a lot of p*ssed off locals given the extent of road closures often from early morning until mid afternoon including many of the A roads in the area, some areas are going to be virtually cut off with the main access roads on both sides being closed for the duration of the sportive and race and other than a few signs in Cardiff I haven't seen any advanced notice signs despite the race covering roads I travel on everyday.
It doesn't appear to be the best organised event I've ever seen and I'm concerned that it might damage the image of the sport given the likely disruption it will cause. The irony is that most of the route would probably have been dealt with safely using rolling closures for the race but they are fully closing the roads to accommodate the sportive. I guess it's similar to Ride London but the difference is that it is taking place on a lot of the main roads serving rural areas.
Pross - totally agree, I live in Newport and am doing the sportive but I know people who live on the route (Underwood estate & Monkswood) who had no idea they'd be locked down for the day. Also local businesses eg Usk Garden Centre, not happy with lack of communication from organisers.
I don't envy the marshals who have to keep Underwood residents at bay :?0 -
Pross wrote:It doesn't appear to be the best organised event I've ever seen and I'm concerned that it might damage the image of the sport given the likely disruption it will cause. The irony is that most of the route would probably have been dealt with safely using rolling closures for the race but they are fully closing the roads to accommodate the sportive. I guess it's similar to Ride London but the difference is that it is taking place on a lot of the main roads serving rural areas.
My father-in-law only got the letter on Friday. They are completely shut-off in Maesycwmmer for the day due to the A472/A469. It's a shame we are busy as it would be good to watch down through there. Little bump cowing up to the Crown before they hammer it down through Maesy towards Caerphilly... Someone's KOM is sure to go on Strava LOL
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This is starting to look like a farce:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-33081862
On a very selfish level, I'm glad to be away from Cardiff this weekend!It's only a bit of sport, Mun. Relax and enjoy the racing.0 -
Farce is being kind, sounds like a total clusterf*ck waiting to happen. Looking at the images there, many roads are shut from 6.15am to 6.15pm which is absolutely ridiculous. Have to wonder how they got the councils and police to agree to it in the first place...This is starting to look like a farce:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-33081862
On a very selfish level, I'm glad to be away from Cardiff this weekend!0 -
It's being backed by Welsh Government so they probably applied pressure. I think they're hoping it will boost tourism and bring in money to the area which it obviously will to an extent but it will be minimal with a percentage of the riders staying in chain hotels in Cardiff on Saturday night and having a meal. Some my bring family who will spend but it's unlikely to boost the economy in the worst affected areas as riders will just cycle the course and get food at the feed stations. The closures will make it next to impossible for people to travel around the route following family and friends and many businesses won't be opening so will lose trade. One pub near me is optimistically advertising 'watch the race with a hot dog'. I don't think they realise that most of the day will just be amateur leisure cyclists traipsing by and that given the pub is at the bottom of a 1:6 descent the race will pass in a blur in seconds.0
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Reading that article a few things spring out. They keep referring to the race when they mean the sportive, I suspect locals would be even less impressed if they realised all this was being done to enable a commercial entity to charge 15,000 amateur cyclists to ride on public roads and also the comment about it showcasing Wales' scenery. If they wanted to do that why is half the route in urbanised valley areas?0
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Pross - have you seen that this is happening again next year, and possibly for the next 4 years after that?0
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Friend of mine did it today. Tacks all over the road near a golf course, due to golfers not being able to get to the course.0
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Friend of mine did it today. Tacks all over the road near a golf course, due to golfers not being able to get to the course.
It was nothing to do with golfers. It was by the Celtic Manor golf course but they still had access. It was some local woman apparently (I live very nearby). Ironically the road they put them on is regularly closed for the numerous major events held at the golf course (most recently a few weeks ago where it was closed from 7am to 8pm for 4 days for a golf tournament) and the closure of that section of road has minimal impact on locals. It was closed for the Nationals last year with no issue. In the end it appears to have gone well other than the one isolated incident so I'm happy to be proven wrong. With luck the organisers will have learned from this year and will improve communication next year, the organisation over the weekend was apparently very good.
If anyone cares the race was won by Mortensen of Cult Racing. Hopefully the race itself will take off going forward, it would be nice to see at least some top quality Pro Conti teams taking part if not a WT team or two (unlikely given the other races taking place at the same time).0 -
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Lots of gruesome injuries from the tac debacle on twitter.
Really? I heard there were no injuries from that but that there were a few nasty (unrelated) crashes as you'd expect in a group of 15,000 riders when many have never learned to ride in a bunch.0 -
Lots of gruesome injuries from the tac debacle on twitter.
Really? I heard there were no injuries from that but that there were a few nasty (unrelated) crashes as you'd expect in a group of 15,000 riders when many have never learned to ride in a bunch.
https://twitter.com/GarethEnticott/status/6101782211376537600 -
Seems the reports got it wrong then! I'm surprised though as the tacks were on an uphill section of road from what I can tell so unless one didn't cause a blow out until the 1:6 descent of Belmont Hill I wouldn't have thought a puncture would cause such a serious crash. Slight over-reaction in one response on that Twitter feed though saying it should be investigated as attempted murder!0
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tacks were indeed on the uphill section near two very big houses with a scowly man in the drive.
I passed two serious looking falls with medics in attendance, first one newport area (one marshal shouting at us to slow down, the next one shouting at us to stop gawking and speed up!).
the other faller was outside of Blaenavon.
There were several people fixing punctures after the tacks.
I was very dismayed at the discarded inner tubes but more so at the gel and bar wrappers all over the road.--
Burls Ti Tourer for Tarmac, Saracen aluminium full suss for trails0 -
Crikey Rick - you could have put a warning on that! Gruesome stuff.<Link to gruesome photo on twitter>0 -
Cant unsee that now...0
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Err, pretty sure I did.Rick Chasey wrote:Lots of gruesome injuries from the tac debacle on twitter.0
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Slight over-reaction in one response on that Twitter feed though saying it should be investigated as attempted murder!
I got taken out by tacks placed by "sabs" in the only road race last year where I was going particularly well. I wouldn't describe the sabs' actions as attempted murder (though watching your front tyre go flat through a high speed corner with most of the field coming past and swearing at you was not much fun!) but if I'd got hold of the f*ckers who put the tacks down then there most likely would have been murder, so red and thick were the "red mists" of competition!0
