Velothon Wales 2016

Anonymous

I am chilled, was not that bothered about rain.

I am riding it like a Sportive this year so might get wet

Night all (am I the last one up?) see you in the morning

gethinceri

I've got 2/3 pf a bottle of red to finish then bed. Start time 08.00

bendertherobot

The rain was unwelcome, but not too much. Dried out nicely. Hopefully the car driver who entered the course with his chav 206 and mate will be shot.

Other than that, it was pretty epic really.

Dorset_Boy

Fast again to the bottom of the Tumble (39.6 kmh), then the rain climbing was OK, but not so much fun on the descent and for the next 30 kms.
Day finished with me snapping my rear mech after high fiving some kids 6 kms from the finish. Scooted the rest of the way home for an official time of 4:19. Would have been sub 4 hrs otherwise...

Easy to collect entry, easy to get to the pens, and again closed roads make for a fast & enjoyable day, plus not tacks to contend with this year.

My better half heard someone hit a central bollard and sappped their bike in two!

gethinceri

Plenty of accidents & injuries to be seen but generally a great ride.
Far too expensive though, <£30.00 would be more appropriate.

Anonymous

Had a good day (apart from rain) riding with my buddies this year.
Later Start and doing it slower worked out well with the rain actually as it was nice for the Tumble climb and decent.

Burnt out a bit with enthusiastic start last year so enjoyed the climbs much more.

Am going to race round with wife next year and go for a good time.

Can you thank the people of Wales for their hospitality Gethinceri

Edit:
I have always felt its pricey (my main problem is that organizers seem greedy) but its a hell of a lot of organization, so not sure £30 would cover it.
I guess the big difference is that its not really a charity Gig. so it is going to be more expensive than say RideLondon.

My mates certainly noticed a big difference to the non closed road sportives they have done to date.

ugo.santalucia

The Tumble is a decent climb for British standards... one of the not so many > 20 minute ones. Did you do the Gospel pass?

Anonymous

Not done that.
The only longer steep climbs I have done are in Spain.

I am not quick climbing, but find it very satisfying and look forward to the challenge.

kingstongraham

Gethinceri wrote:

Plenty of accidents & injuries to be seen but generally a great ride.
Far too expensive though, <£30.00 would be more appropriate.

I think your expectations for £30 are way too high. The level of organisation needed for this must be massive, and they did it brilliantly. There's a reason there are only a few closed road events here - I think the price is fair.

It's owned by Ironman TM now, so any idea that the price will be coming down is exactly in the wrong direction.

Four and a half hours for me - loved it. Shame about the rain, but didn't ruin the day at all. The good news is that Caerphilly mountain was shorter than last year... at least it felt that way to me.

ugo.santalucia

Carbonator wrote:

Not done that.
The only longer steep climbs I have done are in Spain.

I am not quick climbing, but find it very satisfying and look forward to the challenge.

I very much recommend you do one of the sportives in the Norf then... eith the Etape du Dales or the Fred Whitton... climbs are more challenging

cougie

You do have to pay a premium to get closed roads.
I just worry that the people moaning about Road closures will kill this off.

dish_dash

Was a cracking ride. The closed roads make such a difference. The ability to swing through corners without worrying about having to slow and check is an experience that I'm quite happy to pay for. Didn't stop at any feeds so no comments there, but the start and finish organisation was good. And don't forget they have more than just the sportive on, there was the men's pro race after us, but also on Saturday there were several rounds of youth/junior racing around city hall. So if some of the sportive money helps subsidise that I'm happy.

Rain going up the tumble made that cattle grid lethal, very nearly came a cropper!

Spartacus1981

Good event. Enjoyed the ride a great deal. Just over 04:20 odd. Gave it some beans.

bendertherobot

dish_dash wrote:

Was a cracking ride. The closed roads make such a difference. The ability to swing through corners without worrying about having to slow and check is an experience that I'm quite happy to pay for. Didn't stop at any feeds so no comments there, but the start and finish organisation was good. And don't forget they have more than just the sportive on, there was the men's pro race after us, but also on Saturday there were several rounds of youth/junior racing around city hall. So if some of the sportive money helps subsidise that I'm happy.

Rain going up the tumble made that cattle grid lethal, very nearly came a cropper!

Yeah, I lost traction there.

RE the whingeing. I don't think that they're representative. The people who were out yesterday were. They were stars. I have a good feeling that it will be embraced more and more.

dish_dash

Also, while crowds weren't at Yorkshire levels I was pleasantly surprised at the level of local support out on the roads. Never ceases to amaze me that there are people standing in the rain cheering sportive riders go past. Some local enthusiasm building despite the road closures I hope.

Chapeau to the 6-yr old girl out with her family who shouted "go girl power" as my other half went past!

fenix

I do think in general that people support events like this - we had one in North Wales and the houses it passed mainly came out to cheer or at least watch the riders go by - but the moaners are always louder, and last years didn't get closed roads.

It only takes a few empty vessels to make a lot of noise.

wandsworth

bendertherobot wrote:

dish_dash wrote:

Was a cracking ride. The closed roads make such a difference. The ability to swing through corners without worrying about having to slow and check is an experience that I'm quite happy to pay for. Didn't stop at any feeds so no comments there, but the start and finish organisation was good. And don't forget they have more than just the sportive on, there was the men's pro race after us, but also on Saturday there were several rounds of youth/junior racing around city hall. So if some of the sportive money helps subsidise that I'm happy.

Rain going up the tumble made that cattle grid lethal, very nearly came a cropper!

Yeah, I lost traction there.

RE the whingeing. I don't think that they're representative. The people who were out yesterday were. They were stars. I have a good feeling that it will be embraced more and more.

I agree about the crowds. They were great, and the vibe in the towns and villages was really good. It was good last year, but seemed even better this year.

I thought the whole thing was well run. I didn't stop at the feed stations, but start and finish organisation was good, and the volunteers were great as well.

dish_dash is right about the cattle grid ... got a bit of wheelspin going over it :shock:

Official time of about 5 hrs - comparing my segment times with last year, I think things slowed down a lot during the middle bit when the rain tipped down ... (that's my story anyway)

Dorset_Boy

I think those moaning about the entry fee don't have a clue about the costs involved in holding a closed road event.

A big thank you to all the volunteers who help put the event on and to all those people on the roadside giving encouragement, and finally to the kind household that went and found some zip ties to enable me to keep my broken rear mech out of my wheel enabling me to scoot home to the finish.

Velo251

Does anyone know where I an find any rider photos?
Can't seem to find them anywhere :-(

dish_dash

Photos will be up here: https://marathon-photos.com/scripts/reg ... on%20Wales

But they aren't out yet and are instead asking for an email address to notify. Looks like it takes them a couple of days to get them uploaded (judging by other events on their website).

Anonymous

I can see that closed roads can be a pain for locals, especially businesses, but I hope that many enjoyed it, even if they do not like cycling.

Given enough notice it should mean that you can plan something nice, even if its a day out!

taon24

To be honest I was a bit disappointed with the event, I had done the etape caledonia before and a couple of smaller local sportives:
It is expensive, but in line with the other closed road sportives/gran fondos.
Good information about the event as expected.
Cardiff is much more accessible than Scotland, but a bit less convenient than London or Cambridge would be.
The registration and start was well organised.
There wasn't a big party atmosphere around the registration that I got from Pitlochry when I did the Etape Caledonia in 2014 and '15
The course was OK. The first 80k are pretty flat with only a couple of lumps, but the industrial landscape meant it wasn't exactly picturesque for the first 40k, although it was pretty around the between Celtic Manor and Abergavenny.
Had to stop for the car on the course, but know that was beyond the organisers control, won't hold it against them and I do really enjoy the closed roads, though near the back of the course I was worried by riders unused to group riding who weren't holding towards the edge to allow faster riders past and weren't holding a line through corners.
All the feed station were a mess. I know not everyone stops, But how anyone thought that 4 toilets and two gazebos with food could provide for ~9000 people is beyond me, especially as people have started between 7am and 9am and there hasn't been any real climbs to spread out people before the first. There were no bins available away from where the food was being given out, which meant loads of rubbish was dumped around the park, as the gazebos were a battle to get to.
The climb was the main challenge, and a large part of the attraction, but there was no official timing, which given the scale of the event would not have been that difficult to organise.
I was towards the back at the second feed station, but was disappointed at the choice of food: oranges, bananas and fig rolls, along with the gels and electrolytes were fairly standard, but i wasn't impressed by the crisp thins and wanted something like flapjack with more dense carbohydrates and a bit of fat.
I know that the route is followed by the pro peleton, and that alters which roads can be used, but i wasn't exactly a fan of the twin peaks of the A472 dual carriageway as a route between the Tumble and Caerphilly.
The finish was well organised, as was the bag drop.
The supporters were great, it is always fun to have people cheering along the roadsides.

Would I do it again? Maybe. This time I did it with a group at social pace and I probably wouldn't do it unless I was aiming for a challenging time. I didn't come back with the love of the event I got from the etape caledonia, which would be my preferred of the two events.

gethinceri

Maybe I live too close for it to feel like it's worth £60.00
I'm glad you all enjoyed, typical Welsh weather mind!

dish_dash

photos are up https://marathon-photos.com/scripts/hom ... plate=MPX2

ugo.santalucia

taon24 wrote:

To be honest I was a bit disappointed with the event, I had done the etape caledonia before and a couple of smaller local sportives:
It is expensive, but in line with the other closed road sportives/gran fondos.
Good information about the event as expected.
Cardiff is much more accessible than Scotland, but a bit less convenient than London or Cambridge would be.
The registration and start was well organised.
There wasn't a big party atmosphere around the registration that I got from Pitlochry when I did the Etape Caledonia in 2014 and '15
The course was OK. The first 80k are pretty flat with only a couple of lumps, but the industrial landscape meant it wasn't exactly picturesque for the first 40k, although it was pretty around the between Celtic Manor and Abergavenny.
Had to stop for the car on the course, but know that was beyond the organisers control, won't hold it against them and I do really enjoy the closed roads, though near the back of the course I was worried by riders unused to group riding who weren't holding towards the edge to allow faster riders past and weren't holding a line through corners.
All the feed station were a mess. I know not everyone stops, But how anyone thought that 4 toilets and two gazebos with food could provide for ~9000 people is beyond me, especially as people have started between 7am and 9am and there hasn't been any real climbs to spread out people before the first. There were no bins available away from where the food was being given out, which meant loads of rubbish was dumped around the park, as the gazebos were a battle to get to.
The climb was the main challenge, and a large part of the attraction, but there was no official timing, which given the scale of the event would not have been that difficult to organise.
I was towards the back at the second feed station, but was disappointed at the choice of food: oranges, bananas and fig rolls, along with the gels and electrolytes were fairly standard, but i wasn't impressed by the crisp thins and wanted something like flapjack with more dense carbohydrates and a bit of fat.
I know that the route is followed by the pro peloton, and that alters which roads can be used, but i wasn't exactly a fan of the twin peaks of the A472 dual carriageway as a route between the Tumble and Caerphilly.
The finish was well organised, as was the bag drop.
The supporters were great, it is always fun to have people cheering along the roadsides.

Would I do it again? Maybe. This time I did it with a group at social pace and I probably wouldn't do it unless I was aiming for a challenging time. I didn't come back with the love of the event I got from the etape caledonia, which would be my preferred of the two events.

If you want something pretty and scenic, then avoid large events... there's only so many riders you can fit on pitoreque country lanes. As big rides go, I have done the Dragon Ride and the Tour of Flanders and both are disappointing in different ways... I have also done smaller rides up to 2-3000 entrants which are simply stunning and run like clockworks. If you like Wales I recommend the Autumn Epic... small event, stunning roads, small entry fee. If you want something more challening, look no further than the Fred Whitton, the best sportive in the country from all points of view

JSS

Rode it for the second time and really enjoyed it, although did get quite damp. And was slower than last year, irritatingly. Wrote a ride report here:

http://www.sportive.com/cycling-reports ... osed-roads

jezzpalmer

JSS wrote:

Rode it for the second time and really enjoyed it, although did get quite damp. And was slower than last year, irritatingly. Wrote a ride report here:

http://www.sportive.com/cycling-reports ... osed-roads

It was a over mile longer than last year so you were probably quicker in terms of average speed.

I've done both and have enjoyed both, the first probably moreso purely as closed roads was a new exciting thing to me then; and it didn't rain.
I need to get into an earlier wave next year though as was too congested on the hills and some of the lanes this year.

Some of the organisation irks me a bit, but to be fair on the day it all went well. I didn't stop so can't really comment on the feed stations; but I imagine they were a bit of a 'mare.

TheWasher

Really enjoy the closed roads - did the velothon last year and loved the experience. The feed stations seem to have gone downhill this year. Gone are the welsh cakes and also the volume of food. We stopped at the first feed station only to find that the fig rolls had run out - we left reasonably early (7.54) and covered the first 60Km in less than 2 hrs so it was still early when we got there. All that was left was bananas and crisps.... Did't bother with food stops after this one. Because of the rain decided to enjoy the rest of the day and be safe than sorry.
Will think carefully before committing myself to next year.

taon24

ugo.santalucia wrote:

If you want something pretty and scenic, then avoid large events... there's only so many riders you can fit on pitoreque country lanes. As big rides go, I have done the Dragon Ride and the Tour of Flanders and both are disappointing in different ways... I have also done smaller rides up to 2-3000 entrants which are simply stunning and run like clockworks. If you like Wales I recommend the Autumn Epic... small event, stunning roads, small entry fee. If you want something more challening, look no further than the Fred Whitton, the best sportive in the country from all points of view

The Etape Caledonia is closed roads, and pretty and scenic. It is a smaller number (~5000) compared to the velothon, but I'd still call it a large events.
I've looked at the Fred, would be interested to do it one day. I'll have a look at the other sportives, thanks.

Spartacus1981

Although I say it was a good event, I realise I may be blinkered after getting free entries 2 years on the bounce. I think I'd actually be disappointed if I paid for it as a route, and the feed stations and toilet facilities were as crap as last year. Fred Whitton feed stations on the other hand were excellent.