Alternative to Ride London

Yost

I did Ride London last year and I am in the ballot for this year, however assuming I don't get a place, I wondered if anyone could recommend an alternative of similar distance/challenge. I can and will do local ones of course (Suffolk) but looking to do one which would be an 'event', I.e. a weekend away.
I did Ride London in 5h20, my first century, and found it reasonably comfortable. I like the look of the Sodbury Sportive but wondered whether it might be a bit lumpy for me.
Anyway, any suggestions would be appreciated.

meanredspider

It depends what you want from a ride/weekend. There's a great atmosphere at Etape Caledonia because Pitlochry basically gets taken over by cyclists for the weekend. It's a bit of a trip but fantastic scenery and Scottish hospitality (I'm an ex-pat Englishman BTW).
I did Tour of Cambridgeshire this year with my bro which was quite nice - if a bit flat and not especially scenic and certainly didn't have the atmosphere of Etape Caledonia.

But there are literally hundreds of others.

phreak

Does it need to be in Britain? There are a load of fantastic events in Europe that offer the duel benefit of being fantastic events plus incredible routes, whether that's the mountains or the classics style events in northern Europe.

northcliff66

Mallorca 167.

kingstonian

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19770718#p19770718]meanredspider[/url] wrote:

It depends what you want from a ride/weekend. There's a great atmosphere at Etape Caledonia because Pitlochry basically gets taken over by cyclists for the weekend. It's a bit of a trip but fantastic scenery and Scottish hospitality (I'm an ex-pat Englishman BTW).
I did Tour of Cambridgeshire this year with my bro which was quite nice - if a bit flat and not especially scenic and certainly didn't have the atmosphere of Etape Caledonia.

But there are literally hundreds of others.

Tour of Cambridgeshire is a decent shout no I always like a closed road event. Hardest thing about it was the bloody headwind last year. As the course is pretty flat you could really blast around it and you can race if you want. Location is easy to get to - the start is 1 minute from the A1 or if you don't have a car the train route to Pboro is very good.

But it does really depend on what you want - closed or open road, what terrain etc

Yost

Thanks for comments. I would prefer UK due to cost, family etc. Tour of Cambs could be a good one. It doesn't necessarily have to be closed road though, and I don't mind trying hills although Ride London is the most hilly I have done to date, and I appreciate that relatively that wasn't too hilly. I just thought I would see if anyone else has had any particularly good experiences.

topcattim

You could try Tour of Wessex. It's a lot hillier than Ride London, but as an experience, it's great. Nice atmosphere in the start village, and it's certainly a (long) weekend of entertainment.