Tour of Cambridge

step83

Anyone else signed up for this? Meant to be myself an a couple of others from work doing the Fondo this year :?

cruff

Yep - I'm in. Was planning on doing the TT as well, but didn't sign up for that in time and it's sold out now. Mate did it last year - it's almost pan flat and very well organised

step83

Yeah friend of mine want to do the TT but those tickets went very quickly from what I gather. From memory though tends to be a little exposed along with flat so could be a bit harder than it looks on paper.

buzzlightyear1

I'm in. Did it last year as well.

step83

Couple of days away now, rider numbers come through as 3596, shouldn't be hard to miss I'll have a bright orange specialized lid on, may even go with the orange mitts an jersey to go full tango

cruff

Ooh - I'll be in black and orange too but it'll be mainly black with orange bits & pieces. My number is 4435

Apparently parking is an absolute nightmare, so I've decided to stay over the night before.

Forecast looks decent - but it'll be windy on the flat I reckon, so mighr make it interesting with the deeps...

jimmythecuckoo

Number collected

step83

zebulebu wrote:

Ooh - I'll be in black and orange too but it'll be mainly black with orange bits & pieces. My number is 4435

Apparently parking is an absolute nightmare, so I've decided to stay over the night before.

Forecast looks decent - but it'll be windy on the flat I reckon, so mighr make it interesting with the deeps...

Im getting there about six to avoid problems

964cup

I'll be there. Race pen. Cervelo S5 on CXR80s, Muswell Hill Peloton club kit. Chancing my arm and turning up late-ish; parking was fine last time, although this time a) they're charging a fortune and b) they've decreed no riding on site, so I'll be buggering my shoes up, I suppose.

dyrlac

Am here, carb loading with a pint or 2. Number collected. Sport pen. Bon chance everyone.

napoleond

Did the TT today, lumpy, draggy course. Well organised. Think I've just missed out on qualification, but was 211th out of 800 overall but 40-44 very close and competitive.

dyrlac

Left everything on the road (well, less than the chaps who crashed, some badly), but qualified. Loving my new age bracket.

cruff

Dyrlac wrote:

Left everything on the road (well, less than the chaps who crashed, some badly), but qualified. Loving my new age bracket.

Same here. Sometimes it pays to be an old git

Thought the general standard of some of the bunches left a bit to be desired (too much surging when people took a pull, treading on it out of every corner leading to stringing out and some pretty inefficient groups) but didn't see any outright dangerous riding - unlike Paris-Roubaix earlier this year when it was an absolute lottery without even taking the cobbles into account

Nice medal - but can't see myself paying a grand to travel to Oz for the worlds

jimmythecuckoo

NapoleonD wrote:

Did the TT today, lumpy, draggy course. Well organised. Think I've just missed out on qualification, but was 211th out of 800 overall but 40-44 very close and competitive.

Was a great event. Just wished my legs had been better.

on-yer-bike

Chaos. Thought Id come first or there abouts in my age group, Im pretty sure I came first in my 'race'. But some riders started in the wrong pens so they cancelled the podium. Will take them a few days to sort it out, if they ever do. Whether the riders did it on purpose or just couldn't sort their way through the dreadful organisation at the race pens, I dont know.

Jehannum

I'd agree with the previous post. Talking to a bloke who'd been there on Saturday, there was a big map up showing everyone where to queue for their respective gates, but this was missing on Sunday for the Fondo. As a result, there seemed to be just one queue with Sport, Challenge and Leisure riders all mixed up together. After the off, where we all rolled over the start continuously, there were a couple of miles of very wide roads, then it narrowed considerably. At this point, there were slower Leisure riders (doing the 60 mile circuit) riding two abreast (as is their right) being passed by a lot of faster Sport and Challenge riders. Lots of people pulling out/changing their line without shoulder checking and within a few miles of the start a nasty accident needing an ambulance. I think it needed staggering of the starters into their categories and structured queing to the start line.

Apart from that, it was well signed and marshalled, and the feed stops were well catered, though I couldn't find water at the 2nd one and went on without a top up. With no hills there wasn't much rest to be had freewheeling down the other side, and not much shelter from the wind on the very exposed roads in the fens. A good ride, though.

paul2718

The big map was there on Sunday.

The race pens were clearly marked*, I don't know about the sport/challenge/leisure starts.

Paul

*Except that the 55+ groups got directed to wait next to the pens for the sub 50 groups to reuse them. This was unnecessarily confusing.

cruff

I thought the race pens were very well organised. Can't speak about the Leisure or Sport ones, obviously - but with 8000 riders, and a limited amount of time before the roads were scheduled to be opened again, I'm not sure much more could be done. There's always going to be problems when you have faster groups of riders using the same course as slower ones. What impressed me most compared with some other events I've done was the lack of dickish behaviour in general. I didn't see one example of arrogance from faster groups, or one instance of dangerous riding (other than the odd hairy moment on cornering where some people couldn't take or maintain a consistent line). There was even a decent Dynamo rider who I did a bit of twos up with to bridge to the group in front

dyrlac

I was in the big sport pen. Even though I got in the queue at 1100, I was still about 600 riders back, maybe more. Saw lots of non-sport numbers, but most (all?) seemed to be with clubs of mixed classification, so I assume they all decided to start together on the day. This is think is the problem below the race classification, it's a bit too subjective, especially between sport and challenge. Not sure there's a good solution other than to make sure the roads are nice and wide at the outside to allow things to sort themselves out. Even so, I managed my fastest ever 40km in the first hour, so I clearly wasn't held up too much.

On the whole I thought the standard of (solo) riding was reasonably good in terms of line holding, pass calling, etc. I only saw one really dodgy moment (barring the crashes which i didn't see as they happened) about 120km in, when folks were clearly tired. Group riding strategy/communication was (predictably) awful, but what can you reasonably expect? (Wheel)suckers gonna suck. Never did find any rhythm, save once with two other guys as we bridged into the headwind from one group to another for what felt like 15 minutes, but was probably 3.

Good event, would do again. (But not going to Perth for the delight of getting destroyed by the big boys whilst the kids are eaten by sharks at the beach)

step83

I was in the carnage/sport pen. Im calling it that because that ambulance incident at the start I turned into an unwitting participant, marshal blowing his whistle an waving, loads of shouts of stopping an arms going up etc, I clipped out an with one leg after calling stopping an an arm up, seconds later pow smashed off into the hedges thankfully.
Turned out to just be a hit to the back of the knee which bar a lot of pain meant I could carry on.

You were right on the pens was saying to some others about it when I was there we got to the pens just after 11 but as said there were a good 600 odd people waiting already.

I wasnt subtle in my choice of gear, orange lid an mitts with an orange an white Jersey (apologies if I was a douce I did my best to shoulder check)

I tried to average 20mph but that wind was an utter killer, that an no one seemed to want to chaingang with me snagged a group a few miles from the end which really helped saved myself for the last km doing it as a sprint. Managed 5:01 which im going to say isnt bad for a crash an having to keep stopping to stretch my leg out.

oldbazza

"that wind was an utter killer"

It actually wasn't that windy for the fens.

Really enjoyed the closed road experience and 'may' do it again next year.Actually thought there was a lot of people taking a few chances early on obviously chasing a time and there was obviously a wide mix of abilities although things settled down later as abilities seemed to level out.

cruff

I didn't understand the fuss about the wind either. I ride in Lancashire mainly, and it's much windier than that pretty much all the time. Only time I noticed it was a couple of times turning into it in the fens, but even then it was only a matter of the average dropping down a couple of km/h rather than turning into a headwind oop North and having your very soul dragged slowly screaming from your body over the next ten km...

peteb0

I don't think that it was that windy out there on sunday, I've certainly ridden in worse in the fens

I was in the 19-34 race pen, and there were a good number of people up there from higher age brackets, and/or without the 'race' wristband. The race pens were clearly labelled and the map was physically there, and available online and via their email.

Glad to hear that they are trying to take action on those who started ahead of their age categories, it should be pretty straightforward to pick them out from when they rolled over the first timing board. But fundamentally, they shouldn't have been allowed in the incorrect race pen in the first place, or ejected from it during the hour of standing around we all had.

on-yer-bike

There is a growing thread on the ToC FB page about this. Some people think that ToC did a great job and we shouldnt be complaining. However, many people would have trained for this, travelled long distances to participate not to mention paying £68. I know, from looking on Strava, that the person who was fastest my age group started quite a while before me in a different group. His number indicates he should have been the same race pen as me. There are even people who took the short route and qualified.

mpatts

on-yer-bike wrote:

There is a growing thread on the ToC FB page about this. Some people think that ToC did a great job and we shouldnt be complaining. However, many people would have trained for this, travelled long distances to participate not to mention paying £68. I know, from looking on Strava, that the person who was fastest my age group started quite a while before me in a different group. His number indicates he should have been the same race pen as me. There are even people who took the short route and qualified.

this.

It's an utter farce, and the fact the cancelled the podiums is admission of it. Fine as a sportive, but they have cocked the race up.

defride

mpatts wrote:

on-yer-bike wrote:

There is a growing thread on the ToC FB page about this. Some people think that ToC did a great job and we shouldnt be complaining. However, many people would have trained for this, travelled long distances to participate not to mention paying £68. I know, from looking on Strava, that the person who was fastest my age group started quite a while before me in a different group. His number indicates he should have been the same race pen as me. There are even people who took the short route and qualified.

this.

It's an utter farce, and the fact the cancelled the podiums is admission of it. Fine as a sportive, but they have cocked the race up.

Total agreement with this.

The event was sold (expensively) as an officially sanctioned UCI race for those who wished to participate in this part of the event. A sportive, fair enough it's you against the clock but a race is a race.

In our age group the the racing itself was good, worth spending a bit more for closed roads. There was some genuine working together to bring back early breaks and fair do's to the few who did get away in the last 20 miles or so and made it stick. The front of the bunch were pretty aware of those who'd got away. I saw 2 at first and then another 2 went separately and joined them, the 'winner' said after there were in fact 6 up the road a couple of whom he thought had dropped off and were probably swallowed up before the end. How many of them come from our bunch or a group ahead?

I finished toward the front of the bunch sprint and it'd be nice to know if I'd managed a top ten, would be there or there about from those who started in our pen.

Impossible to tell from times, this was a race, you don't start 10-20 seconds or more back over the line at the start, do a little work to get yourself up to the front group then sit on and take the win as you finish in the bunch that went over the line first.

Absurd...

There was a aggregate times over 4 climbs KOM advertised, anyone see any evidence of that?

Absurd...

In any event it seems given the status of the event and prizes on offer the race organization was an utter disaster. Why was there no one checking the eligibility for entering the pens, pretty simple. Can't imagine that writing software or some such to turn on timing chips at a particular time would be very difficult when you have a year to get yourself organized.

To those who started outside your group and took the credit you're cheats and should be dealt with appropriately. This was a UCI event.

All that said as a sportive no complaints (but it wasn't a sportive)

£88 for next year if you decide you want wait and see how your form is over the winter before committing..? given the shambles in the races this year..? a UCI sanctioned monopoly if you want to get to France..?

964cup

Generally it was well done as a closed roads event, I thought. I 'raced' it in the 45-49 so can't comment on the Sport/Leisure carnage. Wasn't in any danger of winning with a (just) sub 4-hr time so also missed the podium kerfuffle, which does sound pretty poor. There was no attempt to verify anything that I could see; when I signed in the chap glanced at my race licence without checking type, validity or asking for ID, and as others said there was no control over access to the race pens either by wrist band or age group.

I thought the chap "explaining" which pen to start in made it needlessly overcomplicated and the pen signage was terrible - impossible to see once enough riders congregated in front of it. Why they feel the need to make us stand around for an hour I still don't understand - with no access to water except what we have on the bike (and it's not as if we're going to stop at a feed station if we're racing, is it?) and nowhere to sit or stretch - makes warming up beforehand entirely pointless. Last year it was blazing hot and we dehydrated; this year it was chilly and we froze - I was glad of some light arm warmers and a gilet in the pen, even if it meant bulging pockets afterwards - the chaps next to me were shivering.

Passed a number of nasty looking rider-down incidents, but saw no untoward riding myself. Agree that the group discipline was terrible - both the surging out of corners and hopeless pace control on the front leading to concertina braking. I did some work on the front but it was often hard to get up there in the first place, and then either no-one would take over or they'd blast past and splinter the group.

Bit disappointed by the pricing - I would like to do it next year, and qualify for France, but have to wait for a possible back operation first, so will have to suck up the inflated price. I oddly enjoyed being humiliated in Denmark but also don't fancy spending fortunes to go to Australia in term time to be similarly thrashed. I did think it was a bit dull that it took them until long past 17:00 to tell me to collect my qualifier's medal, by which time I was well on the way home, but I have last year's I suppose. Does anyone know if they're offering to send medals out to people who'd already left?

cycleclinic

I was in the race and it was fairly fast. Managed 3hrs 27mins and stayed at the front of the group i was in from the start unfortunatley the one time i slid back is where the group split so i was in the wrong half of the group and stayed at the front of that then. Riding pretty good all round better than most races i ride in. Having the closed roads helps alot.

The "poor group disipline" should be nothing knew to those who race. Surging is what i experience week in week out however the trick is to be at the front there is less surging there. The braking wave is unavoidable in big groups when you ride so close to each other. There are always moans about this but the alternative is to ride into the rider in front sometimes. Other times it is panic braking but this is why you have to be on the ball and have eyes everywhere. It happens even to the pro's.

I enjoyed it but they will learn for next year. The pens do need to be better policed but i dont think any of the issues spoiled what was a very nice ride.

step83

I didn't see anyone telling people to go to which pen. It was a joke though leaving us in the pens so long so many people dived off to some trees on the left of the race pen.

Group discipline wasn't good but never is in these mass events I tried a number of times to hook into a chain gang only to be spat out rapidly either because their speed changed or from braking an surging.

I'd say it's an experience but not one I plan to do again, the "offer price" is what I paid for this year an the organisation an the pen issues put a dampener on it for me.

on-yer-bike

I have looked on Strava flybys and can see the fastest in my age group, he was also in the 'race' community, started 12 minutes before me in a younger group. His chip time is 14 minutes faster than mine very likely helped by riding in a younger group.
Chip time is one thing, racing is another. In a race you go as fast as you need to, chip time is as fast as you can.

paul2718

There's an email this morning and an FB post last night explaining what they intend to do.

I think there will be a validated race result for the races, based on 'gun time' and first over the finish for each age group, this will exclude those who jumped the start. Worlds qualification remains based on chip time from all communities. As explained in the race book.

Next year the timing system needs to handle the chip time as now, and also manage a gating against age group/start time for those who actually start the race as appropriate. Then you get two results, a chip time and a race position. The qualification texts need to go out in real time as riders finish and your chip time position is confirmed as being top 25%.

Should be straightforward.

Paul