Tour of Wessex - any tips?

ManOfKent

The Tour of Wessex is this weekend and despite a good number of miles in the bank this year, I feel slightly daunted. I'm aiming to do the longer version of all three stages but not convinced either my legs or my mind are quite up to it.

I will be staying at a Travelodge a few miles away and am currently trying to work out how to get enough decent food in me to survive three days.

Any hints, tips or advice to help me enjoy the experience (the ride, not the Travelodge )?

petegraaf

Have only done it once last year (all three days though) so my advice would be:

1. Download the GPS route and load up to your Garmin. Route marking was generally good but a few signs had been removed / repointed which caused some very unwelcome detours on a couple of occasions.

2. Pace yourself on day one, a lot of people will only do the first day and it will be the fast at the front of the groups. Make sure you save enough for days two and three.

3. Keep hydrated and eating throughout days one and two especially, during the ride and afterwards. Normally on one day events it doesn't matter if you haven't recovered by the next day but you will feel it over a 3 day event.

4. On the same note I'd avoid caffeine gels on day one and possibly day two as well to ensure you get a good night's sleep.

5. Might be too late to change this but I would fit some low gears to manage the climbing as your legs fatigue. 34 / 28 is a good combination for the climbing involved.

6. These are long days in the saddle so make sure you climb at or under threshold. I often see people blasting up the hills and then crawling on the flat. If you don't go too much into the red while climbing you will save far more time overall.

7. Bear in mind the "medal" times on the TOW (Gold, Silver etc.) seem to be quite a bit harder than on other sportives so may be worth assessing whether target times are realistic for you personally and pacing accordingly rather than chasing a Gold time on Day 1 and suffering on Days 2 & 3.

Hope that helps

DeVlaeminck

As with any sportive if you want to get round quickly stick with groups even if it means going a bit harder on the hills than you'd like.

ManOfKent

Thanks for the advice, most of which I tried to follow. My pacing and nutrition strategies seemed to be OK and my dodgy knee held up, with the aid of some ice on Saturday evening and a cautious bail-out to the short route on Monday. I only got to the 34x27 once, too.

I found Saturday very tough mentally for all sorts of reasons but the other two days were much better. Finding the right group makes such a difference and Monday morning, 20-odd miles in a multi-coloured peloton of 50-80, will be among my enduring memories. Add in lovely scenery, well-paved roads, decent weather and good organisation... only the Bank Holiday weekend traffic was a serious fly in the ointment.

All in all, what a great event!