Velo Birmingham 2017

prhymeate

100 miles, closed roads, 15,000 riders. Pre Registration opened today. I don't live in the area so I'm not sure if I'll register but I thought it might be of interest.

http://www.velobirmingham.com/

ugo.santalucia

I do live in the area, but I really can't face sharing the road with another 15,000 cyclists... I'd rather share it with the weekend traffic, to be honest... less dangerous

narbs

15000 riders is far, far too many. Mind you, as one of the advertised benefits is a fleet of

'domestiques riding alongside you, offering gels, mechanical support, top tips and lots of banter!'

perhaps I'm not in their target audience.

fenix

Will they get 15k cyclists though ? What does London get ?

I bet the route is quite nice - any mahoosive hills ?

ugo.santalucia

Fenix wrote:

Will they get 15k cyclists though ? What does London get ?

I bet the route is quite nice - any mahoosive hills ?

25 K or so.

No massive hills, they don' go deep enough into Shropshire.

The profile seems to suggest Birmingham is at 600 feet elevation... which I'm prety sure it's bollox

cafestopper

There are prizes for "fastest team" - hardly a sportive then!

wongataa

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Fenix wrote:

The profile seems to suggest Birmingham is at 600 feet elevation... which I'm prety sure it's bollox

I live in Erdington (Between the Spaghetti Jucntion and Sutton Coldfield). My house is at an elevation of 120 metres. Central Birmingham won't be spectacularly off from that so 600 feet is wrong.

carbonclem

Seems odd they aren't releasing the prices? Build up the hype and then hope people rush to sign up and don't notice the cost?

I fancy it, I live close enough to make it not too much of a logistical nightmare and I like to do one big sportive a year.

DeVlaeminck

I fancy it, the logistics put me off ride london but this shouldn't require an overnight stay.

ugo.santalucia

I'm not even sure about the concept of signing up for a ride around Birmingham, probably at a significant cost,12 months in advance... people must be pretty desperate

fenix

YEah but its not just Birmingham is it - LOVELY country surrounding it.

100miles buys you plenty of nice places.

ugo.santalucia

Fenix wrote:

YEah but its not just Birmingham is it - LOVELY country surrounding it.

100miles buys you plenty of nice places.

I happen to live round here... the cotswolds are worth paying a bit of money, they are pitoresque, the rest of the countryside is nice, it's not spectacular. For spectacular you have to get more into Shropshire or Wales. People enter the Ride London because of London, not because of Surrey, I doubt people will enter the Ride Birmingham because of Birmingham. I doubt it will sell out.

That said, it's a welcome event, there aren't many round here...

kingrollo

A bit of inside info - the entry fee is mind boggling £75.... with min sponsorship £100 - if youre early - late entries have to raise £400...

I live quite near part of the route - any ideas what hill the KOM is ? - could be romsley ? - surley its not winwood heath ?

Im really tempted £75 is serious cash - but nothing to what we waste on gadgets, clothing, upgrades which we all know influence our performance very little

kingrollo

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Fenix wrote:

YEah but its not just Birmingham is it - LOVELY country surrounding it.

100miles buys you plenty of nice places.

I happen to live round here... the cotswolds are worth paying a bit of money, they are pitoresque, the rest of the countryside is nice, it's not spectacular. For spectacular you have to get more into Shropshire or Wales. People enter the Ride London because of London, not because of Surrey, I doubt people will enter the Ride Birmingham because of Birmingham. I doubt it will sell out.

That said, it's a welcome event, there aren't many round here...

To be honest its part of council sponsored programme to increase cycling in Brum. I hoped they haven't overcooked the price - wouldn't be good for us commuting brummies if only 400 riders turned up !

ugo.santalucia

kingrollo wrote:

A bit of inside info - the entry fee is mind boggling £75.... with min sponsorship £100 - if youre early - late entries have to raise £400...

I live quite near part of the route - any ideas what hill the KOM is ? - could be romsley ? - surley its not winwood heath ?

Im really tempted £75 is serious cash - but nothing to what we waste on gadgets, clothing, upgrades which we all know influence our performance very little

It's in line with the market for a closed roads event

Looks like this to me

https://www.strava.com/segments/735391

kingrollo

ugo.santalucia wrote:

kingrollo wrote:

A bit of inside info - the entry fee is mind boggling £75.... with min sponsorship £100 - if youre early - late entries have to raise £400...

I live quite near part of the route - any ideas what hill the KOM is ? - could be romsley ? - surley its not winwood heath ?

Im really tempted £75 is serious cash - but nothing to what we waste on gadgets, clothing, upgrades which we all know influence our performance very little

It's in line with the market for a closed roads event

Looks like this to me

https://www.strava.com/segments/735391

I know that climb - not so bad - not sure what it would be like with 85 miles in youre legs !

ugo.santalucia

kingrollo wrote:

I know that climb - not so bad - not sure what it would be like with 85 miles in youre legs !

Like you have to use the 19 T sprocket instead of the 17 T

I did my fastest ever climb of Dovers hill after 60 miles and 1500 mt of climbing... fastest climb of Salters Lane just after doing Bushcombe lane... it doesn't really make a lot of difference

DeVlaeminck

Not sure about the minimum sponsorship bit - to me that makes the entry £175 which is too rich. For £75 I'd be interested though I was rather hoping for a more challenging route - I don't expect the Alps round Birmingham but if the set piece climb is 2km at 5% this is clearly going to be a sub 5 hour smash round in a group.

Philip Whiteman

If you don't fancy the price and want a challenging ride the try this:

The Kidderminster Killer. 22nd July 2017. Belbroughton to Montgomeryshire and back via the Stretton Hills. 215km with 3,750m of ascent. Not 15,000 cyclists but 120. £8 to enter

http://www.beaconrcc.org.uk/audax/kille ... iller.html

fuel2000

Philip Whiteman wrote:

If you don't fancy the price and want a challenging ride the try this:

The Kidderminster Killer. 22nd July 2017. Belbroughton to Montgomeryshire and back via the Stretton Hills. 215km with 3,750m of ascent. Not 15,000 cyclists but 120. £8 to enter

http://www.beaconrcc.org.uk/audax/kille ... iller.html

There's a lot of cake as well! the Kidderminster Killer is a wonderful route through along some very quite country side.

carbonclem

kingrollo wrote:

A bit of inside info - the entry fee is mind boggling £75.... with min sponsorship £100 - if youre early - late entries have to raise £400...

I live quite near part of the route - any ideas what hill the KOM is ? - could be romsley ? - surley its not winwood heath ?

Im really tempted £75 is serious cash - but nothing to what we waste on gadgets, clothing, upgrades which we all know influence our performance very little

So you 'have' to raise some money for charity to just enter? Seems strange, and they ought to be announcing this sort of detail ahead of Thursday really.
Is that £75 the standard price or the fast track entry with the benefits do you know?

capt_slog

That does sound like a high price to me, but as kigrollo says, it's not a lot compared to most cycling stuff (quite a bit compared to mine though I'll admit :roll: )

I can afford that but less happy about the sponsorship. I hate asking folks for money, so I'd end up paying for myself either directly or via Mrs Slog.

I'm interested though, a lot closer to me than London.


(BTW, what's with the thread order/times in this bit of the forum? Is it just me or my settings that has things not listed 'newest first'?)

kingrollo

Sorry folks I may have the entry price wrong (£75) - that was the deal if you enter for a particular charity.

I assume you can pay and ride and not raise anything for charity - some charities have the entry fee as low as £40 - but with £400 sponsorship.....

Apologies for the duff info !

ajh18

15,000 riders is pretty ambitious of the organisers - going to take some work to attract those sort of numbers to Birmingham in late September, if I was them I'd price it more around the £40 to £55 mark. Wish them luck though, wouldn't do cycling in the city any favours if it's not seen to be a success.

Been a few years since I've spent much time there, but it did always seem a pretty car-centric place.

ugo.santalucia

Capt Slog wrote:

I can afford that but less happy about the sponsorship. I hate asking folks for money, so I'd end up paying for myself either directly or via Mrs Slog.

I know... I think many do. The format is tired... if you work in an office, you'll be surrounded by people that run a mile or a marathon and they all want money... frankly we are all desensitised... it's time organisers find a new way to fund charities

rank_amateur

Normal entry is £75+ booking fee, fast track entry is.....£115+ booking fee. I chose normal!

wongataa

I'm not entering. Those prices are way too high. How can they justify them? Ride London 100 is cheaper.

rank_amateur

wongataa wrote:

I'm not entering. Those prices are way too high. How can they justify them? Ride London 100 is cheaper.

I can't imagine what's involved in closing a hundred miles of roads but that's mainly what I'm paying £75 for. It'll be a novelty and something to aim for. I've tried every year to get into the RL and not managed it yet.

wongataa

Rank_amateur wrote:

wongataa wrote:

I'm not entering. Those prices are way too high. How can they justify them? Ride London 100 is cheaper.

I can't imagine what's involved in closing a hundred miles of roads but that's mainly what I'm paying £75 for. It'll be a novelty and something to aim for. I've tried every year to get into the RL and not managed it yet.

Of course there are costs that need to be paid but RL can do it for less. If it was a similar price I would be interested.

carbonclem

Rank_amateur wrote:

Normal entry is £75+ booking fee, fast track entry is.....£115+ booking fee. I chose normal!

Realistically the additional £40 for fast track would offset the costs of parking and a trip on Saturday to register, or an overnight stay.

I'm still baulking at the cost though ... how come you have had sight of this? no-one else seems to know. The charity places are £40 with a £400 sponsorship pledge.

rank_amateur

CarbonClem wrote:

Rank_amateur wrote:

Normal entry is £75+ booking fee, fast track entry is.....£115+ booking fee. I chose normal!

Realistically the additional £40 for fast track would offset the costs of parking and a trip on Saturday to register, or an overnight stay.

I'm still baulking at the cost though ... how come you have had sight of this? no-one else seems to know. The charity places are £40 with a £400 sponsorship pledge.

Yeah the fast track is fine if you live out of the area, I don't so I just chose the normal.

I entered this morning via British Cycling. If you're a member you'll have had an email a week or so ago with a link to pre-register for entry today. They sent me an email this morning, I clicked the link, entered, boom.