Vélo Birmingham

secretsam

Quite fancy this, have friends up that way (Lichfield). Anyone done it?

bigmitch41

We did it last year, nice route and we stayed a couple of nights in Brum, quite a nice city.
We thought the finish of the ride was a bit of an anti climax compared to Ride London, once you crossed the line that was, no after party etc but apart from that it was all good.

cruff

Did it the first year. Was a bit dull tbh, but better route than RideLondon. Not sure what the new route will be like - if it has some more hills it'll be nicer. One thing I took away from it is that road surfaces were generally much better than Lancashire/Cheshire or Surrey/Kent, where I've done most of my riding

ugo.santalucia

cruff said:

Did it the first year. Was a bit dull tbh, but better route than RideLondon. Not sure what the new route will be like - if it has some more hills it'll be nicer. One thing I took away from it is that road surfaces were generally much better than Lancashire/Cheshire or Surrey/Kent, where I've done most of my riding

The old route was actually nice, around Worcestershire, which is anything but flat. The new route is West Mildands plus the flat bits of Warwickshire... there are no climbs and I would be surprised if anyone with a bit of fitness had to use the small ring at all. It's all about the road closures, because the route itself is very average

cruff

Maybe it's just that I'm used to 'hills' in the NW - but I didn't think any of them on the original route I did were anything more than 'lumps'. I did like going through one of the small towns (can't remember the name of it) where it seemed everyone had decided to come out and cheer - great atmosphere

kingrollo

ugo.santalucia said:

cruff said:

Did it the first year. Was a bit dull tbh, but better route than RideLondon. Not sure what the new route will be like - if it has some more hills it'll be nicer. One thing I took away from it is that road surfaces were generally much better than Lancashire/Cheshire or Surrey/Kent, where I've done most of my riding

The old route was actually nice, around Worcestershire, which is anything but flat. The new route is West Mildands plus the flat bits of Warwickshire... there are no climbs and I would be surprised if anyone with a bit of fitness had to use the small ring at all. It's all about the road closures, because the route itself is very average

You mean the old route that you persistently slated on here ? is that the one ?

ugo.santalucia

cruff said:

Maybe it's just that I'm used to 'hills' in the NW - but I didn't think any of them on the original route I did were anything more than 'lumps'. I did like going through one of the small towns (can't remember the name of it) where it seemed everyone had decided to come out and cheer - great atmosphere

Possibly Bewdley?

ugo.santalucia

kingrollo said:

ugo.santalucia said:

cruff said:

Did it the first year. Was a bit dull tbh, but better route than RideLondon. Not sure what the new route will be like - if it has some more hills it'll be nicer. One thing I took away from it is that road surfaces were generally much better than Lancashire/Cheshire or Surrey/Kent, where I've done most of my riding

The old route was actually nice, around Worcestershire, which is anything but flat. The new route is West Mildands plus the flat bits of Warwickshire... there are no climbs and I would be surprised if anyone with a bit of fitness had to use the small ring at all. It's all about the road closures, because the route itself is very average

You mean the old route that you persistently slated on here ? is that the one ?

The route was more picturesque, but it was a nightmare logistically, for residents who don't have the same road network as the other side of Birmingham. In fact, if I recall correctly, some sections were only closed one way and not the counterflow...

The new route is dull but logistically it makes more sense, because there are motorways and dual carriageway that don't need to be closed or marshalled

cruff

ugo.santalucia said:

cruff said:

Maybe it's just that I'm used to 'hills' in the NW - but I didn't think any of them on the original route I did were anything more than 'lumps'. I did like going through one of the small towns (can't remember the name of it) where it seemed everyone had decided to come out and cheer - great atmosphere

Possibly Bewdley?

Might have been - I remember a bridge and a turn onto a narrow street that was lined both sides with folk

ugo.santalucia

cruff said:

ugo.santalucia said:

cruff said:

Maybe it's just that I'm used to 'hills' in the NW - but I didn't think any of them on the original route I did were anything more than 'lumps'. I did like going through one of the small towns (can't remember the name of it) where it seemed everyone had decided to come out and cheer - great atmosphere

Possibly Bewdley?

Might have been - I remember a bridge and a turn onto a narrow street that was lined both sides with folk

Bewdley is a nice little town on the river Severn, so the bridge makes sense. I route my BRUM 200 audax through Bewdley, although this year I swapped it for Kinver.

lettingthedaysgoby

cruff said:

Might have been - I remember a bridge and a turn onto a narrow street that was lined both sides with folk

Yep, that was Bewdley, it was a superb atmosphere, really felt quite special.

I've ridden both Velo events and loved them, I'll be on the start line in June for this years. Closed roads is worth it, whatever the moaners may say.