Burgess Hill Cyclosportives 2009

SRS Events
SRS Events Posts: 264
BURGESS HILL CYCLOSPORTIVES 2009

The Burgess Hill Cyclosportives website is now on-line
There are two events for 2009, they are The Burgess Hill Springtime Cyclosportive 15/03/09 and The Burgess Hill "Rumble" Cyclosportive 30/08/09
All the rides are raising money for the Sussex Heart Charity

THE BURGESS HILL SPRINGTIME CYCLOSPORTIVE 15/03/09

The Springtime Classic Cyclosportive 71 miles
The Spring Challenge Ride 53 miles
The Spring Tour Ride 35 miles


THE BURGESS HILL "RUMBLE" CYCLOSPORTIVE 30/08/09

The Classic Cyclosportive 95miles
The Challenge Ride 65 miles
The Tour Ride 43 miles
The Kermesse Ride 20 miles

For Further details go to the website
http://www.srs-events.cc

Comments

  • well i'm going for the 53 mile. anyone else fancy it?
  • SRS EVENTS
    BURGESS HILL CYCLOSPORTIVES
    http://www.srs-events.cc

    15/03/09 Burgess Hill Springtime Classic Cyclosportive.

    30/08/09 Burgess Hill Rumble Cyclosportive


    This years events are going to be timed by SPORTident. http://www.sportident.co.uk/

    If you are thinking of entering let us know what you would like to eat while at our feed stops.
    We are taking suggestions for types of food. This year we have booked villages halls as feed stations to make things a bit more comfortable for riders who aren't in a hurry and who want to sit down and chat at each feed station.
    visit our facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brighton- ... 3427483032
  • With a view of starting Road Racing next year after a 10 year layoff I have decided to do some cyclosportives to get myself fit. I also have ambitions to enter the Burgess Hill Rumble in August next year after coming across the event this year by accident.and although everybody looked a bit wet and warn out it looked like a good event to do. Looking at their website I see that there is also an event in March as well .
    As it stands my training is going well and I am already doing 50 mile rides at an average of 14mph on my own although on relative flat roads. I don't live close enough to do a recce of the course so could someone who lives local or who has ridden the course before let me know how hilly it really is? I ask because although I am going reasonably well on the flat, I am 3 stone over weight so struggle on the hills. I have seen that Kidds Hill climb which looks hard but I think I could cope with it although I don't know about any of the other hills. what are they like?

    I want to do the 95 mile Rumble in August 09 and hope to be on form for that with 8 months of cycling in my legs but with the March Springtime Classic event in mind on the 15/03/09 I am not sure if I should do the Challenge ride at 53 miles or the main ride at 70 odd miles. :shock: JUST HOW HILLY IS IT???

    oh also do you have to be a member of a club to enter cyclosportives and have a licence ? is insurance an issue?

    oh if the organiser is looking at this are you offering freebies like you did last year?
    and what was the fastest times for the rides this year?
  • i shall be doing a reccy of the course so i shall let you know, only going for the 53 and not the full ride though
  • looking forward to these, doing the Springtime classic and the Classic rumble.
  • SRS Events
    SRS Events Posts: 264
    edited December 2008
    Hi
    sorry its taken me so long to reply but I am in Wiltshire looking at routes for a cycling event we are going to be organising in 2010, more about that another time.

    Coventry Eagle, (CE)
    A ten year lay off from racing --- I know the feeling ! Having an event like a cyclosportive is a good idea to keep you focused. The first thing to remember is that Cyclosportives are not races so you don't need a licence. It is recommended though joining the Everyday cycling http://www.everydaycycling.com/edc/v2/membership.aspx as this gives you a bit of protection should you have an accident. Also if you haven't already checked out the http://www.cyclosport.org/ they off a form of insurance as well I think.

    As for how hilly the Springtime Classic is, it is hilly and if you are suffering on the hills at the present time I would say that the Spring Challenge ride is maybe a better option, there really is no point in killing yourself, no matter how much you like suffering.

    On the other hand there are 3 feed stations on the longer route so there is plenty of places to re-fuel and take a breather. If you can cope with 50 miles on your own, riding in a group might work out to be a bit easier on the day of the event.
    I think the thing to do is get some longer rides in over the Christmas period ie 70 miles plus if possible and if you feel that your body is starting to cope with these rides then I would go for the Springtime Classic @72 miles.
    Around February I would start to do some slightly shorter rides but with as many hills in them as possible just to get your legs and your head around the pain that gravity can cause.

    Of course then there is the important fact of the weather ! :shock:
    You do have the option of changing from the Springtime Classic to the Spring Challenge and visa versa on the day should you feel that the weather conditions require it.
    As for doing the CLASSIC 95 mile in August, there is plenty of time to get fit for that.
    Although the Burgess Hill Rumble Classic event has a few more serious hills to cope with, but you should be flying by then CE.

    The timimg of the event for this year was a bit of a shambles, something which we can't allow for future events which is why we have SPORTident to time every entrant for our 2009 events.
    I don't have the fastest riders times to hand at the moment but I believe from memory the fastest rider on the Classic event was Warrick Spencer of Cyclefit-serotta bikes he did the 95 miles in roughly 5hrs 45 mins which is amazingly fast.
    We hope he and others return to set an accurate time now that we have SPORTident timing for both the Burgess Hill Spingtime Classic 15/03/09 and the Burgess Hill Rumble 30/08/09.

    CE I am not sure where you live or how old you are but I would totally recommend joining a cycling club especially if you are thinking of racing. Oh and if you are over 40 I would have a look at having a go at the LVRC events (league of vets) there are some well organised events put on by the LVRC although you do have to be fit to do these as some of the guys are super fit. Don't be fooled like I was when you turn up at the event and see slightly portly gentlemen of a certain age hobble on to their bikes. Some of these gentlemen turn into speed demons once they start turning the pedals, they are as fast now as they ever were.

    Track cycling don't forget the track racing especially if your carrying a bit of extra ballast, there are no hills in track racing. :lol:

    http://www.lvrc.org/

    Oh and finally yes there will be freebies at the end of the ride.
    We have improved the Feeding stations as well. Basically everything has been improved for the next event on 15/03/09.

    Any other questions just ask.

    Rupert
  • SRS Events
    SRS Events Posts: 264
    edited December 2008
    Hi Ricardo,

    Let me know how you get on with your ride around the Challenge Ride (53 miles)course if you feel that you what to up grade to the Classic (72 miles) you can.

    SPRING CHALLENGE RIDE.

    http://www.routeyou.com/route/view/57542/cycling-route-the-burgess-hill-spring-challenge-150309-53-miles.en


    SPRINGTIME CLASSIC CYCLOSPORTIVE

    http://www.routeyou.com/route/view/57480/cycling-route-the-burgess-hll-springtime-classic-cyclosportive-150309.en

    A few of us from SRS Events will be riding the routes in January as we have been getting fatter and fatter by not riding our bikes for the past few months sitting at laptops etc really doesn't help get you fit we've discovered. So we have decided 2009 is the time to shed the weight. So over the next few weeks we will be taking small steps to get ready to ride our own routes in Jan 09. If you want to join us Ricardo send us an e-mail we will let you know what we are up to.

    Infact we will put the details up on our facebook page at the end of December if anybody else wants to join us.
    http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Brighton-United-Kingdom/SRS-EVENTS/33427483032

    We will probably average around 11mph and 15mph as we are slow. :lol: hey you got to start somewhere.
  • sounds good rupert.
    I should be flying by then so i can give you boys a good whipping !!!
  • BURGESS HILL CYCLOSPORTIVES 2009

    http://www.srs-events.cc


    To all those that are thinking of entering the BURGESS HILL SpringtIme Classic Cyclosportive on the 15th March 2009 there is a 10% reduction on price to those that can enter in a group of 5 riders.
    Go to our How to Enter page on our website to find out more.
    http://www.srs-events.cc/burgess_hill1/how_to_enter.htm

    Closing date for this reduction is the 3rd Feb 2009.

    Regards
  • rupert

    i did the ride last august and there were many positives but i had a few specific issues with the ride...
    > organisation
    hmm... the car park, sign in venue and start line all in different places. queue at the sign-in largely as the list of riders was not in alphabetical order (!). what happened at the start? we got to the start line and errr.. thought we might as well go then. nobody from srs there at all. strange and rather anti-climatic.

    > timing chips
    boo. no timing chips. i know it's not a race, but there can't be many people that don't want to know, having slogged their guts out around the course, how they have fared compared to the rest of the riders.

    > route signage
    excellent. though there was one missing - at the very end! rather ruined the sprint at the end guys.

    > marshals
    err.. sorry. that shouldn't be pluralised. one marshal. not sure how his location was decided, but with only 1 marshal over 95 miles this seems little more than a pointless gesture.

    > feed stations
    only stopped at the 2nd (i did the 95 mile route). pretty basic to be honest; water, psp, bananas and flapjacks. you can't really get away with any less that that i think (dragon ride excepted of course :-)). the psp was dreadfully weak. saying "i hope it's strong enough" was little compensation. read the frickin container!! the last stop looked better stocked though.

    can i ask if any of these issues have been resolved?

    cheers

    paul
  • Hi Paul,
    Gosh you sound like you had a terrible time on our 1st Sportive in Burgess Hill.
    I of course do take your points seriously and we have already taken many steps improve our events at Burgess Hill. It is sometimes difficult to please everybody but it is always our goal to make sure everybody is satisfied and that a good event is run.

    With regards to your points.

    ORGANISATION The Whole set up has been improved for next year. The start line of the March event will be at the HQ.

    TIMING CHIPS We will have SPORTident timing our events in 2009. Sportident is a popular choice for timing many top UK sporting events.

    ROUTE SIGNS Paul we have had many people saying how good are signage was. We also gave out a map as well. Sorry you were ultimately upset with the Signage at the end. I have to say I find it a bit upsetting that you found a fault with our signage, but because of this I will make sure there are twice as many arrows as last time then surely there can never be a complaint about this. We don't want anybody going the wrong way. Not that anybody did.

    MARSHALS Although we cannot cover every nook and bend of the course with marshals we will try our best Paul.

    FEED STATIONS I feel sure you will be at least a bit happier with the FEED STATIONS in 2009 Paul or at least I hope you will if you enter. Have a look at the website. Although Paul now that I think about it do you have any food requests ? Feel free to email me with a list of things you personally would like to eat to get you around the course and I will make sure it is there for you. That goes for anybody else that is reading this too feel free to e-mail your food requests and we will do our best to make sure your satisfied, like I said that is our goal.


    I hope that answers at least some of your points and that you feel assured that you will have a better time on the ride if you enter.
    I hope you do ride Paul, it will be nice to meet you at the start to make sure you are looked after. we hate it when someone isn't happy.

    Everybody feel free to E-mail me at srs-evnets@ntlworld.com with your food requests
    Rupert
  • rupert

    as i said in my original comment - "there were many positives". my quote only contained the criticisms and therefore may have given you the false impression that i had a "terrible" time.

    > signage
    you have not read my comments very carefully. i pointed out that the signage was excellent around the course. in fact the only problem we had was we didn't know when we had finished as the last turn wasn't identified and there was no clear finishing line.

    > feed stations
    energy drinks, properly diluted, and i'll be happy.

    in my original post i pointed out it was a very good event with a few basic mistakes.

    i think i might not be alone in thinking this as my comments were subsequently echoed in roadcycling uk

    http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/news/article/mps/uan/3464

    "For the riders though, the weather was the least of their worries. The organisation was lacklustre, with a slow sign-on process, non-existent start and almost certainly nothing in the way of any finish, and no timing chips. Route signage was excellent though, and the provided GPS routes made navigating a breeze - a few marshals at several key junctions would have been nice however. With the huge number of sportive events on the calendar and the high standard of organisation that RCUK has come to expect from the many that the team have ridden, the Burgess Hill Rumble organisers desperately need to raise their game if their hopes of the event cementing itself firmly on the sportive calendar in the future are to be realised.

    As it was, there was little that separated the Rumble as an 'event' from an informal ride, aside from the feed stations. With so many events vying for riders' money and time, some essential changes will need to be made if it's to continue into 2009. This is a shame, because this could so easily have been an event to be remembered fondly by those who, despite the weather, made the effort. "

    anyway, i'll definately be doing both rides this year, so if you could just sort out the weather....

    cheers

    paul
  • Paul

    Well its nice to know that you will be doing both rides Paul
    Do you have any food requests?
  • rupert

    like a lot of riders i suspect, i always carry enough on me in bars and gels to see my through the ride anyway so anything at feed stations is a bonus.

    having said that i like cakes as much as the next man ;-)

    nutritionally however, i suppose the best items to have would be energy bars developed precisely for the purpose of sustaining exercise.

    cheers

    paul
  • ok Paul

    Cake and energy bars it is then.

    We look forward to receiving your entry.
  • SRS Events wrote:
    The timimg of the event for this year was a bit of a shambles, something which we can't allow for future events which is why we have SPORTident to time every entrant for our 2009 events.
    I don't have the fastest riders times to hand at the moment but I believe from memory the fastest rider on the Classic event was Warrick Spencer of Cyclefit-serotta bikes he did the 95 miles in roughly 5hrs 45 mins which is amazingly fast.
    We hope he and others return to set an accurate time now that we have SPORTident timing for both the Burgess Hill Spingtime Classic 15/03/09 and the Burgess Hill Rumble 30/08/09.

    Rupert

    Hi,

    This doesn't seem correct, I came 7th on the road with a time of around 5:20, my mates were in the leading group and they got 5:05 I think. Plus I know Warwick, he's an elite rider and there's no way we all beat him?
  • will you be providing energy drinks as well rupert?

    Not too fused about what you are providing, i do most of my riding on Lidl ceral bars. But it would be good to know in advance what will and wo'nt be provided so i cn come prepared.

    Cheques in the post
  • Dave
    Sorry I was only giving a time from memory, as I didn't have the times to hand.

    Having SPORTident doing our timing in 2009 will make things a whole lot clearer for following events.

    The Burgess Hill Springtime Classic Cyclosportive 15/03/09
    http://www.srs-events.cc/burgess_hill1/index.htm

    The Burgess Hill Rumble Cyclosportive 30/08/09
    http://www.srs-events.cc/burgess_hill2/index.htm
  • Ricardo H

    Our feed stops are at the following places The Springtime Classic Cyclosportive will be using all of these, the other rides will use one or two depending on which route is ridden.

    HEVER VILLAGE HALL http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/155866

    FOREST ROW VILLAGE HALL http://forestrowvillagehall.org/index.html

    and opposite the Oak Pub in ARDINGLY http://www.theoakardingly.co.uk/


    Although food choices have not been finalised yet we will be providing SIS Energy Drinks of different flavours, bananas at each stop for free. More savoury food will be available next year as these were more popular than sweet foods, but obviously cake will be on the menu.

    There is a canteen at the HQ And that will offer food and drink at the start.
    After the ride free food and drink will be available at the HQ canteen after riders have handed back their number and timing chip and received their Goody bag.

    I will be giving out further details about the food that is available early February of next year so that everybody is prepared.

    There will be plenty of food for eveybody to fuel there way around the courses.
  • starting to look forward to this now.

    did a hard 60 miles in 4 hours without a stop yesterday, so my form is coming along. Thinking of hooking up with Horsham cc as well.
  • Well done Ricardo,

    Although it will be nice to meet you soon, you will have to be kind to us if you are going to be joining us for a few training rides in the New year. You sound like you are really getting fit.

    Anybody else who is interested in joining us for some training rides in 2009. Details will be released on our Facebook page on the 5th of Janruary 2009.