Tour of Wessex

Who's done this before and who's doing it this year? Just over a month to go.
My first time at this one and signed up for all 3 days, should be a good challenge.
Training's going ok so far, no 100 milers done yet this year so need to get some in soon. Two weeks off work coming up so gonna have to get to it, increase the milage and do some big back to back rides.
Anybody who's done this event before have any reviews, tips, recommendations?
My first time at this one and signed up for all 3 days, should be a good challenge.
Training's going ok so far, no 100 milers done yet this year so need to get some in soon. Two weeks off work coming up so gonna have to get to it, increase the milage and do some big back to back rides.
Anybody who's done this event before have any reviews, tips, recommendations?
0
Posts
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... ght=wessex
http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... highlight=
Hardest thing was doing three back to back days, so eat like crazy in the evenings or you'll bonk on the final day. Not nice. Doing it again this year so see you there
http://mendiprouleur.blogspot.com/
It's a very well organised ride although suffered for a few years (can anyone remind me which?) from a lot of rain...not much fun for those camping over three days and then getting on their bikes.
Oh yes, a tip. If the route goes down Cheddar Gorge (as it used to)...then take it easy...it's steep, narrow and I had a hell of scare going down it.
Otherwise, enjoy!
_____________________________
online marketplace for all things bike
My parents live about 30 mins drive from the start so I'm crashing there and hopefully will get loads of good home cooking in the evenings! Done 2500 miles already since 1st Jan this year so hopeful that I'm got the legs, although will be taking it very easy on days 1 & 2 to try and survive day 3. Nervous right now though!
That is a load of miles to have covered this year. I've only just crossed the 1000 mile mark and am definitely feeling a bit underprepared.
I've been looking at the times required for a bronze. In my age group, a silver requires an average speed of 18 mph (that's without factoring in any time at the feed stops). Looks like the best I can aim for will be a bronze then...
oh and they say the usual stuff about not pissing in public but then dont provide any toliets......not a big issue for the blokes.......major problem for the girls in my group especially at the feed station on the top of exmoor....not a tree in sight.
dont expect a goodie bag or free food at the end or any machanical support other than the broom wagon.
so, apart from average at best support its a great ride!
Anyone booked the breakfast they provide or done so in previous years?
Staying at a Travelodge doesn't leave many other options.
£80 is ridiculous, unless of course they pedal the bike for me while I'm in the van with the fluffers.
Only the last day is really nice. The forest is is lovely and low on cars.
thats the attraction to this sportive
Checked the weather just now, and it doesn't look too good. In particular the forecast for Saturday looks pretty wet...
It actually says £25 then adds £5 VAT at checkout for good measure - nice one!
Thankfully entry is now closed, so I won't be able to enter in a moment of weakness.
Perhaps I'll do the Monday route on Sunday, by myself and for free!
After the Black Rat shambles I'll think twice before parting with any more hard earned for what is after all essentially a road ride.
I've done it twice before and enjoy the fact that it is on a Saturday which allows me to go racing sailing dinghies on the Sunday!
Saracen Hytrail - the workhorse - now pensioned off
Kinetic-One FK1 roadie - the fast one - hairy legs though!
Cannondale Jekyll Lefty MTB - the muddy one which keeps tipping me into gorse bushes!
TOW has had its fair share of bad weather over the years I hope after this glorious spring/early summer that it stays fine this weekend. BBC seem to be predicting some rain on Saturday though.
Very good feedstops, with china cups of tea and coffee at the 2nd, and even had people wandering around with trays of snacks - never had waiter service at a feedstop before! VERY well signposted all the way and cant fault the standards so far.
Tough old 109 miles today, 2 more hilly old days to go! Cheddar Gorge was great although King Alfreds Tower was a beast and saw several people walking...
Agree about the good feedstops though. Well stocked, good choice of food. Also great to be able to buy a bacon bap at the finish. Not sure I agree about the signage though. I thought there were long stretches without signs to confirm you were on the right route (e.g. through Mere) and there were a few dangerous junctions at the bottom of hills that could have done with a "Caution" sign. And it would have been helpful to have had countdowns or at least a bit of warning that the feedstops were coming up and even better a "You're nearly there" countdown to the finish.
South westerly crosswind forecast for tomorrow along with some early rain. Could make things interesting.
Rain forecast for tomorrow though
Strangley my legs felt much fresher today, but it was still a damn long day in the saddle and >7000ft of hills! Thank goodness my group of buddies waited for me at the top of the climbs and we had some really good pace lines running...
Toughest day to come tomorrow on roads I'm pretty familiar with, and I really dont fancy it in thrashing rain
So, all three days done and a baseline set to compare against for future years. I'd love to come back, a really well organised event. Just need some better weather!
Results have been posted on the website: http://www.pendragon-sports.com/pendrag ... aspx?id=31
www.tourofwessex.com
www.wessexcycleshow.com
www.touroftheblackmountains.com
www.blackmountainenduro.com
www.pendragon-sports.com
Pendragon: thanks for posting the results. But I can't open the combined 3 day results which it says are saved as an application/octet-stream, whatever that is. Any chance of reformatting them into an excel file, like the others?
It is an excel file, it's just missing the xls extension in the file name. Either open it directly using Excel or save it as an xls file and open it on your machine.