Tour of Britain

billylale
billylale Posts: 21
edited September 2016 in Pro race
Im off to see the finish of stage 6 in Friday. having never been to watch a race, what can i expect to see? are there expo style stalls to attract cyclists to come and buy things, food etc

Comments

  • Mad_Malx
    Mad_Malx Posts: 4,993
    Only seen one overpriced official merchandising stall, a few sponsor stands and local ice cream vans at the few I've been to.
    A missed commercial opportunity I thought, although I'm too stingy to spend anyway.
  • RideOnTime
    RideOnTime Posts: 4,712
    billylale wrote:
    Im off to see the finish of stage 6 in Friday. having never been to watch a race, what can i expect to see? are there expo style stalls to attract cyclists to come and buy things, food etc

    Bikes...
  • RideOnTime
    RideOnTime Posts: 4,712
    I have foregone the opportunity to go to the East Cheshire stage on Tuesday... to instead ride from Knutsford (the finish at Tatton) into the Peaks on Wednesday.

    Participation has beaten out observation. However, I commend Stage 3

    http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/stage3/index.php#.V8utbPkrLIU because of it's loopyness...
    would be a chance to easily see the pass 4 times if you look at the route...
  • jawooga
    jawooga Posts: 530
    I too am going to get up to Haytor on Friday. Anyone know how easy it is to park in any of three car parks on race day, and what sort of time you'd try and get there? (ETA is about 15.00)
  • jawooga wrote:
    I too am going to get up to Haytor on Friday. Anyone know how easy it is to park in any of three car parks on race day, and what sort of time you'd try and get there? (ETA is about 15.00)


    Alternatively places to park in Bovey Tracey eg pub car parks as well as public car parks. Then just get the shuttle bus or walk up the climb to Haytor. Easy peasey. It'll be a great afternoon. Was up there in 2013, hoping to repeat on Friday.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    I always found it better to be at the start line and enjoy the build up. You can get some good pics of the riders warming up/ signing on to ride.
  • simon_e
    simon_e Posts: 1,706
    Have just ridden a short stretch of stage 4 (Denbigh to Builth Wells) near Lake Vyrnwy. The road from Penybontfawr to Llanwddyn is terribly rough and narrow. The council has patched the worst potholes but it's still dreadful. The guy at the village shop in Llanwddyn has a raised balcony which would make a good vantage point and has a Rijo coffee machine.

    The Llanbrynmair-Llanidloes stretch probably has some of the best vantage points, where the road swoops up and down past Llyn Clywedog. A complete and utter bastard of a stage IMHO.
    Aspire not to have more, but to be more.
  • jawooga
    jawooga Posts: 530
    jawooga wrote:
    I too am going to get up to Haytor on Friday. Anyone know how easy it is to park in any of three car parks on race day, and what sort of time you'd try and get there? (ETA is about 15.00)


    Alternatively places to park in Bovey Tracey eg pub car parks as well as public car parks. Then just get the shuttle bus or walk up the climb to Haytor. Easy peasey. It'll be a great afternoon. Was up there in 2013, hoping to repeat on Friday.

    I got an email address from https://www.devontourofbritain.co.uk/ , and they responded very quickly earlier today. All three carparks below Haytor are only available for disabled parking - no surprise because they're not big. But there's park and ride from Bovey, and you're right, you could walk!
  • I always found it better to be at the start line and enjoy the build up. You can get some good pics of the riders warming up/ signing on to ride.


    Friday's stage, one can do both. Plenty of time to get from Sidmouth after the start, to Bovey. But its actually great being up on Haytor for the atmosphere as it builds up all afternoon
  • sorry if I'm being silly, but what is it thats so good then? I'm looking forward to it, but not really expecting a great deal other than the guys to race for the finish line.
  • billylale wrote:
    sorry if I'm being silly, but what is it thats so good then? I'm looking forward to it, but not really expecting a great deal other than the guys to race for the finish line.


    Well, personally I always love being up on a climb thats a summit finish. Atmosphere is great. Haytor also a fab place to be especially if its a decent day. Views all around are stunning. There'll be a set-up for drinks and food, there's also an excellent pub just below the rocks. The podium will be set up, the commentary box by the finish line, and a big screen showing the race
  • ideal, that sounds god, see you all there!
  • specialized_nick
    specialized_nick Posts: 427
    edited September 2016
    jawooga wrote:
    I too am going to get up to Haytor on Friday. Anyone know how easy it is to park in any of three car parks on race day, and what sort of time you'd try and get there? (ETA is about 15.00)


    Car parks were a no go last time they had the summit finish, had to go over the top and there was a field open to park in with a shuttle bus around to the finish.
    There was quite a queue for the bus so you could either walk (30/45mins) or stick your bike in the car and spin across (our plan this year).

    We got there about 1.5 hours before the riders were due and it was busy.

    That said it could be completely different this year :lol:
  • duplicate post.
  • Tashman
    Tashman Posts: 3,398
    I was severely disappointed a few years back when our village hosted an intermediate sprint. We all waited for a big bunch sprint only to be thwarted by a breakaway just rolling through - spoilsports. Very anticlimatic :(
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    YJust been looking at the Stage 5 route and I'm amazed the climb through Llansoy isn't categorised. It could catch a few people out. It's a double climb, both really steep with a couple of miles of flat / rolling road splitting them and the second part in particular is tough. To me it's far harder than Speech House which I've raced up in the past and which has been ranked as a 2nd cat. Could see some comedy moments for anyone not prepared as you go round quite a tight 90 degree right handed at a junction and then straight into a gradient of around 10%.

    First part https://www.strava.com/segments/12503077

    Second part https://www.strava.com/segments/3393081
  • On a typical day there's a nice coffee and cake van at the top of Haytor and I wouldn't expect much more than that on Friday if its anything like 2 years ago. Its quite different to a town start or finish.

    Its a great place to watch a bike race though with the views down the valley and the steep(ish) section at the top.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    In recent years there's been a coffee van (possibly Rapha?) dishing out coffee which I think was free. Could be wrong though as I couldn't be bothered walking back down to check when I was on Caerphilly Mountain.