Wild Rover
Regular
OK, it's nearly upon us - are you ready?! I mainly ride audaxes but can never resist this - such a good event. Good luck to all.
2012 Dartmoor Classic launches
- Thread starter Ron Keegan
- Start date
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TheSandwichMonster
Junior Senior
- Location
- Devon, UK
Completely under-prepared.
I've been concentrating on racing recently and haven't done nearly enough distance. Doing the 100Km route as a club run on Sunday, then just going to have to hope my legs are up to allowing me to get round the 100 miler the week after!
I've been concentrating on racing recently and haven't done nearly enough distance. Doing the 100Km route as a club run on Sunday, then just going to have to hope my legs are up to allowing me to get round the 100 miler the week after!
Jerry Atrik
Veteran
- Location
- South Devon
Rode up Holne today and alot of resurfacing has been going on with lots of loose chippings on the road leading down to the resevoir which was quite treacherous .
TheSandwichMonster
Junior Senior
- Location
- Devon, UK
They've surface-dressed a lot of the roads around there. The road through the valley from Hexworthy is apparently quite poor too. We're out (as a club) riding both the routes on Sunday, so we'll be able to highlight any particularly poor bits before the main event.
2PedalsTez
Über Member
Good luck to everyone riding this. I shall miss riding it this year due to my collar bone break 
Typical as I was feeling really good in terms of fitness.
Hope the weather is glorious
Typical as I was feeling really good in terms of fitness.
Hope the weather is glorious
TheSandwichMonster
Junior Senior
- Location
- Devon, UK
I rode the 65 mile route with the club yesterday as a training ride... I'd forgotten just how hilly the first 35 miles are!
- The roads around Holne & Vennford Reservoir aren't as bad as they have been, but there are still chippings around so people need to be aware of them. Also people need to bear in mind that recent bad weather means that there is currently more than the usual amount of tree debris in the gutters/by the roadside.
- At the top of the main drag out of Bovey Tracey onto the moor, there is the mother of all potholes prior to the cattle grid before Becky Falls. Please, PLEASE be prepared for it - it earned me a pair of punctures yesterday!
- The hill down from the pub at Hexworthy to the river is covered in a variety of road chippings and bits of branch, etc. Due to the twisting nature of the descent, care is needed.
- The route from Two Bridges to Princetown (outbound) has been surface dressed and there is still quite a lot of loose stone about. Hopefully this will bed in some more before Sunday, but again, be aware.
- The road from Warren House in down towards Moretonhampstead has a number of nasty potholes, normally on the short, sharp descents. Again, keep your eyes open, don't follow anybody you don't know too closely and take care. The actual descent to Moretonhampstead has also had some sections of tarmac removed for resurfacing. We're working to find out if this will be completed ahead of the ride, but it's something else to be aware of.
Hope this helps. Fingers crossed for fine weather and we're looking forward to welcoming you all to the 2012 Classic!
- The roads around Holne & Vennford Reservoir aren't as bad as they have been, but there are still chippings around so people need to be aware of them. Also people need to bear in mind that recent bad weather means that there is currently more than the usual amount of tree debris in the gutters/by the roadside.
- At the top of the main drag out of Bovey Tracey onto the moor, there is the mother of all potholes prior to the cattle grid before Becky Falls. Please, PLEASE be prepared for it - it earned me a pair of punctures yesterday!
- The hill down from the pub at Hexworthy to the river is covered in a variety of road chippings and bits of branch, etc. Due to the twisting nature of the descent, care is needed.
- The route from Two Bridges to Princetown (outbound) has been surface dressed and there is still quite a lot of loose stone about. Hopefully this will bed in some more before Sunday, but again, be aware.
- The road from Warren House in down towards Moretonhampstead has a number of nasty potholes, normally on the short, sharp descents. Again, keep your eyes open, don't follow anybody you don't know too closely and take care. The actual descent to Moretonhampstead has also had some sections of tarmac removed for resurfacing. We're working to find out if this will be completed ahead of the ride, but it's something else to be aware of.
Hope this helps. Fingers crossed for fine weather and we're looking forward to welcoming you all to the 2012 Classic!
Wild Rover
Regular
- 'At the top of the main drag out of Bovey Tracey onto the moor, there is the mother of all potholes prior to the cattle grid before Becky Falls. Please, PLEASE be prepared for it - it earned me a pair of punctures yesterday!'
I'll second that. I rode part of the course yesterday and managed to luckily avoid the pothole in question ( actually, I'm so slow I had plenty of time to see it
) . As SandwichMonster says, there's a few bad road surfaces and debris. I'm seriously thinking about riding it on my Claud Butler Dalesman 'audax' bike rather than my 'best' bike (although the Claud weighs about 4 kilos more...)
I'll second that. I rode part of the course yesterday and managed to luckily avoid the pothole in question ( actually, I'm so slow I had plenty of time to see it
) . As SandwichMonster says, there's a few bad road surfaces and debris. I'm seriously thinking about riding it on my Claud Butler Dalesman 'audax' bike rather than my 'best' bike (although the Claud weighs about 4 kilos more...)
tincaman
Guru
- Location
- Chudleigh, South Devon
Just reported the pothole, hopefully will be patched before next weekend. If you want to report is as well to reinforce it, report it here,
http://www.devon.gov.uk/pothole
http://www.devon.gov.uk/pothole
TheSandwichMonster
Junior Senior
- Location
- Devon, UK
Already done via FillThatHole, but I'm not going to hold my breath that it's done in time!
Wild Rover
Regular
Pothole reported - thanks for the link.
Went for a spin down the Teign valley tonight. On the home stretch, just past the entrance to Finlake (heading away from Chudleigh), there's a set of roadworks controlled by traffic lights. Looks like they may be there for some time. It probably won't be a concern for most, but might be if you are chasing a good time - I was stuck there for a good 5 mins waiting for the lights to change (there's no pavement to jump on either, as that's all dug up).
Went for a spin down the Teign valley tonight. On the home stretch, just past the entrance to Finlake (heading away from Chudleigh), there's a set of roadworks controlled by traffic lights. Looks like they may be there for some time. It probably won't be a concern for most, but might be if you are chasing a good time - I was stuck there for a good 5 mins waiting for the lights to change (there's no pavement to jump on either, as that's all dug up).
tincaman
Guru
- Location
- Chudleigh, South Devon
Looks like the roadworks have been reeled in for the weekend, weather looks dodgy for Sunday morning though.
Wild Rover
Regular
Well, that was enjoyable, although I think I would have preferred Holne to the diversionary route! Silver again, so Gold put on hold for the time being - hoping to do the Avalon Sunrise 400 instead of the Classic next year. Hope you all had a good ride.
TheSandwichMonster
Junior Senior
- Location
- Devon, UK
Puncture-riddled!
Between Princetown 1st stop and Princetown 2nd stop, I managed to puncture 6 times, and my CO2 pump died a death. Official time was 9:40 for the hundred, though moving time was two hours less than that!
Between Princetown 1st stop and Princetown 2nd stop, I managed to puncture 6 times, and my CO2 pump died a death. Official time was 9:40 for the hundred, though moving time was two hours less than that!
ajb
Well-Known Member
- Location
- North Devon
Blimey, do you carry that many tubes ??
tincaman
Guru
- Location
- Chudleigh, South Devon
Didn't like the alternative route instead of Holne, roads too narrow, created some proper bottlenecks and road traffic conflicts. Couldn't be helped though they did well to get the route changed for the start at 7.
Came round corners a couple of times which went up steep hills to find a wall of people walking, had no choice but to get off and join them!
Great ride, quite challenging up to Princetown against the wind. Worked very hard to catch up my mates at. Bovey when I stopped to take my jacket off, only to overtake them somewhere unknown, for them to catch me up at Buckland.
Again got cramps from Doccombe all the way back, really need to sort that as it happened twice last year as well. Bit of a mystery at the moment, my hydration is good.
Came round corners a couple of times which went up steep hills to find a wall of people walking, had no choice but to get off and join them!
Great ride, quite challenging up to Princetown against the wind. Worked very hard to catch up my mates at. Bovey when I stopped to take my jacket off, only to overtake them somewhere unknown, for them to catch me up at Buckland.
Again got cramps from Doccombe all the way back, really need to sort that as it happened twice last year as well. Bit of a mystery at the moment, my hydration is good.
