New Forest Classic

[icowden]

Anyone else take part in the Classic this weekend?

Fantastic weather albeit a chilly breeze at the start and lovely new course - couldn't have had a better weekend personally (although I sunburned my face).
I managed to drag myself around 57.61 miles (92km) in 4 hours 45 mins of ride time which I was very pleased with.

The BiL went round the Long route (127km) in an insanely fast (to me) 4 hours and 25 mins.

I'd thoroughly recommend this one to anyone who wants a nice relaxing sportive with great scenery (and cows and ponies).

 

[mjr]

Sounds like a bigger abuse of the term "Classic" than London-Surrey, doesn't it?

 

[matticus]

Sounds like a bigger abuse of the term "Classic" than London-Surrey, doesn't it?

I think they're underselling it; should be Monument status by now, surely?

 

[icowden]

Difficult to say how many. The highest vest number I saw on the Saturday was 888, so I'm guessing they capped at 1000 riders for each day.
There was a single wave for each group - long, medium, short and rook, each had a different registration time and setoff time.

On the Saturday it seemed really busy (but I was doing the medium route which is probably the most popular). There was a one way system in place but not as well thought out as in September (at the old site they had a large marquee with an in and and out door). Numbers were given out in the sports hall where masks had to be worn, but with only a single entrance / exit and the requirement for cleated shoes to be removed meant that there were lots of people very close together. I wasn't cleated so got in and out fast. Added to that the name distribution didn't seem to be very even with long queues for some surnames (e.g. I-M) and none at others (i.e. A-B,C-E)

Outdoors really wasn't an issue. They did make the odd decision to put the bike racks in a different area to the numbers which didn't help as people don't like leaving expensive bikes some distance away from them.

Feed stations were again busy.

On the Sunday it seemed much quieter but I was dropping the BiL off for the long route and then doing the rook route with my daughter, so probably both very quiet times.

Covid wise I thought it was fairly well managed, but not as good as the New Forest 100 in September. I suspect as this was the first event in a new location that they will look again at what worked and what didn't.

The best thing about the new start was that the route was nicer - no 60mph roads like the one bordering the Somerley estate. The worst thing is that about 2 miles before the finish there is quite a steep climb out of Beaulieu (although there were helpful signs like "it's only gravity").

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The New Forest Mega 😂

 

[matticus]

Out of interest - how many participants were there and were there any special covid related measures?

I'd be interested in that. The big event local to me is next week. Normally 600 riders, dunno about this year, but it's full-ish Here is their safety briefing - snipped for the COViddy bits:

Makes you wonder why <cough> other bodies fret about events with more than 30 riders! :P

 

[icowden]

That's actually pretty similar to New Forest. People were set off in groups of 6 (or fewer), rather than being asked to manage this themselves. Feed stations were reduced from normal (possibly for financial rather than covid reasons). Similarly there were 10 portaloos plus the building toilets. Arguably the portaloos were better for covid management.

Each route had a 30 minute registration period and a 30 minute setting off period.

 

[T4tomo]

That's actually pretty similar to New Forest. People were set off in groups of 6 (or fewer), rather than being asked to manage this themselves. Feed stations were reduced from normal (possibly for financial rather than covid reasons). Similarly there were 10 portaloos plus the building toilets. Arguably the portaloos were better for covid management.

Each route had a 30 minute registration period and a 30 minute setting off period.

was it on road or gravel/offroad?

 

[icowden]

All on road (although some roads left a little to be desired!)

 

[T4tomo]

All on road (although some roads left a little to be desired!)

...as with most of the UK. We encountered a newly resurfaced road on sunday, the old tar and chippings job, it was full on strada bianchi surface

 

[Spoked Wheels]

I was riding in the New Forest on Sat and I wondered what race was that, cause I don't think I heard about it.
Marvellous weather for riding all the same. I enjoyed every minute of my 3.5 hrs ride

 

[DRHysted]

Difficult to say how many. The highest vest number I saw on the Saturday was 888, so I'm guessing they capped at 1000 riders for each day.
There was a single wave for each group - long, medium, short and rook, each had a different registration time and setoff time.

On the Saturday it seemed really busy (but I was doing the medium route which is probably the most popular). There was a one way system in place but not as well thought out as in September (at the old site they had a large marquee with an in and and out door). Numbers were given out in the sports hall where masks had to be worn, but with only a single entrance / exit and the requirement for cleated shoes to be removed meant that there were lots of people very close together. I wasn't cleated so got in and out fast. Added to that the name distribution didn't seem to be very even with long queues for some surnames (e.g. I-M) and none at others (i.e. A-B,C-E)

Outdoors really wasn't an issue. They did make the odd decision to put the bike racks in a different area to the numbers which didn't help as people don't like leaving expensive bikes some distance away from them.

Feed stations were again busy.

On the Sunday it seemed much quieter but I was dropping the BiL off for the long route and then doing the rook route with my daughter, so probably both very quiet times.

Covid wise I thought it was fairly well managed, but not as good as the New Forest 100 in September. I suspect as this was the first event in a new location that they will look again at what worked and what didn't.

The best thing about the new start was that the route was nicer - no 60mph roads like the one bordering the Somerley estate. The worst thing is that about 2 miles before the finish there is quite a steep climb out of Beaulieu (although there were helpful signs like "it's only gravity").

I thought I’d heard they were running this from Gamg Warily? If so they’ve used that venue before.

 

[icowden]

I thought I’d heard they were running this from Gamg Warily? If so they’ve used that venue before.

Really? Yes it was from Gang Warily. For the last 2 years I thought they had only used the Somerley estate?

 

[icowden]

I was riding in the New Forest on Sat and I wondered what race was that, cause I don't think I heard about it.
Marvellous weather for riding all the same. I enjoyed every minute of my 3.5 hrs ride

It was the New Forest Classic run by UK Cycliing. They also do a New Forest Ride 100 in September.

 

[DRHysted]

Really? Yes it was from Gang Warily. For the last 2 years I thought they had only used the Somerley estate?

They used to run their Isle of Wight route from there, and a different non-wiggle sponsored New Forest ride out.