Rise Above Sportive 2016 report: 80 km course. Rode with relative visiting from Singapore. First sportive for me.
We registered on the Saturday. There were no queues, plenty of desks and an SIS stand handing out free products. I have never tried gels and the SIS chap said that a big ride was not the place to start. He seemed bemused that I would set off with biscuits and a banana and gave me a lecture on carbohydrates.
The 80 km event started was between 9 am and 10 am. I was unsure what to expect so we turned up at 0930. I was surprised to find no other riders there. There were plenty of staff who gave a safety briefing. After waiting a while a couple turned up on a tandem and two other cyclists turned up. Amazingly there was a crowd to see us off - surely someone was paying them? They clapped and cheered as we careered down the hill towards the bridge. The traffic lights were red and I was uncertain if this was part of the closed-road or not. If not, I am now an RLJ (sorry folks).
I set off a bit quicker than the rest of the group and never saw them again. In fact I never saw anyone riding the ride for a good 6 miles and only after 20 miles were there there bigger groups. I had not expected mile after mile on my own.
I was surprised not to find the major junctions marshalled, having seen them marshalled for events round home. The signage was good; I did nearly miss one turn but that was my fault and resulted in me taking a corner rather more flamboyantly than normal, to the possible amusement of some spectators.
The feed station was about 2/3rd of the way round and what a disappointment it was. SIS were there and I put a sachet of something in my drink bottle. Unfortunately it tasted like medicine of some sort (EPO?). The only real food on offer was popcorn and doritos (really; I am not making this up). I declined them and ate my biscuits and banana while waiting for my relative to catch up. If I ever did another sportive on my own I would miss out the feed station. I didn't need a rest and it just wasted a load of time.
The ride back into Chester was much more fun as there were many more people on the road to overtake. The final approach was especially good as I teamed up with someone to really push the pace. The finish line was like a pro race with tannoy and a large crowd lining the barriers. I even got a call-out on the tannoy. Unfortunately it was not possible to soak up the atmosphere as you had to go immediately to the finish "village". This was a number of gazebos in the registration carpark. There I was given a medal (actually quite a nice one) and a soigneurs bag. This was not packed with goodies as I expected but was completely empty, not even a discount form for next year (marketing fail). I gave the bag to my relative as I cant see much use for such a bag in everyday life. I was given a bottle of water too.
The beefburgers in the village were free (and were good too). I saw no other freebies (no such thing of course).The atmosphere was good and there was a promo podium that you could use for a photo. No doubt someone will tell me that I missed a load of stuff. I was kind of hoping to get a water bottle, or even a bidon.
No sign of Mr Cavendish but he was there at some point as he was on the local news. It would have been nice to catch a glimpse but he's only a little chap and he can't be everywhere at once.
So that was it. I am £39 poorer (actually more like £400 poorer with hotels and train fares for both of us).
I would never normally bother with such an event and it was only because I have a cycling visitor that I went.
Did I enjoy it? Yes, it was okay. Would I try another sportive? Unlikely.
I think my relative enjoyed it - and that was, after all, the main reason for doing it.
PS my sneaky trick of riding the course a few weeks before the event paid off with a whole string of PB's on Strava, nice!
looks interesting.......might have to see about a weekend away
