Tour of Britian Sportif

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chris42

New Member
Location
Deal, Kent
Got this e-mail today.
i can't do go so won't be applying.

Tour of Britain Cyclosportive - Sun 26th August 2007

Up to 1,000 amateur cyclists will be able to ride a stage ahead of the Tour of Britain in a special cyclosportive 'Ride the Route' through Shropshire and Worcestershire on Sunday, 26th August 2007.

Stage 3 for the Professionals, who tackle the same stage on the 12th September.

Don’t miss your chance to Ride the Route and be a part of this year’s Tour of Britain!

Billed as this years toughest stage over 101 grueling miles up and down the Malvern Hills, onto the tough Shropshire climbs, followed by fast run into Wolverhampton, finishing on the track just like the Paris – Roubaix, it will guaranteed a hard day in the saddle. One of the climbs will be timed so you can check efforts against the Tour of Britain riders, details of the times will be put on the website after the Tour of Britain has finished.

The route will follow the Tour of Britain stage from Worcester to Wolverhampton, starting at Worcester Race Course and finishing on the Aldersley track in Wolverhampton.

The entry fee includes a donation of a minimum of £5 to the British Heart Foundation, who is kindly supporting the ride with volunteers to make the event the most enjoyable and memorable in this year’s calendar!


Major Climbs: Malvern Hills, Shropshire Hills
Entries Opening Date: 01/08/2007
Entries Closing Date: 24/08/2007
Entry On the Day: No entries on the day. Entries on line will be accepted on Saturday 25th at Worcester registration.
Max No Entries: 1000
Entry Cost(£): £27.50 (£10 extra for return transport)
Distance(s) (km): 164km
No of Feedstops: 3 full feed zones at 25,50, 75 miles approx with nutrition bars, fruit, water and performance drinks.
Start: Start at Worcester race course, start times from 08.30 to 10.00.
Finish: Finish at Aldersley Stadium on the track, Wolverhampton.
Car Parking Facilities: yes
Enter On-Line: http://www.ridetheroute.net/onlineentry.html
Enter By-Post: no

Support and Benefits:

Fully arrowed and safely marked route.
Static and motorcycle marshals
Timing chips compulsory
Bike and rider numbers for identification and safety purposes.
Entry list updated regularly
Entry confirmation by website listing.
Gold, Silver and Bronze standards with certificates.
Full results service both on the day (30 minute delay) and on the web site.
After event food and drink
First aid
Photographic service.
Support vehicles and broom wagon
Mechanical assistance at start.
Final instructions with downloadable map available on the website 5 days before event.
Goody bag with sponsors products, at signing on.

Links:

http://www.ridetheroute.net/ (official website)

http://www.tourofbritain.com/

www.visitworcestershire.org
www.information-britain.co.uk
www.worcestershire-tourism.org
www.tssc-worcester.org.uk
www.shropshiretourism.info/caravan_camping
www.totaltravel.co.uk

Add to My Calendar

Downloads:

Tour Of Britain Map
http://www.cyclosport.org/download....p.pdf&filename=tob_stage3_final_route_map.pdf
 

CotterPin

Senior Member
Location
London
I have applied. First sportive for me - so will be keen to see how I get on. Anybody else looking to do this?
 
I really am going to sound a real miseryguts here ;), but...

I'm not keen on those which start and finish at different places, so you have to organise or pay for return transport.
Obviously the fact that it's following the Tour route is the whole point here, but the circular-route ones are a lot simpler - you finish back at your car, no waiting around for a bus and being worried about your bike being scratched in the back of some van.

They're also wanting you to register and collect timing chips on the Saturday, so they're not making life easy : means you either need to be local or stay overnight, no just travelling-down in the morning.

And at £37.50 including the return, I think it's also a bit expensive.



But apart from all that, it's also on the weekend before the Cumberland Challenge and I don't want to do two events a week apart.
If I did though, I'd be doing the Spud Murphy rather than this I'm afraid.
 

Si

Well-Known Member
It is a bit spensive.
Would like to have done it but I'm not paying that sort of money to ride around my local roads on a route that isn't as good as one I could make up myself (as they have to use the race route they can't detour down the nice little back lanes).
Anyhoo it's moot as I wil be away oin that day. But back for the race proper - will be nice to have road races going past my parent's house again - just like being back in the 1970s.
 

Jonathan M

New Member
Location
Merseyside
But considering the first plans were to run the sportive in the west country, the choice of the midlands stage makes it more accessible to more people; particularly as darn sarf has already seen the TDF sportive ride.

Shame I can't make it!!
 

gbyers

New Member
Location
Leeds
You've been bollocked on a previous thread for spelling. This mistake doesn't even involve a foreign word! :ohmy::biggrin::biggrin:
 

wafflycat

New Member
The 2003 Tour de France (centenary year of the tour) had a randonee du centennaire - basically the Paris city stage on the last day. Ten thousand amateur cyclists from all over the world doing it (I know, I was one of them). Entry fee: free. Everyone was given a *free* yellow jersey to wear and was supplied with *free* food & drink at the end. Plus at the finish line, Jean Marie LeBlanc was greeting everyone as they crossed.

Those French know how to organise a cycling event...
 

Flying_Monkey

Recyclist
Location
Odawa
I'd be interested to see how it went. From what I can see this was a not entirely well-considered event, and was rewarded with a pretty small field. The whole idea of having to get to Worcester to start, then finishing in Wolverhampton, then having to get your bikes transported back to Worcester... well, I'm glad I wasn't doing it!
 

Baroudeur

New Member
Surely as a "ride the route" the start/finish logistics of the event are impossible to consider? Putting on a coach (with reading material and food apparently) is as good as anyone can do.

24 hours on so not sure if this still counts as post race excitement but I thought it was excellent. A very tough course with a hell of a lot of steep sections beyond the 3 categorised climbs. Organisation was superb with excellent signage, especially the post-turn 200yd confirmations. I have to say that I think their only problem was marketing which is obviously no reflection on the actual event (as opposed to the pre race organisation). Maybe if they'd had more time and or the course wasn't so tough they'd have picked up more casual riders.

Great fun anyway. Definately up for more sportives now!
 

Jonathan M

New Member
Location
Merseyside
In the past british cycling have organised sportives including part of the route of a stage, but as part of a circular ride, I'm thinking the ToB sportives from the Manchestour onwards. Perhaps they have recieved feedback from riders that people actually want to ride the race route? I agree that logistics for a point to point are a pain, and depending upon locations of start and finish, that process may be more complicated that neccessary.

I know the Etape du tour is a point to point, but I also know that other big french sportives (L'Ardechois springs to mind) are based upon circular routes. Does anyone know what the norm is for european sportive rides?
 

CotterPin

Senior Member
Location
London
This was my first sportive. Initially I was wondering what I was spending my money on, as sometimes it did seem to be little more than a glorified audax which I would pay a fiver to enter. I was also a little bit concerned about the tight closing time for the event. But maybe that is the norm - I am more used to the generous timings of audaxes.

In the end, though, I think the event was extremely well organised. Others have commented on the signage, which was excellent and kept you right on track. Also the logistics at the end was good. Yes, point to point could be a faff but I guess that is the price you pay if you want to ride a stage of a road race, and the return to Worcester was straightforward.

The only sticking point was the publicity. It didn't seem to get much (there was no mention in the Tour of Britain publicity, for instance) which meant the numbers were well down. That was a bit of a shame, although I suppose made the whole thing run more smoothly - there was no waiting at feed stations or to get on the bus at the end.

All in all, it was a great ride, well organised and it has certainly given me the desire to try more sportives in the future.
 

Jonathan M

New Member
Location
Merseyside
I do wonder, & I've posted this thought on other forums, but I feel as though BC really pushed the boat out on the TDF sportive, and while there were early season plans to have a sportive ride in the south west, they didn't go ahead, the reasons for this I'm not sure.

If the ToB sportive had been more widely publicised then I may have been able to attend, as it is I had made plans for the bank holiday weekend so couldn't have gone under any reason. But then the same was true of the 1st ToB sportive, IIRC the Manchestour was only publiscised about 4 or 5 weeks in advance, still drew a field of several hundred though. I have a feeling that it was organised in part only to test the logisitics, as it ran with the support of the motorbike escorts & signage etc.

I say bring them on, if anyone connected with BC reads this forum then lets have a bit more planning around these events. Consider location, access for all, and perhaps even a choice of routes, so that those riders who don't want to do a century or can't ride a century can still participate. Again, they've done it before with the Manchestour, 2 or maybe even 3 routes IIRC, from a longer 70ish mile route to a shorter & less hillier 50 mile route, and I think there may have been a 15 mile family route.
 
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