Velo South - West Sussex 23/09/2018 (Closed Road 100)

[Racing roadkill]

Thanks for taking the time to address my post. I accept what you say, and from what I understand, the same thing happened on the London/Surrey 100 ride. If the route does not change, there are gong to be some very upset parishioners. I was chatting to someone connected to one of the churches yesterday who wanted to know if I could confirm the closures, which I did, assuming the course remains as is. Since my last post, I have realised the closure also affects the only access to the rail station. We shall see what happens and if Horsham District Council (HDC) change their minds!



As others have noted, there will be climbs. For reasonably fit experienced cyclists they will not pose major problems but equally, they are challenging, especially after some miles in the legs!


Another query: how does the start work? I cannot envisage 15,000 eager sportivistes all being let off the leash at once!

Released in waves, as per Velo Birmingham. I’ve ridden the route, there aren’t many pinch points, there are some hills though.

 

[smutchin]

from what I understand, the same thing happened on the London/Surrey 100 ride

On the RideLondon, there's a point near Dorking where cars are allowed to cross the route. Marshals will periodically stop riders and pull a barrier across the road to let cars through.

This seems like a sensible approach where the route of a closed-road sportive blocks off vital access points. However, if there are more than a couple of these points on any proposed route, then I'd suggest the organiser needs to rethink the route. If that means moving the event to a different area entirely, so it goes. RideLondon gets away with it because it is such a big event with lots of money behind it, but I suspect there are very few places in the southeast where you could hold a 100-mile closed-road sportive without causing this kind of disruption.

 

[Racing roadkill]

On the RideLondon, there's a point near Dorking where cars are allowed to cross the route. Marshals will periodically stop riders and pull a barrier across the road to let cars through.

This seems like a sensible approach where the route of a closed-road sportive blocks off vital access points. However, if there are more than a couple of these points on any proposed route, then I'd suggest the organiser needs to rethink the route. If that means moving the event to a different area entirely, so it goes. RideLondon gets away with it because it is such a big event with lots of money behind it, but I suspect there are very few places in the southeast where you could hold a 100-mile closed-road sportive without causing this kind of disruption.

There is only one point on the proposed route of the Velo South, where the traffic might have to be allowed across, like at Dorking, and again at Wimbledon on the Ride London. This is where the route of the Velo South ( briefly ) joins a major A road, but the alternative is to divert half a mile to the west, and not take the Sportive on to that bit at all. Other than that small section, I can’t see road closures being that big a deal on a Sunday. I rode the proposed Velo South route on a relatively busy day, and there wasn’t very much traffic ( except for the bit I mentioned ).

 

[smutchin]

again at Wimbledon

Oh yeah, forgot about that one.

If they can have a couple of crossing points on the RideLondon, I'm sure they can manage something similar on the Velo South.

 

[kingrollo]

Official route unveiled. No mention of a 20% + climb in the first few miles - although the climb after 5 miles looks comparable to the 2 they do detail at the end.
4900 ft of climbing - doing close to that in a 60 mile sportive at the weekend.
But good if some locals could confirm the gradients - as I said with 15000 cyclist I can't see us going up gradients much over 10% - the whole thing would crawl to a halt...

 

[Racing roadkill]

Official route unveiled. No mention of a 20% + climb in the first few miles - although the climb after 5 miles looks comparable to the 2 they do detail at the end.
4900 ft of climbing - doing close to that in a 60 mile sportive at the weekend.
But good if some locals could confirm the gradients - as I said with 15000 cyclist I can't see us going up gradients much over 10% - the whole thing would crawl to a halt...

There is a mention of the first climb ( Duncton Hill ) but only to say you get the descent off if it. It is the exact route I rode a couple of weeks ago. It’s tough. The first gradient ( Duncton Hill ) is about a steady 6 percent, with an 11 percent step at the end.There are a couple of 6 percents during the ride, then the climb at the end ( Harting Hill ) has a 6 percent start, (until you reach the church), then kicks up to 18 percent for about a quarter of a mile. The Velo South lot mention the ‘kicker’ at Copsale as well, but don’t mention how steep it is ( 12% ) but only for a few hundred yards.

https://www.relive.cc/view/1493205581

Here it is as a ‘relive’ there were 2 slight differences, from the official route ( owing to a road closure at Elmers Marsh) and a 500 yard detour near Horsham, due to an accident, but other than that, it’s exactly the same.

 

[Shadow]

Official route unveiled

Do you have a link to it?

 

[kingrollo]

There is a mention of the first climb ( Duncton Hill ) but only to say you get the descent off if it. It is the exact route I rode a couple of weeks ago. It’s tough. The first gradient ( Duncton Hill ) is about a steady 6 percent, with an 11 percent step at the end.There are a couple of 6 percents during the ride, then the climb at the end ( Harting Hill ) has a 6 percent start, (until you reach the church), then kicks up to 18 percent for about a quarter of a mile. The Velo South lot mention the ‘kicker’ at Copsale as well, but don’t mention how steep it is ( 12% ) but only for a few hundred yards.

https://www.relive.cc/view/1493205581

Here it is as a ‘relive’ there were 2 slight differences, from the official route ( owing to a road closure at Elmers Marsh) and a 500 yard detour near Horsham, due to an accident, but other than that, it’s exactly the same.

Christ thats some hill ! - what gearing do you use for that 28 ?

 

[kingrollo]

link
https://www.velosouth.com/the-route/

 

[Racing roadkill]

Christ thats some hill ! - what gearing do you use for that 28 ?

36-28 got me up it, but I did have to zig zag a bit.

 

[kingrollo]

36-28 got me up it, but I did have to zig zag a bit.

Be loads walking that - is it a wide road ?

This isn't far from me so will be getting some practice in

https://veloviewer.com/segment/4041677/Winwood+Heath+Rd+Climb

 

[Racing roadkill]

Be loads walking that - is it a wide road ?

This isn't far from me so will be getting some practice in

https://veloviewer.com/segment/4041677/Winwood+Heath+Rd+Climb

Yes, there will be a lot walking it, it’s quite wide, but it’s at the 90 miles point, so I think a lot of people will be getting off, with little or no warning.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

For those who are signed up and do not know the roads, one of the pleasures you will miss is climbing Duncton Hill from the north. The downside of this, is errrr, the downside. I would imagine it would be easy to reach speeds of 70kph+. Especially knowing there is no traffic coming towards you. But there is a lovely 270° bend at the bottom. If you are in a bunch and do not know the riders around you, I would advise extreme caution!

You know me, I think, no slouch going down hill. 70kph is easily doable heading north down Duncton, but as you say... that bend. These days I tend to only ride it heading south.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Thanks for taking the time to address my post. I accept what you say, and from what I understand, the same thing happened on the London/Surrey 100 ride. If the route does not change, there are gong to be some very upset parishioners. I was chatting to someone connected to one of the churches yesterday who wanted to know if I could confirm the closures, which I did, assuming the course remains as is. Since my last post, I have realised the closure also affects the only access to the rail station. We shall see what happens and if Horsham District Council (HDC) change their minds!

I've entered for a couple of reasons; they held back some entries for local residents and sent begging letters (which suggests a level of undersubscription), I have more money than sense as I paid for first wave with the racing snakes, I'm local and I'd like to ride on my local roads when they are closed, and because, in all seriousness, the backlash will be HUGE once the impact dawns on Major Entitlement (Ret'd) of West Sussex, such that I don't think they will get to run it again in my cycling lifetime (though I'd love to be wrong on that.)

There is a rumour doing the rounds, from a reputable, but not entirely unimpeachable source, locally, that Sussex/Surrey Roads Policing don't think they can enforce some of the rolling closures hereabouts and if a resident does take to the road in their Cayenne, well c'est la vie.

 

[Shadow]

that Sussex/Surrey Roads Policing don't think they can enforce some of the rolling closures hereabouts and if a resident does take to the road in their Cayenne, well c'est la vie.

Let us hope that there will not be tragic consequences of such residents ignoring advice and taking to the roads.

On the other hand, I do think the organizers deserve some credit in attempting to engage the smaller local communities, including younger children, in taking part in some manner, whether getting out to cheer the participants or maybe as a volunteer.