Did you do the Etape Mercia......

[TheBell]

......last Sunday, what did you think?

Saw a thread a while back discussing the cost, the charity and the politics of it all etc (I'd already signed and paid by that point!!!) putting that aside, what did you reckon?

For me:
I thought it was expensive for what it was, and what you got...seen goodie bags you get on other, cheaper rides...but I guess a massive chunk of that goes towards being able to have it on closed roads - one of the reasons I did it.
Registering the day before was an ar$e, they could have easily posted what we had to collect!
I thought they could have swept some of the severe corners. I appreciate this probably never happens on any other sportive type ride, but the course was so well marshalled they could have given them a brush and got rid of some gravel, some corners were terrible and there were plenty of bloodied arms and legs!!

I'm new to sportives and other than the above I really enjoyed it. The constant flow of hills in the last 15 miles (they were more like mountains to me, coming from Lincolnshire!!) was an energy sapper but well chuffed I did it.

As an add on - I'm also interested in doing another ride around the end of October, need a target to keep my backside off the sofa for as long as possible before Christmas, suggestions welcome...

Cheers, Ian

 

[suzeworld]

I did it.
I don't do many sportives, but absolutely loved this.

I live local so pre- registration was OK for me.

I guess it was due to very early start on the day? We'd have to have been there very early to register on the day.

 

[TheBell]

Yeah we kinda thought that, I guess we were a little more disgruntled than we would normally have been as we all left booking the hotel to each other - needless to say it was last minute so the nearest we could get was Crewe and it was only £20 each for the night - so you an imagine the quality....

We've got one more planned for this year, the Wiggle Rut, which is a bit more local to us, so hopefully we'll get a bit more cycling in before winter thoroughly ruins it!!

The Etape though was very well organised I thought and as you say, very enjoyable.

 

[suzeworld]

Not exactly local, either ... is it, Crewe to Chester for the registration process ...

The ride actually went past the top of the road I live on, which was funny ... well ... I live on a caravan site near the Delamere forest ... I'm not a millionaire in a Cheshire mansion!

I will definitely do it again, I have never been so fast on my bike. That whole thing of not having to stop at junctions and being able to barrel along narrow roads, unafraid of oncoming traffic gave me a a massive buzz, actually.

 

[suzeworld]

I also thought they under-represented the actual climbing involved .. my cyclemetre clocked up much more (I think double) the metres ascent compared to that they had advertised it as

To judge from the folk I saw walking up the hills at the end, quite a few were caught out by that!
Enjoy your wiggle rut!

 

[TheBell]

Crewe to Chester only took us 30 minutes or so and the same again in the morning to get to the start so not the end of the world, but I think in hindsight we'd have liked to have been closer!!
One of the main reasons we did it was the closed roads thing, we really enjoyed that too, no looking over your shoulder constantly cos you think you can hear a car!!
The climbing caught us out too, I work in feet and I can't remember what it said it was but my strava said considerably more!! I am trying do more hills to get better at them so didn't mind so much, can't say the same for my mates though!! Coming from Lincolnshire we don't see many!
Hopefully we will enjoy the Rut, thanks, - weather permitting!!