Let them eat cake - Cheshire 60m

[CMJ]

Take both, decide in the car park before setting off... and it will still be the wrong choice.

Or do the opposite I do. 4 out of 5 events I have worn the wrong gear. The only one I got right was the tour of the peaks and that was a definate "Scorchio"

Not very encouraging! My only other event was the Cheshire cat in the March heat wave and I wore tights so what do I know...
I could take a selection through as I have family nearby I could leave it with...very handy

 

[PaulSecteur]

I had some union jack cake that was much larger than the others on offer... Result!

Oh, and there was a bike ride too.

Pretty pleased with my times...

Distance: 65.18 mi
Time: 3:40:45
Avg Speed: 17.7 mph
Elevation Gain: 520 m
Calories: 2,347 C
Avg Temperature: 12.6 °C

Time: 3:40:45
Moving Time: 3:40:21
Elapsed Time: 4:15:04
Avg Speed: 17.7 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 17.7 mph
Max Speed:
36.5 mph

I average 19.3 on the 30 miles out, probaly about 15 ish on the way back (headwind, and I had really pushed to get a good time and tire myself out as a practice for the fens ride)

Things I would like to see for next time...

Start in groups, not 1 big mass start. Too many riders bunched together of differeng ablilities.

Smallr number plates, I could only just get my hands on the top os hte bars.

All in all... Happy!



:

 

[RhythMick]

Good time Paul. I was pleased with time there, 36 miles in 2:13. 4:42 total that headwind was a killer.

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[lanternerouge]

Had an excellent time doing this today. Strava tells me I am very slow compared to everyone else (well everyone else who uses Strava anyway) but who cares, I really enjoyed it! Excellent organisation and friendly atmosphere

 

[Slartibartfast]

Just want to say that I hope the girl who broke her ankle (I think), is ok. We passed her and a guy in a CC jersey earlier.

GWS.

 

[PaulSecteur]

That is bad news, hope she gets better soon. The only incident I saw was someone taking a low speed tumble from not unclipping.

I think I saw one bloke in a CC jersey, but I was chasing a 19mph average so couldnt stop!

 

[Slartibartfast]

And also thanks to the lady in the blue van and the guy on the motorbike for helping my wife.

Very much appreciated.

Shaun

 

[172traindriver]

Good very enjoyable event, and it made a change to do something different midweek with everything else that was going on. Not that I wish to appear anti-royalist, I genuinely wish all the best to Her Majesty and consider the spectacle that this country put on to the rest of the world amazing and feel very patriotic to have witnessed what has been going on.
As for the event and Pauls views, they are interesting and speaking to Al the organiser afterwards, he was saying he was interested to hear peoples comments and views. It is a problem with a mass start event, do you let everyone go together or stagger it in smaller groups. Obviously with the larger numbers involved with the kilotogo events it has to be controlled with smaller groups. Todays max was supposed to be 300, it would be nice of Al (if you are viewing) to give us some feedback on numbers etc.
Myself I must have been at least 3/4 of the way back from the start so it took a while to work my way towards the front of the group obviously allowing for slower riders and less experienced riders. Caution was needed and during some early narrow lanes there was potential for a large accident. Fortunately the organising team kept the speed somewhat neutralised for the first few miles, so you could pick your way to the front, when the pace started to get quicker.
Along with you Paul I was using it a tester for the Flat out in the Fens 112 miler in a couple of weeks and manged a ride time of 3hours 31 minutes over 66.6 miles at an average moving speed of 19 mph.
Likewise with other comments the headwind during the 2nd half after the cafe was very sapping and there is a realisation that for the Fens event there would still be 46 miles to go and that part of the country can be very windy with a lack of shelter.
Also when looking at the data there were some slight climbs during the last 15 miles and they certainly let you know about it when you are running out of energy.
Big thanks to the organising team and what a lovely array of cakes!!!! talk about pub crawl, you could have done a cake crawl!!!

 

[Polocini]

As always, thanks for the nice comments but especially the feedback. I need to know the BAD things as well as the good. I'm whizzing about all day and often miss things unless they are pointed out to me e.g the feed station queue etc.

Number boards: I'll make them smaller as you are A.Correct and B.I can get more on the sheet and save printing costs.

Mass start: The mass start was so that Louise from Patisserie Cyclisme could lead out the riders as it was her event!! The idea was to hit the long straight road and riders would thin out. I've heard that what happened was actually that every one was very polite and didn't actually overtake thus slowing the ride down. Every event hq we use has a long straight road near the beginning. It's designed into the route to help with the starts. I personally don't like herded starts within barriers etc and I also don't like a set start time for groups. As a few of you know, our events are laid back. I like riders to ride out as they wish.

Numbers: We had 184 riders on the road after no shows. We will never run an event with more than 300. It takes away from the atmosphere.

Hills: WHAT HILLS!!! The biggest gradient was 3% so I'm sticking with my pan flat route assessment.

Headwind: WOW THE HEADWIND!!!! I've ridden the route seven times and it's never been windy. After about 1pm it really picked up.

The lady who fell off has broken her leg in three places. It was a freak accident as she fell off whilst stationary and swapping bottles with her husband.

Cheers
AL

 

[Kestevan]

Hi All,

The lady who had a clipless moment was my wife Anita. Somehow she managed to get her right leg under the bike as she fell, and has broken her leg quite badly (not that there's really any good way to break your leg in 2 places).

Looks like she will be needing pins/plates to hold it all together - should find out after she goes into surgery tomorrow, so probably no more sportives this year for her.

A big thanks to all at Polocini for handling the removal/storage of the bikes quickly (the bike van arrived before the ambulance), and all the riders who stopped to ask if there was anything they could do to help.

Everyone involved was brilliant, and made things as easy as possible under the circumstances.

I'm now going to get on the outside of a large Scotch,and then bed, before the trek back to Cheshire in the morning.

 

[172traindriver]

As always, thanks for the nice comments but especially the feedback. I need to know the BAD things as well as the good. I'm whizzing about all day and often miss things unless they are pointed out to me e.g the feed station queue etc.

Number boards: I'll make them smaller as you are A.Correct and B.I can get more on the sheet and save printing costs.

Mass start: The mass start was so that Louise from Patisserie Cyclisme could lead out the riders as it was her event!! The idea was to hit the long straight road and riders would thin out. I've heard that what happened was actually that every one was very polite and didn't actually overtake thus slowing the ride down. Every event hq we use has a long straight road near the beginning. It's designed into the route to help with the starts. I personally don't like herded starts within barriers etc and I also don't like a set start time for groups. As a few of you know, our events are laid back. I like riders to ride out as they wish.

Numbers: We had 184 riders on the road after no shows. We will never run an event with more than 300. It takes away from the atmosphere.

Hills: WHAT HILLS!!! The biggest gradient was 3% so I'm sticking with my pan flat route assessment.

Headwind: WOW THE HEADWIND!!!! I've ridden the route seven times and it's never been windy. After about 1pm it really picked up.

The lady who fell off has broken her leg in three places. It was a freak accident as she fell off whilst stationary and swapping bottles with her husband.

Cheers
AL

Thanks for the update Al,

As I said previously on here and when I spoke to you afterwards, cracking event...................thanks for all the effort you and your team put in.

If the lady that had the accident should ever get to see this message board or if you have any further contact with her, send her best wishes and hope she has a speedy recovery.

Cheers, Kev

 

[lanternerouge]

Hi All,

The lady who had a clipless moment was my wife Anita. Somehow she managed to get her right leg under the bike as she fell, and has broken her leg quite badly (not that there's really any good way to break your leg in 2 places).

Looks like she will be needing pins/plates to hold it all together - should find out after she goes into surgery tomorrow, so probably no more sportives this year for her.

A big thanks to all at Polocini for handling the removal/storage of the bikes quickly (the bike van arrived before the ambulance), and all the riders who stopped to ask if there was anything they could do to help.

Everyone involved was brilliant, and made things as easy as possible under the circumstances.

I'm now going to get on the outside of a large Scotch,and then bed, before the trek back to Cheshire in the morning.

Really sorry to hear about that mate, wondered where you were when I got back! I hope Anita has as speedy a recovery as possible and that we see her back out on the roads soon!

 

[RhythMick]

Best wishes to Anita. Real shame about that, hope she recovers soon.

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[Stringy Bob]

Sorry I missed it. Had rellies over from the good old U S of A. It would have seemed a bit anti social to bugger off 4 the day.The ride must have come past my front door!!

 

[PaulSecteur]

It looked like there was a photographer, but I can find links to the site to see the photos?

Anyone know where they are?