Ride with Brad - New date - 11th August 2013

[Peteaud]

I did the 100km and apart from hearing they were all at the front of the queue for a photo call never saw or heard of them again.
When we got back I think they were sat away from the great unwashed in the VIP tents.

I was so disappointed with the whole "Brad" thing I sent this email, doubt I will get a response worth reading


After riding the 100km sportive today I just had to write and give my thoughts.

We arrived at the requested time and joining hundreds of others for the 8am start. Whoever was on the mic on stage did mention Bradley was on the start line, (50 or so metres in front of where we were in the queue) and that was the last we heard or saw of him for the entire day.
We set off in the 3rd group of 40 riders and he was nowhere to be seen, so we were hoping the "Wiggle ladies" would be out and we might catch a glimpse of them only to be disappointed yet again. We did the whole 100km and saw no one other than the other riders (none of which we were there to see). We stopped in the feeding stations to see if they were there and alas not. Upon finishing we thought they would be at the Start/Finish line, oh how foolish were we.
We walked around the field looking at the overpriced fast food stalls for over an hour and not one glimpse of any of Brad or anyone that mattered, at this point a cat in a Bradley hat would have at least cheered us up. We left to go home and have no idea Brad or wiggle Honda where even at the event.

So to sum up the whole experience

Pennine Events - terrible web site for signing up.
Parking and Marshalling around the Village - Good (very little on route, but well signed)
The route , very demanding - Good
The goody bag, Oh how we laughed at the freebie give away tat, all emptied into the bin as the bag itself was the only thing that was any good.
The journey home - Annoyed at paying £40 to do a sportive worth £20 at most, due to the "Come and Ride with Brad and Wiggle Honda" being a complete joke

Will I be doing it next year, not unless something very unusual happens between now and then , and to be honest waking up with my face sown to the carpet would be less of a surprise than signing up again next year.

Yours Pete

We did see brad although once he went off in the VIP group that was it.

Parking, what a joke. We got sent up a dead end and ended up getting out of the car, moving a load of cones and snapping the tape to get out. We ended up parking on a side street in the town. Getting changed was interesting, and to be honest i dont care to much about modesty so a whole bus load of locals have seen my bare ar$e when getting changed.

The route was good but a group of us missed the "left" turn on the dual carriageway, you know the one, it went across and down the cycle path, not as we all did turned left.

The "marshal / security" at the barrier by the "bike park" was luck i never chinned him for being a gormless wonder.


Luckily we made a weekend out of it, and i did enjoy it but next year, no way.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

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Luckily we made a weekend out of it, and i did enjoy it but next year, no way.

Luckily we were only 45mins away, I would truly have been gutted had I come up from the South coast.

Hope you liked the hills we have to ride in, if not the weather we tend to get a lot of

 

[DiddlyDodds]

Well that was bloody hard work. Endless steep hills mixed in with a constant 20mph wind and just a dash of rain and hail. 11300ft of climbing in total over 160Km. I finished in a shade under 7hrs, and am now totally shattered.

Lesson 3 - Take indestructible tyres as the roads surfaces round there are terrible. Luckily my Vittoria Evo CX stood up well and didn't puncture, but I saw loads who did.
quote]


I thought I had gone the wrong way near the end when we went down farmers tracks, I kept waiting to see Farmer Parma shout "Townies , gerrof moi land"

 

[jdtate101]

I got there before the car park moron was "on duty", although I did see him shouting at a few people. One time he looked like he might punch the guy in the car, all rather ugly.

I did get one pic of the man, just as he was about to set us off for the 160km route...

 

[danielstucke]

Did the 160km. I'm feeling it now. 8hrs 5mins in total. About 7hrs20 riding time. No time anywhere on that route for a breather it's a complete brute.

Didn't see Brad other than the start. Not bothered. Did the 100km last year and finished it too quickly to see him on the ride. This year was too slow on the 160km to see him. Would have been nice to cycle alongside him for a few k's but that's not why I do the sportive. Seems a bit silly to complain about it, logistically/mathematically the 'famous' people are only going to be able to ride with a certain portion of the field.

Had no issues with car-parking, just picked a suitable one off the map they sent and drove straight to it. Signage on the route was excellent. Not that many marshalls. Feed stops were all well stocked with cakes / energy drinks / gels / portaloos / mechanics / first aid. Well organised all round imho.

Shame the weather was shoot yet again!

 

[jdtate101]

I didn't think the weather was all that bad. We got a smattering of rain about 3 times, but nothing serious. I didn't even get wet socks/shoes, but I was wearing water resistant arm/leg warmers and a gilet all day. The wind was a bit of a bugger, especially as it was quite gusty. The only nasty bit weather wise for me was the 30mph run off the 2nd big climb just as it started to hail very slightly....that hurt.