Wales : South Glamorgan Velothon Wales

[Broadside]

Has anyone got a GPX for the route that is rideable before event day? I see on the Velothon website it says the route includes bits going the wrong way down streets etc. Or is the official published route close enough to follow on open roads? Does it include some nasty dual carriageway bits?

Me and a few friends are riding it this Sunday and I thought I would ask here before putting a route in manually

 

[sleaver]

I can't really help much but they have kept mentioning minimising disruption around the M4 due to closed roads.

Although that is rather vague, the fact that they are mentioning the M4 must mean it goes rather close and knowing what roads leading up to motorways can be, I think I would be taking rather large bits out of my saddle and my shorts would be a nice shade of brown

Although for I know, it may actually be fine

 

[Broadside]

I can't really help much but they have kept mentioning minimising disruption around the M4 due to closed roads.

Although that is rather vague, the fact that they are mentioning the M4 must mean it goes rather close and knowing what roads leading up to motorways can be, I think I would be taking rather large bits out of my saddle and my shorts would be a nice shade of brown

Although for I know, it may actually be fine

Thanks, you're sort of supporting the reason why I don't want to blindly follow the published route that will be used on the day!

 

[Nomadski]

Just do a quick streetview runthrough of the route at intersections you are concerned about. Shouldnt take long. The vast majority of the route should be A-ok.

 

[sleaver]

Thanks, you're sort of supporting the reason why I don't want to blindly follow the published route that will be used on the day!

Or you could take one for the team and let us know what the route is like so that we've all got some insider info

Just don't mention the "climbing" aspect as I'm probably going to be rather under prepared

 

[Nomadski]

Or you could take one for the team and let us know what the route is like so that we've all got some insider info

Just don't mention the "climbing" aspect as I'm probably going to be rather under prepared

You wont be the only one. I am so far behind where I was leading up to RideLondon 2013. Still going to be fun! (ish).

 

[sleaver]

You wont be the only one. I am so far behind where I was leading up to RideLondon 2013. Still going to be fun! (ish).

I did 103km today and compared to last year, I'm about a week behind. Of course, that was only when I had RideLondon in August and not Velothon Wales in 3 weeks

I came up with a plan while out today though:

0-40km - Its flat so take it easy
40km to the Tumble - Now we start moving
The Tumble - Smash the KOM and win it by a large margin
Descent - Fear is for wimps. Descent like a man possessed
To Caerphilly Mountain - Just getting warmed up
Caerphilly Mountain - What mountain, I just saw a speed bump like one of those timing mats
Last 20km - Walk in the park.

Of course, everyone needs a Plan B so:

0-40km - Its flat so take it easy
40km to the Tumble - Starts going up hill, take it a bit more easy
The Tumble - 6km of crawling along and pain
Descent - Freewheel as my legs are dead
To Caerphilly Mountain - Try and justify the meaning of life
Caerphilly Mountain - Cry like a b**** while praying my Garmin doesn't auto pause and wonder why I paid £4 to get into the god damn Country
Last 20km - Realise why it is free to get out of the Country.

So, as you can see, I'll be on Plan B after the first 40km

I may by a GoPro as well to see if I can be the first to post a video on YouTube of being overtaken by the Broom Wagon In all seriousness, I may actually get one to take along for the ride.

 

[Broadside]

We went out to ride the route yesterday, it was a good day out. The first 25 miles are almost unbelievably flat, until you do a small climb up to the back of Celtic Manor but it's nothing serious. The tumble is looong but I wouldn't say all that hard as it is such a consistent 9-11% gradient, there are a couple of 13-14% sections on the zig zags but the rest is so consistent that it lends itself to getting a rhythm going. The view off to the right across the valleys when you are 75% through the climb is worth having a good look at if the day is clear.

By far the hardest part of the ride for me was Caerphilly Mountain, its a big hill really but they call it a mountain Caerphilly is more like 14-16% all the way up and because you've already got the best part of 90 miles in your legs it can feel quite hard. The descent off Caerphilly is good fun and a bit twisty so I expect some people will over cook it on the corners on the day

There is a section of 5 miles draggy climbing on a dual carriageway as soon as you exit Newbridge, it was fairly quiet for us being a Sunday morning, that section will whizz along on the day with the road closed.

 

[dickyknees]

For the people like me who have never ridden a Sportive before I had this reply from the Help Desk on a question about what will be available at Feed Stations.

"The full list will be in the information guide due out soon. But they will have:
- Enervit Energy Drink
. Water
. Welsh Cakes
. Bananas
. Oranges
. Sweets"

 

[User33236]

Start times are being emailed out. Check your inbox.

 

[Norry1]

07.55 Wave number 5 Pen C1

 

[sleaver]

The tumble is looong but I wouldn't say all that hard as it is such a consistent 9-11% gradient

Hmm, Box Hill is about 4-5% and shorter at about 2km

there are a couple of 13-14% sections on the zig zags

Would you say that if you took the long way around the corner on closed roads, it wouldn't be as bad?

Caerphilly is more like 14-16% all the way up

How long is the climb, also buff said

Welsh Cakes

Right, I'm back on Plan A......Who am I trying to kid I do like Welsh Cakes though and I haven't had them for years.

@Broadside Thanks for the summary though

 

[sleaver]

Start times are being emailed out. Check your inbox.

09:10 wave 20 H2

"There are a total of 20 waves......"

Wave 20 of 20 doesn't sound like I have much leway

Edit - I suppose looking on the bright side, I don't have to get up as early!

 

[User33236]

09:10 wave 20 H2

"There are a total of 20 waves......"

Wave 20 of 20 doesn't sound like I have much leway

I have a little bit more leway, wave 14 starting at 8:40

 

[Nig mtb]

Wave 13, pen K,and start time of 0835, number 9016
Doing a Surrey hilly ride saturday morning consisting of ranmore, white down, Leith hill, winterfold, and radnor road on Holmbury hill (not in that order)