Velo Birmingham
Discussion
Froze at the start.
Why put a feed station halfway up a hill !! Caused gridlock, no bins at some of the water stops etc
But the local support was amazing, Bewdley was four deep in the town and was a real boost, nice to see and hopefully encourage more people to get out on their bikes.
Was at least 1000' more elevation than the organisers said, the ramp after st kenelms pass was 'fun'. Strava time of 5.54 so pleased with that after a hard week of shift work before the event.
Why put a feed station halfway up a hill !! Caused gridlock, no bins at some of the water stops etc
But the local support was amazing, Bewdley was four deep in the town and was a real boost, nice to see and hopefully encourage more people to get out on their bikes.
Was at least 1000' more elevation than the organisers said, the ramp after st kenelms pass was 'fun'. Strava time of 5.54 so pleased with that after a hard week of shift work before the event.
My first ever 100 mile event and I survived! I very nearly gave up at the stop at mile 75, and would have done if I could work out how to! It was the first stop where I found food, and then only wine gums. However they were enough to give me the boost to get me to mile 85, where there was a wider range of food including bananas.
The half hour delay to the start wasnt great, but there were portable toilets both side of the road where we were, and a bar had also opened early selling coffee and letting riders using its toilets.
The support from the locals was great, and by the time I got to the oil slick it had been covered with straw, part of me hopes the route goes that way again just to show these idiots cant win.
It took me just over 9 hours including rest breaks, and I managed to get in just before the road closures were lifted. As I approached the end it appeared that people were beginning to remove the road barriers themselves.
Whilst it was clear that there would be sweep vehicles and the roads would reopen etc I am not sure that when first signing up it was ever said that there would be a maximum of 8.5 hours to complete the ride if you started at the back. This time would probably have been ok if it wasnt for the amount of climb. The website route says there was 1,754m of climb, not sure what the definition of climb is, my tracker says there was 7,633 ft (2,327m) which is a significant difference particularly for us newbies.
However the support of the residents and locals on the route was great, and as someone else has said having ones name called out made it even better.
Cost me a fortune to take part, but wouldnt have missed the experience for anything.
The half hour delay to the start wasnt great, but there were portable toilets both side of the road where we were, and a bar had also opened early selling coffee and letting riders using its toilets.
The support from the locals was great, and by the time I got to the oil slick it had been covered with straw, part of me hopes the route goes that way again just to show these idiots cant win.
It took me just over 9 hours including rest breaks, and I managed to get in just before the road closures were lifted. As I approached the end it appeared that people were beginning to remove the road barriers themselves.
Whilst it was clear that there would be sweep vehicles and the roads would reopen etc I am not sure that when first signing up it was ever said that there would be a maximum of 8.5 hours to complete the ride if you started at the back. This time would probably have been ok if it wasnt for the amount of climb. The website route says there was 1,754m of climb, not sure what the definition of climb is, my tracker says there was 7,633 ft (2,327m) which is a significant difference particularly for us newbies.
However the support of the residents and locals on the route was great, and as someone else has said having ones name called out made it even better.
Cost me a fortune to take part, but wouldnt have missed the experience for anything.
Found a link to the story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-41...
Chrisgr31 said:
FiF said:
What about the guy from Ohio USA, who thought it was in Birmingham Alabama when he entered, but still came anyway. 
You what? Not seen anything about that! Must of been a pain for him to get there with his bike!
Straight from the horse's mouth (on Strava)...
In response to this...
Neil Bennison said:
Well done John, great effort. Your story of the Birmingham Velo has hit the BBC web site in the U.K.
John Hoopingarner said:
Thanks Neil! It's a little bit inaccurate as the original email I responded to is where I made the error. By the time it came to pay the entry fee, I knew where I was going. Absolutely wonderful time and great ride!
...but let's not allow lazy journalism and the bending of the facts to get in the way of a great story! https://www.strava.com/activities/1200738831
He appears to be a pretty capable cyclist. Seems to have ridden 453 miles the previous week too...
https://www.strava.com/athletes/11849468
Definitely a good story from the event though.
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