Ride100 - 2021?

[Gruffy]

okgo said:

The hardest climbs in the South east are not in Surrey. They are in Kent. Plenty to be getting on with just a few miles away.

They'd definitely have to resurface them first. Can you imagine sending a thousand sportive riders up and down the cratered lumps of Kent all bunched together

[Gruffy]

yellowjack said:

I'd like to see a Tour de France stage re-run for a closed road event. Maybe the Cambridge to London stage (the one a bunch of PHers managed to complete a few years back). but the logistics of finishing so far from the start point would make it difficult to achieve without pricing it too high.

That Cambridge-London stage was pretty dull in comparison to the Yorkshire stages, the first of which can also be amended to create a loop. Those stages made for an amazing weekend that I'd love to ride again at some point. They'd be incredible on closed roads but 200km and 4,000vm is probably a bit punchy for a mass participation event though.

[okgo]

Gruffy said:

They'd definitely have to resurface them first. Can you imagine sending a thousand sportive riders up and down the cratered lumps of Kent all bunched together

Yeh, not really acceptable are they in most cases. That said, the pro's did go up Ranmore/down Whitedown in Surrey in one of the events, and Barhatch, all small roads, so it is possible!

[Akz]

Gruffy said:

They'd definitely have to resurface them first. Can you imagine sending a thousand sportive riders up and down the cratered lumps of Kent all bunched together

Leith Hill descent is hardly ideal as it was in 2019. I distinctly remember slamming it through a pothole to avoid close passing the photographer

[yellowjack]

Gruffy said:

yellowjack said:

I'd like to see a Tour de France stage re-run for a closed road event. Maybe the Cambridge to London stage (the one a bunch of PHers managed to complete a few years back). but the logistics of finishing so far from the start point would make it difficult to achieve without pricing it too high.

That Cambridge-London stage was pretty dull in comparison to the Yorkshire stages, the first of which can also be amended to create a loop. Those stages made for an amazing weekend that I'd love to ride again at some point. They'd be incredible on closed roads but 200km and 4,000vm is probably a bit punchy for a mass participation event though.

I think perhaps the Cambridge-London stage was in my mind for that very reason. I didn't ride those two earlier stages with you back then, but I do have a couple of years of experience living/riding out from Ripon. And for a mass participation event you're right, the topography up there is pretty challenging, and a bad weather event could put many people off, or leave the broom wagon full to bursting. The Cambridgeshire/Essex stage was good for me because I spent 7 years living/riding out from near Saffron Walden, meaning it was mostly pretty familiar territory for me but ridden in a way I hadn't previously done (straight through rather than lots of shorter loops taking in small portions of the TdF route).

I do get a bit of a feeling that sportives will struggle if/when they come back. People will have realised (during "lockdown") that they are capable of organising their own "solo sportive" rides, so may be less inclined to pay (sometimes big) money to an organiser simply for a route and some snacks. And push back from residents who haven't had to "put up with unbearable disruption" caused by open road cycle sportives could well be stronger too. "Increased risk of spreading Covid" will just be additional ammo for the NIMBYs regardless of what scientific studies say about the risk.

it will certainly be interesting to see what happens when things approach "old normal" again. I've already got an invite to ride Winchester to Portsmouth with some old friends when the 'Rule Of Six' returns. That'll be more of a social, and mostly off road though. And there's also King Alfred's Way to consider, whether that's in one big multi-day ride or brken into sections over a period of weeks. There's definitely a lot to look forward to in my cycling life, just not organised events for me unless they're really special routes or closed road events at sensible money...