NewForest On and Offshore 200

[alfapete]

Thoroughly enjoyable ride throughout. The weather was perfect (though the sun plays havoc with reflections on my Etrex screen - anyone have an answer to this?) and whilst the route was undulating in parts the gradients were very manageable. The views were beautiful throughout and the 40 minute sit down on the ferry ride back to the mainland couldn't have been more welcome. Chicken and mayo sandwich from Alderholt Co-op seemed to give me wings and I flew along the final 40km, teaming up with Malmesbury Monk after stopping for pics of the Needles in the setting sun. The ferry rides make the whole event just a little bit special - highly recommended!

Many thanks to John and Sheila.

[bhoot]

I'm very envious of you all. We rode the 160km route a couple of years ago on solos (too tricky to get tandem to Lymington), also in perfect weather and it was such a good day out. Family duties prevailed this year sadly.

[Paul Rainbow]

Short film I put together from last weeks New Forest On & Off Shore 200km Audax...

https://youtu.be/QkfpOcu1_Uo

[Salvatore]

Short film I put together from last weeks New Forest On & Off Shore 200km Audax...

https://youtu.be/QkfpOcu1_Uo

Excellent stuff.

[Malmesbury Monk]

Short film I put together from last weeks New Forest On & Off Shore 200km Audax...

https://youtu.be/QkfpOcu1_Uo

Great work and thanks for taking the trouble to make the film. 

[alfapete]

Short film I put together from last weeks New Forest On & Off Shore 200km Audax...

https://youtu.be/QkfpOcu1_Uo

Like everyone else I watched with intense concentration trying to spot myself - I appeared twice so feel entirely satisfied. Thanks for posting this.

I did think - it would be a very different viewing experience if I hadn't ridden the event... (dull as dishwater?)

[citoyen]

That queue at the Needles control makes me remember why I usually try to go with the fast riders off the ferry.

[Chris F.cc]

That queue at the Needles control makes me remember why I usually try to go with the fast riders off the ferry.

Ditto the Cowes chain ferry which had its gates shut for departure but they very kindly waited for me when I appeared at the top of the slope.
It meant I was one of those who just made the 12.20 ferry back to Blighty and completely changed my experience of the day - did it with the handful of fast guys in 'the break' instead of, as expected, with PeteL and Steve (who appear frequently and even have speaking parts)

[Martin]

Entries closed already! anyone else doing it? one of my fave 200's 

[HK]

Me and Timps my trusty co-pilot are.  Looking forward to it as it's a really excellent ride.

[postie]

I hope to be on the 100 with mini cyclist. Back injury permitting.

[bhoot]

Entries closed already! anyone else doing it? one of my fave 200's 

Oh no - I was sure it said entries by 1st Sept and we were about to enter having worked out the logistics of getting there and staying overnight... Can't even get enter the century either.
So looks like another lonely DIY weekend.

[Jabba]

Twas a great ride 

I've been meaning to do this one for a few years but usual faffage has meant it's taken until this year to get my ass in gear and I'm glad a did. 

A little cruise across to Yarmouth set up the day, then a leg warming ride to the gun emplacements at the Needles, into a biting wind but this was then a nice assistance on the run across to Bembridge. A lovely coffee in the café and then the slog back into wind and onto Cowes for what must be the quickest but most expensive ferry crossing for a bicyclist (the chain ferry  ) The next 20km was the run back to Yarmouth and luckily I was with a CTC Wessex rider who knew that the ferry times were 20 mins past the hour so we put on a bit of a dash and made the 1220 by 7-8 mins.  I thought this was good until I heard that the 3 Rapha riders and the 4 Cycleology chaps had only just missed the 1120 crossing.

On leaving Lymington I tried to stay with this group plus a few others but it became apparent quite early on that this wasn't happening and despite trailing by only a few 10s of metres when it came to junctions and then onto the open New Forest roads this distance shot up and I lost sight of the group, so a solo ride it was 

I don't know why but time seemed to expand on the next section and the info control at the Tidpit turn never seemed to arrive but when I went past I wasn't as far behind my average as I thought I would be.  It wasn't helped by taking a couple of wrong turns which Mr Garmin quickly bleated out 'OFF COURSE' to alert me to though getting past Cranborne seemed fiddly, but this was self-induced.  Nearly shot past the Co-op control at Alderholt but saw a couple of other riders standing around outside getting ready to leave. Decided time was on my side and took a leisurely 25 min break here enjoying a drink and some fruit.

The run back was on some familiar roads, especially through Ringwood but was broken up my Mr Garmin declaring he had enough for the day and switching himself off, so out came the back-up and laminated route card for the multiple turns through the home stretch and onto the off-road section by the Gun Inn.  Dreaded p*nct*re fairy averted it was a quick tootle back to the Arrivee and a well earned bowl of rice pudding and peaches, yum.

Now that I've tasted this great ride I'll be back for more. 

[Martin]

Entries closed already! anyone else doing it? one of my fave 200's 

Oh no - I was sure it said entries by 1st Sept and we were about to enter having worked out the logistics of getting there and staying overnight... Can't even get enter the century either.
So looks like another lonely DIY weekend.

John had to close entries because the ferry operators initially refused to pre-book more than 40 bikes; I think they allowed 64 in the end so he had to close early but they could not stop anyone turning up on the day with a bike; this does not bode well for the May Randonnee with 2000 riders (albeit spread over 4 ferries plus many probably don't come over on the day)

I really enjoyed the now unique anticlockwise direction the ride takes; it's flatter across the island than round but still only came up 120m short of AAA for the Off Shore section. Rode on and off (mostly off    - the back!) with Barbara and the Bridport posse; also HK on a mission.

talking of ferries the Cowes one is now a shambles; as well as the £1 charge the machine was extremely slow and completely useless refusing to offer anything other than a foot passenger ticket. Luckily a lady member of staff had printed a load off and was selling them to the queue otherwise I'd have been out of time!

The Forest section was sublime as ever; a hard headwind after Bolderwood eventually became a welcome tailwind after Barton where the normally superb view of The Needles was slightly obscured by mizzle.

Great event as always thanks John and Helpers

[Nrimmer1005]

Is this ride happening this year

[Martin]

Is this ride happening this year

check with John; I knew he'd had limits placed on numbers of pre booked bikes on the ferry last year (which don't apply if the same number just turn up) it would be a great shame if this bit of red tape affected the event

[Brakeless]

Is this ride happening this year

check with John; I knew he'd had limits placed on numbers of pre booked bikes on the ferry last year (which don't apply if the same number just turn up) it would be a great shame if this bit of red tape affected the event

Info halfway down the page highlighted in yellow

http://www.cyclingnewforest.org/cycling-events.html

[citoyen]

check with John; I knew he'd had limits placed on numbers of pre booked bikes on the ferry last year (which don't apply if the same number just turn up) it would be a great shame if this bit of red tape affected the event

Yes, it would be a terrible shame. It's a great ride and I had it in mind to do again this year - was hoping to tempt my sister to do it as well.

It's a cruel irony that Wightlink only charge cyclists the same ticket price as foot passengers - I can kind of understand Wightlink's position if the number of bikes means they're having to turn cars away. If cyclists paid, they could justify taking up more space on the car deck.

That said, is the number of cyclists actually impinging on the number of cars that are able to board? I don't recall it being an issue when I've done the ride in the past. Has it increased much in popularity/size over the last few years?

I did wonder if it might be possible to stagger the start over multiple crossings but looking at the timetable, they're just not frequent enough. I'm sure John is considering all the options anyway. Good luck to him.

[LEE]

I don't imagine many cyclists would object to £2 extra for a bike, and I think that may just about cover the cost of losing 1 place for a car, if it guaranteed you a place (let's say you get 10-12 bikes in the space of a family car).

The IoW is becoming a victim of its own success with regards to cycling. 
If you don't get the very earliest crossings at weekend then you stand a very high chance of being stuck in line with a large cycling event and having to wait an hour or so.

The last two times I've cycled on the IoW I've got the first ferry at 05:30 (but that involves starting at midnight in Whitchurch and cycling across the New Forest at 3am..... so it's actually the very best time to do it).

Early sailing anybody?


BIGGER

[Martin]

I don't imagine many cyclists would object to £2 extra for a bike, and I think that may just about cover the cost of losing 1 place for a car, if it guaranteed you a place (let's say you get 10-12 bikes in the space of a family car).

I spoke to John about the event last year; Wightlink said there was a new 40 bike limit per sailing which he managed to negotiate up to 64. He seemed to think that this was the foot in the door for introducing a bike charge. The 64 had to be split across two events which both used the same sailing, it probably wasn't practical to put the shorter ride on a later sailing.

he seemed to think that if everyone has turned up on the day and bought a ticket they would not have applied a limit or indeed been able to.

The year before they put all the bikes on one deck and lifted it up to the top out of the way of all the other vehicles which did not fill the remaining decks, last year I think we were on a separate deck.

How they will react to the hundreds of riders who will pitcj up unbooked for the May Randonee remains to be seen but it's not very encouraging 

[mattc]

I don't imagine many cyclists would object to £2 extra for a bike, and I think that may just about cover the cost of losing 1 place for a car, if it guaranteed you a place (let's say you get 10-12 bikes in the space of a family car).

Yup.

(and I feel the same about trains - I'd be happy to pay extra. Why wouldn't I be?? )

[Martin]

I don't imagine many cyclists would object to £2 extra for a bike, and I think that may just about cover the cost of losing 1 place for a car, if it guaranteed you a place (let's say you get 10-12 bikes in the space of a family car).

Yup.

(and I feel the same about trains - I'd be happy to pay extra. Why wouldn't I be?? )

IMBW but not sure if any TOCs are allowed to charge now, nor should they be able to either. Two green forms of transport that need supergluing together however difficult

[inappropriate_bike]

IMBW but not sure if any TOCs are allowed to charge now, nor should they be able to either. Two green forms of transport that need supergluing together however difficult

Well, yes, but the easiest way to make the ToCs want to make cycling work is to reward them with money for making it work.

The money doesn't have to come from cyclists directly but how it's funded is a different question from if it should be funded.

[mattc]

IMBW but not sure if any TOCs are allowed to charge now, nor should they be able to either. Two green forms of transport that need supergluing together however difficult

Well, yes, but the easiest way to make the ToCs want to make cycling work is to reward them with money for making it work.

The money doesn't have to come from cyclists directly but how it's funded is a different question from if it should be funded.

Totally agree. But we should probably move any further discussion away from this thread about John's event (which was rather lovely when I rode in 2007).

Unless someone starts a 2017 NewForest On and Offshore 200 thread ??

[Nrimmer1005]

Is this ride happening this year

check with John; I knew he'd had limits placed on numbers of pre booked bikes on the ferry last year (which don't apply if the same number just turn up) it would be a great shame if this bit of red tape affected the event

Info halfway down the page highlighted in yellow

http://www.cyclingnewforest.org/cycling-events.html

Thank You