Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Rides and Touring => Cyclosportives and commercial or charity rides => Topic started by: Bo on 25 March, 2011, 09:57:58 am
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Hello,
I'm doing the long route (100miles) of the Cheshire Cat on Sunday, including the Mow Cop killer mile. Has anyone done this sportive before ? Any tips, advice (apart from don't do it haha) would be welcome.
Cheers all and happy riding.
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Link would be useful, terrain (I'm guessing its all tarmac ?), accent climbing in metres ?
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Gotta get off. Im sure youll be fine.
Just keep eating food & pedalling
Thanks John. :)
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I rode this around three years ago and it's difficulty tends to be greatly exaggerated on other message boards. Overall it is undulating, even flattish in parts. The section over Mow Cop, etc, is clearly a bit difficult but this only represents a minority of the overall route.
It may be worth taking a small map in your back pocket. When I rode the event, a load of the signage had been knicked and the organisers were unable to provide any replacements. As a consequence there plenty of lost cyclists attempting to find their way home.
At the HQ no food was provided and the feed stations were mediocre. So take something in your back pocket.
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I rode this around three years ago and it's difficulty tends to be greatly exaggerated on other message boards. 1 Overall it is undulating, even flattish in parts. The section over Mow Cop, etc, is clearly a bit difficult but this only represents a minority of the overall route.
It may be worth taking a small map in your back pocket. When I rode the event, a load of the signage had been knicked and the organisers were unable to provide any replacements. As a consequence there plenty of lost cyclists attempting to find their way 2 home.
At the HQ no food was provided and the feed stations were mediocre. So take something in your back pocket. 3
1. The human mind is more able to recall traumatic events.
2. Treat it like an Audax.
3. Its a 'rip-off'.
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100 - £100.00
67 - £100.00
45 - £100.00
:thumbsup: Get a bank loan.
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it's difficulty tends to be greatly exaggerated
I think this is a tendency of many sportives and is all part of the marketing - "Can you conquer the legendary Boggart's Breech?" or whatever. I rode one a couple of years ago for which the publicity focused on a particular climb. I didn't know the area at all and after about 80 miles I asked one of the other riders when we were going to get to this legendary ascent and he told me we'd done it 20 miles earlier - and I'm not a good climber!
I'm not suggesting that these events are doddles - and I'm in no doubt that the climb of Mow Cop is pretty evil - but IMO they do rather over-sell themselves sometimes.
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£100 to ride.
NAFC :hand:
I'd stop cycling before I'd pay that to ride :o
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I wonder how they justify the increase from £35 ( I think) from last year
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I am doing the 45 miler IF I arrive back from London in time (going to the ballet don't you know), and paid nothing like £100! Indeed, if I remember correctly, the prices were £35 each for the longer two rides and £15 for the 45 miler. I think the price is either a mistake, or a "charity" price: they have just added 100 additional places with the fee going to charity.
Now £15 is still quite a wack for what you get back but is not going to break the bank and it will be a useful test of my fitness (hahahahaha) against the young pups who do sportives.
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I wonder how they justify the increase from £35 ( I think) from last year
I paid £32 for the 100 mile event. Not sure where the £100 is coming from. This is the Wiggle, Kilo to Go event.
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Not sure where the £100 is coming from. This is the Wiggle, Kilo to Go event.
"Wiggle Cheshire Cat sold out and full but we do have a limited number of charity places available (http://www.kilotogo.com/index.php?option=event_detail&event_id=23)" (all £100; see the bottom of the linked page).
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Thanks for the messages....it has somewhat reassured me :-) I will fill you all in next week. Have a good weekend one and all.
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Not sure where the £100 is coming from. This is the Wiggle, Kilo to Go event.
"Wiggle Cheshire Cat sold out and full but we do have a limited number of charity places available (http://www.kilotogo.com/index.php?option=event_detail&event_id=23)" (all £100; see the bottom of the linked page).
Ah ok, yes this is a fixed price for the charity run. I booked ahead (was press ganged by some mates actually) and so got it at £32.
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Ah ok, yes this is a fixed price for the charity run. I booked ahead (was press ganged by some mates actually) and so got it at £32.
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As did I, and in answer to the original question, if an 18 stone fat bloke can get round it, anyone can get round it.
Although I will admit to a success rate of only 50% on the ascent of Mow Cop. If you're out of breath by halfway up, you're not going to make it.
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They'd have to pay me £100 to have any chance of me considering a ride up past the Chesire Cat pub ;D
Whilst I can't grasp the notion of paying that much £ to ride on public roads I hope the weather is good for the riders & you all enjoy it.
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I wonder how they justify the increase from £35 ( I think) from last year
Good luck for your event and maybe we will pass each other without knowing it
I'm the one likely to be passed haha. I will be the put of breath one
On a bianchi :-) have a good ride
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Just nearly choked on my coffee. WHAT ! £32 to ride a bike on a public highway ???????????????
I hope at least £20 of that is going straight to the charity and not the organisers ?
I once got knocked back on a sportive as it was fully booked (non charity) so went anyway, cost £0.00
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Just nearly choked on my coffee. WHAT ! £32 to ride a bike on a public highway ???????????????
I hope at least £20 of that is going straight to the charity and not the organisers ?
Why?
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Hey if you have £30+ spare for something you can do for £0.00 or a few quid with your local club then go for it. I don't have that kind a dosh.
I prefer paying direct to charities & only do club cycling (non profit)
Sportives are beyond my budget, especially for a local event Ive done countless times anyway
I'd proberbly pay that money on a holiday in France ? Not in England though.
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I wasn't meaning to have a go at you in particular, but it seems that every time anybody mentions they are participating in a cyclosportive event on the "Audax and Cyclosportive" board we get the same old hackneyed stuff trotted out about:-
(A) The price of entry (and the inevitable... "Ooh I was riding the Flanger's Pizzle 150 on almost the same roads as the "mid-rutshire challenge sportive" so I pointed out to the sportive riders that overtook me that I was riding the same route on public roads for only £2.50 (plus 2 C5 SAEs, and a letter to my bank to get a replacement chequebook for the one I lost since entering my last Audax) so aren't they just a bunch of idiots with too much money!")
(B) How much of that goes to charity then?
(C) People on Sportives are so unfriendly.
(FTR, I do Audax by preference, but do occasional local Sportives too. I really don't see the need that other people do to whine about (A), (B) and (C) every time a sportive is mentioned. It gets really boring). ::-)
Oh, and:-
I once got knocked back on a sportive as it was fully booked (non charity) so went anyway, cost £0.00
That's another comment that comes up occasionally on Sportive-related threads. I guess people could also do that on Audaxes that fill up. Or club events. Maybe I'll ride the Seething 600 after all. And - bonus! - doing it your way would cost me £0.00. :thumbsup:
(BTW - I wouldn't actually do this - it would be pretty sucky to take advantage of people's hard efforts without contributing towards them in some way.)
IOW:-
Do we REALLY have to rehash this every time someone mentions a Sportive on this board? ::-)
It's just another sort of bike ride - if you don't want to do one then hey - that's your choice.
I don't see Sportive riders coming onto this board and whining about the lack of chip timing on Audax rides, or about how 0% of the entry fee goes to charity, or how they could have ridden the same route "on a public highway ???????????????" for £0.00, etc. etc. :-\
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@ Oaky
Ha ha ha.
I think its an age thing. Im over 40 with children
Maybe your single and under 40 ?
That said Im also a AUK er
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@ Oaky
Ha ha ha.
I think its an age thing. Im over 40 with children
Maybe your single and under 40 ?
That said Im also a AUK er
I'm 42 with two young kids. What's that got to do with it?
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Anyway it wouldnt be much point coming here if I couldnt moan about something ha ha ha :)
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Bed. night all :)
Its all good whatever the cycling is.
Have a nice weekend Oaky. As you said the debate has got a little boring on the Sportive/Club issue
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Any news on the bloke that crashed west of Tattenhall?
I was on the Chirk 200 heading for The Ice Cream Farm (Overton - Tattenhall section) when we were forewarned by oncoming riders.
Please to see he was being attended to - but looked like he was out cold and there was a lot of blood on the tarmac.
Not good.
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I didn't see or hear anything. I think we were ahead of it. I hope they are alright. Given the amount of riders out there it is a miracle that more incidents didn't occur. Did see one very lucky young chap narrowly avoid hitting a car though. The idiot turned straight into it's path and the driver had to slam his brakes on. The cyclist just carried on as if nothing had happened. Lost one of his 9 Cheshire cat lives there I think.
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Hi. Hope the person on the Cheshire Cat event was OK.
I was doing the AUK 200 km event 'Chirk' from Poynton, Stockport.
We was going in the opposite direction of the Cheshire Cat and passed what seemed like thousands of riders on the Cheshire Cat and it went on for ages.
I passed the fallen rider, ambulances, police. It looked serious ?
I was impressed with the Mavic (one) support car and Mavic motorbikes, looked like a proper pro tour though the number of riders looked like there was to many.
Hope he's OK.
Keep us posted
John
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Hi. Hope the person on the Cheshire Cat event was OK.
I was doing the AUK 200 km event 'Chirk' from Poynton, Stockport.
We was going in the opposite direction of the Cheshire Cat and passed what seemed like thousands of riders on the Cheshire Cat and it went on for ages.
I passed the fallen rider, ambulances, police. It looked serious ?
I was impressed with the Mavic (one) support car and Mavic motorbikes, looked like a proper pro tour though the number of riders looked like there was to many.
Hope he's OK.
Keep us posted
John
I was slightly less impressed. The thousands of riders looked like they were having a good time but I and others frequently had to take avoiding action as they came round bends three or four abreast on the wrong side of the road. Also my experience of the Mavic motorcycle riders was to see the rider in front of me (on the Chirk 200) hit the deck hard, taking avoiding action to miss a Mavic outrider who was coming up the wrong side of the road. Mercifully, he was ok apart from shock and cuts and bruises. The outrider must have been pretty shocked too because, although stationary, he didn't get off his bike to help the audaxer. Those Cheshire lanes are too narrow for a mass participation event like that, in my opinion.
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Hello,
I'm doing the long route (100miles) of the Cheshire Cat on Sunday, including the Mow Cop killer mile. Has anyone done this sportive before ? Any tips, advice (apart from don't do it haha) would be welcome.
Cheers all and happy riding.
I did most of route as a Mem Sec audax fo less than a fiver two years ago. Think it was called "Cheshire Peaks" or something. Nice ride (but the all Mike W's rides are) and Mow Kop is steep but you can see the top, its not too long, so just keep the legs moving and you get there without falling or getting off.
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Sounds like there was too many entrants, with long queues to start and finish, good job the weather was ok.