Dont what ever you do stop at nimmings cafe at the top of st kenelms, the NT nazi pounces on you if your bike isn’t in the designated bike rack

“Because you might hit a child”

I offered him £10 if he could fit my fat bike in the rack as i surveyed the completely devoid of children area in front of the cafe

I’m off at 8.45 a black trek with discs, and if its cool a bright pink pair of overshoes and a yellow rain cape thing

Some of the NIMBYS in Belbroughton are planning a protest with anti-velo banners. Sorry on behalf of the rest of the village. We don’t all feel this way,.

I live very close to this and have not heard about it but have had lots of people moaning at me about the velo.
I have not been very polite the last few days sick of people moaning about it.
Then I tell them I have raised inbetween 800 and 900 quid for charity and I get told oh well do the ride elsewhere. 😥

people in Belbroughton are weird though anyway, just go in the Talbot at the weekend and see for yourself. the scarecrows have more human qualities

Well I know one MTB’er who lives there (don’t know if he still uses this site) so hopefully his family may be out cheering

I may have a bimble through there being overly nice to the grumpy ones that may be out

So, pre-ride prep is going well, I’m currently on my 3rd cocktail which followed 2 pints. Off for filthy food shortly. Carbo loading you see…

Dont what ever you do stop at nimmings cafe at the top of st kenelms, the NT nazi pounces on you if your bike isn’t in the designated bike rack

This is true, I had a similar experience – a proper knob.

Six Ashes is a good slog, not steep but coming early on there’ll be a few fresh legs caught out…also rolling a bit from there to Kinver, not many opportunities to recover before Church Hill

lol I think we’ve come across that little NT Hitler in the Nimmings car park.
When I said are you gonna chase my bike if a scrote nicks it, he said “yes I used to be 100m champion at school” lol Not anymore mate too many pies I think.
He also gave me the line that I couldn’t rest my bike against a bench because “we had a bike fall over and seriously injure a kid”

@Donkeydave, do the Belbroughton NIMBYs get up in arms when the road closes for the scarecrow-thingy?

@bullandbladder

I think we both know the answer to this. 😀

Everyone have a good ride and be safe.

Oh and sign up your interest for 2018 velo Birmingham on the site.
Let’s keep this going and hopefully little by little attitudes will change towards cyclists.

All set for 8:15 start, on a dark blue Mason, see y’all in the morning..

If I’m back from holiday in time I might mtb across to the cat at Enville and wave a pint at you strange people.

Must be a bit of a queue, mate due to start at 0730 still hasn’t

Apparently some tack were laid down in Bobbington but I didn’t see any issues. It was a great day out, lots of support from the locals in Bewdley, Belbroughton and Droitwich. Hope to do it again next year.

Hope you all had a good one guys, I had a carvery Saturday Eve as it was under our hotel, then up from 2am with stomach cramps and lots of trips to the bathroom. Thought imodium had sorted me out but felt sick for about 15 miles, pulled off and was lots sick. Limped back towards Birmingham and got picked up…

enjoyed a lovely few hours encouraging people, rather loudly, up church hill in Kinver.

Helped a guy with a chain stuck down the back of the cassette, had my wizard chain breaker and brute strength from another rider.

wash of hands and a pint in the vine for my efforts.

people in Belbroughton are weird though anyway, just go in the Talbot at the weekend and see for yourself

Hey I grew up in Belbroughton and used to work in the Talbot!!
Only thing I saw were positive comments on facebook!
That scarecrow bollocks didnt start till after I moved away..do they still do the pram race on new years day?

Really enjoyed that, harder than Ride London.

Thank you to everyone who came out to wave, encourage, slap hands etc. Really makes it very different to “just going out and doing a long ride”.

Cracking day out. Lots of really potivr people cheering, good route and generally a fine way to spend a Sunday. And how good was the ride through Bewdley? I thought I was on a Tour mountain stage with all the people cheering.

Well flip me, that was flipping hard work, I’m completely flipped.

Good event though, great organisation, friendly spectators.

Bewdley was great. I rode on my own down the middle of the high street, both arms outstretched, soaking in the cheers 🙂

my OH hasn’t long finished and sounds like she’s had a good day. Proper proud of her – big ride on next to no training

I am now weary, it was hard, 8500ft of climbing according to my garmin, liked the course but not the eed stations, I stopped in agarage and got flapjack and water

Thoroughly enjoyed that. Course was just challenging enough for hilliness without being too extreme. I bypassed the food stops, though I heard good reports from those that did with short queues and good bike service on hand. My wave was about 25 minutes late setting off, last guys out must have been a full half hour late, but weather was kind at the startline and throughout.
Closed roads are a blast – no stopping at junctions, no sore neck from looking out for traffic behind, pick your line through corners. It’s going to be harsh reality check when I get back on the commuter run this week.
And the crowds. The good folk of the Midlands did themselves proud. So supportive and vocal with it. I heard one girl saying to a friend ‘I’ll treasure this day’ as I went past (probably not just directed at me!!) which made me feel very connected with the area and the event. I hope it survives into a second year.

Feed stations were a joke, I didn’t even try to enter them given there was queuing into tor roads. I too hit a petrol station, 2 bottles of water, a sausage role and a Soreen bar for me and then got by on a couple of gels.

Really glad to hear the glowing reports – there was some idiocy by us (heard a story of yoofs kicking cones at passing cyclists and of people driving down the closed roads, heard and saw that myself), but if the overall impression is good then the idiots didn’t spoil it. Ace! 🙂

I really enjoyed myself, the last 20 miles seemed to be hill after hill but nothing to bad. The crowds through Bewdley were amazing, In fact the spectators everywhere were really good. I’ll definitely do it again next year.

the last 20 miles seemed to be hill after hill but nothing to bad[b]were an absolute bastard[/b]

Fixed that for you chap 🙂

8500ft of climbing according to my garmin,

Seems a bit high, course notes said 1750m, which is about 5700ft.

I’m not saying it didn’t feel like 8500ft mind

All the internet types to be found here https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1835800779767919&id=166522910029056

Great ride today – what a blast! Lots of climbing – ups & downs – & my Garmin says 6942 feet of climbing. There was a 30min hold up at the start because of an ‘incident’ on the course. There was some oil spilled that had straw over it & was clearly controlled by marshals – which may have been the problem. Also some unfortunate hedge cutting (coincidence?) that gave me a puncture with a 1/2 thorn in my rear….

I put a 34T cassette on the rear which made the climbing much easier – a great ride & very enjoyable. Av speed 17.5mph – which I’m pleased with given the climbing…..

We were up in Bewdley for the weekend, hadn’t even heard of the event beforehand, looks like the locals had taken it to heart stacks of decorated bikes lined up on the river front.

Yep – most of the locals were brilliant – the streets were lined with cheering supporters in must towns. Children slapping the hands of passing cyclists, music playing, bells / cow horns going & people clapping & encouraging riders by their names (which were on the ride numbers). It was pretty well organised too – so qudos to the organisers.

One for the calender next year…….

The support from the locals was great, but it could have been reciprocated more from the riders I thought. I made a point of waving back, saying thanks etc but I was in a very small minority. If we want to build public support for the road closures and other inconveniences that the event does unarguably cause, we have to show gratitude.

The support from the locals was great, but it could have been reciprocated more from the riders I thought

I completely agree with this, I made sure I said thanks, waved or gave a thumbs up to as many groups as I could, and if I could get over an high-5 one of the kids I did. But so many other just passed by, one guy even asked me why I was waving back.

Bewdley was amazing as was Belbroughton, but in truth, pretty much every town had it’s fair share of people out.

I have to admit, I did very nearly ride into the back of someone else when high-fiving some kids 😳

I only saw one ‘anti-Velo’ sign, apparently there were a few in Belbroughton but I didn’t see them. Saying that, one of the spectators told my mate to ignore the signs and enjoy himself 🙂

I nearly fell off after a little girl high-fived me slightly too enthusiastically. Great event though, probably the best I’ve been to, the crowd especially.

Tainted slightly by the food stations totally running out for the back groups, I didn’t eat anything until the 73 miler due to this, at which point I had a couple of bananas. Not great. A random spectator filled up my water shortly after the empty 55 stop 🙂

Had to smile,… there was guy in Kinver who was happily sat down in a cafe, noshing and drinking away, he didn’t seem to be in a rush to get on with it at all. 🙂

“I didn’t eat anything until the 73 miler due to this”

You set off on a 100 miler with no food of your own?

You set off on a 100 miler with no food of your own?

I had the same question.

I always take my own food, anything else is a bonus. Saying that, I stopped at the 73 mile stop at about 14:00, and there was plenty of food.

Slight gripe with the water stop at 40 miles; massive water bowser, but only two taps, so the queue was pretty big.