[Closed] Etape cymru.....your thoughts please

I'd have given it a bash if it was a little cheaper, but can't see the point as it's so local. Doing it with traffic just adds an extra dimension.

That's the wind that buggers up the first climb at Llandegla.

Is there a map of the route online somewhere? I didn't do the race, but would like to ride the route at some point (in nice weather!)

No such map exists.....

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Little tinkers. 😯
[url= http://www.wrexham.com/news/etape-cymru-disrupted-markers-moved-3008.html ]http://www.wrexham.com/news/etape-cymru-disrupted-markers-moved-3008.html[/url]

There was a bit of moaning ion the local papers about the road closures, and yesterday out and about round wrexham, loads of signs quite a few lying flat on the grass, or facing the wrong way, obviously disgruntled natives not happy about a bike race.

We will have to see if angry of minera etc, lets the race go ahead next year.

It's not too difficult to rectify, send a car/motorbike out half an hour or hour before kick-off to ensure that all signs are in place and or have lead motorbike at the head of the race.

Half a dozen times there was group of us standing at a junction wondering which way. More marshals or less use of tiny lanes maybe.

Chalk marks on the road? All the decent climbs use the lanes and there's a lot of them.

felt very sad, some idiots have let Wrexham down badly. i live local and road the etape today, was good to see some village locals getting in on the action cheering the riders on, kids waving and saying hi etc. but even local knowledge did not stop me getting lost 4 times, one time with about 30 others and having to do an extra 4 miles to get back on track. Also the the no. of cars ignoring the closed road signs beggered belief. ive ridden those roads when fully open and have seen no more traffic in parts that we had today, the no. of cars on the horseshoe and back lanes were a joke. All in all very sad, could have been a real showcase, let down by morons. my total time inc all stops and extra 4 miles was 6hrs 7min. wind was brutal in parts especialy the climb over the moors in carrog.

I really enjoyed it. There were issues with the signage (I believe we went wrong once, and a marshall on a motorbike put us a big group of us right), cars on closed roads and one of the feed stations. Didn't spoil the day for me. Cracking day out in great scenery. Wind was tough though.

The thing is if its a closed road event you dont expect to see mr and mrs prat, or a power ranger driving towards you, es[pecially on a narrow lane.

Lets hope soem of the photographers got pictures of the offending idiots.

Agreed...
Anyone else see the ambulance in the ditch? It got out very quickly?

So if a car hits a cyclist on a closed road the driver will get prosecuted right?

This is a growing problem with closed road Sportives in particular. People read all about the Tack Attack on the Etape Caledonia and now similar tactics get used by NIMBYs at a whole range of events. 🙁

Nimbyism is on the rise sadly, wether it be incinerators, wind turbines, refuse dumps, open cast coal mining, fracking plants,o new roads and especially rail line reopenings or new build. and lots more of needed infranstructure

Route was really good. People out supporting were outstanding.

The feed stations were a joke. Can't believe you pay all that money and they don't have one energy bar for anyone!

Pretty crap that they decide to tell us about the gillet the day before.

All in all the organisation was shocking.

Will not be doing this again.

Etape Shambles more like! Started with not getting our gillets as promised. We get email on the Fri before saying their supplies had let them down. Honestly I think that's complete b*ll*cks. If your supplies let you down, you find another and post items out after the event. Getting £5 returned is taking the p*ss!
Very poor road marking. Now I've ridden a few sportives in my time and never got to a numbers of junctions with no directional signs. There was no food or water at feed no2 and very little at no3. Now I'm guessing they knew the number of entrants, so it's not rocket science to workout how much water to supply.
Now I thought I'd entered a "closed road" event. Can't understand why there were cars on the course! Now, if I'd paid £30 for the entry, I would mind so much, but £65, considering what was provided, I think they've taken us for a mug. They don't deserve to successed at this rate. Not done much for local public relations either.

The was great the organisation absolute garbage, several missing route markers, lack of warning about sharp bends on steep slippy descents, no food or water at feed stops, the 2nd one was a total disgrace - litter strewn all over the road and who in their right mind puts a feed stop on a blind hairpin bend?

The marshals were pretty useless, all in all I agree Daisy, they've mugged us off good style! Also the advertised 6100+ ft of climbing was way short, by 50 miles we'd done 5500ft!!

I've been dm'd by the organisers on twitter asking me to email them with my thoughts & concerns, should prove intersting 😉

Signage was shocking. We did 152 km, others I spoke to had done 137km. The bit at 40 miles was unfortunate, the lack of signs near the end was unforgivable.

I also think that a lot of the roads were wholly unsuitable for that many riders (or any riders at all in some cases). My bike looks like I've done a cyclocross race, and I think that the number of battle scarred riders seems to suggest that that they should have used larger, cleaner safer roads. I'd rather be on a busy road that's clean than a filthy, slippy, potholed lane without cars (and that's leaving aside the number of cars that were on the closed roads).

I'm afraid I won't be paying £60 to do that again.

Lets be honest, there were a few teething troubles. If you've not organised one before, enlist the help of experienced sportive organisers. I've never organised one and I'm sure its tough. I struggle to organise a couple of mates to go riding.

Downers
- Never sure if roads were shut or not.
- Route started out on virtual farm tracks, something wider to split the field would be wiser.
- 6 bogs at start for >1000 punters
- registering the day before- too much hassle, do it online or something please. Yes, I know its designed to provide a tourism boost to Wrexham with folk staying in hotels, but for those who dont live that far away (<1hr), I dont want to stay over in wrexham thanks(I'm sure you understand)
- Pi55 Poor (missing) signage
- Stolen/abducted marshalls (damn those aliens)
- No Gillet (actually, not bovvered, the zip would have broken in seconds anyway if it was made for a fiver)

Uppers
+ killer route
+ it didnt rain
+ support en-route
+ 25% discount to 2012 event.

Hope the crash victims are OK, didn't look good.

tir - Are you really moaning about a muddy bike!!!! My bike is muddy. That happens on little lanes. I never have any indications of tight corners when I normally ride, you use common sense and ride at the speed for the road. Signs were nicked by locals. I stopped at the first feed zone and rode past the others as I had food in my pockets so can't comment on those, but the second was really badly placed. Litter is hardly the organisers fault. I seem to have done 8500ft of climbing! Registering the day before was a really stupid idea, wonder if the organisers have ever ridden events themselves?

Basicly we paid £60 and got ripped off. Have posted as much on their facebook page.

Basicly we paid £60 and got ripped off. Have posted as much on their facebook page.

I can only assume that tir also had fitness problems, 'cos if he/she only trains when it's dry in this god forsaken country.... 😛

I'm a local to (in fact you would have ridden past my house) and part of the reason I entered was to support a local event with which I'm passionate about. Was a real shame as it should and could have been fantastic.

*waves at virtual neighbour*

Waves back 😆

I'd agree the a couple of the decents were well dangerous if you rode like a numpty...the rule is ride to the ability of both you and your bike. All the food stops were well stocked weh I hit them...maybe ride faster next me :p
The price isnt that bad, the cheshire cat was 45 quid and that was a ****ing joke.
Doubt I'll do next year as it's an expensive gamble with the weather

Who had the STW sign at the top of one of the climbs btw???

Having lived in wrexham for 25 plus years, and visiting there quite frequently, along with cycling most of the route at various times, it does seem to have been put together by a sheep farmer, following a drunken sheep, to many seriously narrow roads, dangerous descents, and sharp bends.

Just perhaps next time a route from Tetra Pak, towards wrexham on a roads via a circuit of the industrial estate, then round a circuit,chirk,llangollen,worlds end horseshoe pass and ,llangolen, corwen,and back via llandegla, and possibly Brymbo and rosset, onto holt back to the industrial estate

Having lived in wrexham for 25 plus years,

Hmm . I thought there would be teething problems.... Bound to happen with a new, tricky to organise event.

Wales in 'bendy roads' shocker!

mrchrispy - Member

Who had the STW sign at the top of one of the climbs btw???

Twas I! It just said hello to all STW forumers 🙂

Also, I have to repeat what my virtual neighbours said *waves hello BTW* - I'm disappointed in the poor / vandalised signage, and communication was obviously lacking at all levels from the local council resurfacing the wrong road, to the lady who lived at the top of where I was standing who came down and didn't appear to know WTF was going on.

Hope to see it again next year, and glad you all made it back in one piece 🙂

Waves at the wrectum massive.
Mostly sadly predictable Im afraid. If they get a second bite of the cherry they will do better. Can't see it myself though....which is a shame.

I rode the Etape yesterday and like most of the posters here came away disappointed that such a showcase event was badly let down by dreadful organisation. Many riders I chatted with felt the same and dwelled more on the negative than the positive.

I won't list the failures; that’s been done already. However, one area that has not received much comment is the lack of engagement with local communities affected by the road closures. I heard from a friend in the Llangollen area, that farmers had deliberately cut the road side hedges before the event and had no intention of obeying the road signs as they needed access to their livestock. What did the organisers actually do to work with and get the support of local communities?

Does the event organiser, K-Extreme, have a track record of staging this type of event? My experience would say not. I'm all in favour of using local businesses but only if they can deliver at the right quality.

The more sceptical amongst us doubted that the gillets where ever ordered. The lack of drinking water and food at the stops just cannot be justified. It all smacks of cost cutting and taking as much profit as possible. If a representative of K-Extreme is reading this, you need much more transparency about cost. Riders will pay £65 if they can see where the entry fee goes. At the very least, you should apologise on your web site and tells us the lessons you have learned for next year. Without this, I certainly will not participate in 2012.

It would be a real shame if the event dies. Let’s hope the organiser, sponsors and councils can put their heads together and get it right next time.

Llangollen area, that farmers had deliberately cut the road side hedges before the event and had no intention of obeying the road signs as they needed access to their livestock. What did the organisers actually do to work with and get the support of local communities?

I don't think I've ever done a British sportive that comes anywhere near to the quality of organisation of the European events. Even the Maratona (with legendary Italian brio) was excellent with closed roads, was live on TV for 5 hours, had fantastic feedstops, oh and nice and warm too.

Local Support was superb - that's as +ve as I can be.

The organisation was shocking. I've taken part in many sportives/races and have never taken part in one that was such a shambles as this one.

The published route was not the actual route, there was no GPX published, the signs were poor, marshalling even poorer.

The excuses regarding sabotage (they are excuses) could easily have been anticipated and managed. Most of these type of events put marshalls at all key turn points and spray arrows on the road in addition to signs. This means that sabotage cannot impact the event. The organisers took the cheap option!

This was meant to be a closed road event - but clearly it was not and therefore very dangerous, because cyclists were riding as if the roads were closed. Large parts of the course were closed but much was not! On top of this at key points marshalls were not stopping cars, e.g. on descents where it is most dangerous there were no marshalls at the bottom to stop cars going up the hill in the direction of descending cyclists!

Virtually every rider I spoke to got lost at some point or had a near miss - completely unacceptable. At the end there was not one rider I spoke to who had covered the same mieleage, because everybody had taken a different route - what is the point of timing the event and placing the riders!

If you have traveled hundreds of miles at cost, spent money on overnight accomodation, paid £60 entry and trained for weeks in order to 'compete'....... Need I say more. This event should be shelved and everybody given a refund.

Thank you very much to all the Marshals (who i think volunteered their time for the day!) Thank you also to the local people of Wales who came out and really got into the spirit, you made the day! Thanks for putting your neck on the block as well and organising a great event Gareth!

Have to say it is a shame for Wales and the area. I don't think i'll be in a hurry to do it again. I loved the route and our 5 day visit to North Wales. We came down from Aberdeen, it's a long way to go and a lot of money to spend to be knobbled by a small disgruntled minority, who's complaints I do understand and appreciate all the same!

As for the hedges, they needed cutting! I drove along some of the route on Saturday when they where cutting them! Cycling plus did recommend winter wheels and tyres! It was good advice!

Twas I! It just said hello to all STW forumers

Thanks for making me smile. Did the sign mention "free potato" or was I in a bit of a daze?

Yes, I also wondered where my free potato was?

Just seen the 'official' timing, seems out by 7 minutes, I started my GPS when I crossed the start line and stopped it when I cross the finish line. Seems odd. Chuffed to be in the top 50.

Rowskein, are we talking about the same event?? Sure the event in principle is a great idea, but it didn't live up to the expectations which was promised. Overlooking the fact that gillets didn't materials, there was little or no food/water and signage was poor and we coughed up £65, what part was it a great event?? As for it being a small minority being disgruntled is frankly a bl**dy cheek!!

Yes, I also wondered where my free potato was?

Just seen the 'official' timing, seems out by 7 minutes, I started my GPS when I crossed the start line and stopped it when I cross the finish line. Seems odd. Chuffed to be in the top 50.

iDave - where did you see the results list - I looked on the Etape Cymru website and couldn't see them yet and haven't received an e-mail from them. Can you let me know where they are ? Thanks

Came across the results via twitter, rather than the organisers! Says a lot.

http://results.racetectiming.com/Results.aspx?CId=27&RId=82&EId=1