The Great Shakespeare Ride 2010
There’s not many sportives I know of around Stratford Upon Avon so when sent a link to the inaugural Great Shakespeare Ride I entered right away.
This event has the added bonus of supporting a local charity. Although I did question how much the charity saw of the fees as the facilities and food I saw on this ride surpass anything I’ve seen to date. I later found out that they have a hell of a fundraising team and our tummies were filled by donations.
Whilst waiting for friends at the start I bumped into Clive, who Mark and I last saw at the top for the Col d’Aubisque.
The ride itself started on a glorious sunny Sunday morning. I was joined by a mix of new and experienced cyclists from the boat club. We rode the first portion together but a bout of punctures split us up.
A bout turned into a flood and most of the last 40k was spent replacing inner tubes and repairing split tyres. I’ve never known so many tyre walls blow. The surfaces were par for the course when it comes to rural sportives. Some loose stones on the rolling Cotswold roads were probably the main culprit.
The route organisers managed to throw in a few steep hills that I’d not encountered before. I made a mental note to expand the local training routes.
All in all a lovely ride; topped with a fantastic BBQ.
My only quibble was the amount of leaflets and paperwork handed out to entrants. Hopefully next year they can save on the paper and put more details on the website.
2 comments
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Norm Stephens says:
Hi Rob
I enjoyed reading your blog mate.
Just for info, the ride has raised over £20,000 so far with money still coming in even now. The expenditure was less than £1,000 and as you say, there were so many donations it was incredible.
It was the first year for the organisers, and one of the many lessons learnt was to have a more informative website, which I am in the process of building now on behalf of the hospice (free of charge of course) so that should be sorted long before next year, with the aim also for a very streamlined process on the day (numbers/timing chips etc. sent by post etc.)
As for the punctures, one cannot legislate for that I guess. I didn’t get any myself nor have I ever had one around that neck of the woods, but I do know that the farmer cutting thorn hedges on the climbs of Larkstoke didn’t help too much…we will have to lock him away for the day next year.
Thanks again
Norm
16 November 2010
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Robert Ford says:
Hi Norm,
Thank you for your comment, good to know someone reads my blurb!
Some of the arrows are still visible on the road and I’ve added some of the lesser known roads to my training routes. I’m looking forward to next years event – minus the punctures.
Website design and development is what I do for a living. If you need any help or advice feel free to drop me a line.
Rob
16 November 2010
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