So, the dust has settled after the Shropshire Hills Sportive on July 1st. 300 riders turned up and supported our event and frankly we are stoked they did. We (John, Andy and I) started the planning of the event shortly after the 1st Shropshire Hills on 3rd July 2011 but the last couple of weeks are always a logistical rush. You can plan buying 10 litres of milk for tea and coffee but you can’t actually do it until the Friday before and 35kgs bananas don’t respond well to being in a garage for a week!
My great mate, Barry Goodyear, sacrificed his day to help me sign the 100 mile route. It was a long wet Saturday but we spent most of it laughing like drains. We worked hard and by the end of it we were very wet and really hungry. Properly hungry. My other half Helen was cooking for us that evening and his comment ‘I really hope it’s salad’ had me doubled over for 10 minutes.
It dawned on me a lot the of stress was down to knowing you guys, the riders, where paying hard earned money to ride and our responsibility was to make sure you got value for money on the day. Your feedback tells us you had a good day and we got most things right. But (there’s always a ‘but’ isn’t there?) there are things we can do to improve and we’ll work on those for next year.
2013 will be the 3rd year for the Shropshire Hills and we are determined the first Sunday in July will become an established date in the cycling calendar. We’re so lucky with the canvass we get to work with: Bridgnorth High Street is a great place to start and finish and then the Clee, Long Mynd, Corvedale … the list goes on. Just paint a few hundred cyclist on and you've got a masterpiece. Now, not having a big bike ride from Bridgnorth in the summer now seems unimaginable to be honest.
Ok, so, stick the 7th July 2013 in your calendars and, unless you hear differently, we’ll see you in the High Street for 9ish.
My great mate, Barry Goodyear, sacrificed his day to help me sign the 100 mile route. It was a long wet Saturday but we spent most of it laughing like drains. We worked hard and by the end of it we were very wet and really hungry. Properly hungry. My other half Helen was cooking for us that evening and his comment ‘I really hope it’s salad’ had me doubled over for 10 minutes.
It dawned on me a lot the of stress was down to knowing you guys, the riders, where paying hard earned money to ride and our responsibility was to make sure you got value for money on the day. Your feedback tells us you had a good day and we got most things right. But (there’s always a ‘but’ isn’t there?) there are things we can do to improve and we’ll work on those for next year.
2013 will be the 3rd year for the Shropshire Hills and we are determined the first Sunday in July will become an established date in the cycling calendar. We’re so lucky with the canvass we get to work with: Bridgnorth High Street is a great place to start and finish and then the Clee, Long Mynd, Corvedale … the list goes on. Just paint a few hundred cyclist on and you've got a masterpiece. Now, not having a big bike ride from Bridgnorth in the summer now seems unimaginable to be honest.
Ok, so, stick the 7th July 2013 in your calendars and, unless you hear differently, we’ll see you in the High Street for 9ish.
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