Thanks @Winpig. That sound about how I was expecting it to be (Except for the truck).
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Events, rides etc.
Pedal for Scotland
(46 posts)-
Posted 4 years ago #
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Never done the "classic challenge", so I can only comment on the first quarter or so which shares the same route - as winpig said, nobody checking anything, though at least at the start the roads are closed with police and G4S security folk at every junction along Edinburgh Road and at least one G4S person at every other junction along the road, with the side roads coned off.
Even the branch for the longer route only has one or two G4S folk at it, and I'm sure nobody would notice if you decided to take the other route. No closed roads until just before the Royal Highland Centre after that branch though, if you go the long route.I reckon you'd be fine to just pootle along - though considering the scale of the road closures, I'd expect most if not all to be fully open at 10pm on the Saturday.
Posted 4 years ago # -
We chanced on to the route a few years back near strathloanhead we had come over from Heights and some closed roads but no problem just joining in. We then took a mad detour up by West Lothian Golf Club to get out of the way
Posted 4 years ago # -
I am planning to cycle to the transfer coaches pickup point at Ingliston. Does anyone know if there is a traffic free route from Newbridge?
Trying to avoid the airport roads and save a bit of time.Posted 4 years ago # -
I have been advised by P4S to use the West Gate.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Anyone have any experience of taking the Transfer coaches from Ingliston to Glasgow Green? Hankchief and I are debating a time to arrive at the Highland Show ground. Trying to balance time in a warm bed against having enough time to heard Mini Chiefs and biketrains along the classic route. We will collecting them at various feed stations on the way. Last year I got a to Ingliston just before 5am and was at the start line ready to go around 7.
Posted 4 years ago # -
@biketrain, MrsMcR planning to be @ chez Hankchief @ 0545 to join the Ingliston biketrain
Posted 4 years ago # -
I'm no longer able to make it on Sunday. On the off chance that anyone wants my place (for free) give me a shout.
Edit: for clarity, you'd need to find your own way to Glasgow for 7am on Sunday.
Posted 4 years ago # -
It's too early...
Looks a cracking day for though
Posted 4 years ago # -
Hope it went well. The stars haven't aligned for me this weekend so I guess I'll never be joining PfS.
I hope you all had a great ride.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Saw a few people returning around 12.30
Posted 4 years ago # -
A grand day out :-)
We had a lovely little peleton of @biketrain, Mrs McR, mini-chief & I. An unpleasantly early start but the weather was lovely. Mini-chief took it all in his stride, and diligently waited for us at the top of the climbs.
For added excitement we were joined by Micro-chief and mini+micro-train for the last leg from Linlithgow.
Micro-Chief took the tiredness in our legs as an opportunity to rip up the pace and so the finish was a bit of a blur. Mini-Chief decided not to get involved in the sprinting and concentrated on his new trick of riding no handed! Having sucessfully done it continuously from Winchburgh to Kirkliston I would say he now has the knack.
Really nice vibe to see people challenge themselves and bring the determination to complete the course. Shame it was the last one...
Posted 4 years ago # -
Well done all!
Posted 4 years ago # -
Sad to see that a chap died after collapsing on the ride. Married to a friend of a friend.
Posted 4 years ago # -
More here, incredibly sad especially in light of last week's events at TotB
Posted 4 years ago # -
Oh no, sad to hear about that :(
I did the big belter route with my friend as usual, but got the impression that this was the least well organised of the last 3 years. Despite us being in the first 10 on the coach in the morning, and arriving at 4:15, the coach didn't leave the RHS until 5:30, meaning we didn't arrive until 6:30 and nearly missed the 6:45 start (I'm sure some others probably did). None of the staff we spoke to at Glasgow Green seemed to know what chute the big belter route left from - we weren't sure if they actually used the A and B chute, or just one of them, and we eventually just went in the gold chute since it had the most people in it.
First feed stop (well, second - the first one is very near the start and we never stop there) had very little on offer - last year there were bananas, cereal bars, caramel wafers, etc all for free - this year it was all charity bake sale stuff, meaning everything cost money. I've no real problem with that, but it'd be nice to have something else on offer for anyone who didn't have money with them, especially since it's a paid-for event.
When we arrived at the feed stop at Forth there were cereal bars and bananas and very dry sandwiches (white bread and "just cheese", "just ham" or "just tuna mayo" options), and we asked about the 11:20 cut off - this was at around 11:00. We were told it was 3 miles away, so we both left quickly to try and make it.
We reached the cut-off at 11:15, just as two event staff were changing the signage to direct people to the shorter route. We asked if we could do the full route, but were told we were too late. We decided not to argue, since if we did try to do the full route, we'd probably be swept up - my friend had her annual cough / chest infection which she seems to always get just before PfS.
20-30 mins later we were passed by a group doing the ride for charity, who asked us how we were getting on - I said that I was kind of glad we got moved to the diverted route, and they were all horrified and annoyed - they didn't know they were on the shorter route, didn't know there WAS a cut-off time (It's mentioned in the letters / map you get posted, but nothing at the event itself), and were doing the ride for charity. They said they were going to complain, or take their numbers off and do the route as "civilians", not part of the race because they'd all been sponsored to do 100 miles. In the end they passed us again and we never saw them again - I'm not sure if they took an alternative route or just did the 70 mile truncated route.We met another small group near the finish line, where one of them came from the wrong direction and stopped to tell the rest of his group "Nah, that's it! They've <rule 2'd> it! That's the end up there, it's meant to be 100 miles?" - they'd also not realised there was a cut-off time and they'd been diverted.
On the whole, it was fun, but I think I overdid it a bit with the CCE Tweedbank outing on Saturday...
Posted 4 years ago #
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