Just over two weeks ago I noticed that the Royal British Legion were doing a thing called the Big Bike Ride which consisted of a charity bike ride around Portsmouth. There were three routes, a 2 mile, 8 mile and 16 mile. These catered for everyone from young to old.
Naturally, I registered my interest on-line and was informed that I'd receive my info pack through the post within 10 days. The info pack would have the route and the sponsorship forms.
Since this was a sponsored ride I would obviously use my trike rather than SB. Super Bikey was going to have a breather. I also thought I'd do the 16 mile route.
There was also supposed to be a big event on Castle Field with stunts, strange bikes and tutorials on bike maintenance etc.
Two weeks went by and the Thursday before the ride (which was for Sunday the 27th) arrived but the info pack didn't. All I knew was the start was at the Blue Reef Centre at 10am.
Come Sunday I thought, what the hell, I'll go down and take a peek at the (supposed) 800 riders setting off. Since the roads were open I was wondering how that would affect traffic. I got down to the Blue Reef Centre before 10am and was greeted by throngs of..... no one! I sat there on my trike sucking on my water bottle wondering what was going on.
I was about to pull away when I heard some one shouting, "Wait, please wait."
It was a runner and he was heading toward me at full tilt (which wasn't that great given the heat). He asked me all manner of questions about my trike. Where could he get one, how much. I told him and said that KMX do several models and told him the prices and where to go at what times to see them and get a test ride. He then said to me "I've got to ask and please don't take it the wrong way, I don't mean to offend, but, are you disabled in any way?"
I told him I wasn't and that I found the trike an interesting and fun way to get my exercise. With that he thanked me, shook my hand and continued his run. Just by the Blue Reef Centre I noticed three people in high-vis jackets and thought, ah, so anybody turning up here would go see them. Since I wasn't in it I didn't go talk to them.
OK, so it's not quite 10am so I toddle along to Castle Field to see what events are on (at this point I hit a big bump and my chain flew off the chainring, I put it back on but my hands were black with oil so I didn't get to use the video camera - nothing to clean my hands up with
). It's only a few hundred yards up the road. As I got there I saw three people ahead with Big Bike Ride t-shirts on and one leaving through a barrier to Castle Field. On the barrier was a banner with the words START/FINISH. A-ha! So, the start is not where they said it would be. I looked around and I couldn't see 800 riders ready to tear away. The events area on Castle Field also looked very sparse and I was thinking that I was glad me and Brian had decided not to walk down and see what was happening there.
Anyway, I decided to follow the three ahead and do the route anyway. While I was following them I noticed that a) they were going quite slowly and b) the route was actually very well signposted. I decided to overtake them three up front and follow the signs.
The reason the three riders seemed slow was because my speed was higher than I thought. My cruising speed has gradually been increasing and I was cruising down the sea front cycle path at 13-15mph. Not once did I see an indication of 800 riders. In fact, I did the ride all alone. Apparently they had 300 last year. Guess I wasn't the only one to not receive a goody pack. I had the feeling that they advertised it late and there were many other Armed Forces Day events going on in Portsmouth that weekend.
As I followed the route there were people in high-vis vests at the pelican crossings pushing the buttons for riders. I asked one if she'd seen many recumbent bikes. I was the only one
The scenery was very pretty on the cycle path from the east side of Portsmouth to the west side.
I got back to the Blue Reef Centre and went home. I'd enjoyed my ride but, sadly, I was very disappointed in the organisation of what should have been a major event. I was really looking forward to pestering my work-mates for sponsorship and it just didn't happen for me (and I suspect an aweful lot of others).
I was hoping to be riding amongst a light hearted crowd of riders but instead it felt like I was on a solitary ride. Such a shame. I've been keeping an eye on the local rag (on-line) and not seen a single mention of how they did and how many attended. I was suspect that only a handful did it. I passed a couple of riders once in a while mostly in two's but at no point did I see groups of riders.
All in all I feel sorry for the Royal British Legion, something must have gone wrong somewhere along the line that was unforeseen and couldn't be dealt with in time. Still, I shall keep an eye out for next year's ride.
For anyone that is interested this was the route:
British legion Big Bike Ride route. by vikki15 at Garmin Connect - Details
Best regards.
Vikki.
Naturally, I registered my interest on-line and was informed that I'd receive my info pack through the post within 10 days. The info pack would have the route and the sponsorship forms.
Since this was a sponsored ride I would obviously use my trike rather than SB. Super Bikey was going to have a breather. I also thought I'd do the 16 mile route.
There was also supposed to be a big event on Castle Field with stunts, strange bikes and tutorials on bike maintenance etc.
Two weeks went by and the Thursday before the ride (which was for Sunday the 27th) arrived but the info pack didn't. All I knew was the start was at the Blue Reef Centre at 10am.
Come Sunday I thought, what the hell, I'll go down and take a peek at the (supposed) 800 riders setting off. Since the roads were open I was wondering how that would affect traffic. I got down to the Blue Reef Centre before 10am and was greeted by throngs of..... no one! I sat there on my trike sucking on my water bottle wondering what was going on.
I was about to pull away when I heard some one shouting, "Wait, please wait."
It was a runner and he was heading toward me at full tilt (which wasn't that great given the heat). He asked me all manner of questions about my trike. Where could he get one, how much. I told him and said that KMX do several models and told him the prices and where to go at what times to see them and get a test ride. He then said to me "I've got to ask and please don't take it the wrong way, I don't mean to offend, but, are you disabled in any way?"
I told him I wasn't and that I found the trike an interesting and fun way to get my exercise. With that he thanked me, shook my hand and continued his run. Just by the Blue Reef Centre I noticed three people in high-vis jackets and thought, ah, so anybody turning up here would go see them. Since I wasn't in it I didn't go talk to them.
OK, so it's not quite 10am so I toddle along to Castle Field to see what events are on (at this point I hit a big bump and my chain flew off the chainring, I put it back on but my hands were black with oil so I didn't get to use the video camera - nothing to clean my hands up with
). It's only a few hundred yards up the road. As I got there I saw three people ahead with Big Bike Ride t-shirts on and one leaving through a barrier to Castle Field. On the barrier was a banner with the words START/FINISH. A-ha! So, the start is not where they said it would be. I looked around and I couldn't see 800 riders ready to tear away. The events area on Castle Field also looked very sparse and I was thinking that I was glad me and Brian had decided not to walk down and see what was happening there.Anyway, I decided to follow the three ahead and do the route anyway. While I was following them I noticed that a) they were going quite slowly and b) the route was actually very well signposted. I decided to overtake them three up front and follow the signs.
The reason the three riders seemed slow was because my speed was higher than I thought. My cruising speed has gradually been increasing and I was cruising down the sea front cycle path at 13-15mph. Not once did I see an indication of 800 riders. In fact, I did the ride all alone. Apparently they had 300 last year. Guess I wasn't the only one to not receive a goody pack. I had the feeling that they advertised it late and there were many other Armed Forces Day events going on in Portsmouth that weekend.
As I followed the route there were people in high-vis vests at the pelican crossings pushing the buttons for riders. I asked one if she'd seen many recumbent bikes. I was the only one
The scenery was very pretty on the cycle path from the east side of Portsmouth to the west side.
I got back to the Blue Reef Centre and went home. I'd enjoyed my ride but, sadly, I was very disappointed in the organisation of what should have been a major event. I was really looking forward to pestering my work-mates for sponsorship and it just didn't happen for me (and I suspect an aweful lot of others).
I was hoping to be riding amongst a light hearted crowd of riders but instead it felt like I was on a solitary ride. Such a shame. I've been keeping an eye on the local rag (on-line) and not seen a single mention of how they did and how many attended. I was suspect that only a handful did it. I passed a couple of riders once in a while mostly in two's but at no point did I see groups of riders.
All in all I feel sorry for the Royal British Legion, something must have gone wrong somewhere along the line that was unforeseen and couldn't be dealt with in time. Still, I shall keep an eye out for next year's ride.
For anyone that is interested this was the route:
British legion Big Bike Ride route. by vikki15 at Garmin Connect - Details
Best regards.
Vikki.
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