Tour Of Britain 2022
Discussion
Anyone got any plans, or thinking about making plans to see this from the roadside?
It's been a while since I've seen the ToB "live". A good few years ago now I rode from home (then in Farnborough, Hampshire) to watch the race on and around the A31 Hog's Back near Guildford. Now that I live in Bournemouth, Dorset, it's nice to see the race coming to the county.
Saturday 10 September is the date for Stage 7, with the race running from Sunday 4 to Sunday 11 September.
Stage 7 this year kicks off with a neutralised start in/through West Bay, heads along the coast road through Abbottsbury to Wey(hey)mouth, then up to Dorchester for an intermediate Sprint, eastward to Lulworth and Corfe Castle via two KOM sections on Daggers Gate and Whiteways hills before heading from Corfe to Wareham for another Sprint. After that it's a long schlepp northwest via Bere Regis and Milton Abbas to Bulbarrow Hill, down to Okeford Fitzpaine where it turns right (southeastward) and up Okeford Hill (to the MTB park) for the third KOM contest. Then the race heads to Blandford Forum, through Market Place (against the one-way system so it'll be difficult to ride outside of the race road closures) and southeast, via Tarrant Keyneston and past Badbury Rings/Kingston Lacey to Wimborne Minster. Another change of direction takes the riders north for the third and final Sprint of the day at Horton Inn (Knowlton) before making a right onto the B3081 to Verwood, down through Verwood to Three Legged Cross and south through West Moors, over the A31 bridge into Ferndown, finishing on Victoria Road.
I've done a "map based recce" for the stage, marking it on my OS maps. It's mainly on the Landranger 1:50,000 sheet numbers 194 (Dorchester and Weymouth) and 195 (Bournemouth and Purbeck), but the first 3 km (neutralised) are on sheet 193 (Taunton and Lyme Regis). I've also created (as closely as I can given the one way section in Blandford Forum) a Strava route for it, and exported a TCX file of the route into my freshly resurrected Garmin Edge 500. I might even write out some cue "sheets" on masking tape to fix to my top tube. I fully intend to be there at the roadside somewhere on the route, but where exactly I'm not yet sure. Hopefully there'll be full coverage on TV too. There are some absolutely stunning views on this stage, from the picturesque harbour at the start in West Bay, and Corfe Castle itself, to the coastal views, Iron Age hill forts, hilltop vistas and the remarkably lovely villages along the route.
One annoying thing is the organiser's website requesting people "use sustainable transport or active travel options" but then telling us that there will only be one (1) bus that will get from Weymouth to West Bay in time for the start, and to "check train operator's restrictions if you intend to travel with a bicycle". It sounds to me like it's either a case of driving to somewhere on the route, or taking a very active travel option in the form of a long bike ride.
So is anyone else planning on pitching up at the roadside to watch this event? Which stage (or stages) are near you? How much preparation will you do beforehand? Will it (like me) depend upon the weather on the day whether you go or not...
For anyone looking for route details, try here... https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/
Stage 7 map details are here... https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/stage-seven...
Stage 7 timetable and route instructions here... https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stage-seven-timeta...
And lastly, my Strava route... https://www.strava.com/routes/2997844621700200608 ...including the short "work around" for the Blandford Forum one way section where those pesky pro riders will go "the wrong way".
If it's at all possible, time and weather permitting, I'd like to try to ride all of the route before the pros are let loose on it. If not I'll maybe ride it after the race has been and gone. It looks like a pretty testing stage, 176 km (112 miles) distance and 2,377 metres (about 7,800 feet) of climbing. Added to the 45 to 50 miles ride from home to West Bay, and another 7 miles home, it should make for a long old day out (somewhere between 12 and 14 hours) if I do decide to ride all of it.
It's been a while since I've seen the ToB "live". A good few years ago now I rode from home (then in Farnborough, Hampshire) to watch the race on and around the A31 Hog's Back near Guildford. Now that I live in Bournemouth, Dorset, it's nice to see the race coming to the county.
Saturday 10 September is the date for Stage 7, with the race running from Sunday 4 to Sunday 11 September.
Stage 7 this year kicks off with a neutralised start in/through West Bay, heads along the coast road through Abbottsbury to Wey(hey)mouth, then up to Dorchester for an intermediate Sprint, eastward to Lulworth and Corfe Castle via two KOM sections on Daggers Gate and Whiteways hills before heading from Corfe to Wareham for another Sprint. After that it's a long schlepp northwest via Bere Regis and Milton Abbas to Bulbarrow Hill, down to Okeford Fitzpaine where it turns right (southeastward) and up Okeford Hill (to the MTB park) for the third KOM contest. Then the race heads to Blandford Forum, through Market Place (against the one-way system so it'll be difficult to ride outside of the race road closures) and southeast, via Tarrant Keyneston and past Badbury Rings/Kingston Lacey to Wimborne Minster. Another change of direction takes the riders north for the third and final Sprint of the day at Horton Inn (Knowlton) before making a right onto the B3081 to Verwood, down through Verwood to Three Legged Cross and south through West Moors, over the A31 bridge into Ferndown, finishing on Victoria Road.
I've done a "map based recce" for the stage, marking it on my OS maps. It's mainly on the Landranger 1:50,000 sheet numbers 194 (Dorchester and Weymouth) and 195 (Bournemouth and Purbeck), but the first 3 km (neutralised) are on sheet 193 (Taunton and Lyme Regis). I've also created (as closely as I can given the one way section in Blandford Forum) a Strava route for it, and exported a TCX file of the route into my freshly resurrected Garmin Edge 500. I might even write out some cue "sheets" on masking tape to fix to my top tube. I fully intend to be there at the roadside somewhere on the route, but where exactly I'm not yet sure. Hopefully there'll be full coverage on TV too. There are some absolutely stunning views on this stage, from the picturesque harbour at the start in West Bay, and Corfe Castle itself, to the coastal views, Iron Age hill forts, hilltop vistas and the remarkably lovely villages along the route.
One annoying thing is the organiser's website requesting people "use sustainable transport or active travel options" but then telling us that there will only be one (1) bus that will get from Weymouth to West Bay in time for the start, and to "check train operator's restrictions if you intend to travel with a bicycle". It sounds to me like it's either a case of driving to somewhere on the route, or taking a very active travel option in the form of a long bike ride.
So is anyone else planning on pitching up at the roadside to watch this event? Which stage (or stages) are near you? How much preparation will you do beforehand? Will it (like me) depend upon the weather on the day whether you go or not...
For anyone looking for route details, try here... https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/
Stage 7 map details are here... https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/stage-seven...
Stage 7 timetable and route instructions here... https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stage-seven-timeta...
And lastly, my Strava route... https://www.strava.com/routes/2997844621700200608 ...including the short "work around" for the Blandford Forum one way section where those pesky pro riders will go "the wrong way".
If it's at all possible, time and weather permitting, I'd like to try to ride all of the route before the pros are let loose on it. If not I'll maybe ride it after the race has been and gone. It looks like a pretty testing stage, 176 km (112 miles) distance and 2,377 metres (about 7,800 feet) of climbing. Added to the 45 to 50 miles ride from home to West Bay, and another 7 miles home, it should make for a long old day out (somewhere between 12 and 14 hours) if I do decide to ride all of it.
Edited by yellowjack on Thursday 25th August 14:19
ARHarh said:
Not coming out my way this year, North Wales border. Seen it somewhere every year for the last 10 years or so. Saw the women's tour a few miles up the road when it came through earlier this year.
You can’t be far from me….2014, viewed at Pontblyddyn nr Mold
2015, came past our village, Penyffordd
Managed to get myself on the telly
My daughter is in the pink coat.
Really should have made the effort to go the Great Orme stage last year, kicked myself afterwards as it was an epic stage
wobert said:
ARHarh said:
Not coming out my way this year, North Wales border. Seen it somewhere every year for the last 10 years or so. Saw the women's tour a few miles up the road when it came through earlier this year.
You can’t be far from me….2014, viewed at Pontblyddyn nr Mold
2015, came past our village, Penyffordd
Managed to get myself on the telly
My daughter is in the pink coat.
Really should have made the effort to go the Great Orme stage last year, kicked myself afterwards as it was an epic stage
Last year saw it on the Mach Loop. And somewhere else the next day, can't remember where.
mooseracer said:
MrBarry123 said:
I have close family near Chipping Sodbury so planning to be there on 9th September for stage 6.
My doorstep and I'll be watching that stagemooseracer said:
pablo said:
Stage six for us, bizarrely they are not using the locally famous climb out of Wotton Under Edge which is a shame.
If you mean the one to the golf club then it is probably they are scared of the time I set up it last night. Ha.
hyperblue said:
Going to the IoW for stage 8, staying close to the needles. I’m sure I read there’d be a ride the route event beforehand but can’t find any mention of it now, so might just give it a go on my own as will be there a few days before and after.
I created a Strava route for the whole of Stage 7 using the official ToB site mapping and "road book". I rode the last 27 miles of Stage 7 today, but it bloomin' well nearly did me in. And this was the section AFTER all of the KOM points climbs! I rode from Bournemouth out to Blandford via Wimborne Minster. Got to Blandford's Market Place/East Street and because it's a one-way road I was on the ToB route going the "wrong way" for the race, but legally riding in the correct traffic direction. A nip up the hill and back along a parallel road which wasn't one way and I was back on the route facing the right direction. Then I followed the route on my freshly resurrected Edge 500 all the way to the finish in Ferndown.I struggled though. Cramps and simple exhaustion were rife. I'd guesstimated that I hadn't ridden my road bike for three months, while I've been looking after my wife after she had surgery on both feet. Turns out, on checking my Strava and cycling diary, that it was five months and two days since I'd ridden that road bike. No wonder I'd been suffering. I was glad I hadn't pushed further west to be honest. I'd been contemplating heading for Milton Abbas and starting off with the KoM points climb of Okeford Hill. That climbing and the extra distance would have done me in completely, I think. Here's my route... https://www.strava.com/activities/7728066837/
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