The sun is shining, summer is finally here and after a fantastic cycling weekend which has its firm place in British cycling history with Bradley Wiggins being the first British winner of the Tour de France it is time to look at the next round of the round of the of the CRC MTB Marathon Series powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport and the VITUS Road Sportive powered by CycleOps power. After only a little till off, the next destination on our UK marathon/sportive tour will be Abergavenny on the 4-5th August 2012.
Contrary to our other events the round near Abergavenny will be run the other way round with the 1stevent of the weekend being the MTB-Marathon on Saturday (4th August) followed by the Road sportive on Sunday (5th August).
Registration times:
The registration will be open on Friday from 6pm to 9pm and will re-open on Saturday morning at 7am. It will stay open till 9.30am with the start of the MTB-marathon being at 10am. Please make sure you arrive with plenty of time to spare as it will be very hectic in particular on Saturday morning just before the start.
The registration for the road sportive will open at 5pm on Saturday and will stay open till 8pm. It will re-open on Sunday morning and will stay open till the end of the open start window at 9.30am. Sportive riders can start at any time between 8.30am – 9.30am on Sunday morning.
If you are arriving outside the registration opening times – don’t worry – just park in the designated areas or pitch up your tent in the camping area and enjoy the event till the registration opens.
Pasta party / bar on site and live music:
The pasta party (which is part of the MTB-marathon ticket) will be held on Friday evening. So if you want to do some carbo loading make sure you get there early evening Friday – sign on and get your Pasta ticket voucher.
We will also have a bar on site which will be open on Friday and Saturday evening. Make sure you bring cash though as there is no cash machine at the event.
And to round up our evening entertainment we will have a live band on site on Saturday night which will kick off their set once the marathon has come to an end.
New caterer for the series:
For the rest of the 2012 series as well as for the upcoming Ritchey TrailMasters (www.trailmasters.cc) event we have paired up with Ian from the Drop-Off Bus. Ian used to run the much loved Drop-Off café in Glyncorrwyg and is now running the mobile version of his café at cycling events around the country. He will be supplying the pasta party as well as being on site throughout the weekend to look after the riders.
Location for the 4th round:
The next round is located near Abergavenny at the Cwrt-y-Gollan British Army training base which is not far away from Crickhowell and just north of the A40 and the River Usk. The venue offers plenty of hard standing and fantastic excess roads. The venue will be signposted from Friday lunchtime onwards.
Entry open now:
Entry for the 4th round is open via the CRC website or via our own website (www.mtb-marathon.co.uk). Simply hop onto our entry pages (MTB and weekend tickets / Road tickets) and either use the online entry or the downloadable entry form. Don’t forget that there is a special discount for the weekend ticket which entitles the rider to take part in the MTB marathon as well as the road sportive. There will be entries available at the event but there is a £5 surcharge for that. So better enter now and save yourself some money.
Ride profiles for the 4th round:
The Abergavenny round will be another double event but this time we are breaking the habit and we are running the MTB Marathon on Saturday followed by Road sportive on Sunday. Similar to the Marshbrook round we will have three mountain bike courses and two road sportive on offer. You can find details on the MTB marathons on the Abergavenny event page while details of the Abergavenny VITUS road sportives can be found here.
Middle MTB Marathon (4th August 2012 – start 10am)
Length (approx.): 78km Amount of climbing (approx.): 2500m
Half MTB Marathon (4th August 2012 – start 10am)
Length (approx.): 50km Amount of climbing (approx.): 1600m
Mini MTB Marathon (4th August 2012 – start 10am)
Length (approx.): 30km Amount of climbing (approx.): 900m
Classic (Long) Road Sportive (5th August 2012 – open start 8.30 – 9.30am)
Length (approx.): 90miles Amount of climbing (approx.): 2500m
Standard (Short) Road Sportive (5th August 2012 – open start 8.30 – 9.30am)
Length (approx.): 55miles Amount of climbing (approx.): 1450m
Ritchey TrailMasters powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport
And don’t forget the Ritchey TrailMasters powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport being only four weeks away. On the 17-18-19th August we will be in Llanwrtyd Wells awaiting the riders with more than 200km of 1st class trails, a fantastic ‘off the bike programme’ and some great food and drink. Come and join us and get your entry now on www.trailmasters.cc.
