Feedback from the 2010 event.........

Just wanted to say thank you to ‘the Team’ for last Sunday’s event. Very well organised, very well staffed, very well supplied and a very well marked out route. I rode with a club mate and both of us had a really good time (despite the cold and the headwinds!). I have been involved in organising a couple of sportives and I couldn’t find fault with anything on the day.
What also makes your event special is how friendly everyone is; even the marshals stuck out on chilly junctions gave us beaming smiles as we went past.
Brilliant job, see you next year.
Steve Gallop

I joined the Fairy Cake ride for the first time with my friend Richard Norman. I thought it was brilliant and whilst I am not confident on a mountain bike I thought the route was great, long enough, challenging enough and the group was just the right size that it kept together.
I will put next year's ride in my diary and maybe I will be bike fit enough by then to do one of the road rides. Great charity event and the amount of effort all the organisers and volunteers put in was really noticeable. I can't praise or spread the word enough about it.
Louise Price

Many thanks for a great day out.
Rode the Fruit Cake route - a skilfully crafted journey through the Surrey countryside. We didn't even come close to making a mistake. Every turning was clearly marked and every nasty junction was cheerfully marshalled. All we riders had to do was enjoy the surroundings. Especially appreciated the perfectly timed ham and cheese roll at 94km.
An idea for next time: add a few more orange arrows to the cake signs - they do make them much easier to spot.
This was a really classy event - it deserves, and I hope it gets, many more riders next year.
Hugh Williamson

Just a note to say a well deserved thanks to the organisers, marshals on route at every dodgy junction and the feed/water station outposts. A well signed and challenging route in passable weather!
Due to my own inattention at speed I followed to Fruit cakers and combined a bit of the route with my own carrot route, not a good culinary mix nor good for the weary legs, ending up doing some 77 miles, but well worth it!
It could have been a ‘recipe’ for disaster, however, you ‘buttered’ us up with promises of medals and certificates, ‘egged’ us on a the marshal points, ‘churning’ up hill ignoring the ‘knead’ for a rest, at ‘White’down we would not be ‘beaten’ as we ‘whisked ‘ down the descent, and ‘rose’ to the occasion!
LOL
Thanks once again.
Steve Taylor

Three of us went round the carrot cake on Sunday but we failed to see the turn off the road from Ockley to Ewhurst and went through Ewhurst to Shere up Pitch Hill – there we picked up the marshals who (not knowing we were lost carrots) sent us on the Fruit Cake part through Whitedown Bookham Green Dene etc so by the time we hit Whitedown I knew something was wrong. So we went the wrong way round the Pitch Hill loop.
The sign at the Capel roundabout on the A24 was also down at ankle level but we knew we weren’t going down the A24.
The plasticised maps were a nice idea but I think an A4 size one made of the water-resistant paper (Evans uses this stuff) would be better, whilst the small size is convenient, it’s a little tricky to see where you are actually going.
It doesn’t matter about the getting “lost” (we know all the roads like the back of our hands) we enjoyed the ride and ended up doing 68 miles and enjoyed all the cake.
Adrian Young

Hi there - thanks very much for the update, I'm really pleased to have helped a bit in raising the money.
I really enjoyed Sunday, the organisation was great as was the atmosphere, and as for the cake selection...
The only downside for me apart from freezing at the start and not being quite prepared for that in September, was getting lost at one point along the Jaffa Cake ride. Not exactly sure where I got lost, as I also managed to drop my route card before this happened! But Meuryn, one of the other Jaffa Cake riders was behind and helped us find our way back onto the route. Really nice countryside, just the right amount of hilliness, and also not too much competing with road traffic - unlike the Bike Radar sportive in July.
It's really nice to have shorter sportive rides under 50 miles to do, especially at either end of the season. I work full-time and have limited time for training, so the Jaffa was a really good workout. Hope you go from strength to strength in 2011.
Chris Leigh

JUST A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE INVOLVED WITH THE RUNNING AND ORGANISING OF THIS YEARS EVENT, WELL DONE! ONE SIGN APPEARED TO BE MISSING GOING OUT TO RUSPER. WOULD BE GOOD TO SEE SOME MARKER RIBBON FOLLOWING JUNCTIONS JUST FOR CONFIRMATION, BUT REALISE JUST ERECTING ALL THE SIGNAGE MUST BE A BIG ENOUGH JOB IN ITSELF. THANKS ONCE AGAIN
Simon Costin

Thanks for a great event very well organised by friendly people. I look forward to 2011.
Richard Mead-Briggs

Hi,
Just wanted to say a big thanks for an exceptionally well run Sportive; I did the 65 mile route with friends from Redhill CC and Norwood Paragon.
The route signs were excellent, though we were slightly confused after the Ockley feed station, got it back together pretty soon though.
The marshals were superb, we really felt for them being out there in the cold weather, a fantastic effort, they suffered more than we riders.
The cakes were wonderful! The 'spot prize' was brilliant - all the more as I won something and selected the Campag cap.
Medals are an absolute MUST, top marks for that, people treasure them. Not sure about the certificates but not complaining. The girls on the check-in desk were also terrific.
I hope you hit your targets for fundraising.
Thanks again,
Russell Hicks, Stuart Greig and Charl Jordaan

Just to say I thoroughly enjoyed the fruit cake yesterday but legs a trifle sore today, but I guess that's the point. Very well organised and nicely sociable, amongst some great lanes and Surrey scenery. A couple of times we slightly veered off course I think but managed to get back on track, I imagine it must have been somewhat challenging fixing all those signs up! The marshal’s were excellent I think you had the highest ratio of marshal’s to riders I have ever see, so in some ways a shame you didn't attract more riders. Thank you I'll try to do it again next year and bring some friends!
Brian Turnip

Just a quick note to thank everyone for a very well organised and run sportive today. Only one missing sign so far as I could tell (the left turn to Rusper on the Carrot Cake run) which is presumably now either in a ditch or a souvenir for some local smart a**e! Otherwise everything seemed to go very smoothly with plenty of marshals at the key points and some terrific cakes at the end. Thanks again and hope to see you again next year. Best wishes.
Andy Gardner

We had about 18 in the Norwood Paragon group and it was universally enjoyed. Fab route, perfect signs and yummy cake – Ibbo would have loved it. Well done to you, Susie, Sam and team.
Marcus Brueton

Just to say that we did the Fruit Cake yesterday and thought the route was excellent, we had a minor issue with one junction, but in 150K that’s pretty good. Friendly and efficient organisation and support - all in a great cause. The Cakes at the end were excellent too, which is of course why I came! See you next year.
Huw Griffiths