After I'd recovered from the Tour (June 2015) I started looking forward to my favourite sportive - the Autumn Epic - which usually happened towards the end of September/early October.
Couldn't find any up to date info on it - the website was about 2014 and already one or two online community comments were asking "Is it on?"
I contacted the organisers and found out it wasn't. By then it was August and too late to do much so I decided to offer a "free ride" on the day it would have run and open it up to anyone who wanted to come along - just to keep the event alive.
A bit of history - the Epic was one of the original sportives - started in 2005 with online entry and chip timing - both innovations at the time. Back then cyclists from all over the country came to Knighton to take part and the event could have 700+ entries.
The route was spectacular - taking participants into the wild, remote mid-Wales uplands - unexpectedly desolate and with huge vistas of lakes and dams. The catering at the end was equally legendary - taking a cue from Italian Gran Fondos there was free hot food for all at the finish.
For the 2015 free ride we had none of that catering but even so riders from Manchester and Suffolk came along to maintain their unbroken attendance (several had done 10 years of Epics).
With the free ride successfully completed I went back to the organisers and agreed to take over the running of the Autumn Epic for the next year.