first sportive q's

[lukesdad]

I'm aiming to ride a sportive on a BSA 20 shopping bike... to ridicule them.

And Im going to do an Audax with abrace of ferrets and a flat cap.......to do the same thing

 

[jimboalee]

And Im going to do an Audax with abrace of ferrets and a flat cap.......to do the same thing

No... I'm going to put a 48 tooth cottered crankset with 6.75" cranks on my Moulton Mini and do the sportive on that......

45" Single speed. Should be 12 hours to get round. Shall I wear school uniform?

 

[HLaB]

Just a quick question - would a Tricross or Croix de Fer-type bike be okay on a Sportive or would I be subject to ridicule? It's just that I think I am going to have to make room in the garage and will only be 'allowed' a couple of bikes. Therefore a CX will be my do-it-all bike.

Bill

You'll get folk on Mtb's, Hybrids, Road bikes etc. I don't think you'll look out of place at all. IME most roadies at first glance can't tell at first glance the difference between bikes anyway other than they're flat bar or dropped bar. When I first joined a club I got the odd comments that I was on a MTB, this quickly turned to wow comments when I started dropping the folk who made the comments; I was actually on a flat bar road bike. Later I converted that to drops and only got a few comments and not in a negative way 'was it a cyclo cross bike?' most riders are too busy concentrating on their own ride to notice.

 

[adam23]

just had another great ride out today and got my pace up another notch, went from didcot to reading via strealy and pangbourne, down the oxford road and back via caversham and woodcote hill.
the whole ride was 44 miles long and done it in 2hrs and 12 mins on the stopwatch such a good feeling but the last 2 or 3 miles were tough going i lost a bit of rythum and starting to ache but enjoyed it none the less.

 

[RedBike]

Sportives aren't races. You don't need to wory about coming last. You'd be amazed at just how much some people struggle. They get caught up in the event and go off full pelt. 20/30miles later their legs have gone but they've got another 70miles to go. Provided you feel confident about the distance/graidents and you stick to your own pace then you'll comfortably get around quicker than a lot of people.

 

[adam23]

i have found the mental side of it quite hard at times i got about 30 miles in and i started to have a slow period and i was telling my self to stop
and couldnt shift it out of my head lol, i carried on but it was getting to me at times.
i might look into doing races next year as well

 

[RedBike]

I did a few sportives on a MTB last year (complete with knobbly tyres). It was great fun watching some people turning themselves inside out trying desperatly not to be overtaken by a MTB on the climbs. Sadly, the moment the road flatterned out everyone would just come sailing back passed.

 

[RedBike]

<br />i have found the mental side of it quite hard at times i got about 30 miles in and i started to have a slow period and i was telling my self to stop <br />and couldnt shift it  out of my head lol, i carried on but it was getting to me at times.<br />i might look into doing races next year as well<br />

<br /><br /><br />

No offense but you might find races a little difficult at the moment if you're struggling at the 30mile mark. I'm sure that by next year you'll be ready though.
The pace of a race varies dramatically. You'll potter along at a steady 20mph for miles, then you get to a hill and all hell breaks loose.
If you want to race you need to be comfortable riding at over 25mph for a short periods of time and get used to sprinting out of bends / up hills

 

[adam23]

no offence taken i see excatly what you mean, its not the fitness i struggle with but the mental side when i get not to far from home it seems to set
in the mind thats its nearly there.
i do get the odd pain in my knees but thats from basketball and having acl construction and medial repairs.
yeah i need to find a few varied routes and do some work over the winter months ready for next year i think.

 

[jdrussell]

I ride a lot with triathletes, many of them new to cycling, and the big mistake they all make on hills is to change down and spin almost before they start going up. If they stayed in the big gear and gave it a few hard strokes they'd be halfway up. And if you get there and have to change down, well fine - nobody likes to change up on a climb.

I would agree with this, I am quite a big dude, and I have noticed if I change down at the start of a hill I start free wheeling very easily. It's much better to get in a bigger gear give it some power and before you know it you are half way up.

My questions too seem to have been answered in this thread, I've got a Scott Sub 20 and have always wondered if it is good enough to do a sportive on. I recently did a 104km ride from Sevenoaks to Deal in Kent on it, and that had over 3,000 feet of climbing on it. You can check out the route here - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42419965 I did that in just under 5 hours which I was pretty pleased with.

just had another great ride out today and got my pace up another notch, went from didcot to reading via strealy and pangbourne, down the oxford road and back via caversham and woodcote hill.
the whole ride was 44 miles long and done it in 2hrs and 12 mins on the stopwatch such a good feeling but the last 2 or 3 miles were tough going i lost a bit of rythum and starting to ache but enjoyed it none the less.

Nice ride, what was that on ? Good time too.

 

[nr.]

I'm also planning to do my first sportive this year, and have booked a place on the Autumn Leaves event [1] in September. Training so far as been getting out as much as possible during the week and riding ~25kms quickly, with longer slower rides at weekends. I comfortably completed 100km a couple of weeks back, at an average of about 28km/h, so I'm happy with that. I'll be getting in a couple of 120km+ rides before the event, just to make sure that I'm not going to fall apart towards the end. The main thing that bothers me is preparing for the hills. I live in The Fens, so the best training I can hope for is to go out on a really windy day and just point myself into the wind.

Hopefully I'm not going to like it. I promised myself when I started cycling that I wouldn't get competitive at it. Only that idea went out of the window as soon as I bought a cycle computer, as I started to time myself. Dammit. I need more willpower.

[1] https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?event_id=358

nr.

 

[adam23]

I would agree with this, I am quite a big dude, and I have noticed if I change down at the start of a hill I start free wheeling very easily. It's much better to get in a bigger gear give it some power and before you know it you are half way up.

My questions too seem to have been answered in this thread, I've got a Scott Sub 20 and have always wondered if it is good enough to do a sportive on. I recently did a 104km ride from Sevenoaks to Deal in Kent on it, and that had over 3,000 feet of climbing on it. You can check out the route here - http://connect.garmi...tivity/42419965 I did that in just under 5 hours which I was pretty pleased with.



Nice ride, what was that on ? Good time too.

yeah was a good ride out and nice and early in the morning, it was on my wilier la triestina only had it a month or so but
makes a big difference on a good bike.

yeah i didnt want to get competitive but then i was like faster faster and watching the clock

 

[heliphil]

my second sportive will be the Otztaler Radmarathon and I can find any mountains in Essex to train on either.....