At long last I'm about to do my first ever sportive next weekend ... the Cotswold Autumn Classic 100km. If I'm honest, it's something I may be guilty of putting off for a while, as I have a few preconceptions about sportives myself, being more of an audaxer by nature. Hopefully it won't be the alphamaleothon that I have built it up to be.
This year I have talked a few clubmates into doing their first audaxes (a couple of them in bitter winter weather), so when invited along by one of them to enter a sportive, I had to say yes. Hopefully I'll enjoy the experience, though I'm a bit nervous of the whole concept of a broom wagon and published finishing times. I'm not your typical sportive type. I may wear lycra, but I ride a heavy steel tourer and I have the body shape and size of a rugby second row forward. When it comes to hills I just winch myself up slowly and have to ignore how fast everyone else is going. I have the endurance but not the speed.
Whatever my upcoming experience may be, I can certainly recommend to the OP to give audaxing a try instead as a possible alternative to sportives. It is a whole lot cheaper (typically £5-7 per event instead of the £28 I've paid for this sportive) and it really does cater for all types ..... though you have to be more self sufficient as you are left to find your own way round the course and carry out your own repairs etc. I have found audaxes to be very friendly events, and have made some good friends out on audaxes while riding along with people who were content doing the same speed as me and taking in the scenery. Organised events don't have to be about racing around, nose to the bars and ass in the air. Hopefully my preconceptions will be wrong and we'll be able to appreciate the scenery on this sportive as well .... though I'm determined to stay ahead of the broom wagon and am rather fixating on that at the moment.