Sportive Advice

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Bandini

Guest
I usually go at quite a leisurely pace and I have been looking into Audax. But there is a sportive on my door step - which means I can start and finish a minutes ride from my house. Decided to do it - it is July, but I am already excited!

Anyone got any tips for someone new to sportives?

I have a 'nowt-startling-but-much-loved touring bike (Dawes Karakum), and I am 38 years old. Not super fit, but cycling 100+ miles a week and doing more and more. In the right weight range for my height. I am obviously only going for bronze, but as I am doing it I would like to do as well as I can, whilst enjoying it. Obviously I can ride the actual route quite regularly, as it is my local riding area.
 

lukesdad

Guest
Which one are you doing ?
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
You say you've been looking at audax - as far as I understand, the only difference between an audax and a sportive is the cost and the atmosphere...

Someone on here said "In an audax, everyone pretends they aren't racing, in a sportive, they pretend they are...."

So don't worry too much about the time. You have the advantage of being able to get familiar with the route, so you can suss out just what gear you need to be in for that nasty little hill round that blind corner without clashing your changes.

(yes, I'm thinking of a specific hill!)
 

zacklaws

Guru
Location
Beverley
Arch said:
(yes, I'm thinking of a specific hill!)

I got that hill down to 7 minutes 40 seconds, mid December, doing it repeatedly, up and down, but since the bad weather has gone, I cannot better 8 minutes 30 seconds on it now. But its still an improvement from the first time I saw it, about 20 minutes plus 5 or 7 stops, and just over 11 minutes on the big g last year.
 

Soltydog

Legendary Member
Location
near Hornsea
There's an Audax from Humber Bridge car park in June, if you fancy that. It's run by CTC. I did it a few years ago & the major differences were the signposting of the route, or lack of it. Not sure if it's the same at all sportive/audax events. The Sportive was very well organised, the route signposted & a well stocked cake stop en route, whereas the audax route was not sign posted at all, you were given a route card with instructions on, that can be hard to follow for a newbie & no official cake stop, although a point of the route took in a cafe :evil:
I'm not sure if i can get time off work for the sportive this year :biggrin: but I'll be doing the audax from hull, at a nice steady pace, if you fancy it :biggrin:
 

zacklaws

Guru
Location
Beverley
I think all Audax's are unmarked, its all part of the fun, navigating, unless they post a GPS route, then it makes life easier to download to the Garmin.

I've had a look for the Audax from the Humber bridge on the Audax website, in June but cannot see one, there's 3 Audax'es on the 23rd May and 1 on the 3rd July but that's a 400k one.
 

Banjo

Fuelled with Jelly Babies
Location
South Wales
Bandini said:
I usually go at quite a leisurely pace and I have been looking into Audax. But there is a sportive on my door step - which means I can start and finish a minutes ride from my house. Decided to do it - it is July, but I am already excited!

Anyone got any tips for someone new to sportives?

I have a 'nowt-startling-but-much-loved touring bike (Dawes Karakum), and I am 38 years old. Not super fit, but cycling 100+ miles a week and doing more and more. In the right weight range for my height. I am obviously only going for bronze, but as I am doing it I would like to do as well as I can, whilst enjoying it. Obviously I can ride the actual route quite regularly, as it is my local riding area.

Good Luck. By coincidence I have entered my first sportive which is also in July ,

slightly concerned about having so many other cyclists riding close to me so may wait 10 minutes to let most of them get away at the start as its a mass start with 1000 riders.

Hopefully I may catch up with at least one or two on the way round :-)
 

Soltydog

Legendary Member
Location
near Hornsea
zacklaws said:
I've had a look for the Audax from the Humber bridge on the Audax website, in June but cannot see one, there's 3 Audax'es on the 23rd May and 1 on the 3rd July but that's a 400k one.

You're right they are in May, not June. Not as much training time as I thought :evil:
 
OP
OP
Bandini

Bandini

Guest
Soltydog said:
There's an Audax from Humber Bridge car park in June, if you fancy that. It's run by CTC. I did it a few years ago & the major differences were the signposting of the route, or lack of it. Not sure if it's the same at all sportive/audax events. The Sportive was very well organised, the route signposted & a well stocked cake stop en route, whereas the audax route was not sign posted at all, you were given a route card with instructions on, that can be hard to follow for a newbie & no official cake stop, although a point of the route took in a cafe :wacko:
I'm not sure if i can get time off work for the sportive this year xx( but I'll be doing the audax from hull, at a nice steady pace, if you fancy it :smile:

Cheers - yes I do!
 
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