Sportive rides..

[yenrod]

I was talking with a friend y.day and he was saying there are too many AND they are too expensive..and IMO too hard...

What're your thoughts

 

[Arch]

Too many? Don't do them all.
Too expensive? See above, only do cheap ones (Mine was £20, for that you got entry (and therefore the organisation work), a t-shirt, a bottle and free grub. Not bad for a great day out)
Too hard? If I managed one, they can't all be hard....

It's not as if they get in the way of everyday life much, is it? I mean I don't often wake up and think "Oh no, I can't get on today, because there are so many bloody sportives on..." It's not like I need a sportive arranged to go for a ride....

 

[rich p]

Too many? Don't do them all.
Too expensive? See above, only do cheap ones (Mine was £20, for that you got entry (and therefore the organisation work), a t-shirt, a bottle and free grub. Not bad for a great day out)
Too hard? If I managed one, they can't all be hard....

It's not as if they get in the way of everyday life much, is it? I mean I don't often wake up and think "Oh no, I can't get on today, because there are so many bloody sportives on..." It's not like I need a sportive arranged to go for a ride....

Cogently put, Arch

 

[yenrod]

Too many? Don't do them all.
Too expensive? See above, only do cheap ones (Mine was £20, for that you got entry (and therefore the organisation work), a t-shirt, a bottle and free grub. Not bad for a great day out)
Too hard? If I managed one, they can't all be hard....

It's not as if they get in the way of everyday life much, is it? I mean I don't often wake up and think "Oh no, I can't get on today, because there are so many bloody sportives on..." It's not like I need a sportive arranged to go for a ride....

http://www.davelloydcoaching.com/cy...ion/entries-open---for-megachallenge-sportive

See you on the start line then..Arch

 

[Arch]

What a terrible website - that dark blue stripe makes half the page unreadable...

Not for me. Too much like hard work. Even teh half distance one sounds like a nightmare.

I like rides with cake.

The best bit about the Big G sportive was the free pie and chips at the end.

 

[Plax]

When I was on the Wild Wales Challenge (albeit hardly a sportive in the true sense of the word), one of the old fellas was moaning that they were making them too long (this years was 90 miles) and that about 70 miles was enough. I kind of agreed with him towards the end........

 

[PaulB]

Personally, I don't think there are enough. But that's just me.

 

[Mortiroloboy]

Sportives...Hmm a bit like a club run/audax, but more costly to enter.

 

[bonj2]

I was talking with a friend y.day and he was saying there are too many AND they are too expensive..and IMO too hard...

What're your thoughts

The first few I did i thought there was good camaraderie, but that might just have been the novelty factor of it just being a fairly organised, cycle event.
Recently i've begun to think they're a bit unsociable. People tend to ride for themselves, they want to overtake people who are going slower than them, but they don't group up and form a peleton which would enable them to go faster as a whole.
The one exception to this was the northern rock cyclone. There, there was some terrific group riding going on, and lots of fairly organised peletons. Don't know whether that was because there were lots of teams and big clubs entered it as opposed to just individuals and small groups of mates, or what - but it was really good and the one i will be looking to do again next year.

 

[bonj2]

I mean I don't often wake up and think "Oh no, I can't get on today, because there are so many bloody sportives on..." It's not like I need a sportive arranged to go for a ride....

No, it doesn't
but it does lead you by the nose to go on a ride that somebody else has designed, signposted so that you don't have to navigate your way around yourself or get lost, and provided (usually inclusive) refreshments on. So it's just a way of getting you to commit to yourself to not only have a ride but see a part of the country that you would not otherwise have gone to.

 

[addictfreak]

I agree with Arch to an extent, you just have to be selective in the ones you choose to do. As for difficulty, well some seem to be harder than the others, so you could always pick the shorter route (if ones available)

I think its a case of you can only please some of the people some of the time.

 

[bonj2]

Sportives...Hmm a bit like a club run/audax, but more costly to enter.

Hmmm... now i've discovered club runs i think they are a lot more fun than sportives in a lot of ways
* you stay with the group most of the time, so there's more conversation
* you get to go to a caff AND cycle with fast riders, whereas audax and sportive are one or the other, respectively
* it's free (, other than any club joining fees they might at some point ask for (mnie haven't yet ))
one main disadvantage is that it's usually your home or those neighbouring counties that you cycle in. But even so you still see bits of it that you may otherwise not have

 

[bonj2]

I agree with Arch to an extent, you just have to be selective in the ones you choose to do. As for difficulty, well some seem to be harder than the others, so you could always pick the shorter route (if ones available)

I think its a case of you can only please some of the people some of the time.

agree. Same with audaxes.
I'm adopting a much different audax-entering strategy next year to what i did this (my first) year - whereas this year i chose the day first, then picked from the audaxes that were on that day. Next year, i'm just picking the best audaxes that i really fancy going on, and do them whenever they happen to be.

 

[Joe24]

Hmmm... now i've discovered club runs i think they are a lot more fun than sportives in a lot of ways
* you stay with the group most of the time, so there's more conversation
* you get to go to a caff AND cycle with fast riders, whereas audax and sportive are one or the other, respectively
* it's free (, other than any club joining fees they might at some point ask for (mnie haven't yet ))
one main disadvantage is that it's usually your home or those neighbouring counties that you cycle in. But even so you still see bits of it that you may otherwise not have

Depending how your club is Bonj, and who you get talking to/riding with.
Sometimes people in my club will get the train to a certain place, then ride back.
Used to be a ride to Skegness, but they stopped that because not many people did go/not many people would ride there.
Also used to be a hostelling trip, but that stopped now aswell. Think that stopped when the person that used to do the ride got ill.

 

[Joe24]

agree. Same with audaxes.
I'm adopting a much different audax-entering strategy next year to what i did this (my first) year - whereas this year i chose the day first, then picked from the audaxes that were on that day. Next year, i'm just picking the best audaxes that i really fancy going on, and do them whenever they happen to be.

The attitude of a serious cyclist at last!
Organise other stuff around cycling!