Wanting to do a sportive - Q&A?

[SR7492]

Hi,

I'm quite keen to do a sportive as I see this as the next level in terms of road biking. I am based in Bradford so if anyone can let me know any local upcoming events that will be appreciated.

Additionally, I do have a few questions:

- Can individuals sign up for sportives or do they need to be part of a club?
- What is the general format of a sportive i.e. is it a 50mile race with/without stops?

Appreciate any feedback

Thanks

 

[Scilly Suffolk]

You don't need to be a member of a club. A sportive is usually no longer than 100 miles and often there will be a choice of shorter routes too.

They are not races, but non-competitive endurance events, you are just looking to complete the course. However some events will set gold, silver and bronze time bands, ie all riders under time x but over time y are silver.

There will be a maximum time limit, but as long as you complete within that limit you can stop as many times as you like: there will be food stops around the course.

 

[DCLane]

You can enter by yourself - although a number of us put the club name as Cycle Chat if we're not in a club. I do.

It's not a race, but does have incentives as shown above.

There's food stops, which are in the map and usually signposted.

Local events coming up include:

Richmond (50, 80 & 100 miles) on the 2nd of June - https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?elid=Y&event_id=655 I'm doing the 100.
Jimmy Savile on the 4th of July - https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?elid=Y&event_id=717
Ryedale Rumble on 2nd September - http://www.ryedalerumble.co.uk/

Lots of lists are out there - someone on this forum's done a thread of local ones (I'll add the link when I get home).
Some are at; https://www.sientries.co.uk/index.php and there's other providers. Evans Cycles do local ones in Leeds/Thirsk, with the Thirsk one later this year.

Finally, someone else'll recommend Audax events: http://www.aukweb.net/events/ I've done one - and will hopefully do others shortly.

Give it a go. There should be a thread on this forum page for the more common ones. If there's not a thread please start one so we can decide to take part or just to find out more.

 

[SR7492]

Super - thanks for your answers