OP
OP
Fab Foodie
hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
Baa-llocks ....
Why do people flock to Sportives but not to Audax?
- Thread starter Fab Foodie
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middleagecyclist
Call me MAC
I was trying to work 'Baa' into a reply. Guess I better stop ruminating on it now...
OP
OP
Fab Foodie
hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
Guess so, you're too woolly headed at this time of night ....
middleagecyclist
Call me MAC
Yep. I'm going to hoof it up to bed. Night, night.
middleagecyclist
Call me MAC
Colin. I considered telling you to flock off but that would be both very rude and the incorrect noun. Running out of material now so it's the last you have herd from me on this post.Oi you two - this thread is open to everyone - you don't have to hogget!
When you're part of a group - be it a hobby, occupation or whatever, then it can be very difficult to break in from the outside. People just absolutely don't get that, because they think 'we're all welcoming and friendly.'Which may well be true, but its surprising how few 'idiots guides to cycling' there are, which actually tell you what to do.
I can be a bit of a loner. I spend a lot of time interacting with other people at work, sometimes in quite difficult circumstances and the attraction for me of cycling is partly the solitude.
The great thing about a sportive was I didn't need to negotiate- show my ignorance - try to prove I was worthy. All I needed was an internet connection and a credit card.
I've done about 5 of them in the last 18 months or so and have just signed up to my first audax - the snow roads 300.
I can be a bit of a loner. I spend a lot of time interacting with other people at work, sometimes in quite difficult circumstances and the attraction for me of cycling is partly the solitude.
The great thing about a sportive was I didn't need to negotiate- show my ignorance - try to prove I was worthy. All I needed was an internet connection and a credit card.
I've done about 5 of them in the last 18 months or so and have just signed up to my first audax - the snow roads 300.
martint235
Dog on a bike
This accurately sums it up for me. I've never entered a Sportive and I don't think I ever will. It always strikes me as I'd be paying a lot of money to someone else just so I can go out and ride my bike.
GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
I can't be arsed to sign up for Audax rides, or anything else, that requires me to write out a cheque, fill in a paper form, find two envelopes, buy two stamps and faff about like it was still 1980. I don't understand why Audax UK don't have a central online entry system, but I guess that may be all part of the appeal.
and it is a cliché but in a Sportive you pretend you are racing whilst in an Audax you pretend you are not.
and it is a cliché but in a Sportive you pretend you are racing whilst in an Audax you pretend you are not.
DCLane
Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
I did one Audax ride this year and about 10 sportives. Next year it'll be 3-4 sportives and a few Audaxes plus a couple of triathlons.
The directions assistance is helpful tbh, plus the feed stations, although I don't use them much However, control points on an Audax do basically the same thing.
Sportives have a better actual name, what does Audax mean to the average person? Also, sportives tend to be a shorter length; most riders I've seen go for the sub-70 mile sportives, where on an Audax you're just getting started. Finally, it's the greater amount of marketing/promotion that's done by the companies promoting sportives, including the magazines and media. How many Audax write-ups do you see in mainstream publications?
The directions assistance is helpful tbh, plus the feed stations, although I don't use them much However, control points on an Audax do basically the same thing.
Sportives have a better actual name, what does Audax mean to the average person? Also, sportives tend to be a shorter length; most riders I've seen go for the sub-70 mile sportives, where on an Audax you're just getting started. Finally, it's the greater amount of marketing/promotion that's done by the companies promoting sportives, including the magazines and media. How many Audax write-ups do you see in mainstream publications?
Rob3rt
Man or Moose!
They do, but only some organisers make use of it. I recently entered one via a central online entry.
Sending cheques is a hassle, but many cycling event's operate this way, in many cases you have to post a cheque off to enter an open TT for example, I don't like doing this either, but I have come to accept it. In some way's it is nice to see your money go to a club's account etc rather than disappear into some online payment process whereby you don't know where the money is actually going.
IMO the words Sportive and Audax are equally non-descriptive or non-intuitive to the non-initiated.
As for write up's etc, maybe the Audax crowd aren't as gullible with regards to all the latest gubbins that the magazine's sponsors, investers and advertisers are desperate to sell to them, unlike the sportive crowd.
totallyfixed
Veteran
I agree with Rob3rt, Sportives are a money making exercise, Audaxes are much more traditional "old school" events and from my experience attract a different type of rider. I've done one sportive, first and last and only did that because it was the TdF route. Too many nutters for me, RLJing, p*ssing off motorists and dropping litter, not seen that in an Audax and long may that continue.
