Because a crit looks like a great way to break some bones or a bike and a TT is probably along a dual carriageway for 10 or 20 miles, maybe there is demand for long closed course road races? Maybe if they were them instead of sportives then people would race them.

Plenty on the BC website, any road race on public roads will be with rolling closures. the difference being, if you get dropped then you’re on your own with the traffic.

Irreverent through, most sportive aren’t closed roads, although the shear number of riders can make it feel like it.

Tweets about himself in the third person as well.

No he doesn’t. He had another person tweet updates during his attack, obviously he couldn’t pull over to tweet. All tweets that were sent whist not attacking the bunch are written in the first person.

@mikewsmith – I think you’ll find that real mean Strava their sportive

Can I just point out that one of the problems of ‘stepping up’ from sportives to real races is that on real races most of the courses are crap. Laps and laps of back lanes that are cheap and easy to marshal.

where as we get this coming 🙂
http://letapeaustralia.com/
If I’d been riding a bit more regular I’d be giving it a go, closed roads, sprints, summits I might make the Strava private

Is there much singletrack on this sportive?

If no, who gives a ****.

Samcheese endorses this post.

Does it matter if some people approach sportives competitively?

Serious question. How does it harm anyone?

The Guardian fella seems a bit pompous, but the same could be said for plenty of the posters on here eh?

As has been pointed out many times already, the problem is that sportives and races are very different beasts, and sportive organisers are often deliberately woolly about the distinction, despite the small print stating “this is not a race”.

Races have to satisfy a number of requirements which sportives circumvent by classifying themselves as “timed challenges” (e.g. restricted fields, specific insurance, police approval, race specific risk assessment, marshalls, commissaires, lead cars, etc).

There’s nothing wrong with Sportives per se, but a lot of hard work has gone into maintaining the right to race in the UK, and there’s a risk of compromising that if you blur the distinction between competitive and non competitive events.

Also interesting to note there is of course no requirement for drug testing in UK Sportives. A couple of riders in the US Grand Fondo were actually busted for EPO, because it was part of the UCI world sportive series, and therefore subject to testing.

Doesn’t matter in the slightest – just found it amusing, especially in the light of recent discussions on here. Doesn’t harm anyone at all, especially given he was first off the line and rode it solo – i.e. there was no possibility of him riding like a bell end and causing issues with other riders like some sportive heroes that I’ve come across.

As I said before, it was an impressive time and all credit is due to him, but the choice of language to describe his achievement is laughable (you’d hope for better given his job title!).

“Sorry, podium or not, it’s not a race.
Plus, I don’t get why you’d treat a sportive as a race, if you want to race go and enter a local crit or do the local club TT. That way you know the people you beat are actually racing and not just on a nice ride out.”

Totally this. Thinking your Peter Sagan when all your actually doing is going for a ride with people on hybrids, MTBs etc that’s not a race.

Because a crit looks like a great way to break some bones

Assuming you’re referring to the likelihood of other riders taking you out, more likely in a sportive in my experience…. (EDIT, maybe that’s why our hero chose to go off the front, to avoid riding with all the choppers…)

No he doesn’t. He had another person tweet updates during his attack, obviously he couldn’t pull over to tweet. All tweets that were sent whist not attacking the bunch are written in the first person.

Getting someone to live tweet your sportive position is even worse

more likely in a sportive in my experience….

Dunno I prefer to get off the front 😉 Mind you the only Crits I’ve seen were serious ones.
The real serious question we need answered was if the latte was up to scratch

Is there any evidence of this Blagtagging actually working in procuring free stuff? It’s just that I’ve noticed that it seems to have become endemic with a certain type of person. And …erm …..how can I put this diplomatically?…. none are potential Tour winners

A certain purveyor of bikepacking luggage seems to have made an industry of it 🙂 I can think of a couple of contributors to this forum that have obtained cheaper kit on the basis that they tag/blog about it.

Getting someone to live tweet your sportive position is even worse

He’s just copying what real pros do in real races.

No idea but a lot of people get things at less than cost for a variety of reasons and people choose to thank them. Others are just getting on trend. In his tweet he is actually thanking them, being a media guy you would probably be safe to assume that he was given some stuff along the way much like the FGF in STW.
Thanking the guys who gave you stuff is nice and polite 😉

Is it just me that is envisaging him lining up at the start with blue facepaint applied before commencing his ‘attack’ by screaming incoherantly and charging into a group of recreational riders while weilding his Sarto like a claymore?

Whatever turns you on mate 😆

Is it just me that is envisaging him lining up at the start with blue facepaint applied before commencing his ‘attack’ by screaming incoherantly and charging into a group of recreational riders while weilding his Sarto like a claymore?

Bound to be one of the Guardian Blairites,just wait till Momentum find out.JC seems more like an Audax kinda guy to me.

You roadies are all weird 😕

binners – Member
You roadies are all weird @Gregs #SteakBake

FIFY

What a bellend. For the tone of the tweet more than anything else.

Because a crit looks like a great way to break some bones or a bike and a TT is probably along a dual carriageway for 10 or 20 miles,

Maybe that incorrect view is what drives people to sportives.

Crits really not that bad, even in the cat 4’s. Crashes do happen, but people also crash (frequently) at sportives!

Time trialling. I’m down south and there’s maybe a handful of fast dual carriageway courses within about an hour’s drive, but there’s dozens of small B road sporting courses on which most club events are held.

Can’t be an audaxer. No mudguards.

#aeroshellsuit #sweatshopnikes

You roadies are all weird

Have you ever met a tricyclist? Be prepared to redefine the word weird.

Maybe that incorrect view is what drives people to sportives.

Fair enough, maybe there is a bit of both, TT is a special bike and all of that and when I was up north it tended to be on the long good A roads with roundabouts. Just never really looked appealing. Crits are just laps though and as much fun as laps are point to point is nicer idea or at least a big out there loop.
The gap in the market is there mostly due to as pointed out the difference in rules for having a sportive on roads and having a race. Hence you can have loads of big sportive/races if you remember to wink after saying it’s not a race.

Sportive, Isn’t that like a fun-run on your bike?

Instantly destroys the ego of the sportive bragger in seconds if dropped into conversation while they’re trying to show off.

* not a sportive hater, I ride them sometimes, they’re great fun on good routes.

Sportive, Isn’t that like a fun-run on your bike?

That is magnificent, I’ll use that.

maybe there is demand for long closed course road races?

This.

Sportives might not officially be races, but to many they are races.

I did one, I stopped racing when it became obvious I would need all my concentration to simply stay on my bike given how bodies were on the ground. For a while I thought there were snipers.

The response to his behaviour is a lovely example of a British cultural/characteristic trait.

His behaviour hasn’t actually affected anyone and those on the sportive would have been none the wiser of him upfront…but since we know he’s strayed slightly out of the ‘rules’ lots of people are tutting and being quite derogatory of his character…e.g.calling him a bell end.

IMo…why care about how one person behaved since no harm done. 😀

Crits are just laps though and as much fun as laps are point to point is nicer idea or at least a big out there loop.

Depends if you’re there to race or there to ride.

If it’s to ride, then why pay £40 to follow some dayglow arrows. There must be hundreds of £10 guideboks packed with routes for those not adventurous enough to just set off and get lost. Ditto Audax is only a fiver usually (and the witticism, a sportive is a load of cyclists pretending it’s a race, an audax is a load of cyclists pretending it isn’t).

If it’s to race, then a crit makes prefect sense, the result will be a bunch sprint anyway, and if you have a mechanical you can stop, fix it, and rejoin the race when it next passes.

Big sportive yesterday past my house in the Cotswolds. I live on a tasty hill and turning out of my drive I was faced with 20 gel boys covering whole road, cue squealing carbon….the other 200 or so riders we encountered were all very friendly, waving to the kids, pulling over on the lanes. Great day out on some good roads.
I have to # as its part of sponsorship. If they’re as generous as mine you tag! It’s all in the deal. #irideenve

If it’s to ride, then why pay £40 to follow some dayglow arrows

But you get a MEDAL!

…but since we know he’s strayed slightly out of the ‘rules’ lots of people are tutting and being quite derogatory of his character…e.g.calling him a bell end.

You say this like its a bad thing? We know what happens when we stop tutting and calling people bell ends for this kind of behavior.

Its called America.

I that what you want? IS IT?!!!

He’s wearing a suit for his twitter account photo, he wears lycra and most importantly – he’s a journalist – that’s all the evidence that I need.

😀

All these “No Harm Done” comments.
Yeah, until someone on the event has a bad accident and the insurance is void thanks to the national press (or it’s representatives) screaming out about their “race”.

scotroutes – Member

binners » Is there any evidence of this Blagtagging actually working in procuring free stuff?

A certain purveyor of bikepacking luggage seems to have made an industry of it I can think of a couple of contributors to this forum that have obtained cheaper kit on the basis that they tag/blog about it. [/quote]Well he tagged “@twattbike” wrong anyway. The idiot.

Sportive, Isn’t that like a fun-run on your bike?

Totally using this too. Mind you you should see how competitive the 2 mile boxing day fun run back in my parents’ village is. My wife has been first woman two years running and is training hard for the hat trick!