Few of the guys at work are thinking of entering this

hawick sportive thing

I'm tempted but I am no roadie and not fast, though I have managed a 112 mile charity ride on road before but it took me 7h11m total (including wee and sandwich stops)

Is this type of event likely to be serious? or more a bit of craic?

I'd be on my cross bike with slicks.

The front of it will look terrifyingly like a road race. The back end will be slightly more serious than the London to Brighton, but not by all that much. Resist all temptation to try and keep up with people who're taking it very serously and it'll be great fun. 🙂

EDIT: Not done that one, but done a few sportives.

112 miles in 7 hours?

you'll be fine. sportives are as serious or as relaxed as you want.

Send me an email on jediknight1976@live.com if you want someone to show you some of the roads on that route nearer the innerleithen end. Be warned though – they are far from flat.

errr right ta, have entered….better start getting some miles in hadnt I!

Yep as above, I'm normally taking it seriously at the front 😉 so no idea what goes on behind. Still friendly as no one is out to beat anyone just to set fast personal times ime. So plenty of cooperation no attacks etc. but you'll still get dropped if you're not keeping up. My advice is to start early try and keep up with a group and if you get dropped find or form another.

If you can ride 112 miles in hours you'll be fine. Sportives often pick the more challenging routes in an area though.

Far from serious, most people are just allong for the flapjack and tea IME. Pace towards the middle of the group was arround 14-15mph.

Top tip: Go quick for the first third and have some fun. Go slow, socialise and eat cake for the middle third. Then you'll have legs to do the last third at a fair pace and feel good overtaking all the guys who tried to keep up a really fast pace the whole distance. Makes it far more enjoyable than just suffering for the last 30 miles

@obi_twa, cheers, will try and get a few miles in first then drop you a mail, I kinda figured it's gonna be a lumpy ride

Most are quite good – the front end can look all serious as experienced roadies use them as a training ride. The middle can look quite amateur as inexperienced roadies attempt the same but without any idea of chaingangs etc! But generally, most people are fairly laid back and just out for a ride without worrying about route finding or cafe stops.

thisisnotaspoon has some good advice – pace yourself well and you'll enjoy it and be able to finish reasonably strongly.

just realised it was 2 years ago I did my last century!

think this could be fun

All this talk of "front" and "back" is a bit misleading i think. All the sportives i've done have had a 2-3 hour start window, so abilities are all mixed up and you pass people/get passed more or less the whole ride.

inexperienced roadies … without any idea of chaingangs

Oh yes. There is no point in getting upset about this. 🙂

I hated the only one I did. I was getting over broken ribs and went out with a middle of the road 17.5MPH average pace for the 72 miles.
Though my only issue actually was with small groups of riders frantically overtaking then dieing and dropping off only to repeat until they were shot. Also saw the same person crash twice for no reason 🙄

My other mates had a good ride from the front as did my mate that arrived late and just swept up from behind.

That said I've heard nothing but good reports from other rides. So just ignore me as I'm an oldgit that would rather just ride with mates on the public Highways
Ooh oh the Rapha Hell of the North was ace, forgot about that one. Free to enter well signed and marshalled, food and drink halfway and free Belgian beer and frites at the end and Paris Roubaix showing on a large screen.

saw the same person crash twice for no reason

I bet the reason was "triathlon". 🙂

You'll be fine. 100 miles in 7 hours might get you a silver medal time depending on the terrain.

Its an eye opener to see how fast a group of elite roadies can move as they steam past.

RestlessNative – have you discovered the joys of the Talla climb yet?

Also, I wouldn't worry about getting fitter before firing me an email. I dont really go anywhere that fast unless it's a rare day.

112 miles in just over 7 hours means that you will be fine.

Sportives are as serious as you want them to be – at some point everyone finds their own pace and gets on with it, and apart from the serious racer types most people will be glad of some company and a chat on the way round.

If you expect to be slow and set off fairly early, expect to be mown down when the wannabe peloton catches up with you…….

All this talk of "front" and "back" is a bit misleading i think. All the sportives i've done have had a 2-3 hour start window, so abilities are all mixed up and you pass people/get passed more or less the whole ride.

Yes, but the serious guys and clubs all start in the first few minutes to avoid having to overtake everyone else. I ended up doing a 30mile ride to get to the start, then the ride was done as 3 loops passing through a couple of common points so the short ride was out and back ona fairly parralel route, the long ride had 2 mikey mouse ears, and the middle one only did one of them. I opted out of the long one and just did the middle one as I was running late, set off 30min after the cut off for the long ride, arrived at the first feed 15min early so could have carried on but opted to take it easy and enjoy the sunshine.

"RestlessNative – have you discovered the joys of the Talla climb yet?"

errr no where is that?

Tied up the next week with visitors but will give you a shout and sort something out, cheers

Go down to Tweedsmuir then take a left. It's around 5 miles along that road. It's around 3/4mile of roughly 20% gradient.

oh nice!

Yes, but the serious guys and clubs all start in the first few minutes to avoid having to overtake everyone else.

I don't know about that, when i did the dragon ride a few weeks ago i worked with Ben Simmons (who finished fastest overall) for about 10 miles around the five hour mark. I'd set off ~one hour after the first start and he set off half an hour after me.

Just as an update I did this on Sunday. There were some serious types but equally there were lots just out for a personal challenge / ride. It's a cracking hilly route and the organisation was excellent.

Somehow I never really managed to train other than two 30 mile rides and a 50 and some messing about on my mtb. Rolled home at about 8:15 all in which for me I was happy enough with.

I'll probably do another one somewhen

Sportives are great. Marshalled, cakes and drinks, have a chinwag with new best friends on the way round, race against yourself/your pals or just enjoy the scenery. Best fun you can have on a bicycle IMO.