[Closed] Sportives, err what's the point?

A bit like most running marathons etc. then?

Well sort of, but you don't often get big groups of runners just having a 26.2 mile run do you. Where as you get hundreds of free to enter 100 mile club runs every Sunday

Being and arse - Yes
Pointless - Yes

Getting people to ride further/faster/harder, therefore getting fitter and healther - probabaly

Good fun, good craic. Feed stops to top up your bottles, get some energy bars, usually well signed routes, don't get the club run selection committee secretly trying to rip your legs off just to prove a point.

"club run selection committee secretly trying to rip your legs off just to prove a point" 😆

Can i quote you on that during my next "club" run?

Food stops & support good points.

paulsoxo when did club run selection commitees ever do such things, really the idea!

Because it's fun!

Thats why you're riding!

Personal challenge and grin factor.

No point to sportives just like there's no point to riding bikes other than for transport in getting from A to B.

It's fun/challenging/etc. That works for me.

and what is the point in Meridas, reliability Trials, Audaxes, in fact what is the point in riding, a car is quicker, and you don't get wet if it rains.

Is it just me being a cynic 🙂

How about, what's the point of life in general?

Just shut up and ride...

sometimes it's easier to let someone else organise a route, feed stations, sociable/ meeting old friends new faces etc.

On a slightly more helpful point, did the Dragonride last year, some people take it far to seriously, as i got rear ended stopping for traffic lights!!! they were a Londoner so maybe it is a london thing and hence the media is so focused on cyclists jumping red lights?

I look at it as a way of seeing different places, a bit of a challenge, but yes the entry prices are too high IMO.

Club run with mates = fast, chalenging and fun oh and free.

Sportive = as above with picnic stops and a cash register.

Actually come to think of it, yes I'm pretty certain we once rode past a shop were you could buy food and drink, did'nt have to book or anything.

So don't do it then! Bloody minded so-and-so that ye are! 😀

I like them. I tend to go harder, over slightly different roads, and I tend to go furtyer than I would of a normal Sunday morning. I don't travel far for them, but it's interesting to do a different patch.

I normally ride Surrey Hills. On sunday I did 93 miles with the Essex Roads club out of Billericay. They brought the bread pudding, and marked out a delightful 93 mile circular route and gave me a route card for it. I rode round and they gave me a cup of tea at the end.

I don't understand why anyone trains for a local one rather than the Marmotte or whatever, but personally I do them for a change of scene.

🙂

utterly pointless, but a good excuse to get together with mates and ride somewhere you wouldn't normally ride without the hassle of planning up a route, stopping to argue over the map, getting lost, finding the only shop in the country that is closed when you're about to bonk etc.
Plus if you get dropped there will be another group along soon that you can tag onto.

Sounds like its not for you oldgit - just means more places for the rest of us ...

og - if you're determined not to see the point you won't. You're absolutely right, of course and yet the fact that it's an event and not just a club run does make a difference to lots of people. They're the ones who'll get something from doing a sportive. If you can't see that then you won't and there's no point doing one.

[url= http://www.etapecaledonia.co.uk/ ]They're not [i]all[/i] on open roads either......[/url]

"Sounds like its not for you oldgit - just means more places for the rest of us ..."

Well I could'nt get in could I. Ipso facto they are now pointless as far as I'm concerned. (walks off holding his ball)

£54 for the etape caledonia - that seems to be taking the piss somewhat.
I like sportives, but this seems a little extortionate. Its only 81 miles as well.

Don't they close the roads off for the Etape Caledonia ?

I can see the point of sportives (I've entered a couple this year) however they are a complete rip-off. If the HONC can do what they did for £13 and still donate to charity then sportives like the Dragon Ride can't justify their entry fees apart from the organiser needing a new car or a summer holiday. The sportives I've paid for this year will have to seriously impress me if they want my £30+ again next year, chances are I'll just ride them unofficially

willyboy - Member

£54 for the etape caledonia - that seems to be taking the piss somewhat.
I like sportives, but this seems a little extortionate. Its only 81 miles as well.

3,500 riders seem to have disagreed with you.

If yuo don't see the point then that's fine, there are plenty that do, I enjoy them. It's something to aim for and to train for. The Etape is expensive yes, but it's closed roads and the yellow mavic support cars will be there 😉

Whatever you do don't take up triathlon if you think sportives are expensive.

Stopped doing Triathlons in the early eighties when they became too short to bother with.

A picture riding in front of the yellow Mavic cars is worth anyones 54 quid, I love all that.

i enjoy them too, but i was just saying that £54 was expensive - you can do the spud riley for £20 and its a longer route.
I don't think the leg breaker cost me more than £20 either - fantastic if you haven't done it - unfortunately its not on this year.

Cost is a very good point and is a reason I like Audax rides. Entry is generally sub £5 and cake concentrations are higher. Fewer try-hards too.

However the organisation can be a bit patchy. I can live with that for a £1.50 entry though.

[i]Fewer try-hards too[/i] Is that a good thing?

[i]Fewer try-hards too Is that a good thing? [/i]
Depends. On the whole, no.
If it's the sort of c0ck who half-wheels the entire way round the Cheshire Cat,when they're not shouting at people to get out of their way, then it's a good thing. However you then lose the satisfaction of seeing them standing broken and bleeding by the side of the road as they overcook a descent.

[i]Fewer try-hards too[/i] Is that a good thing?

I find ppl getting overly competitive on events that are not competitive tiresome.

In fact maybe it is the lack of arseholes, not try-hards, that I like.

That's why i like STW 😆

People being competitive in a sportive doesn't bother me. From my experience they are usually only competitive with their club mates, which is fine.

Competing an event is fine, having a giggle with your mates pretty much essential, being [b]overly[/b] competitive is, in my view, tiresome.

They're for people who don't want to race.

Agree with a few of the above comments about the cost of some sportive rides, anything above £20 squid is a rip off 👿
The good points of riding a sportive away from your normal stumping ground is; they are usually well organised, the routes are generally traffic free and you get fed 😛 You also get to places you have never ridden before which you can then add to a future ride 😉

Not strictly true, I race too and clearly from the sportives I've ridden there are plenty of 'racers' doing them.

Anyone want an etape caledonia entry for nowt?

I have a mate who forgot to enter, he would love to do it but he's on holiday untill the 12th of this month so can't confirm that.

bernard just got a text back from my mate, he's still really wants to do the event. Could you e-mail me the details please contact(dot)us(at)city-holdings.co.uk. Thanks very much.

did one for free last year as someone on here puled out.

best bit compared to a club run was the fact you cant get dropped on a sportive. I started about 2 hours behind the mai bunch and opted to miss out a 20 mile loop so cought up with the main buch about 2 hours in after riding my ass off. Could then take it easy and just cruise allong socialy. Overtake a few groups, get droped by a few, just seemd like a cotinuous line of riders extending 20 miles in front and behind. Which means when you get a mechanical (my cleat fel off!) you can take your time fixing it, then draught/overtake with faster groups till you catch up with the group you were riding with.

Worst bit was i forgot to reset my computer. Then with about 25(unknown)miles to go i saw a sign for the finishing village. Got my sprinting legs on. And attacked, passed about 100 riders and found that a fair number had picke up my wheel. So there i am, busting my gut and with a HR the wrong side of 185 (had been cruising at 140-160 since the morning catchup effort) wondering when the hils will end and the village appear. Then it dawns that we're doing a big loop arround the village! 25 miles and about an hour later i'm on the grass collapsed over a cup of tea and a mahoooooooosive chocolate brownie 🙂

Wuld i do one again?
probably, still costs less than a good night out and the memory lasts longer.
would probably look for audax rides first though as th cost is very much cheeper.

would i not do one again?
Riding on the road alone doesnt bother me, i'l happily set out on 7 hour rides allone, or even chuck a backpack on and bivy out at the end before riding back at first light. So might just get a GPS and download some 100+mile routes of t'internet.

I've done a few and they're generally pretty good - kind of a road version of a Merida 100. It's an opportunity to ride somewhere different.
You do get wildly varying levels of ability though and 'bunch riding etiquette' is often fairly poor, people with no idea of how to share the workload or do through-and-off etc which can be mildly annoying.