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Out of interest, why wouldn't they? If you do it and want to see how you do even if just against yourself, you'd time yourself. I can't see any issue with trying to keep up a decent average. People like to achieve things if only personal goals.
What's an issue is if you act like a **** while doing that or maybe if you brag about your average after. Particularly if you didn't really achieve it... 😉
And stops. Are you for real? Bring back druid!"Timed mass group ride with stops and drafting."
just relax. some people take great pride and enjoyment setting good times for events without the stress of racing. no need to pour hate.
People time themselves on sportives.....for real?
Well, seeing most of them give 'awards' for gold, silver and bronze times (often adjusted for age - i.e. 7hrs 10 for a senior, 7hrs 25 for a vet etc) it would be a bit weird if you didn't.
Posting any kind of time is a naive really. It's kind of quaint in a very patronising way, you're first foray into riding a bike over a set distance while someone holds a stop watch. But it really isn't a race and the London Marathon isn't remotely comparable since a running race and a bike race are totally different events (drafting etc).
Your time is what it is either with or without stops subtracted but it doesn't mean anything to anyone who has compete in either a categorised road race or a time trial. we all know it means very little (like Strava). If you want to get respect and admiration you have to enter an actual race.
Your wife sounds really bitter. Tell her to focus on herself and never mind what anyone else is doing.
take him out at the weekend, rip his legs off and post the strava on facebook.
That'll sort it!
Its alway nice to put some "Big I am" back in his box.
I've done it with a couple of rad gnar work colleagues, great fun.
Its alway nice to put some "Big I am" back in his box.
Doesn't that make you a "Big I am"? 😉
May I draft a new entry to the rules.
[b]The time shall be the total elapsed time[/b]
Auto stop shall not be used. Time shall not be deducted for traffic lights, mechanicals, calls of nature or similar short stops. The exception is any cafe stop involving table service.
I reckon there's a cutoff though. On my old commute there was only one set of traffic lights but if I got caught on them at red, it'd take about 2-3 minutes to get through them. Given I did the route very regularly, I reckon I'm safe in saying that if I got stopped (so got 2-3 minutes rest), it didn't improve my overall time on the ride (auto-stop on my computer).
Now, if you extend that out, eventually it would obviously be a benefit if you take it to extremes - the 200m/marathon example - but I don't reckon that 'reasonable' stops on a ride make all that much difference to your capability to hold an average. In fact, for me, I find that stops probably make me slower as I cool down and legs stiffen, etc so restarting is crap.
Holding bike aloft - one wonders, how many other 'rules' was he breaking?
In my experience, the average number of rule infrinements is significantly higher on sportives than on any other events.
As an aside, the only way true path to education is to get yourself out on the sunday club runs. This is the way that behaviour such as the OP's issue can be corrected.
Oh, unless it's a TT time is irrelivent. Racin' is racin' and ridin' is ridin'. Just enjoy it.
Rorschach - MemberPeople time themselves on sportives.....for real?
Why not? I time myself on my commute.
Total time with breaks average speed without
Spot on. For sportives it's always Total Time which is significant but for tracking my own performances (on any ride) I use Moving Time from Garmin Connect to calculate my average speed on the ride.
I don't use auto-stop either because there's no need and I can't stand the Garmin beeping at me all the time (although I have to put up with my mate's one doing so!)
In my experience, the average number of rule infrinements is significantly higher on sportives than on any other events.
You seem to be suggesting this is a bad thing.
Given that the rules are only taken seriously by the terminally dull/stupid/serious/insecure, this is surely a very positive thing 😆
Rorschach - Member
People time themselves on sportives.....for real?
You may be surprised to learn that some are even qualifying events for the Amateur World Championships, so yes, timing is actually quite important to those events.
Now get back under your bridge and keep telling yourself they're not a race.
Total time is total time including breaks, cheating yourself otherwise especially as it's a sportive not a race. But then again WGAF?
I time myself on the loo....but that's different.
There's a world Amateur Sportive Championships....really?
Races are easy to spot,everyone starts together and the first one home wins.
The rest are (at best) time trials.
Indeed... does it really matter? On the few sportives I've done I have noted my overall time and my actual riding time and average speed. They are two diferent things, each of interest to me. On weekend rides I only record my riding time and average but in a competitive event the overall time is what matters.
Don't criticise the poor relative just at the time when he's happy with what might have looked immpossible a year or two ago.
Clock starts when you cross the start line and only stops when you cross the finish line.Though as has been said, it's not a race so who cares.
I'd be inclined to agree...
So he doesn't want to count all the Cake-stops, never mind, in a real race he'd be "found out", but it wasn't a real race was it...
The bigger questions to ask are, firstly why is your Missus treating Sportives as serious competition? And why has she got such a problem with this fella?...
If it get's the bloke in question out riding and gives him a bit of a boost in the exercise and confidence stakes then what's so terrible about a bit of minor self-delusion?
Taking into account the tragic news about the guy on leith hill I'd tell your wife that it doesn't really matter. Good work from everyone who got round safely and great to see so many people enjoying bikes.
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-33755413 ]Leith Hill incident[/url]
To be fair that might be a pretty reasonable reason for 2hrs worth of inactivity - must have created a lot of waiting. And makes completing in one piece seem like a reasonable objective.
Are there really Sportive World Champs?
Jeezo. Only on here could a topic like this go in the way it has. Who cares? Even if it is 'cheating' he is probably claiming to be finishing 14,322nd out if 25,000. It's a sportive. People like to time themselves, it gives them a sense of achievement. Nobody else gives two hoots.
I got a puncture yesterday but don't subtract the time spent fixing it from my time (but do inform people that's why I was 15 mins slower)
15 minutes to fix a puncture? Did you stop half way through for a cake?
I got a puncture yesterday but don't subtract the time spent fixing it from my time (but do inform people that's why I was 15 mins slower)
15 minutes to fix a puncture? Did you stop mid-repair for a cake?
Someone should tell Josh Ibbett that he could rest for as long as he wants and subtract the time when he reaches Istanbul...
Go on then, what was his previous infraction?
We're all itching to know what her beef is with him.
Could he naively taking his time from his Strava btw? Surely nobody would knowingly lie about a sportive finishing time?
Or maybe I'm the naive one.
I did the Dragon ride last year and couldn't have done it without the stops. 😆
Although my Strava moving time was 8h16m, my official time (and in fact the Strava time for the event route segment which of course is based on elapsed not moving time) was 8h33m, and that's all I ever told anyone I did. If you reduce an "event" time when you've stopped for whatever reason you're being deceitful, IMO.
@nemesis.
The LVIS audax is brilliant- can you post here when the 2016 opens for entries?
TIA
I wonder, is this the reason why you aren't 'allowed' to publich audax times?
@nemesis.
The LVIS audax is brilliant- can you post here when the 2016 opens for entries?
TIA
+1, though I abandoned it this year half-way through due to the ridiculous gale-force wind. I've pretty much given up on sportives - too much poor riding and £40 for a timing chip and free jelly babies doesn't feel like good value.
I did the Exmouth Exodus on Saturday night - free to enter with proper grub at the stops, full English at the end, and donations to charity. If I wanted to time myself, I could've used my garmin.
I did the Exmouth Exodus on Saturday night - free to enter with proper grub at the stops, full English at the end, and donations to charity. If I wanted to time myself, I could've used my garmin.
+1, it was great, especially the cakestravaganza at the scout hut! And the disparity between my moving time and elapsed time before I arrived back at my front door is just comical 🙂
LVIS audax entries open on [url= http://lvis.org.uk/about/ ]Barry Jaeger's birthday[/url]. 😉
The weather this year was a bit silly but most years have been decent enough. That said, the icicles on my BB after the 2013 edition were an interesting talking point
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+1, it was great, especially the cakestravaganza at the scout hut! And the disparity between my moving time and elapsed time before I arrived back at my front door is just comical
I haven't even looked at my Garmin, but I expect I'd be the same. Having done the biblically wet Exodus last year, this one was a real treat - zipping along the Somerset Levels with the full moon lighting our way. Including the ride to the start, and back to Exeter at the end, I clocked 221km. My legs are properly sore today...
Thanks all. My wife can be a strange and complex woman at times....
As said, my own feeling is (after years of gently nagging him as his weight crept up): good on you for getting out there and doing it, and I'd never discourage him at this stage as he really is keen. And he's (IMO) a nice bloke.
I'll chalk this up to my wife's canny ability to pretend she's forgotten a grudge until the payback moment arrives.
I missed last year but heard it was awfully wet! This year was fantastic though and I'll definitely be back next year, I might even try and make a round trip of it and ride up from Exeter to Bath on the friday, stay over night and then ride back with the group on Saturday, that'll screw my 'event time' somewhat 😈
I rode a sportive a year or two back in company with a friend and the 'mate of a mate'. There were 60 and 100 mile options, the latter achieved by adding a loop on.
Said mate of a mate took the wrong way, doing the 100 mile route rather than the 60 and was so incensed at 'losing' to myself and friend that they got the organiser to chop off the extra loop from their data so they didn't look as bad.
I was bemused, but didn't think any more of it than that.
Nemesis; thanks - have make a note!
Sounds like there could be an STW squad amongst the entries.
qwerty - Member
Or.... invite him out for a ride at his proclaimed average speed
The absolute best solution.
Praise him for his time, and get him to come out for a ride - and apologise that you may be holding him up a bit, but you'll do your best.
Then, as they say, rip his legs off.
It's not a real race IMO, although I personally would treat it as one I wouldn't expect others to and wouldn't care too much about how others timed themselves.
A real race would have the organisers take the start time and end time minus any mandatory stops, breaks for equipment failure and random ice cream stops are just tough luck.
On casual rides I always time myself but put the pause on when stopping for lunch/beer etc.
I could crack a 4 minute mile if I did 16*100m sprints (+ a wee bit more) - that'd be fair...
I couldn't even do a 4 min mile it if I extrapolated from just one 100m sprint 🙂
I'm also echoing the "what the chuff did he do for 2 hours, if it wasn't riding??!!"
I mean, I think your 'time' is the time it takes from crossing the start to crossing the finish...stop once, or 50 times at your peril..
But 2 hours resting.. did he have a nap?
DrP
15 minutes to fix a puncture? Did you stop half way through for a cake?
it takes a long time to blow up a fatbike tyre with a hand pump.
Things about sportives i dont really understand....
The array of bikes used.. the people taking it all very serious (who actually call it a race) with Tri bars, aero helmets and TT type bikes Vs normal road bikes. They take it all very serious but then have a massive advantage using aero equipment. Of course they will be faster.
The really slow unfit people who cant ride up the hills. Surely if you are that unfit and unprepared to ride 70km/100km its not going to be any fun. Recently caught the tail end of a sportive on my way home from work and really tried to encourage a few stragglers up a few hills. I was Literally gobsmacked when they just hopped off and started walking at the bottom of a hill.
I was Literally gobsmacked when they just hopped off and started walking at the bottom of a hill.
70to 100km is not a problem, but at 16st when I meet 20% inclines I tend to find I do a bit of walking. The 10 to 15% inclines just involve struggling.
Still enjoy it though.