Looking at really pushing my limits next year and entering a couple of really tough spotives.
Just tried entering the Wiggle Dragon Devil ride which is 300km but even though its next June its sold out.
Only done the Tour De Staveley & King of the Pennines rides, but loved them both.
Any inspiration or recommendations on ones to look out for, preferably in the Yorkshire area but could travel if its a special one.
Fred Whitton?
Bronte Sportive from Keighley doesn't look too bad in figures, but I can assure you is pretty tough on the ground (I think only 3 riders got a 'gold' time this year)! For charity too and won't sell out.
Etape du Dales is a great route, although not super hard.
Etape Cymru just gone on sale. I've got a place on both that and Devil Ride, must get some miles in!
Dartmoor Classic was a tough one this year just gone. I think its sold out already but loads of places change hands nearer the time.
If budget allows I'd go continental: not done it but I reckon L'Etape du Tour would be great.
I've done the [url= http://www.quebrantahuesos.com/ ]Quebrantahuesos[/url] twice and I'd certainly recommend it - it crosses from Spain to France and back again, over some excellent pyrenean climbs, including a great 40km descent...
if you want a 300km ride, do the mosstrooper audax.
6ish quid to enter, goes through northumberland, cumbria and scotland, before returning to northumberland. one of the best rides I've ever done.
Did Wiggle Tour of the Peak a couple of years ago. That's plenty tough, particularly if you do the full route. That said, it's not going to compete with a 300km ride! Not relevant to your question for 2014, but every four years there's the London-Edinburgh-London ride. There and back in 5 days. That's just under 300k a day IIRC. Got it pencilled in for 2017 but not sure that the knees are going to play ball..
http://www.londonedinburghlondon.com/event-info
the Bowland Badass may well not be running in 2014 but we're thinking up another big one....
Audax UK. Lots of events, cheaper than sportives, and as tough as you like.
Bronte sportive is great. Very low key and a really tough ride. White Rose Classic is also good but very different (5 big climbs as opposed to 15ish short sharp ones on the Bronte)
Do you need an organised sportive? Tour de France route in 2 days? I did Dales bottom to top and back this year: Skipton > Malham > Halton Gill > Kettlewell > Leyburn > Reeth > Tan Hill > Hawes > Dent > Horton > Airton > Skipton. Supported by cafes and pubs. Lovely!
Get a road license and start racing that will push you a 3 hour road race
[i]Looking at really pushing my limits next year and entering a couple of really tough spotives.
Just tried entering the Wiggle Dragon Devil ride which is 300km but even though its next June its sold out.[/i]
Could you not just do the route another time?
Bealach Mor isn't that difficult, there's a lot tougher.
[url= https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/102030/Ronde-Van-Calderdale-2014 ]Ronde Van Calderdale[/url]
~75 miles of all the cobbled/rough/steep as climbs around Halifax. Lovely 🙂
Whenever I see the word tough sportive ,I think of the Dave Lloyd Mega.
Death by hills ,jeepers that was hard. 😯
Done a search but they seem to have binned it.
The [url= http://www.pendragonsports.com/ ]Tour of Wessex[/url] is another big weekend
L'eroica
you want hard, try these:
la Marmotte (quite hard)
Maratona dles Dolomites (not quite as hard, but really good fun)
Cent Cols (ouch)
Gran Fondo Prosecco (no where near as hard as the others - but they dole out Prosecco like its going out of fashion, which can make it quite hard)
Replace the word "sportive" with the word "[url= http://www.aukweb.net/events/?From=01%2F01%2F2014&To=12&Days=&Category=&Dist_min=600&Dist_max=&Aaa=&Region=north ]audax[/url]," then you can describe it as [i]tough[/i]
Woody's got it - the Ronde van Calderdale really is a brutal ride. It might be the new kid on the block, but it's already the Daddy!
Oban Sportive is quite interesting for its length, much more up and down than you might imagine. Or on another level altogether, the Snow Roads Audax is properly hard. But that's already booked out for 2014.
Replace the word "sportive" with the word "Audax" then you can describe it as tough
Aye 😉
Some big boys made me sign up for the
[url= http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/14-68/ ]snow roads[/url]
Bit of a trek for you but one of the best Audaxes out there and the 200k route is pretty tough though if you want to make it really tough, just do the 200k route then one of the 100k ones 🙂
And it has the best cake going
http://road.cc/content/blog/79546-190km-rule-five-and-22km-our-own-rules
(I'm part of the team that organises the event but look at the feedback/comments for some independent views)
Want a tough ride in [url= http://www.ilkleycyclingclub.org.uk/index.php?page=White-Rose-Classic ]Yorkshire[/url] ?
RVC profile - climbs are not necessarily massive, but there's a lot of them...
[img] 
[/img]
And they mostly look like this...
[img] 
[/img]
[img] https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/noDJ5qaHNt4hmQYt0gKyu-2oWKP3AevV0apAs3uf_9I=w960-h540-no [/img]
If you can wait until August 2015, there's the Paris-Brest-Paris. 1200km with maximum time limits of 80, 84 or 90 hours. Tough enough?
If you can wait until August 2015, there's the Paris-Brest-Paris. 1200km with maximum time limits of 80, 84 or 90 hours. Tough enough?
But don't forget that you need to have ridden a number of qualifying events to get in to the PBP.
The Audax UK calendar of qualifying events is good source of 'tough' events in the UK for 2014But don't forget that you need to have ridden a number of qualifying events to get in to the PBP
http://www.aukweb.net/events/?Category=BRM (need to adjust the date range, STW doesn't like the URL format)
Another vote for RvC. Over 3000m of climbing, most of it cobbled and 20%+ gradients. Ride of the year (on or off road) for me. Bigger field next year and BC getting behind it promotion-wise. Terrific atmosphere too.
What is it about this place that means when someone asks for recommendations of X, loads of folk turn up and offer Y and Z instead? OP asked for sportives, not road races or audax, no matter how hard they might be.
So tough sportives... 'tough' will depend on your experience, but the daddy has to the be the Fred Whitton? 110 miles, about 13000 feet of ascent over 7 or 8 pretty monster passes. Some mega steep and some more gentle.
The Bealach Mor and Ullapool sportives are pretty good. First half of the Bealach is pretty each, but the Bealach itself is long and steep at the end, and the last 40 miles are full of lots of short and moderately steep hills that sap a lot of energy. Ullapool is similar, probably easier, but factor in the weather and it can be really hard.
Etape Du Dales always struck me as hard going too, never done it myself, but know a lot of folk who have and they all rated it as hard going.
+1 for snow roads. entries may be full but roads are there all year round. tho you may not want to do it this time of year....
What's the difference between an Audax and a Sportive (apart from the entrance fee usually)? Genuine question, not trying to be difficult.OP asked for sportives, not road races or audax
Tour of Flanders its about 270km with cobbles steep short hills and a 13 hour time limit .Thats on the Saturday ,then watch the pros do it properly on the Sunday
there can be a better chance of riding with a larger number of other riders if you pick a popular sportives. Audax rides don't tend to have so many riders afaik
l`eroica is pretty tough as well 205km and over 3000m of climbing and white chalky gravel on about half of it ,and wine ,and boar stew and cake and did I mention wine and ......
The 112 mile route of this is good:
http://www.3countieschallenge.org/
I did it in it's first year (2007) when it was a longer route of 125 miles and held in September but that led to a few people finishing in darkness after 10+hrs on the bike!
Brilliant ride back then, not sure if it's the same organising team now. The time I did it was helped by fantastic weather.
OP asked for sportives, not road races or audax, no matter how hard they might be.
Cos Audax is betterer and cheaper !! and longer in a few cases usually with loads of food for about 7 quid.
OP asked for sportives, not road races or audax, no matter how hard they might be
Audax and Sportives are near enough the same thing with different names.
Audax and Sportives are near enough the same thing with different names.
Show me an Audax with 2000 folk doing it and I'll agree. They may be similar, or better value for money, but they're not the same.
Fair enough. I know of an Audax in January that had 2 riders in it, and one of them was the organiser!Show me an Audax with 2000 folk doing it and I'll agree
I think a key difference is that Audax results just show who finished within the time limit(s), in alphabetical order of name. No times given, so none of the pretend race feeling of a Sportive.
Show me an Audax with 2000 folk doing it and I'll agree.
Paris Brest Paris has over 3000 finishers
Part of the joy of Audax is that there are not thousands of people because they are low key and not run by profiteers
Is the following describing an Audax or a sportive?
* A set route over a known distance
* Your time is recorded
* Not a race
🙂
Sportive - middle aged men pretending to race
Audax - slightly older men pretending not to race
I have half an eye on the White Peak Epic - 100 miles and 13000 feet of climbing. Could ride to the start 30 miles each way as a warmup and cooldown....
Sportive - middle aged men pretending to race
Audax - slightly older men pretending not to race
But you cant check in early or late on an Audax ,average speed controls !
Part of the joy of Audax is that there are not
thousands of people because they are low key
and not run by profiteers
Rubbish. We just want your money. And we had over 500 riders.
We do provide cake and fun in return mind. Oh and we give most of it to charity.
Come to think of it we're rubbish profiteers.
whatnobeer - MemberWhat is it about this place that means when someone asks for recommendations of X, loads of folk turn up and offer Y and Z instead? OP asked for sportives, not road races or audax, no matter how hard they might be.
Also I'm sure, even though the tour is passing through next year, that Paris, Brest isnt in Yorkshire.
As well as the white rose classic, toughest sportive in Yorkshire, pop along to the Otley reliability ride if you think you're tough enough.
I'm doing the Moss Trooper Audax next year, and the Fred Whitton again if I can get a place.
I did this over the summer http://www.chasethesun.org/ and it was free.... so not sure what you call it!
I did this over the summer http://www.chasethesun.org/ and it was free.... so not sure what you call it!
That's a nice concept. There's a similar thing from London to Dunwich, starting in London in the dark and riding overnight to sunrise at the beach - the Dunwich Dynamo.
mt, 2 guy's in my club did that this year too, sounds like a good ride too.
reggiegasket - Member
the Bowland Badass may well not be running in 2014 but we're thinking up another big one....
Bugger, I had my eye on doing this, esp since it starts where I live 🙁
167miles with 18500ft of climbing sounded like fun 😀
Richmond 100 is pretty tough, but 'well balanced' in that you can still try for a fast time and feel like you've mastered the course.
That's Richmond N. Yorks. Last Saturday in May. Brilliantly organised, £15 entry fee. No nonsense like event t shirts etc.
Stang, fleet moss and park rash are the 3 main climbs, but lots more ascent along the way. Quiet roads, fantastic scenary.
+1 for the RvC, if it's wet the climbs will be tricky.
Rode the Richmond 100 a couple of years back, think it was called the 7 Dales Sportive then, and it was fantastic, pork pies at the feed stops as well 😀
Save cash and get yourself 40 sportives in one convenient box you can then pick and choose when you do them [url= http://www.greatbritishbikerides.co.uk ]I must admit to a little bias[/url]
Thanks for the tip on the RvC. Just entered. I now have my motivation to keep riding right through the winter.