Signed up to do the Wiggle South Downs 76 mile sportive about a month ago.
I will freely admit that Im not into road riding and struggle to get beyond 2hrs /30 miles when I do venture out on the rb.
Well , it was busy . Very busy in fact . Even at 0730 on a grey, cool Sunday morning with low cloud and mist about , it was busy.
Parked up and signed on no bother , the particular smell of embrocation in the air and the plethora of carbon bikes slightly dented my enthusiasm .
I knew i was out of my depth , still got changed and lined up ready to go. Couldnt bring nyslef to don tights so wore my Humvees and a LS base layer , with a STW Jersey over the top.

I have completed the SDW twice so knew what to expect time wise, and this was only 76 miles on tarmac, which we all know is twice as easy as mud plugging ,right?

Tried to wind my neck in for the first few miles and stay light on the pedals. This worked ok but meant running ‘cold’ as not really trying . I did have a Montane featherlight with me , but then its ‘boil in the bag’ and flappy wind resistance to contend with .

Paired up with ( wheelsucker ) 102 mile rider who seemed to be on the same pace as me . He didnt like Duncton Hill descent , which was interesting , verging on frightening . The overnight wind and rain had bought down alot of leaves and they were soaked . Still made it round the bottom corner alive , although my new friend was not a happy bunny .

Around the 25 mile mark a few ‘chain gangs’ of 5 or 6 riders went hurtling past . I thought i was making progress at around 15mph average, but these guys were probably averaging nearer to 20mph .

Route split so my wheelsucker friend cleared off and the number of riders thinned out abit . Loads of people punctured , and there were a number riding ‘ in the gutter ‘ . I asked everyone if they were fine for spares. No one else seemed to offer any assistance .

The route was well marked and used alot of lanes . A section of the A272 was abit lively but mostly OK. The food stations very well stocked ,I didnt stop for long as I could feel myself going cold very quickly . Woofed down 1/2 bananna and some flapjacks and cracked on .

There was a horrible climb up the side of Harting down which nearly made me push , but I cleared it . The decent was fast , but my power was going faster . Still 30 miles to go so backed off and sat in and span my way to Butser Hill. All OK till a hideous climb over the Downs reduced me to walking ( 42:28 double ) although more walked than rode up, so I didnt feel too bad .

Then the final run home to Chichester from Butser was ok, the rain started at 13.30 but I was only a mile out so cracked on .

Only altercation was a person with a miniture penis in a Zafira who appeared to be driving up and down a road full of speed bumps goading cyclists .

Took me 5hr 25min to complete. I am in no way fast or fit . It really is you + bike V tarmac . Its mentaly tiring because of the state of the roads, threat from traffic and being alert to other riders who effortlessly glide past without a word.
The signage was very good , sign in etc well organised for maybe 900 riders give or take . It just isnt my thing , no buzz , no elation ( apart from the finish ). There really is nowhere to hide on a road ride . The skillset is different , I do OK at xc and can handle a mtb, but the head down / bum up grind away ..nah

Sounds like a good ride, and well done for completing. I know what you mean about the “buzz” if you’re used to mtb events, but then roadies are miserable 😉

Give it a day or two and you’ll be wanting to do another.

Couldnt bring nyslef to don tights

Shame.

Join a club. I just don’t get the appeal of solo riding sportives.

“no buzz, no elation … just grind away”?!?

I think you need to come to Snowdonia for some proper road riding 🙂

(And I know you secretly loved it … you just can’t face the shaved legs and Lycra!)

The thing about riding with a club is that you’ll just stick with them. I turn up solo at Sportives and usually manage to find someone/a small group to ride with, often changing groups as the ride progresses. The other advantage of going solo is that you can, if you wish, go at YOUR pace – the one you feel most comfortable with at the time. If I’m feeling a bit energetic I’ll actively chase down riders in front, leapfrogging them.

what can I say….honest write up, top marks for not blaming the event.

There are some miserable mtbers too! In the events I do friendliness is inversely proportional to skill and fitness. Others in the awkward squad make jokes and greet one another, the fit boys don’t bother to acknowledge anybody but press on for the all important PB.

Top job for completing it mate… I did my first sportive last weekend (http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/well-i-did-it-i-managed-a-100miler-sportive) and it was a right challenge! I possibly enjoyed it a bit more, but also noticed many of the same things you did…

Parked up and signed on no bother , the particular smell of embrocation in the air and the plethora of carbon bikes slightly dented my enthusiasm .

Haha. I was told that people would turn up on “all sorts” and that my very run on the mill Giant Defy would be quite normal. WRONG! 98% were on carbon (or Ti) bikes, many of them bloody expensive too! The total opposite of my local roadie club, where some of the old boys are still running around on frames from the 70’s just with newer (90’s) parts on!

Around the 25 mile mark a few ‘chain gangs’ of 5 or 6 riders went hurtling past . I thought i was making progress at around 15mph average, but these guys were probably averaging nearer to 20mph .

Don’t worry about it. It’s MUCH easier to maintain a higher speed in a big group than it is just 2 of you riding together.

Route split so my wheelsucker friend cleared off and the number of riders thinned out abit . Loads of people punctured , and there were a number riding ‘ in the gutter ‘ . I asked everyone if they were fine for spares. No one else seemed to offer any assistance .

Welcome to the way of the roadie! There are of course exceptions, but where most mountain bikers are warm friendly people and at events you’ll even get a “you ok mate?” from some of the very top guys at 24hr events if you’ve punctured, Roadies are almost exclusively a miserable lot I’ve found! Even within their own groups, they don’t much like talking to one another and they certainly don’t like mountain bikers “giving it a go” like you and me…

How much climbing was there on your route anyway? Cos I found that’s what killed me last weekend, much more than the milage.

Great review and I don’t think anybody should underestimate how hard 76 miles is on the downs so well dOne, I wouldn’t worry about the miserable gifts they exist in all events, they are probably just p1ssed off they aren’t getting the extra 2mph they were promised from the new 7k bike they just purchased 😆

If that doesnt work it was 3800ft in total .
Tbh the hills would have been ok on triple ring . A 30/40/50 would be ideal for my power output, I just cannot stand up and power up a hill for more than a few seconds .

A lot tougher riding distance solo, not just effort wise but there’s more to keep your mind occupied in a group.

I find club riding far nicer than sportives…

Singletrackmind I was thinking of you when I was out this morning ( and I quietly avoided the temptations of the Chichester sportive)…I think you did have the right idea though, the trails this morning were basically just muddy slop..Still good fun though.

By the way, a slippery Duncton hill sounds like a good laugh 😯

Fair play op, don’t take this badly but I suspect you lack the fitness to enjoy it tho I do wonder if you were cold during the ride?

Tbh the hills would have been ok on triple ring . A 30/40/50 would be ideal for my power output, I just cannot stand up and power up a hill for more than a few seconds .

It’s weird isn’t it, I said pretty much the same thing about last weekend’s sportive I did (95 miles 6000ft of climbing) as like you I just don’t have the strength to stand and grind for more than a few seconds and would prefer to sit and spin. Basically, I got called a poof!

By people I work with who should know better, cos I’ll be taking them out on a Mountain Bike ride in the near future, and I intend to scare them somewhat on some steep technical descents!

Anyway, I find it weird that most road bikes come with a 34/50 front setup with say a 12-25 out back, and yet most mountain bikes come with 22/32/44 and 11-32. I know of tarmacced hills that are at least as steep as anything I’d ride off road, so why do road bikes not come with gearing to get you up the hills? I asked this question to a mate who’s done a lot of road racing in the past and his answer was “ah yeah, you see anything too steep and you’d just get off and walk anyway” 😕

Kinda defeats the point to me! Strange thing is I’m happy with a 1×10 setup on my MTB (which still gives me about 330% gear range) but on my road bike my lowest gear of 34-27 just don’t cut it for climbing those short sharp 25% hills when you’re already tired. SRAM seem to at least be listening to customers with their APEX Groupset coming with a long cage mech, and up to a 32T cog on the back for an almost 1:1 bottom gear on a Compact front setup.

I know of tarmacced hills that are at least as steep as anything I’d ride off road, so why do road bikes not come with gearing to get you up the hills?

They pretty much do, I run 34/50 – 12/25 on my road bikes and 22/34 – 12/32 on my MTBs
Both are equally hard up the steepest climbs for me but I never have to walk tarmac climbs, I generally ride in the North Pennines and Lakes so I get to see plenty of ups and downs.
I’m not exactly young and fit any more either.

Roadies are almost exclusively a miserable lot I’ve found! Even within their own groups, they don’t much like talking to one another

Another of my mates who became a roadie about 2 years back comments on this, although he’s a miserable sod too so for him it’s actually a pleasure. He enjoys the fact the banter isn’t there etc, just ride and get on with it. I’d bet even now he only knows about 50% of the club riders names he rides with every week lol

to be fair though, a lot of the ‘chat’ with Mountain Biking happens when everyone stops to regroup after a hill or descent. With road bikes you tend to just keep riding so the same opportunities don’t arise.

My experience is that with all these things it’s down to who you ride with. Chatty people are chatty whatever they’re sat on.

IME of group riding on the road the talking is incessant, you normally only chat to the guy next to you but that rotates so you’ll end up chatting with most people.
If I’m riding solo, I can always tell if a group is coming up behind by the racket their making talking to each other. Roadies don’t stop at the top and bottom of every little hill to regroup etc. but other than that, I’ve not noticed any difference in banter.
Maybe it’s you?

I asked this question to a mate who’s done a lot of road racing in the past and his answer was “ah yeah, you see anything too steep and you’d just get off and walk anyway”

Really? I’ve never known a decent road rider walk up anything. With the vastly lower rolling resistance of Tarmac/100 psi tyres 34-27 or whatever is a low enough gear for just about anyone with a modicum of fitness. Yes 53/42 chainsets and 11-21 blocks can make it tougher, but on an unladen road bike a compact and wide cassette should see you up virtually anything.

You also need to look for steeper off road climbs, I can find plenty steeper than 1:3, whilst even short sections of road at beyond 1:4 aren’t that common.

I know of tarmacced hills that are at least as steep as anything I’d ride off road, so why do road bikes not come with gearing to get you up the hills?

Its simple, get a wide range cassette. There is a Tiagra one that has a 30 tooth sprocket and an Ultegra with a 27 or 28 tooth. Likely others as well out there. I ran the Tiagra when i first got into road biking at Chrimbo, to get my legs used to the higher gearing, and have now progressed to needing no more than a 25 tooth sprocket cassette…which gets me up anything the Dales and Lakes have to offer.

I dont where you lot ride either, but i find that a fair majority of roadies are actually friendly..even if its just a nod whilst crossing paths. There are some ignorant jerks of course..any like that seem to be professional miserablists who resent any newcomers to ‘their’ sport (IME), particular weirdo mtbers, or worse CX-ers. Of course there are plenty of those in mtbing as well….

no buzz, no elation

Maybe the problem here is “Sportive”. I would recommend trying racing if you want a buzz (but be aware it can be tough initially in terms of fitness and learning curve) or just ride with your mates or a friendly club if you want to enjoy a road ride. I did a couple of hours on the back roads with glorious sunshine and autumn colours yesterday, and it was lovely. Spinning along, enjoying the flow. It’s what cycling is all about. And stop worrying about what you wear. No ride review should be about your fashion choices!

p.s. forgot to mention Audax as well. Well worth a look, if you want an alternative to Sportives.

Agree with jota, I find the guys in my club very chatty and friendly. The thing is wee rarely stop, if we do a bigger club ride, say 80+ then there might be an organised coffee stop. But the smaller rides 50 or so are non stop.

As for stopping on hill I don’t know any proper road rider who would even want to admit to that. The only time I have ever stopped on a climb is when my chain has come off, and I am no racing snake.

Anyone who finds roadies miserable should look to themselves first!

1 proviso on the miserable aspect, when you are riding for 3 hrs with your heart rate in the 90% zone then chatting like a school girl with a new boyfriend isn’t really on the agenda, when you are on the trails, you heart rate goes up and down much more than when road riding, makes it easier to chat when heart rate is lower.

Think I’ll download the .gpx and give this a go in a few weeks….
Good write up – I reckon the ‘bling factor’ is even greater in road riding than it is in MTBing (says he, who only owns a gas pipe 46:17 fixie for the road!!)

DrP

Loving this thread.

39×25 is the lowest on one of my road bikes, I did LEJoG on 34×28 lowest with all my gear on board. Not had to get off the road bike in ages.

26×36 is my lowest on the MTB – mountain bike climbs are/can be way steeper than on the road aside for a couple of those classic Lake District or Exmoor climbs (Hardnott, Kirkstone, Wrynose and Porlock) which are pretty horrific!

I dont sign up to this roadie/mtb unfriendly/friendly thing at all…..its very often the same people. Have had some of my best social rides on long, fast road sportives, they can be very hard days on the bike, people understand they need to work off each other, physiaclly and mentally. Had one of my best days on the bike on this year’s Dragon, joined up with a lad at 100km when we were both flagging a little, we had a chat and a laugh for the second half, picked up some others, both came in in good times and in good cheer.

Road riding is hard though, harder than mtb I reckon. Nowhere to hide is right.

Great write up, and a pretty accurate summing up of most sportives Ive ever ridden.

Got to agree with Druid, riding with a club gives you an unhelpful requirement to stay with them, bit of a problem if they are slow, and even worse if they are faster! I did the London to Southend ride a good few years back solo and found a good group of randoms with a good pace and we completed it in 3 hours, a few clubmates who took part took nearer 6.

Got to agree with Druid, riding with a club gives you an unhelpful requirement to stay with them, bit of a problem if they are slow, and even worse if they are faster!

Really? Most of the clubs round here have different groups, so that’s not really a problem.

I dont sign up to this roadie/mtb unfriendly/friendly thing at all…..its very often the same people. Have had some of my best social rides on long, fast road sportives, they can be very hard days on the bike, people understand they need to work off each other, physiaclly and mentally. Had one of my best days on the bike on this year’s Dragon, joined up with a lad at 100km when we were both flagging a little, we had a chat and a laugh for the second half, picked up some others, both came in in good times and in good cheer.

This sounds similar to my experience, too.

Well done for giving it a go.. I considered doing one for a charidee ride a while ago, but nah, I have enough of the road on my commute. Back on the alu road bike last week was a bit of a shock!

I reckon the ‘bling factor’ is even greater in road riding than it is in MTBing

It might be, but I reckon on average people spend ore on MTB’s, it’s just more consumable. I’ve got a DA group-set on my road bike that’s as old as the XT cranks on the Pitch (8-10 years).

Road kit:
A chain every 6 months, cassette every 2 years when the shifting isn’t perfect?

MTB kit:
A chain and cassette every year when the shifting gets so bad it barely works. To be comparable to the road bike it’d be a chain every month at least, and a cassette twice a year minimum.

Thus leaving more money spare for bling.

I don’t sign up to this roadie/mtb unfriendly/friendly thing at all.

+1 I’ve met more miserable MTB clubs than Roadie clubs.

I’ve never had a problem with miserable roadies either. Sure you get the occasional one but you get them in every walk of life. For every rider who looks down their nose at you, there are many others who’d cheer you on.

Anyway, I find it weird that most road bikes come with a 34/50 front setup with say a 12-25 out back, and yet most mountain bikes come with 22/32/44 and 11-32. I know of tarmacced hills that are at least as steep as anything I’d ride off road, so why do road bikes not come with gearing to get you up the hills

There aren’t any hills in the UK greater than about 1 in 3, and not many that are 1 in 4. There are tons of trails that are that kind of steepness. Even in the Downs, some of the trails are surely steeper than the roads. It’s also way way easier to climb on smooth tarmac than it is to climb on mud or rocks off road.

It’s also normal to go a little bit faster on a road bike, which makes the point where you go from spinning to ‘powering up a hill’ be a higher gear – possibly whilst you feel like you’re ‘powering up a hill’ the average roadie would still be feeling like they were spinning in a low gear still. I know round here we have some steep hills (76 miles round here would be a lot hillier than that route profile above!), and if you look at a fit roadie round here, stick them in bottom gear and they would be happily sitting and spinning up pretty much any of the hills.

I have a triple, but mainly for the close ratios – ‘compact’ gearing on road bikes is just triple in disguise anyway. 30×23 is the lowest gear on my triple, which is roughly the same as a 34×25 on a compact. If I stick it in bottom gear I never have to stand up (except if I’ve got the kiddy bike trailer on the back!), and I’m not a very fit rider at all at the moment.

Nice one singletrackmind.

I signed up for it too as a first sportive with my wife. We’d gone for the epic, which was probably a mistake as we’d both been ill all week (excuses…!). We rolled around the course then short-cutted back when we felt too rough for much more – about 70miles all in.

Still nice day out and i’ll definitely do another and go in fit and well and try and set a good time.

In general, most folk at our pace seemed friendly i thought. One incident with a range rover who forced my wife off into a ditch (no bombers/weeing in shoes retailiation unfortunately) spoilt the day slightly, but otherwise a good day out.

I know of tarmacced hills that are at least as steep as anything I’d ride off road,

Most European climbs are heavily switchbacked whereas in the UK it’s more common to go straight up the hill. eg stats for the Col de Tourmalet are:

Average grade: 7.4 %
Length: 19 km
Height start: 711 m
Height top: 2115 m
Elevation: 1404 m
Maximum: 10.2 %

It’s rare in Europe to find really steep gradients. However, mainly you just need to MTFU.

42:28 is a pretty high (lowest) gear for a road bike, especially if you are unfit.

I do wonder whether the OP didn’t enjoy it because he went into it with all the wrong attitude:

Well , it was busy . Very busy in fact

That’s the whole point of a sportive – lots of people, so you should be able to find a group going at your pace to ride with, which makes it a lot easier.

Couldnt bring nyslef to don tights so wore my Humvees

So you wore non-optimal clothing which slowed you down because you have a fashion problem?

Paired up with ( wheelsucker ) 102 mile rider who seemed to be on the same pace as me

He was a wheelsucker because he wanted to sit on your wheel to save his energy? Did you try to get him to come through to give you a rest by pulling over, or did you speed up every time he tried to come past? I certainly get the impression you spent all the time working by yourself rather than finding a group to help you.

Oh and on the gearing thing, I’ve ridden up 25% climbs on the road using 34/25, though when less fit have had to walk up a climb near the end of a sportive using that gearing. As mentioned above, 42/28 really isn’t that low.

There ^ that post explains why I’ll never do one 😛

It’s rare in Europe to find really steep gradients.

Even ignoring the fact that the UK is part of Europe, you’re still wrong. There are climbs with nasty bits all over the place – from the Mur de Huy in the north to Angliru in the south…

They pretty much do, I run 34/50 – 12/25 on my road bikes and 22/34 – 12/32 on my MTBs
Both are equally hard up the steepest climbs for me but I never have to walk tarmac climbs

You have a bottom gear on your Road bike that is almost exactly twice as hard a ratio as on your MTB, yet you say they’re “equally hard” 😕

Bottom gear on my MTB is 32/36 and bottom gear on my road bike is 34/27, much closer together than your bikes, yet I know that the slightly lower gearing on my MTB feels MUCH easier to ride up a hill! And a 26″ wheel with a 2.25″ tyre has almost the same rolling radius as a 700c with 25c tyre so wheel size is negligible.

Really? I’ve never known a decent road rider walk up anything.

Fair enough, there’s decent and decent though, and suspect the guys you know are probably faster/fitter than the guys I know!

With the vastly lower rolling resistance of Tarmac/100 psi tyres 34-27 or whatever is a low enough gear for just about anyone with a modicum of fitness.

Below 20mph Aero wheels are of no benefit. Below about 10mph, it doesn’t really matter if you’re riding on narrow slicks or large knobbly tyres, the coefficient of friction between the tyre and the road is a tiny amount of the force slowing the bike down compared to the riders weight acting against the slope.

You also need to look for steeper off road climbs, I can find plenty steeper than 1:3, whilst even short sections of road at beyond 1:4 aren’t that common.

I know of one locally that’s about a 1:3 and yes, when I’m fresh, I can get up it on a 32:36 bottom gear. Wouldn’t want to do it after 30 miles already on the bike to be fair, but most people I know that ride can’t do it at all even with a 22/32 or lower bottom gear! But I also know of a few road climbs locally that are just as steep. Agreed, most places in the UK aren’t as steep as the Malverns are in places.

Its simple, get a wide range cassette. There is a Tiagra one that has a 30 tooth sprocket and an Ultegra with a 27 or 28 tooth.

I’m on 9spd sadly, not 10. Otherwise would have just bought the 12-30 Tiagra cassette by now. As it is, was on a 12-25 HG50 but have swapped it for a 12-27 HG50 which has helped a small amount, but not significantly for the steeper stuff. And don’t get me wrong here, I’m fine on steady climbs, it’s just the short sharp buggers!

26×36 is my lowest on the MTB – mountain bike climbs are/can be way steeper than on the road

That’s my point, I’d never need that low a gear offroad any more I don’t reckon (unless my legs were shot!), but I know of a lot of steep road climbs, most of them pretty much as steep as the steepest off road climbs I know.

Oh and on the gearing thing, I’ve ridden up 25% climbs on the road using 34/25, though when less fit have had to walk up a climb near the end of a sportive using that gearing.

That’s the thing. Though it’s less to do with aerobic fitness, more to do with muscle strength/conditioning. I don’t think I was out of breath once on the 95 mile sportive I did last weekend, but I certainly felt the leg burn after about 60 miles.