wrecker – Member
Its easy for them to sit under a tree supping tea and eating cake rather than getting off their arses in their own lives and applying themselves and working hard at something and achieving a gold medal time.

I must admit, that’s brilliant.

🙂

I have many fans, but in this case five riders finished before me. I feel I have to be honest with my fans. 🙂

Ah… the old ‘its not a race’ argument 8)

Is this just a semantics thing? If we called it a ‘100 mile hilly time trial that allows drafting’ would all the ‘proper’ roadies untwist their knickers and give it a rest? Are they just getting upset that someone, somewhere out there, might feel a sense of accomplishment on a road bike without UCI/BC approval? 😉

If ‘proper’ racing is soooo much more worthy, does that mean those guys doing the Bealach Na Ba in under 4 hours are still sub-Cat 4 standard riders? 😀

Once I get the MTBing out of my system in Canada, I’m looking forward to returning to Scotland and *shock* buying a road bike specifically for centuries and sportives, and I’ll enter every sportive with a time to beat. And I’ll enjoy it.

Postierich, I’m (somewhat stupidly) entered in that event, 150 hilly miles, so trying to get enough training in now to survive. Certainly won’t be racing, and you’re welcome to share a wheel on the day!

And I’ll enjoy it.

If you enjoy it then you’re clearly spending to much time eating cakes and supping brews, and not enough time suffering.

Its just a bike ride to some, but to others, its a festival of pain.

It’s one thing riding round a route at the same time as a Sportive happens to be on, quite another to use the feed stations and facilities.

I did a Sportive a few weeks ago (local event, I know the organiser, like to support him) and he’s quite open that he allows people to “pirate” it, he’ll usually get half a dozen people turning up to ride the route free.

Anyway a bunch of triantelopes turned up, not only pirated the route (riding on their tri bars like a bunch of dickheads) but stopped at the finish and literally swept the table clear of cake. Filled their pockets and helmets, ran out, jumped into their team van and drove off. Theiving bastards.

Vinnyeh – I suppose my two posts do sound like backtracking, buts it not. A couple of mates have entries and my question is basically, can i ride with them, but not take anything off the organisers? My second post is more of a general question in that, if i didn’t tag along with them, can i still ride some of the roads that may form part of the course.

My initial question seems to have split opinion.
I think i’ll just ride brechfa or the Preselis instead!

Ride it on your mtb, then you’ll become a rebel legend. (Make sure you beat everyone though)

I turned up for a reliability trial on my mtb complete with knobly tyres recently, got so much jip from the roadies… until I dropped them all 50 miles later on the last big climb of the morning. God that was a good day!

Ah… the old ‘its not a race’ argumen

Lets have another lap of this argument. Though to put it simply a sportive is a sportive, a road race is a road race, a TT is a TT, an audax is an audax. Call it a race if you wish, but it’s not, they’re not allowed to be races, the organizers aren’t to class them as a race.
If I went to ride a sportive, I’d want to predict my time and possibly go quicker. When I race it’s a very different kettle of fish.

If ‘proper’ racing is soooo much more worthy, does that mean those guys doing the Bealach Na Ba in under 4 hours are still sub-Cat 4 standard riders?

Of course not, they could possibly turn up at a 4C and win, then they might come last because they have no race craft. Don’t forget you don’t have to ever ride a bike to be a 4C

This Sunday we faced a hell of a headwind on one of the climbs during the Baines Road Race and we just sat up and pootled it (why would you want to take every other bugger up it) If I were in a sportive I’d of ridden it hard.

Racing is harder, winning is the aim. If you drop back a few yards you’re out.

I turned up for a reliability trial on my mtb complete with knobly tyres recently, got so much jip from the roadies… until I dropped them all 50 miles later on the last big climb of the morning. God that was a good day!

Matt Stevens used to do that the cheeky sod.
And I see the same bloke each year on a tatty Kona, look over your shoulder and he is always there.

If we called it a 100 mile hilly time trial that allows drafting

…it wouldn’t be a time trial, because the whole point of a TT is that you aren’t allowed to draft!

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that people cannot get a sense of accomplishment from successfully completing the physical challenge of a sportive, and I don’t see a relative scale of “worthiness” by which these events can be compared. The point is that road races, time trials and sportives are different types of event. You can’t really discuss them in a sensible way if you don’t understand and acknowledge the very specific differences in the way they are organised, the rules they operate under, and the way people participate in them.

[Are the] guys doing the Bealach Na Ba in under 4 hours…still sub-Cat 4 standard riders?

Who knows? A lot of people riding the Bealach are BC licence holders. A lot of people are not. Does it matter? Licence categories are just a way of classifying riders to make it easier to organise different tiers of road racing, so novices don’t gatecrash elite events, and successful riders don’t spend their time pot-hunting against beginners.

Sportives are potentially very good for road racing (and even TTs) in this country, because some participants, new to cycling, and initially attracted by the better marketing and publicity associated with sportives, will also find their way into club cycling and road racing.
Horses for courses, but understand the differences.

Tom give me a shout will be riding a Ti Sabbath September with panniers on 😀

Got to admit that I love sportives. I’ve come to the sport too late to ever be a racer, but riding a sportive gives me a certain level of competition. I know I’ll never win one, but I enjoy putting the effort in, and if I finish in the top half that’s a good result for me.

I also enjoy riding with loads of other folk on the road. It’s sociable in a way road biking often isn’t. I’ve met loads of folk I wouldn’t have any other way. Equally though I can understand why some folk don’t like them and would prefer just to go and ride on their own. Each to their own. And admittedly some are getting very expensive.

However turning up on the day and just riding exactly, or near enough, the same route without paying is pretty poor. If you don’t like sportives then fine, no problem. But don’t be a tight git, unless you really are unemployed and totally hard up. In that case, well maybe there’s a slight excuse.

I wouldn’t be bothered if a few riders turned up at our events without paying.
We’ve organised a couple and two reliability trials as well.
You can pretty much guarantee that not everyone that’s paid will turn up anyway.
Plus there’s always spare cake, coffee and gels and we still make a few bob for the club.
That said I’d stay away from the big ones.

Not read the above but I did it last year at our local Evans Sportive after it sold out.

I didn’t take advantage of the feed stops and obviously didn’t bother going right to the HQ.

Don’t see an issue with it, especially as those taking part had another wheel to sit on 😆

Wow there’s some really AWESOME people on here aren’t there. 🙂

I’ve only done one sportive (Le Terrier) and really enjoyed it. Didn’t realise that made me a bell-end, will have to re-evaluate my life choices/worldview.

Personally I think it’s fine to ride it if it’s sold out, and you don’t use any of the facilities.

To get back to th op’s original question. It’s fine, join the ride just after the start leave the route just before the finnish. Don’t use the feed stations or any of the other event facilaties. If you do that what your doing is your own buisness on public roads, nobody elses.

I though the real trick was to wear something really noticeable and shortcut round the course to the top of all the big climbs and feed stations, and then be sitting there having a rest and a cuppa when people come past you – if you get your timing right, then you’ll catch the same riders repeatedly, who will be left wondering how come you keep passing them!

properly messes with their heads that one 😈

If you do that what your doing is your own buisness on public road nobody elses.

You see that attitude is good (not using feed stations/facilities etc) but you’ve got to consider that the organiser has done a risk assessment based on [x] cyclists and normal traffic conditions which will obviously include cars, horses, other cyclists etc.

One person gatecrashing an event of (say) 500 riders isn’t going to make much difference.
100 cyclists all thinking “oh it’ll be alright” is really going to mess things up, there’s an increase of 20% in the numbers which haven’t been factored in and which may make parts of the course dangerous for riders or for other road users.

If you really wanted to ride those roads at that time, you’d have paid your entry fee. Otherwise, let them have their event.

If you really wanted to ride those roads at that time, you’d have paid your entry fee

I wouldn’t. But then I don’t do sportives apart from the tour of Flanders/roubaix, if there’s a sportive on that crosses or forms part of a route I’m doing I’ll not change my plans to accommodate the nodders. I’ll just be extra careful as most of the participants have terrible road craft. I don’t like over strength orange squash or underripe bananas either so unlikely to help myself to somebody else’s sustenance.