Why are some sportives popular and others not?

Anonymous

Just had a wee shifty on the FWC site and the entry forms have already been closed...only 8 hours after opening!...crazy demand!...even at £40...the Etape Du Dales and the Bealach Mor are the other sportives that sell out in no time...what makes these so special?...I understand that all 3 routes are excellent but they are not any better than many other sportives...and these are fair pricey....strange.

Ive ridden the FWC twice and its a crazy tough event so early in the year...IMO too early in the year for such a demanding effort....its got one horrid stretch on the A66 along the busiest and most dangerous road Ive seen on a sportive.....its got some legends in Honister/Hardknott & Wrynose and the scenery is gob smacking....but many of the other sportives offer the same and are not nearly as popular...I admit hitting Hardknott at 100miles is very special and is a very unique challenge.....but many Ive spoken have brought cleat covers to walk?....For me thats the real challenge of this event....not to walk?......but the DLMC is a much tougher event and that hits Bwlch Y Groes the tough way this year at 107miles...thats a legendary climb equal to Hardknott...and also the Ryedale Rumble encounters Rosedale Chimney Bank at 100miles....and these sportives are not as popular.....

IMO the 5 Dales Richmond Challenge looks a great challenge equal to the EdDs...why does the EdDs sell out so much faster?

I'm not having a pop in anyway at certain events...the FWC is already a legend and has a history.....But theres just so many other gems out there which deserve the same adulation...Cannot understand this?

dodgy

I think your last paragraph sums up the reasons.

nickwill

I think that the Fred Whitton has attained 'classic' status. Its one that most sportive riders aspire to doing at least once. In addition it attracts a lot of people from outside the sportive world. A lot of local fell runners take part.
I made a decision this year to give it a miss again. I've done it twice, and have decided that I want to try a whole range of different events this year.
I'm looking forward to the Richmond event, and then the Dragon ride. I'm not sure which events I will do mid Summer, but am thinking of riding Dave Lloyd's Cumbrian Killer in September. This will involve Hardknott, Wrynose (and the Struggle), in a different context and with a Summer's hard riding behind me. I'm hoping that Hardknott will feel slightly easier after a few hard sportives to precede it.
I do think that the sportive riders need to look beyond the obvious events for the expansion to continue. The Southern Uplands sportive was possibly my favourite event last year, and yet garnered a mere 250 or so entries. The best events are not necessarily the hardest or the most famous!

Philip Whiteman

Nick's comments have merit but there is also another factor at work.

Some of you may be familiar with the crowding phenomenon on Ebay. i.e., two identical products are sold at the same price at the same time. Yet only one sale attracts a high number of bidders. Because one item attracts bids, the prospective purchaser believes that seller must be better than the other despite the goods being identical.

Of course I would not wish to suggest that there is an identical FW, but there are equivalent events for quality and challenge.

Self perpetuation may also be at work. The reputation of an event that sells out within hours must 'therefore be good'. This mythically reinforces the need to enter soon and early and not simply just the fact that the rider must enter the event.



As an aside,

Last year I entered an event that was relatively cheap and new to the calendar. I thought that it would be amateurish by comparison to other events and that it would be of lower quality and lacking any form of real challenge. The only reason I entered was because it was relatively local and easy to get to. In other words, it would be at the other end of the scale to the Fred Whitton. In reality it was the best sportive that I entered last year. The moral of the story, the bigger sportives are not always the best.

Oh! and the event........





......it was the Rocko Roller organised by Rockingham Wheelers from Corby of all places. Looking forward to 2009's already.

sportbilly1976

.....also - it is closed because the entry form has been downloaded so many times that it will be over-subscribed once the postal entries arrive.

Assuming every downloaded form gets filled in and returned, and not lost / damaged etc ??

well that is one whose entry date I forgot...so it is the DLMC for me now then... :?

vermooten

The FWC benefits from social proof- everyone's doing it, so I have to do it too. It's why I've done it twice even though there are harder sportives. It's the one we all know. And it is great.

Hey, why not save your £40 and just ride the route on the same day. OK you won't get to visit the feed stops or get officially times but so what? better still: give £40 to their charity, and ride the route as a member of the public.

Anonymous

vermooten wrote:

The FWC benefits from social proof- everyone's doing it, so I have to do it too. It's why I've done it twice even though there are harder sportives. It's the one we all know. And it is great.

Hey, why not save your £40 and just ride the route on the same day. OK you won't get to visit the feed stops or get officially times but so what? better still: give £40 to their charity, and ride the route as a member of the public.

Social proof..I like it Andy

No mate...I had decided I was defo giving it a miss this year anyway...me and my mate decided that as we crawled our way to the top of the Badboy last year...after barely surviving I think our words were "F*ck this....F*ck Hardknott...F*ck the FWC"

Great event but I love to explore...and theres so many other top events Im interested in...Id already signed forn the Richmond 5 Dales...not THAT looks awesome!...and its only £15 :shock:

mididoctors2

RICHYBOYcp wrote:

its got one horrid stretch on the A66 along the busiest and most dangerous road Ive seen on a sportive.....

I surprised they don't take it along the parallel UC roads..concrete through orchards IIRC... cuts down the length of A66...

Monty Dog

I've ridden quite a few of the roads in the Lakes and actually the appeal of narrow roads, hundreds of riders and oncoming traffic on single-track roads isn't a great appeal. I'll probably go and ride the route with a few mates one weekend - but for a similar amount of travel, I can drive down to the Ardennes and ride Tilff-Bastogne-Tilff brushing shoulders with riders from Belgium, Holland, Germany and Italy - 220km with as much climbing and very little traffic - oh and entry will be about a tenner...

redddraggon

sportbilly1976 wrote:

...so it is the DLMC for me now then... :?

A better choice than the FWC anyway

Anonymous

redddraggon wrote:

sportbilly1976 wrote:

...so it is the DLMC for me now then... :?

A better choice than the FWC anyway

The only thing I REALLY didnt like about the DLMC was the climb over Worlds End....lovely place and views but that road surface is shocking...you could easily destroy your bike unless your eyes are not on the road constantly.....and I REALLY didnt like the road from Denbigh to Cerrig....not for road surface..just for the complete effort it took...what a killer section that was...Road to hell indeed :shock: But having Pasta at the 2nd feed made up for it in that downpour

redddraggon

Aye there some nasty roads around here. When I started cycling I struggled to find a saddle that was "comfy", 'cos I kept getting a really bad numb bum on some sections, took me ages to realise it was the dodgy road conditions rather than the saddle.

I try to avoid the long rough sections though now...

John C.

To all those doing the FWC, I had a ball last year, I loved it. That said I also loved the RR. All the best to every one doing these events and I hope I'll see at least 1 or 2 of you. I think my top is fairly distinctive, say hi if you pass me. It's not the only one I own but I do tend to wear it on big events.

singlespeedexplosif

Etape Du Dales and the Bealach Mor .......what makes these so special?

A terrible grasp of French, and the use of 2 made-up words, by the look of things..

bahzob

Interesting post and topic I have pondered myself.

E.g. in the case of my nominee for Cinderalla sportive the Tour of the Black Mountains. Gets my vote as UK favourite in terms of challenge/route/scenery.

I like the nearby Dragon too but cant see the difference that means it gets thousands of entrants while the TOBM got just 147 (albeit including 1 Olympian)

JamesB

Very odd this sell out phenomenon---FWC and Etape Dales sold out within hours, Three Counties which uses sets of roads in similar areas 23 entered two weeks after opening entries?? I`m going for 3CCCs!

skavanagh.bikeradar

Funny innit. I've done the FWC twice and thought it superb, but the scramble for entry does put you off a bit. Last year I thought the hardest, most horrible event I did (of 8 sportives) was The Chiltern 100. I'll only do that again if I've got to face something mentally taxing and leg sapping like the Marmotte. Awful, hellish ride. A mate of mine has done it twice and is in genuine fear of it - even talking about it.......I'm not far off.

Then there is the Circuit of the Cotswolds (local for me) which is a lovely event and while it is relatively popular there isn't the buzz about it that there is about other events. It's hard, it's got good scenery, variety, well organised, food was really good last year.

I've done the Dragon twice and didn't think much of it at all. Can't understand the fuss. The Snowdonia one that iTeam organsised looked better but I've not done it. And I hear good things about the Tour of Pembrokshire too.