And the best Sportive in the UK is...
Comments
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I have done the Dragon which is good but I live in LONDON so its a bit of a trek to ride it. If I am going to travel large distances to enter a Cyclosportive then it has to be events in France. Well for those living in London its only a hop skip and a jump across the channel to ride in events in France. The Tour of Flanders cyclosportive also known as the Ronde van Vlaanderen which is on the 3rd of April in 2010 I believe is well worth the price of the ferry crossing. http://www.sport.be/cycling.be/cyclingt ... laanderen/
I did the Ronde van vlaanderen cyclosportive 2 years ago and it was excellent and it's not to far to go, took the misses shopping in Brussels as well which meant I was in her good books for at least a week.
Closer to home for me the SRS Events cyclosportives the Burgess Hill Springtime Classic which is in March and the Burgess Hill Rumble in August was absolutely brilliant in a hard sort of way. http://www.srs-events.cc watch out for that cobb lane hill
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It is all a personal choice though the events in France do have the advantage of having less cars on the road plus you get to have a bit of a holiday after the ride. (if you plan it that way ) I stil think it is earl days for the events in the uk with regards which is the BEST. UK events can't and shouldn't be run on the same scale as some Continental cyclospotives, but that doesn't mean British cyclosportive organisers can't be more imaginative to counter act the limitations of running cyclosportives on British roads due to the traffic. I believe some UK cyclosportive organisers have grasped this issue and are trying to do something different instead of doing what everybody else does.
I think that Cycling plus should employ one rider to be the "CYCLOSPORTIVE GURU" this rider will be paid to ride all the cyclosportives in the UK and then report back on which ones are the best, a bit like a "which" test for sportives. If Future Pulishing are interested in creating this position for me at their office in Bath I am more than willing to relocate and take up this position immediately. 0 -
coventryeagle wrote:I have done the Dragon which is good but I live in LONDON so its a bit of a trek to ride it. If I am going to travel large distances to enter a Cyclosportive then it has to be events in France. Well for those living in London its only a hop skip and a jump across the channel to ride in events in France. The Tour of Flanders cyclosportive also known as the Ronde van Vlaanderen which is on the 3rd of April in 2010 I believe is well worth the price of the ferry crossing. http://www.sport.be/cycling.be/cyclingt ... laanderen/
I did the Ronde van vlaanderen cyclosportive 2 years ago and it was excellent and it's not to far to go, took the misses shopping in Brussels as well which meant I was in her good books for at least a week.
Closer to home for me the SRS Events cyclosportives the Burgess Hill Springtime Classic which is in March and the Burgess Hill Rumble in August was absolutely brilliant in a hard sort of way. http://www.srs-events.cc watch out for that cobb lane hill .
It is all a personal choice though the events in France do have the advantage of having less cars on the road plus you get to have a bit of a holiday after the ride. (if you plan it that way ) I stil think it is earl days for the events in the uk with regards which is the BEST. UK events can't and shouldn't be run on the same scale as some Continental cyclospotives, but that doesn't mean British cyclosportive organisers can't be more imaginative to counter act the limitations of running cyclosportives on British roads due to the traffic. I believe some UK cyclosportive organisers have grasped this issue and are trying to do something different instead of doing what everybody else does.
I think that Cycling plus should employ one rider to be the "CYCLOSPORTIVE GURU" this rider will be paid to ride all the cyclosportives in the UK and then report back on which ones are the best, a bit like a "which" test for sportives. If Future Pulishing are interested in creating this position for me at their office in Bath I am more than willing to relocate and take up this position immediately.
If you really want the job I think you may have to give them some more detail on how you would decide which ones are the best.
Your priorities seem to be
1 travel - a factor for everyone not just those living in london hopefully
2 holiday after the event - is this really only possible in france
3 shopping for the "misses" - didn't know brussells was so good
4 traffic free roads - when did scottish and welsh roads get busy
For me I have done Ullapool, Gorebridge, Selkirk, Cairngorm, Drumlanrig & Etape Caledonia.
They were all great and would have ticked boxes 2 & 4
Outside of perhaps Ullapool even from London they are not that hard to get to but Ullapool makes up as it has fab shops
aya0 -
Looks like Coventry Eagle has got some competition for that unlikely position at Bike Radar Towers.
Where the hell is Ullapool anyway ? and what shops has it got.
I would have thought most would want to find a sportive that wasn't close to shops to stop the misses from spending the money which had been put aside for next years dream bike.
Both Coventry Eagle and Aya604 list some good events like the Burgess Hill Springtime Classic and the Etape Caledonia but at the end of the day it is just personal taste. :arrow: I think it is pretty difficult to compare events.
I think the route is the most important thing, and I like it as hilly as possible --- but there you go some would prefer flatter courses like the Ronde Picardie.
There is no successful canditdate at interview for this job as BIKE RADAR'S Cyclosportive reporter because the job has probably already be accepted in house ---- Don't you hate it when that happens. :P
Burgess Hill Rumble, Classic ride
or the Dartmoor Cyclosportive for me .0
