What time do you record on sportives

cyclistbruce
cyclistbruce Posts: 88
edited July 2009 in Sportives/audaxes/training rides
I know there are some people that don't stop at food stops on sportives, but personally, I can't pass by a piece of cake, especially when I've paid for it in the entry fee!!

The question is, when you log your time, do you use the riding time from the bike computer or from the timing chip/finish time that includes the time spent at stops?

Comments

  • dinosaur
    dinosaur Posts: 86
    It's got to be overall time from start to finish. If you stop then you are getting a rest which gives you more energy to go faster later.
  • BigG67
    BigG67 Posts: 582
    Both.

    I tend to rush through food stops just to grab a banana and top up bottles so there's not much difference but I like to know if I'm maintaining a better speed of cycling yoy.

    However, bragging rights are only available from overall time as they're the ones that get posted.
  • TheDrunkMonk
    TheDrunkMonk Posts: 181
    I agree. You've got to look at the official time, or you could take it shifts. It's always interesting to compare the two times though.

    I clocked up over an hour of pie stops on the short version of the Tour of Dartmoor last year... ashamed. :cry:
  • McBain_v1
    McBain_v1 Posts: 5,237
    A computer that only records actual riding time is useful because it can discount nasty things like p*nctures which top up your total ride time cruelly :cry:
    What do I ride? Now that's an Enigma!
  • liversedge
    liversedge Posts: 1,003
    they're not races so who cares?

    Seriously - enjoy the experience and achievement not a number!
    --
    Obsessed is just a word elephants use to describe the dedicated. http://markliversedge.blogspot.com
  • juggler
    juggler Posts: 262
    has to be total time....anyway that's the time that gets recorded on the websites from the timing chip... normally even if you stop to fill bottles and grab some food, it's no more than 5 - 10 mins extra?

    If you are worried about how fast you did the course in , then you should be looking to minimise stopping time. Personally i can;t see the point of hanging around at the feed stops, if i stop for more than little while i find it hard to get going again. If yoridning the course with a group, then fair enough to wait until you are aalready to set off again.
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    Etape C this year could be a case in point for a lot of people - my time was 4:20 on the bike, 4:57 official which included the 3 puncture repairs. I actually felt like stopping for the punctures (2 flats the first time, a bit over 20 mins, 1 the second time) made it harder to keep my pace up, so I might have finished faster, but then I would say that wouldn't I?
  • SBezza
    SBezza Posts: 2,173
    liversedge wrote:
    they're not races so who cares?

    Seriously - enjoy the experience and achievement not a number!

    +1

    If you want a race against the clock, do a TT :wink:

    Actually it was nice last weekend, doing a 300km audax, and not having to worry about how long it took, and just enjoying the ride.
  • magliaceleste
    magliaceleste Posts: 748
    Ha, it always makes me laugh when people stop/start their Garmins (all the beeping at the food stops) and then like to report their time without stops. If you want a faster time, don't stop! Puntures are unfortunately, IMO just bad luck.

    I rode the sportive, It took me three days, but my ride time was 4hrs 20 :lol:
  • nickwill
    nickwill Posts: 2,735
    SBezza wrote:
    liversedge wrote:
    they're not races so who cares?

    Seriously - enjoy the experience and achievement not a number!

    +1

    If you want a race against the clock, do a TT :wink:

    Actually it was nice last weekend, doing a 300km audax, and not having to worry about how long it took, and just enjoying the ride.

    You could argue that for some people (myself included) a sportive is just that, an informal very hilly time trial. Of course you should include any stops in your over all time. Your final time is the time it took you from start to finish.
    http://lakescyclist.wordpress.com/
  • Tom Butcher
    Tom Butcher Posts: 3,830
    I've done both - ridden them for a time and ridden them easy for a day out - but if it's time I agree it's got to be total time I wouldn't even bother recording ride time.
    it's a hard life if you don't weaken.
  • hazychris
    hazychris Posts: 202
    Total time for me...

    BUT...

    I did stop to help someone with a p*ncture on a recent day out, so I did take that time off as my record, even though the official figure shows a bit longer. My justification was that it was downhill from there on to the finish, but as we'd ridden together for 50 miles, it seemed pretty mean to say "see ya"...
  • nolf
    nolf Posts: 1,287
    I stop at all the feeds, but only quickly.
    Top up bottles, grab gels and some cake, then head off, eating anything on the way.

    TBH a lot of the sportives I'm heading towards or get golds. Stopping for 3/4 minutes isn't going to make a huge difference.

    Sometimes theres only 15/20miles between feeds though and you can just skip them.
    "I hold it true, what'er befall;
    I feel it, when I sorrow most;
    'Tis better to have loved and lost;
    Than never to have loved at all."

    Alfred Tennyson
  • il_principe
    il_principe Posts: 9,155
    Nothing wrong with recording your moving time as well as your finish time. I need to stop and take on water and food. I'm sure that there are always some riders (prob locals) that have arranged to have food/bottles handed to them in order to minimise stopping time and max their chances of a good result. Ultimately you know if you've ridden well or not.

    One day I'm going to arrange for some tactical food/drink support and really see what sort of overall time I can put in!
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    I record the time of the fastest finisher then pass it off as my own.

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