Your Top Crap Sportive

dead sheep
dead sheep Posts: 109
edited August 2010 in Sportives/audaxes/training rides
What is the worst sportive you have entered and why?

With all the furore about the Selkirk sportive (see CycleChat and Cyclosport) and other recent events, I thought it would be useful to name and shame the nasties.
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Comments

  • Caer caradoc
    Caer caradoc Posts: 71
    edited August 2010
    Forest of Dean Classic in 2009.

    - Empty feedstops
    - Failure to provide the promised showers
    - Poor after event 'free' food
    - Queues for timing cards
    - Empty 'cycling village'
    - A few portaloos to cater for 1000 cyclists.

    ......and all for £26. If I had known better then I would have not entered the event and followed a great route for free.

    I believe that it improved in 2010
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Worst one I ever entered?

    2009 Cheshire Cat - couldn't do it because I broke my leg two weeks before.

    It was also the only one I entered.
  • what brakes
    what brakes Posts: 328
    Bike radar Sportive!

    Ran out of all energy products at fuel stops even though i was in the top 20 106 mile riders! how does that work!
  • freehub
    freehub Posts: 4,257
    what brakes wrote:
    Bike radar Sportive!

    Ran out of all energy products at fuel stops even though i was in the top 20 106 mile riders! how does that work!

    They had a shorter event that set off earlier?
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,310
    Dragon Ride 2008

    Queuing, queueing and more queueing... poorly stocked food stations considering the hefty entry fee... poor route choice... possibly the dullest one could pick through the beautiful Brecon Beacons.
    left the forum March 2023
  • Philip Whiteman
    Philip Whiteman Posts: 470
    1. The Forest of Dean Classic in 2008 and 2009. I had hoped that they would have learnt from their mistakes of 2008 in 2009 but clearly did not. As said earlier in this thread, the feed stops were empty!

    2. Cheshire Cat in 2008. Rather a lot of money for an average event. Some wombat had nicked the directional arrows but the organisers did not have the nouse to instal replacements.






    ,.
  • TheStone
    TheStone Posts: 2,291
    I've done all of those mentioned (except the bike radar one) and found them all to be fine.
    Maybe not worth all of the entry fee, but good rides and ok food stops.

    Now the Etape 2009 when they ran out of water was serious torture.
    exercise.png
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    I wasnt keen on the Cheshire Cat 2009 but if I'd been fitter it would have been ok.
    The route was something like 50m of lovely flat cheshire countryside and then they shoehorned all the climbs into the second half without respite. Bit much I thought for early season. I notice they changed the route this year.
  • Stedman
    Stedman Posts: 377
    2010 Rydale Rumble because this has been set head to head this year with the CTC Phil Liggett event.
  • freehub
    freehub Posts: 4,257
    cougie wrote:
    I wasnt keen on the Cheshire Cat 2009 but if I'd been fitter it would have been ok.
    The route was something like 50m of lovely flat cheshire countryside and then they shoehorned all the climbs into the second half without respite. Bit much I thought for early season. I notice they changed the route this year.

    They have to fit all the climbs in that bit due to the location of the peak district in relation to the finish.
  • Garz
    Garz Posts: 1,155
    I have only done a handful of events so its a bit of a shallow comparison but so far 'The Pennine Challenge' 2010 was the worst headed by that torelli crowd.

    I actually enjoyed it because of the company during the ride (A guy from cambridge came up to sample the area who was a pleasure to ride with) and the fact everyone was getting lost and were all in the same boat playing blind paid for audax. :)

    In order of annoyances that day were:

    Lost/unplaced signage
    Electronic timing that was manual on the day
    Thai curry which ended up being salad with chicken in a punnet
    Staff taking down the start/finish line structure before some riders got back to the finish
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    freehub wrote:
    cougie wrote:
    I wasnt keen on the Cheshire Cat 2009 but if I'd been fitter it would have been ok.
    The route was something like 50m of lovely flat cheshire countryside and then they shoehorned all the climbs into the second half without respite. Bit much I thought for early season. I notice they changed the route this year.

    They have to fit all the climbs in that bit due to the location of the peak district in relation to the finish.

    They don't though - in 2008 it was a much better route with the hills spread out over the whole ride - made it more enjoyable that way.
  • greeny12
    greeny12 Posts: 759
    I feel a bit the same as Garz - the poorest organised event I've done (Dragon Ride) was also perversely the most enjoyable, simply because of the number of good folk doing it and plentiful supply of groups to ride with...
    My cycle racing blog: http://cyclingapprentice.wordpress.com/

    If you live in or near Sussex, check this out:
    http://ontherivet.ning.com/
  • holmeboy
    holmeboy Posts: 674
    Havent had a bad Sportive, surly you pick the Sportive because you want to cycle that area/roads not for a good feed or signposts on every corner/junction?
  • Caer caradoc
    Caer caradoc Posts: 71
    holmeboy wrote:
    Havent had a bad Sportive, surly you pick the Sportive because you want to cycle that area/roads not for a good feed or signposts on every corner/junction?

    In which case an audax would be the better option and at a substantially lower cost.
  • holmeboy
    holmeboy Posts: 674
    Caer caradoc wrote:
    holmeboy wrote:
    Havent had a bad Sportive, surly you pick the Sportive because you want to cycle that area/roads not for a good feed or signposts on every corner/junction?

    In which case an audax would be the better option and at a substantially lower cost.

    Done a few Audax's too!
  • Alain Quay
    Alain Quay Posts: 534
    The Wicklow 200, from Dublin - no question.

    Travelled over from Scotland. No day before meet up with fellow riders, just a remote room in a Dublin college hall of residence.
    The ride itself was ok but local drivers were a real hazard. However, what made it really awful was the lack of rider support. At the lunch stop there was one loo, and it was dire. The food that was left was a few quarters of curling sandwiches. The certificate and medal both had big typos. The a word 'amateur.' In two words never again.
  • FransJacques
    FransJacques Posts: 2,148
    Probably done ~40 in the UK since they used to be called centuries or century rides - who remembers the Red Ride from the PruTour? Stevie Roche himself signed my jersey, oh the craic!

    Ok, WORST. SPORTIVE. EVER. was the '08 Magnificat since I really really blew and for once I actually had total reliance on the feed stops. Background was i wasn't fit but I wanted to keep up with my buddies who were riding in a group of AW Cycles, Norwood, Cyclfit riders who all finished with times in the top 25 or so. I was happily in this group for the first half, skipping feeds but delving into the huge stash of gels/bars in my pocket.

    Anyway I totally blew and from there the feedstops were too few and had no energy drink and just a bunch of sugary kids candy. It was a joke - hard sugar candies that broke your teeth, warm water that had been in the sun all day, and I was in a huge energy deficit! Would not have cared but on this part of the course there were no corn ershops around. Died a thousand deaths but made it around. To top it off I was tossed off the train in Reading cuz of too many bikes.

    The rest of it was fun - I got a decent massage for a £10 donation and the lady was really helpful so the day out was actually a lot of fun.

    The course was great but I'll never forget the let down of relying on the feeds. I wrote the organizer a mail and got zilch response. So the next year I rode it pirate with some buddies to even things out. I'll not go back again.
    When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.
  • freehub
    freehub Posts: 4,257
    cougie wrote:
    freehub wrote:
    cougie wrote:
    I wasnt keen on the Cheshire Cat 2009 but if I'd been fitter it would have been ok.
    The route was something like 50m of lovely flat cheshire countryside and then they shoehorned all the climbs into the second half without respite. Bit much I thought for early season. I notice they changed the route this year.

    They have to fit all the climbs in that bit due to the location of the peak district in relation to the finish.

    They don't though - in 2008 it was a much better route with the hills spread out over the whole ride - made it more enjoyable that way.

    I think they should have a Cheshire Lion or something, 150 miles of pure hills.
  • pdstsp
    pdstsp Posts: 1,264
    Prefer a Cheshire kitten myself
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    If you want 150 miles of hills - sounds like dave lloyds megachallenge is the baby for you ! That looks hideously hard !
  • Mr Smooth
    Mr Smooth Posts: 70
    FransJacques, I have to say I've found the Magnificats to be amongst the best I've ridden and had no problems with the food stops - either in location or with what was on offer - maybe I got there a bit earlier than you and there was less later on?

    Worst - Dragon ride - I think 2007. No food or WATER at second feed stop, and no food at the third. Doesn't look like it's got a lot better since, not that I'd go back to find out myself!
  • FransJacques
    FransJacques Posts: 2,148
    Mr Smooth wrote:
    FransJacques, I have to say I've found the Magnificats to be amongst the best I've ridden and had no problems with the food stops - either in location or with what was on offer - maybe I got there a bit earlier than you and there was less later on?

    Worst - Dragon ride - I think 2007. No food or WATER at second feed stop, and no food at the third. Doesn't look like it's got a lot better since, not that I'd go back to find out myself!
    I know what you mean, I was up there with some fast guys then tailed off the back. The problem with the last feed stop in this instance, I got this from the nice lady who was manning the 1 puny table, was that there hadn't been many cyclists through (about 20 odd out of 100s doing the long course) so the car bringing the food didn't bring all of it yet. So they had some water and some kids candies. Maybe it was better later on? I finished in the top 40 after tailing off the back of some fast dudes who's times were in the 15th-25th range so maybe the overall times were better than the management had anticipated. Dunno.

    I know when we do the 1 ride I help organise yearly we talk about what time the food stations should be manned and stocked from and we always reckon they you might as well get the job over with so we stock ours ASAP on the day. there's always the eventuality that someone might go off course and end up at the last feed stop early. The one issue we can't seem to control are people relieving themselves all over the residents bushes nearby but that's another matter.
    When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.
  • edeverett
    edeverett Posts: 224
    I'll see your empty fuel stops and queuing and raise you sabotage.

    The 2009 Etape Caledonia where the course was sabotaged with carpet tacks. Not the organiser's fault (who I think coped excellently), but not what you'd want from a £50 ride...

    On top of that, two weeks before I found a crack in my 'for life' custom titanium frame so I was using my singlespeed, then the week before my girlfriend's mum was ill so she had to fly out of the country to see her.

    So our weekend away in Scotland turned into me, lonely, in a tent, in pouring rain and doing the ride on an unsuitable bike, fixing 4 punctures (I got off lightly) and waiting on top of a mountain for about an hour and a half until the course was deemed safe.

    I'd do it again :-)
  • FransJacques
    FransJacques Posts: 2,148
    £50 QUID!! for a sportive in the UK that's NOT in the "high-cost" south east? You must be sh!tting me. What the heck do you get for that? A hot Thai ladyboy to pedal the bike around the course for you while you get a full body massage with a happy ending?
    When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    FransJacques wrote:
    £50 QUID!! for a sportive in the UK that's NOT in the "high-cost" south east? You must be sh!tting me. What the heck do you get for that? A hot Thai ladyboy to pedal the bike around the course for you while you get a full body massage with a happy ending?

    You get closed roads.
  • FransJacques
    FransJacques Posts: 2,148
    I don't even care how expensive this ride might be - need to check the site - but to be led out by Ferraris: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gran-fo ... t-capacity

    Adrieeeeeeeeeen!

    This is what makes the US great while this place continues to be the same old pokey, shoestring, after-thought, not-my-job affair. Ice. These guys are bringing ice in case it's hot. Blow me away. I'll trade that for some crap cake bought at Asda for 10p per tonne.

    We'll see what LBL is like this Saturday. Doing the fully 262kms - not to sure what to expect food wise but am sh!t scared frankly.
    When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.
  • Westerberg
    Westerberg Posts: 652
    ^^^^^ :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: jeez, what an utter blert.
  • ellieb
    ellieb Posts: 436
    I quite enjoyed the 2009 Etappe Caledonia..No p*nctures, got round before the road closed and in the 2nd half of the event I felt so much lighter after dropping all those tacks from my back p.... doh!
  • spinningcreeps
    spinningcreeps Posts: 20
    150 miles of pure hills eh.
    Have you ridden Le terriers 77 miles of pure hills? If not then you must. There are no flat roads. I here that they are adding a longer route of 97 miles next year, making 3 routes. that must make it the hardest sportive in Britain.

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