Dunsfold Sunday Sportive Advice

UpTheWall
UpTheWall Posts: 207
edited October 2010 in Sportives/audaxes/training rides
I'm doing the Dunsfold Sunday Sportive on the weekend. They send out the following advice:

"Remember that cyclosportives are not the place for super-rigid carbon lightweights at the best of times; on a long distance ride on variable public roads, a balance of compliance, durability and agility will reward your overall performance."

Next they'll be saying that I shouldn't forget to pop some cream cakes and ginger beer into my front basket for the picnic stop.

Comments

  • Gazzaputt
    Gazzaputt Posts: 3,227
    Thats me f*cked Sunday then :lol:
  • batch78
    batch78 Posts: 1,320
    Ooh thats bad, must have missed that small print, think they give refunds if you don't get gold on a carbon steed? :wink:

    What distance and time you two riding?

    I'm on the long ride probably startin about 9 looking for gold. Missed it by 4 minutes last year, darn.
  • Darren O\'D\'
    Darren O\'D\' Posts: 7
    Ive entered this, only doing the short route as its my first sportive and tbh I haven't got a clue.If you see a nervous bloke on a trek tomorrow morning its me.
  • UpTheWall
    UpTheWall Posts: 207
    What a great day out. Ok, so it was a bit chilly to start, but once I got warmed up I loved it. Not too hilly - nice and rolling - just 1550m of ascent.

    Most people I spoke with did the same as me - a 111.5km route!! Signage went a bit skewwiff methinks.

    But very please with my average speed of 26.8km/h. Just a bit shy of a gold speed (27.4km/h).

    Need a bit of a leg rub now...
  • Darren O\'D\'
    Darren O\'D\' Posts: 7
    I got caught out by the signage and ended up doing the midroute, bit of a shockerwhen at 42 miles i thought I only had a few to go, 20 later i rolled in. Really enjoyed it for afirst run.
  • UpTheWall
    UpTheWall Posts: 207
    Darren O\'D\' wrote:
    I got caught out by the signage and ended up doing the midroute, bit of a shockerwhen at 42 miles i thought I only had a few to go, 20 later i rolled in. Really enjoyed it for afirst run.

    Then given that was your first sportif, excellent effort!
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,100
    UpTheWall wrote:
    What a great day out. Ok, so it was a bit chilly to start, but once I got warmed up I loved it. Not too hilly - nice and rolling - just 1550m of ascent.

    Most people I spoke with did the same as me - a 111.5km route!! Signage went a bit skewwiff methinks.

    But very please with my average speed of 26.8km/h. Just a bit shy of a gold speed (27.4km/h).

    Need a bit of a leg rub now...

    There was a point where the long route and the mid-route diverged. The sign was there but it was half way down a fastish descent. The guy in front of me missed it and the group behind overshot but spotted me and came back. I guess I only saw it due to my wimp-like descending technique.

    I found it much tougher than I'd expected. This is just my third sportive and I found it much harder than the circuit of Kent which was a similar distance and just as hard as the much longer Cheddar sportive. Still, a great day out.
    Team My Man 2022:

    Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
  • Darren O\'D\'
    Darren O\'D\' Posts: 7
    Looked at the results this evening, and I got a bronze time.Fairly happy with that as my original aim was to finish as that was the furthest i've ridden in one go.
  • batch78
    batch78 Posts: 1,320
    Good effort.

    I do find this sportive harder than some of the longer ones I've done. Not sure what it is but feels like the ups are twice the length of the downs, maybe its because you hardly get a chance to build a rhythm before another turn beckons.

    Made up 5 mins on last years time though and scrapped a gold by one minute, happy with that. :D

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