What makes a sportive?

DaveMoss

I think it's agreed a sportive needs from the timing, route signing and feeding,but how hard should a sportive be?

"In the beginning" we had the Fred Whitton, and European events such as the Marmott, and especially the Etape. The Etape du Dales and a few others came along, all essentially mimicking, or even set up as preparation events for the French Tour etape, and largely populated with riders who ventured to do the continental events. At that time I understood a sportive to be along those lines, i.e. around 100 miles and lots of uphill, 10 000 ft or so. We seem to have now moved a long way from these origins with many events, especially many southern ones it seems, being short and relatively flat. Even the self acclaimed "flagship" event, the etape caledonia, falls way short on the severity of the route, being essentially a flat 80 miles and of no resemblance to what I would expect of an event with "etape" in the title.

Perhaps we need a redefinition for events that meet the style and severity of the original , longish hilly events. "Gran Fondo" perhaps?

Though it could be argued that wind presents a tougher challenge than hills.

Bobbinogs

Some very good sportives have various routes, like a 100k, some lumpy, some not. I think this is great and extends the appeal.

I did the Wheels 100 last w/e and went for the 100M option, which was a lovely route and I had a great day out. There were, however, at least twice as many doing the 100K on more variety of bikes with the people coming in more variety of sizes. Point is that there was lot of smiling faces on both routes, lots of people cycling, what's not to like?

I would say the last thing cycling needs is more names for things with a finer definition between them, making it appear less and less accessible. It is hard enough to explain to non-cyclists the difference between an audax, sportive, chaingang, clubrun and a reliability ride as it is, let alone try and interest them.

nickwill

It has to be hilly and have a challenging route so that those who are not chasing a fast time still get satisfaction from beating a challenge. Re the distance. I did the Keswick Sportive last week and it was 'only' 65 miles. It was also one of the most demanding routes I've ever ridden. So distance is less important than the challenge factor.
There is a plethora of 'sportives' appearing on the calendar at the moment with fairly undemanding routes. I know I will be shot down for being elitist, but to me these are not sportives. They are certainly valid when viewed as leisure rides but they are in a different ballpark from events like the 'Fred Whitton', the 'Etape du Dales' or the 'Marmotte'.
A marathon has to be 26.2 miles long and for me a sportive has to be hilly!
By making routes too easy you are devaluing the currency!

I noticed your reference to wind there Dave! You certainly arranged for plenty of that on the Drumlanrig event. Fortunately there was plenty left to make the Keswick Sportive equally entertaining from the meteorological point of view!

Lemond75

A big club run with an even bigger price tag.

cornerblock

Finishing first. :?

rdt

There's certainly room for all sorts of mass participation events, of different distances, terrain and purpose, as happens in France.

As you say, the recognition of the "sportive" brand in the UK has led to it being applied to all sorts of rides that don't really match the original definition of what a sportive was. While it might have been clearer if different names had been adopted for different types of event, it doesn't matter hugely at the end of the day, so long as people know what type of event it is that they're riding.

As I've droned on about before, the people who've really missed a trick are those in the Betamax industry, I mean the Audax movement.

The storming growth of the Sportive industry illustrates the demand for medium-long distance mass participation cycle challenges that come with all the trappings of modern day convenience: online marketing, entry & results, marked routes, feed stops, mech backup etc. The incumbent Audax movement seems to have been very slow to recognise the boom that's been occurring, and failed to adapt their product to meet the demands of many (although by no means all) recent cycling converts. But perhaps they were never interested in doing that (or maybe it's a lesson in how much the "profit motive" has on galvanizing people into innovating and responding to consumers)?

Which is a shame, as there is a niche (seemingly a very large one) for events which are a notch or two down from true sportives (more of a fun focus than outright challenge), which seem like they have large mainstream appeal. The territory that's currently sort-of occupied by the longer charity rides, short audaxes and the easier/flatter/shorter sportives.

nickwill

Lemond75 wrote:

A big club run with an even bigger price tag.

Not like any club run I've been on!
Have you ever ridden one of the better sportives?

Teddy Westside

Bobbinogs:

I would say the last thing cycling needs is more names for things with a finer definition between them, making it appear less and less accessible. It is hard enough to explain to non-cyclists the difference between an audax, sportive, chaingang, clubrun and a reliability ride as it is, let alone try and interest them.

Couldn't have put it better myself. 8)

To the uninitiated, even the term "sportive" is a strange concept - a ride which is timed but which isn't a race?

I'm guessing the feelings towards what a sportive should be probably vary along the lines of how long you've been doing them. I'm a newcomer (first and so far only, was Pedal for Scotland 2010) and so I don't automatically associate a sportive with training for the likes of Etape de Tour, though I'm well aware that's what they originally were in effect.

I'd certainly agree that a sportive by definition should offer a challenge rather than be a gentle meander round the countryside (though I have no problem if anyone wants to do exactly that during one - provided they are avoiding holding up sportier types trying to pass them), but different things are challenges to different people. For many, just the amount of time in the saddle is a challenge and so I don't think hills are essential even though I like a bit of climbing myself.

This is where I think Pedal for Scotland has it right, offering 3 events from the original ride round the park for families and half tonne fun ride, to the addition last year of the century ride which is what got me hooked. I found it a challenge because I hadn't ridden that distance for a few years, but it was one I could manage.

If all sportives had a gentler option as well (and some of course already do), we could have the best of both worlds. No route will be perfect for everyone but that would help to a degree.