Group riding in sportive - "cheating"?

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  • pipipi
    pipipi Posts: 332
    I've only done a few sportives. Most of my rides are solo or with a couple of others.

    On the last sportive, Castle 100, a fast group of about 20 riders came past. I just about managed to hang on for a few miles! It certainly felt exhilarating and I joked to my companion that this must be what a peloton must feel like (roughly). Then they kept the same speed up on an incline and I didn't see them again. But a fab few minutes!

    Probably rather dangerous to have a rider who isn't used to being in a group, but to me it was part of the whole experience of the sportive. A few steep bits going up the Downs, great views, me and a mate, and a bit of a peloton.

    I don't think it was cheating.
    Giant TCR2 and lovin it!
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  • mamba80
    mamba80 Posts: 5,032
    I dont think grp riding in a Sportive is cheating as such....but..... if thats your sole aim and you use that to boast how fast you are....(Yogis take note) then i guess you are kidding yourself on your level of fitness?
    But to be honest most of the Sportives down here are so hilly, it make little difference really.
  • jhop
    jhop Posts: 369
    Many years ago on an etape du tour I got hooked on big group riding. Throughout the day huge pelotons formed and broke up and reformed in an organic manner it was such a thrill and part of the unique experience of riding a TDF stage on closed roads. The challenge was definitely there and big group riding was just one special part of it.
    Last Sunday I entered and rode 'The Horns 97 mile Sportive' with 5 other riders from my club. As far as I could see everybody else chose to ride this in their own way and this was mostly alone but we rode it as a group, very much club ride style sharing the load between us. We waited whenever one of our group punctured and supported each other making it a supportive fun day. (Incidentally we welcomed one or two others who wanted to ride with us in this way from time to time). We had TT and road and track riders in our little group but on that day in that event we were riding as a group in a planned event NOT racing I really don't see what the big issue in this thread is. Surely we should make the most of the huge diversity of possible cycling experiences open to us and that can mean anything from huge pelotons streaming along closed French roads on a summer etape or eyeballs out on my own on a grey Sunday morning TTing my heart out. Cheating ????
  • Le Commentateur
    Le Commentateur Posts: 4,099
    Hear, hear!

    This obsession with only reaping the selfish harvest of your own isolated effort is surely one of the legacies of fend-for-yourself post-Thatcherite Britain.
    Un uomo solo al commando
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Triathletes are allowed to draft at pro level in Olympic distance races as you'll see in London next month.

    As to cheating in a sportif - you can't and who cares anyway. Riding with people is part of the fun.
  • oldwelshman
    oldwelshman Posts: 4,733
    rodgers73 wrote:
    Bigpikle wrote:
    What plaudits? Can't remember getting any celebrations/rewards last time I completed a sportive?

    All this 60% effort is also misleading. Let me know how having a guy in front of you makes much difference grinding up any of the big climbs in the Fred? What if you find a faster group and are working flat out just to stay with them in the pack?

    All irrelevant anyway as UK sportives are not a races - which is very different to many events on the continent!

    I'm not referring to times, it's the effort required to ride the distance. If you get to the bottom of a climb having covered the distance to it in return for 40% less effort than would otherwise be required, then it's bound to be easier.
    Where fo you get this 40% less figure from ? you been watching too much tv. So does that include riding with a tail wind which is also easier? I guess we should only ride the route alone and with a head wind?
    As for the guys on the dragon drafting a scooter, I would not have liked to be the guy 10th in line :D
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  • FransJacques
    FransJacques Posts: 2,148
    Most people in sportives have little concept of effective group riding anyway so I'd put the number at 10-20% max.

    You could save 40% IF and only IF you were riding behind a 6'6" / 350 lb guy on a Boris bike into a direct headwind (apparent wind angle = 0) at 35 kp/h. That's about the only scenario I can think of.

    Otherwise, you're "pacing" not so much "drafting".
    When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.
  • derbygrimpeur
    derbygrimpeur Posts: 822
    the reason they're not allowed to draft in triathlons is because they would then effectively become road races which require a whole different set of regulatory hoops for the organiser to jump through. Classing the bike section as a TT makes it a whole lot easier from that perspective.

    It's the same reason why a sportive is not a race.

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