first sportive, too ambitious?

williemiller

So I have bought myself a road bike and would like to do a sportive. I have my eye on the wiggle south downs event on 21/10 but the problem is this. I have not actually ridden the bike yet as I bought it and left the country the next day. I will be back in the UK 4/10 giving me just 2 1/2 weeks to prepare having never ridden a road bike before. I am used to riding mtb and am fine with 3 hours in the saddle at a time and would consider myself to be generally reasonably fit.
I would like to attempt the standard 75 mile route, is this unrealistic with such a short time to train/get used to the bike? Should I scale back my ambitions and try the fun 45 mile route? Cheers

tiredofwhiners

I'd go for the 45, AND be prepared for some pain in the nether regions.

Investigate some good quality rear end passing, and Chamois cream, followed by Sudocreme for afterwards.

Pumpkin Positive

If you are reasonably fit and you don't mind suffering a bit you should be OK in my opinion. If you want to do the 75 miles because it seems more worthwhile than 45 miles then go for it. If you opt for the 45 miler then you'll probably enjoy it more and you'll finish feeling 'good' rather than 'wrecked'.

I introduced a mate to cycling this year and he's completed two 70+ mile sportives with virtually no training - he's a naturally fit bloke and plays other sports. On his first sportive he went off like a rocket and paid the price in the second half, he'd learnt his lesson for the next event.

Get as much time on the bike as you can, make sure you can sit on the saddle for a few hours. If you can manage to get a 50 mile ride under your belt without any serious discomfort then the 75 miles shouldn't be too much of an issue. Invest in some decent bib shorts (Wiggle's DHB shorts are what I use, they're cheap and I've never had any discomfort to speak of), I've never needed or used chamois cream so can't comment there

ForumNewbie

williemiller wrote:

So I have bought myself a road bike and would like to do a sportive. I have my eye on the wiggle south downs event on 21/10 but the problem is this. I have not actually ridden the bike yet as I bought it and left the country the next day. I will be back in the UK 4/10 giving me just 2 1/2 weeks to prepare having never ridden a road bike before. I am used to riding mtb and am fine with 3 hours in the saddle at a time and would consider myself to be generally reasonably fit.
I would like to attempt the standard 75 mile route, is this unrealistic with such a short time to train/get used to the bike? Should I scale back my ambitions and try the fun 45 mile route? Cheers

Realistically you will have only about one and half weeks for serious training. You should just do one or two short rides the week before so you are fresh for the sportive. I would go for the 45 and just enjoy it, and don't worry too much about time.