Sportifs, dont get it!

FergySteve

Rolf F wrote:

latter are often much longer. And there is usually no cake.

WTF?! No cake?! :evil: Outrages!!

keef66

As far as I can tell from my pre-event info in a sportive:

You get signage so you're not likely to get lost, you get feed stations where you can refill bottles, pockets and stomach, you get timed so you can see how you did relative to others, you get a goody bag at the end, and there's a broom wagon coming round behind you in case you suffer any terminal mechanical disaster.

keef66

And I understand a beard and toe-clips are mandatory for Audax rides

markos1963

Navrig wrote:

Firstly, the Etape series are on closed roads so that offers an experience not usually available to your avergae Joe who doesn't race. However I was disappointed to read last year that very little, if any, of the entry fees for the Etaps series actually go to the sponsoring charities. They get their money from individual sponsorship and other money generated on the increased profile.

Secondly, Sportives do offer a different experience. Riding in Groups - you've got to start somewhere, racing against the clock and your mates, the associated adrenalin rush for those not used to large events, chance to ogle some sexy bikes and the other gender in tight lycra (not politically correct but hey....) and riding the best of roads you don't know (assuming you travel to the event).

Doing a couple a year gives a degree of variety over the regular local routes.

Isn't that what a TT or a RR is for? I thought Sportifs were about just going for a social ride(nothing wrong with that BTW)

flasher

crapaudthepitbull wrote:

I just dont get this whole Cyclo Sportif thing going at the moment. Why anyone would pay £30 upwards to ride on overcrowded roads that are otherwise free ( i know there are free gels etc at the feed stations) is beyond me. 3 members of my family have entered the Etape Mercia this summer and asked me if i would like to join them. Call me a miserable sod but i would rather give the money to a charity of my choice and ride the lanes of Cheshire not surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of other cyclists, most of whom have never ridden in a group/s before.
I appreciate that this is a huge market but Sportifs have existed for years, they are not a new phenomena and used to be fairly inexpensive. They were called Audax or reliability trials, cost a couple of quid and still exist,believe it or not.

Couldn't agree more, although as pointed out the Etape Mercia is closed road so a bit different to the normal Sportif.

jgsi

markos1963 wrote:

Navrig wrote:

Firstly, the Etape series are on closed roads so that offers an experience not usually available to your avergae Joe who doesn't race. However I was disappointed to read last year that very little, if any, of the entry fees for the Etaps series actually go to the sponsoring charities. They get their money from individual sponsorship and other money generated on the increased profile.

Secondly, Sportives do offer a different experience. Riding in Groups - you've got to start somewhere, racing against the clock and your mates, the associated adrenalin rush for those not used to large events, chance to ogle some sexy bikes and the other gender in tight lycra (not politically correct but hey....) and riding the best of roads you don't know (assuming you travel to the event).

Doing a couple a year gives a degree of variety over the regular local routes.

Isn't that what a TT or a RR is for? I thought Sportifs were about just going for a social ride(nothing wrong with that BTW)

Racing against your mates, well as long as you do it safely and with consideration..
but we also do know the ills

ignoring traffic light signals
riding in uncoordinated groups
dangerous descending
minds switched off when it comes to stopping without warning
and more...

TTs and RRs as Markos knows have 'rules' and if you transgress you get bollocking or a dq

who actually listens or pays heed to the guy shouting at the start of a sportive..?
Most of you , I know..

charlie_potatoes

I think that you are all missing the most important point.....



On completion of some sportives you get a medal 8)

daddylonglegs

nferrar wrote:

Although I raced in the dim and distant past as a junior I could also sort of say I don't really get my adults, with families spend so much time and effort training just to race at their own expense on the odd weekend with their reward being finishing in a pack of other guys that aren't fast enough to race at a high level either. Still I can appreciate they must get enjoyment from it.

Blimey, that's a bit harsh. You seem to be saying if you can't race at the top level (wherever that is), why race at all.

I know blokes who never leave 2nd Cat. Are they wasting their time too? And one bloke who never quite got to Elite before age caught up with him. I wonder if he knows he wasted twenty years' worth of weekends.

teisetrotter

Grill wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

TOtherwise audax FTW!

QFT.

Yep

http://www.aukweb.net/

Grill

Rolf F wrote:

Confuse yourself further and discover what a Reliability Ride is! There isn't a real difference between sportives and audaxes other than that the latter are often much longer. And there is usually no cake.

Errr... you don't audax much do you? More cake than you can shake a stick at...

john1967

I think you would have to be completely barking mad to pay someone so you can ride your bike on a road.Want a social ride get some mates.Want tacky freebies go to the tour. :shock:

ednino

I did the Builth one once & spent an hour following a girl with amazing legs

She stopped at a feed station and it was a man with long hair :shock:

Not done another one since

sloppyschleckonds

^Hehe

crapaudthepitbull

Another thing that bugs me but shouldn't is when people say they are racing and on asking them what race they are doing they respond 'oh a Cyclo Sportif in Surrey'. I'm sorry but they are not races but glorified fun runs for cyclists,great fun im sure but a fun run nontheless, and an expensive one too(before anyone leaps to conclusion no im not a skinflint or even worse,poor).
They are though a great way of getting those middle aged newcomers into the sport, those that have a big disposable income and will therefore not quibble over entry fees. PS I have nothing against Surrey BTW.

john1967

If you give me 10 quid you can walk down my street and when you get to the end I will give you a cup of tea and a biro pen.I can time you and if you really want one I can do massages.

chrisaonabike

When I'm an experienced roadie I expect I'll end up as Victor Meldrew too.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the L2B, and even more so to the RL100. Fortunately I still know almost nothing, so everything's shiny and new - they sound like fun events, and I plan to have a great day out.

Can't wait to get my medal

jotko

ednino wrote:

I did the Builth one once & spent an hour following a girl with amazing legs

She stopped at a feed station and it was a man with long hair :shock:

Not done another one since

Brilliant

exlaser

Chinley Churner wrote:

ju5t1n wrote:

miserable sod

+1

+2

ricey155

Add another to the roads are free why bother with a sportive event

each to there own tho if people fancy spending money for a group event with no prizes no issues with me, its a free world and i like being TIGHT

another £30 towards a new bike

zardoz

Heard all this before when the running boom started in the 80's. "Serious" runners wouldn't do the mass participation races for exactly the same reasons and I can recall at my club people taking the pee out of people who did them "Why pay to run on roads....etc etc"
If people don't want to do Sportives then don't do them, its not compulsory you know! But don't knock them as an awful lot of people get a huge amount of enjoyment from them. For me planning to do some sportives gives me some targets to aim for and some purpose to my rides and I'm sure this is true of many others.
Alan

danlikesbikes

zardoz wrote:

Heard all this before when the running boom started in the 80's. "Serious" runners wouldn't do the mass participation races for exactly the same reasons and I can recall at my club people taking the pee out of people who did them "Why pay to run on roads....etc etc"
If people don't want to do Sportives then don't do them, its not compulsory you know! But don't knock them as an awful lot of people get a huge amount of enjoyment from them. For me planning to do some sportives gives me some targets to aim for and some purpose to my rides and I'm sure this is true of many others.
Alan

Yes but I was a junior runner myself in the 80's but mass participation races were still races however you looked at them so you were either in a big race or a small race. The general population can & still has the choice even if doing a fun run but they are still 'racing' if only themselves to obtain a time be it a personal best or a first time run for charity.

Whereas on a sportive the purpose is your paying someone to run an 'expedition' from A to B with no racing element but with an amount of support, direction, food/drinks stops that you could not easily do yourself.

Personally am no fan of paying someone to let me ride on a public road that I could if I wanted to sort out myself & make sure that I know where I am going & would have to plan food/drinks possibly as a stop if over a long distance. I have no issues with people who do want to sign up and pay, each to their own I guess & if it gets money into our sport then great. But I do have issues with people 'thinking' or telling everyone they raced on the weekend when their efforts no matter how gallant were akin to a fun run.

rodgers73

Danlikesbikes wrote:

But I do have issues with people 'thinking' or telling everyone they raced on the weekend when their efforts no matter how gallant were akin to a fun run.

Why would you have an issue with this? People bullish*t about their "achievements" all the time. Its human nature. I've just come back from a week in Majorca and the amount of nonsense I heard from long term club members and ex racers was phenomenal. I lost track of how many of them who knew someone who was "best mates with Cav" etc etc.

If someone doing a sportif says he is "racing" and that upsets you then tackle him on it, rather than impotently pounding your keyboard 2 weeks later. Or perhaps just let it go and let the guy have his moment of invented macho glory, while also avoiding looking like a rather priggish nitpicker yourself.

chrisaonabike

rodgers73 wrote:

If someone doing a sportif says he is "racing" and that upsets you then tackle him on it, rather than impotently pounding your keyboard 2 weeks later. Or perhaps just let it go and let the guy have his moment of invented macho glory, while also avoiding looking like a rather priggish nitpicker yourself.

+1.

Superbly put

I wouldn't claim to be racing on a sportive, even if I do secretly race people over short segments to provide myself with a bit of motivation and fun at times. But at my age, I take every opportunity to get some invented macho glory that I can

daddylonglegs

I've done several. I've also done a fair bit of road-racing. However I'm finding it increasingly embarrassing, pathetic and off-putting to see men (it's always men!) of various ages behaving like they're in a pro-road race, even to the extent of chucking their used energy bar wrappers on the road rather than putting them in their pockets. Watching a lot of these people it is obvious they've never ridden a bike race in their lives and probably never will - unable to ride in a group, pace themselves, follow a wheel, or even ride in a straight line. As the popularity of these events grows, along with the popularity of televised pro-races so the problem of willy-waving wannabees annoying the hell out of everyone gets bigger and bigger.

If and when the police decide to start regulating (and possibly banning) some of these events in the future it will be in no small part down to some of these herberts. If they want to race, then they should get a licence, do some training and get some skill. From what I've seen, most of them would be torn to shreds in an average 2nds and 3rds race.

danlikesbikes

rodgers73 wrote:

Danlikesbikes wrote:

But I do have issues with people 'thinking' or telling everyone they raced on the weekend when their efforts no matter how gallant were akin to a fun run.

Why would you have an issue with this? People bullish*t about their "achievements" all the time. Its human nature. I've just come back from a week in Majorca and the amount of nonsense I heard from long term club members and ex racers was phenomenal. I lost track of how many of them who knew someone who was "best mates with Cav" etc etc.

If someone doing a sportif says he is "racing" and that upsets you then tackle him on it, rather than impotently pounding your keyboard 2 weeks later. Or perhaps just let it go and let the guy have his moment of invented macho glory, while also avoiding looking like a rather priggish nitpicker yourself.

Its not about the BS that people say, as that makes no difference to me personally. Yes I agree that people do the old fisherman talk of how big it was.

Plus I am not bothered about tackling anyone over what they said & think that you are perhaps thinking I am having a go at you or the OP which I was not & I was not impotently banging on a keyboard 2 weeks after, I was replying to a post of 10:01am at a time of 10:49am so yes I am now being a 'priggish nitpicker' as you got your facts wrong. The difference being I was replying with my opinion, which you are free to agree or disagree with, but don't start with the name calling we are all (I assume) grown ups on the BR forum.

My concern is with those people who partake in these events & treat them "races" with no concern for other road users either cyclists or vehicles which do no good for the image of cycling as a whole. Plus as these events are becoming more popular many of these pseudo racers are also very off putting to the local population who have to put up with the bottles, food wrappers, gel packets etc that are thrown into gardens, hedges & public spaces. Whilst the organisers do their best to tell people not to do so & there is a onus on them to clean up for longer distance events this is somewhat a lost cause.

I do agree that whilst away with club cyclists you will hear all the BS under the sun & it is best to leave them to their moment of glory & as above the same goes for the weekend warrior type who does either a fun run or a sportive ride.

Cycling has a long way to go to earn the respect of the 'you don't pay road tax & shouldn't be on the road' brigade & I don't pretend to know any of the answers to this. But no matter how much I like the idea of the expanse of cycling & sportive's being a good way to get people out on bikes I do genuinely worry about the attitude & therefore the external image that some participants of the events give out.

danlikesbikes

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

rodgers73 wrote:

If someone doing a sportif says he is "racing" and that upsets you then tackle him on it, rather than impotently pounding your keyboard 2 weeks later. Or perhaps just let it go and let the guy have his moment of invented macho glory, while also avoiding looking like a rather priggish nitpicker yourself.

+1.

Superbly put

I wouldn't claim to be racing on a sportive, even if I do secretly race people over short segments to provide myself with a bit of motivation and fun at times. But at my age, I take every opportunity to get some invented macho glory that I can

Reread my post & my subsequent post, then think if it was so superbly put. I have no issue with people having differing opinions and am in fact all for it & for people to freely express them but would prefer they do so with some element of professionalism or courtesy.

I think you are right that most people, myself included, will race people over short segments & as long as they are doing so safely I can't see anything wrong with it. As for age, some of our LVRC racers are pretty damn fast & give plenty of the Cat 2, 3 & 4 races are good run for their money.

chrisaonabike

Daddylonglegs wrote:

However I'm finding it increasingly embarrassing, pathetic and off-putting to see men (it's always men!) of various ages behaving like they're in a pro-road race, even to the extent of chucking their used energy bar wrappers on the road rather than putting them in their pockets.

Yes, but they don't do that because they watch a pro race, and then think "ooh, chucking wrappers on the road is really pro, I'll do that on my next sportive", do they?

Of course not, they chuck litter on the road because they're inconsiderate tossers, and probably think nothing of littering in other circumstances too.

Watching a lot of these people it is obvious they've never ridden a bike race in their lives and probably never will - unable to ride in a group, pace themselves, follow a wheel, or even ride in a straight line.

I have no race experience either, and I've no real group riding experience yet (hope to change that by August). But I'm aware of my limitations and ride accordingly.

The herberts you mention do the bad things not because they have no race experience, they do them because they're herberts. Admittedly if they went and got some race experience, they would be told in no uncertain terms not to be herberts, but not everyone needs telling.

You can't legislate against people being tw4ts, unfortunately.

chrisaonabike

Danlikesbikes wrote:

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

rodgers73 wrote:

If someone doing a sportif says he is "racing" and that upsets you then tackle him on it, rather than impotently pounding your keyboard 2 weeks later. Or perhaps just let it go and let the guy have his moment of invented macho glory, while also avoiding looking like a rather priggish nitpicker yourself.

+1.

Superbly put

I wouldn't claim to be racing on a sportive, even if I do secretly race people over short segments to provide myself with a bit of motivation and fun at times. But at my age, I take every opportunity to get some invented macho glory that I can

Reread my post & my subsequent post, then think if it was so superbly put. I have no issue with people having differing opinions and am in fact all for it & for people to freely express them but would prefer they do so with some element of professionalism or courtesy.

I think you are right that most people, myself included, will race people over short segments & as long as they are doing so safely I can't see anything wrong with it. As for age, some of our LVRC racers are pretty damn fast & give plenty of the Cat 2, 3 & 4 races are good run for their money.

Yes, I don't disagree with any of the subsequent post you refer to. I wasn't thinking of you particularly with my comment, but I'll qualify it, if you like, to refer only to people spouting BS about how they raced the previous weekend - and not the ones riding like arses.

Re the BS, I just think people should be allowed to talk sh1t and make themselves look like idiots if they want. No point getting antsy about that.

Re the people behaving like arses, well, that's another matter. Unfortunately on a sportive with thousands of riders, there's no real possibility of policing the people that act like arses. Hopefully Captain Lip will be there to kick them off their bikes

danlikesbikes

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Re the people behaving like arses, well, that's another matter. Unfortunately on a sportive with thousands of riders, there's no real possibility of policing the people that act like arses. Hopefully Captain Lip will be there to kick them off their bikes

I don't think you could do anything about these types of people myself.

From what I have seen they are either more inexperienced riders who think it is acceptable and perhaps don't know any better or tend to be club type riders with experience who should know better but for some reason don't and think its acceptable.

Guess you can't stipulate for people being dumb.

Anonymous

Why does everyone keep saying they are not a race?
I know there are no prizes, but unless you are one of the top 5 there then you would not of been winning them anyway!
Do people ride them slowly then?
Does no one try to get a PB? If so thats a race against yourself.
How about race your mates? Thats definitely a race lol.