First sportive

Shakey Bear

Well, i finally did it - I rode the standard route (75miles) on the Bournemouth 'wiggle' event. Not only my first, but also the furthest i've ridden. Aimed to do it in 5 hours, and the Garmin recorded me as 4hrs, 59 mins 45 secs, so i could have eased off at the end!!!
The weather certainly helped, but thought it was well organised (sign posting, and marshallling), and would have no hesitation in trying another.
Still a newbie, and every time i go out i'm learning.

elderone

Nice one,thats a good distance for a first sportive.

noiseboyfeetman

Well done Shakey, I did the Epic route, i've done a couple of sportives but it was my first Wiggle one and totally agree it was really well organised with good signage, excellent marshalling and nice quiet roads with some great views in the glorious sunshine.

#david2012

Well done I did my first one last Sunday at the dragon ride and likewise the longest ride to date @ 80 miles, will definately do it again next year. Got the bug for more now.

Shakey Bear

The Bug, tell me about that!, looking to do Stratford Tempest in July.

TimInno

I've got my first sportive next Sunday. Nervous, I'm doing the 100 miler. I did 70 miles yesterday on my own with some strong winds.

I'm hoping the combination of drafting my friend (he's more experienced than me) and the excitement of the event will help me complete that final 30 miles.

cyclinggooner

@ TimInno
if you can do a 70 miler then you'll be able to do a 100. If you're riding with a friend find out if he has a time goal. if he has, you may find that it'll be too quick for you and you could easily go out too quick and then really suffer later on (speaking from experience here as this happened to me). if he hasn't and he is happy to stay with you then look at the profile of the ride, think about what time you feel is realistic considering the terrain climbs etc and work out a pacing strategy for yourself. Give your bike a good check over before you leave, keep yourself fueled, hydrated and have the right layers on.. arm warmers earlier on if chilly etc and you will make it round. It might hurt but the satisfaction afterwards is worth it.
enjoy the ride.

TimInno

Thank you for the advice, very useful stuff (and you're a fellow Gooner )! I'm going to aim to get around in under 8hrs, so I roughly know the pace that I'll be comfortable with.