When do Sportives get announced

markiegrim
markiegrim Posts: 136
edited November 2013 in Road beginners
I want to enter a Sportive in 2014, but not much seems to be announced yet..is that because I am looking too early? I would want to do something in the South East between May and July. So far have only seen Chilterns Cycling Festival

Thanks

Comments

  • Have a look at wiggles site, ukcyclingevents.
  • smidsy
    smidsy Posts: 5,273
    Also check out the British Cycling Website.
    Yellow is the new Black.
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,052
    You need look no further than here http://www.cyclosport.org/
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
  • The Wiggle Super series 2014 events are due to be announced tomorrow!
  • £263.25 for a season ticket, would have to be doing a lot of sportives for that to be worthwhile!
  • Evans and Wiggle have both announced their 2014 calendars.
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Prices have gone up ..... Won't be doing some that I had thought of doing - more solo riding then .... Not that it makes huge differences.
  • Slowbike wrote:
    Prices have gone up ..... Won't be doing some that I had thought of doing - more solo riding then .... Not that it makes huge differences.

    By £2. For Wiggle events from £18 to £20 for the short routes and £28 to £30 for the longer routes. I must admit it does make a difference when I'm looking at less than £20 to it actually being £20 for a ride out. I still don't like the way Wiggle have variable pricing depending on what distance you are going to be doing. On the face of it, it seems fair, you do more distance you eat more food etc so you should do more.

    But sitting here on a rainy dark day in October, wanting to book a sportive, I have no idea if I'm going to be wanting to do the 60 or 80 mile route next August! So instead of just booking, I leave it, which surely is the opposite of what UK Cycling Events is wanting!

    Evans haven't announced their pricing yet, hopefully it'll remain at £15 so they can provide the better value than the Wiggle ones which are overpriced IMO.
  • Mikey23
    Mikey23 Posts: 5,306
    And there is still the much cheaper and much more sociable audax option...
  • topcattim
    topcattim Posts: 766
    Slowbike wrote:
    Prices have gone up ..... Won't be doing some that I had thought of doing - more solo riding then .... Not that it makes huge differences.

    By £2. For Wiggle events from £18 to £20 for the short routes and £28 to £30 for the longer routes. I must admit it does make a difference when I'm looking at less than £20 to it actually being £20 for a ride out.

    Me and a bunch of friends have already signed up for a Wiggle 2014 sportive (keen, I know!) We noticed that we were asked about T-shirt size in the order, but couldn't see anything about this on the ride details. Does anybody know if this is some "added value" for 2014 (by which I mean justification for putting up the price by £x and selling us something that costs £x-y) feature, or if it is perhaps a mistake?
  • Yeah I believe they are including t-shirts for 2014 events.

    I don't like that personally. T-Shirts should be reserved for charity / fun rides, not sportives.

    Wiggle used to give out medals, which I quite liked (at least my 2 year old likes them), which is nice a momento, but I do object to having to pay for a t-shirt I don't really want or need.
  • racingcondor
    racingcondor Posts: 1,434
    Not actually ridden one of theirs yet but I like what http://www.kilotogo.com/ have to offer as well.
  • Not actually ridden one of theirs yet but I like what http://www.kilotogo.com/ have to offer as well.

    So they are running Wiggle branded events too? As well as UK Cycling Events?
  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 17,686
    £263.25 for a season ticket, would have to be doing a lot of sportives for that to be worthwhile!
    £12 for a year's club membership instead, perhaps?
  • £263.25 for a season ticket, would have to be doing a lot of sportives for that to be worthwhile!
    £12 for a year's club membership instead, perhaps?

    hehe, yes. I sportives and club riding so I would agree.
  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 17,686
    £12 for a year's club membership instead, perhaps?

    hehe, yes. I sportives and club riding so I would agree.
    I know I was being slightly flippant too, but clubs give you a far wider circle of cycling friends, and the bigger ones are likely to offer a wide variety of different sorts of ride, from the more sedate general club runs right up to super-hard chaingangs, as well as general social stuff as well. In fact, a load of stuff you won't get from sportives, including, possibly, training on how to ride safely in a group :wink:

    Most forward looking clubs will cater for people new to the sport, and though not all will have rides for people wearing flip-flops with pink bikes and baskets on the front riding at 5mph, don't imagine that if you can't ride at TdF speeds for 100 miles you won't fit into the club scene.