Why does the CTC not promote Sportives?

[TonyR]

Some of us like to cycle, have jobs and other things in their lives - we are not bike obsessives. We don't want to endure the stress of breaking down in the middle of nowhere with no back up or particularly want to make the commitment of regular club rides. I am perfectly happy to pay £25 or so now and again for somebody else to plan a route for me, give me some food, have the reassurance of a sweeper wagon and have a good day out with like minded souls. Each to his own but personally I am not one of the gritted teeth, all weathers, endurance, saddle bag and woolly sock brigade. If CTC could organise sportive there is a great potential to generate some cash and expose the organisation to a much wider audience.

You're describing what I call a club ride. No need to turn up regularly. People will be quite happy to see you when you can make it and since they are every week you can time it to suit you, not have to plan around someone else's timetable. There's no entry fee (other than the annual CTC membership fee) and for less than £25 you can have your fill at the cake and lunch stops. The distances are similar or longer and you don't need a sweeper wagon because no-one will leave you behind and if you have a mechanical they'll all help you get it fixed. So on the next pleasant sunny weekend pop out and join your local CTC club ride and enjoy.

[PH]

Whey hey ! . . . . a gap in the market !!!

Sportives at modest prices ...

I think they're called Audax, a large number of them already run by CTC groups.

[Vorpal]

http://www.ctc.org.uk/event/hilly-50-kilometre-0
http://www.ctc.org.uk/event/early-seaso ... nge-ride-0
http://www.ctc.org.uk/event/bedford-80-closed-road

and it still early in the year....

[Paulatic]

As a member group we organise a Sportif. I say "we" loosely as I don't get involved with it. Reasons being it operates 30+ mls away and I'm not that keen on them. Has it helped recruit new members? I've not seen any out with us anyway.
I put years into riding, organising, and helping organisers with Audax so I feel I've put a lot into helping cyclists. 400km for £10 with real food was extremely good value. The company of most of the riders was always an added bonus. I did do Phil and friends many years ago as it fitted in well with a holiday.
I encounter Sportifs in action on the road, Ive met/know riders who participate in them. None of them are CTC members and as far as I can judge are likely to be in the near future. Some are BC members and many are Strava addicts.
The closed roads events appear attract negative comment from the general public. I think because it disrupts their life and see no benefit. perhaps CTC are wise to stay clear of them?

[beardy]

Yeah, having the CTC organise rides which are extremely popular and make a profit would be ridiculous. What were you thinking of?

Sarc off, the CTC used to organise a series of these, before they became popular. The phil liggett branded one was, I think, the first century ride I did.

No idea why they stopped.

So when are you going to restart them?

[Chris Jeggo]

West Surrey CTC runs a number of Audax rides. The most popular is the 'Tour of the Hills' based on Shere in Surrey. It's been running since 1982, attracting on average over 100 entries from all age groups (except children) and all types of cyclist, including racing club members and tri-athletes. The entry fee for 2016 is £8, which is a fraction of the entry fee for a sportive. You get a great event (see the write-ups by 'Cycling Weekly' and in 'Arrivée') with good food provided. What you don't get is showers, bike washing or servicing, broom wagon, or electronic timing to the second. You also don't get a waymarked route, but who needs that nowadays - we provide a downloadable route for your GPS. If you want emergency support then the area is a good place for non-cycling friends/relations with a phone and a vehicle to spend the day, with walks, places of interest, cafés, pubs, ducks to feed, etc. The ride's a challenge; for some it is simply climbing all those hills, for others it is getting a fast time, possibly in a private contest against club-mates. Most wear a helmet but you don't have to. It's the sort of event we like to organise, and people like to ride it; many years we hit the limit on the number of entries (the lanes in the Surrey Hills can be busy on Sundays). It's profitable too; it is a great help in keeping our local group afloat. To turn it into a sportive would require more manpower than we can muster, as many of our members want to ride it. We cannot compete with the likes of Wiggle and Evans Cycles. If you want to ride events like theirs you have to pay a lot more.

[beardy]

The "CTC" has run Sportives before in order to meet a specific fundraising goal.

viewtopic.php?f=41&t=89613&hilit=york+rally+sportive

It just needs somebody to do it. I am not interested in the job.

[CyclingOptometrist]

Chris Jeggo: I think your DA is clearly far more forward thinking than some. Good to hear you attract such great numbers.
Beardy: I can tell from your number of posts and your name that you will have an answer for everything against change. People like you would rather see sections disappear rather than attract new members. How sad and myopic.

[hodge]

How sad and myopic.

is that your professional opinion?

[Samuel D]

It’s a pretty strong opinion to be handing out on your first day on a new forum.

[RickH]

http://www.ctc.org.uk/event/hilly-50-kilometre-0
http://www.ctc.org.uk/event/early-seaso ... nge-ride-0
http://www.ctc.org.uk/event/bedford-80-closed-road

and it still early in the year....

I can recommend the middle one of those - CTC Two Mills Early Season Challenge ride.

I & my "partner in crime", Clare, are booked to do it on the tandem. We did it last year for the first time - very wet morning, very windy afternoon but we enjoyed it (& the 50 miles was the furthest Clare had ever ridden in a day up til then).

Even though a lot of work goes into organising it it still is nowhere near the amount that is needed for a "proper" sportive with route signing (often 2 or 3 routes), possible marshalling, etc - even if you don't do fancy timing.

There's nothing wrong with the old way of doing things for those that want it but if participants on rides are getting older & no younger ones come in to replace them then those group rides will die out. If we want people on group/organised rides to continue then we need to help that to happen.

And we need short/easy rides that those starting out & youngsters can do (or at least are within their concept of do-able). I helped with a ride in the summer - we did just over 10 miles & took 2 hours 35 minutes in total to get round. But everyone seemed to enjoy it, particularly the 3 under 10s (youngest was only 6). The family with 2 of the kids would turn up every week that there was a ride of that sort of distance happening (I crossed tracks with them a couple more times as the year went on) & it wouldn't surprise me if they start tackling longer rides before long.

Rick.

[beardy]

Beardy: I can tell from your number of posts and your name that you will have an answer for everything against change. People like you would rather see sections disappear rather than attract new members. How sad and myopic.

You are seeing what you expected to see rather than what is there.

Our group likes to see new members. One of the things that those new members have in common with the old members is that they are not, and do not seek to be, racing or sports cyclists.
Other clubs are available for that and doing quite nicely.

We are different activities, the two overlap with some riders doing both but many other riders do not wish to do the other type of riding. I really dont think that many of your fit young Sportive riders are going to cross over to the tea and cake CTC social rides.

We are actually quite happy going out on our social rides and would not be happy if transformed into a "heads down bums up" group. Its like asking the Ramblers to take up doing Marathons!

I have no objection to other people setting up racing and would-be-racing groups and if our CTC groups fail to find "new" old riders then we can move over to them rather than trying to mimic them with our group. Though I do find that the groups have reached a steady state and havent declined for many years now. There are actually enough people reaching their fifties and sixties every year to keep the groups going. What I have noticed is that they are moving towards easier rides rather than harder ones.

[CyclingOptometrist]

Ok, my point was that I was shocked to see the decline in overall numbers and young people participating in a locally organised event that in my teens was very well supported. Just wanted to sound out some opinions. Thanks to all those who replied. Good night!

[Merry_Wanderer]

I'm an old and crusty wooly sock brigade 48 year old and with my younger friends in their 30's we have done both sportifs and Audax events. My experience of a sportif was doing a 100km event in 7 hours including stops and finding that a the last stop all the free food had gone as the organisers had packed up before the last riders arrived. I paid £28 for the ride for the privilege of being left to my own devices. Contrast that with the 8 Audax events that I have done where I have paid between £5 and £8 to enter. The rides have included a lot of free, home-made food, drinks and camaraderie. No one got left behind and for the cost of having to follow a set of directions rather than a signed route I have had a fantastic time. The largest Audax had 130 riders, most of whom were younger than me. You are welcome to organise your own sportif and make a shed load of cash. I will stick with Audax

[Bicycler]

It’s a pretty strong opinion to be handing out on your first day on a new forum.

Aye, well he's been handed some pretty strong responses too.

FWIW, I think there is a case for organising rides that more of the general public might want to enter, without necessarily trying to compete in the sportive market. I think there is a genuine market for cycle clubs that aren't all about speed and fancy gear. Existing members may not see that anything is lacking, but when average ages are often of retirement age, it does imply that a big chunk of the population is being missed.