Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
robing
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Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by robing »

Why do folk do sportives? I only ask as I reluctantly did one yesterday as a friend of mine wanted to do one and wanted some company. It was a good day out and good training, racking up over a century. However, it was £40 - and for this you get pretty poor feed stops - a few gels, energy bars, bananas, flapjacks and jellybeans. We were starving by lunchtime so had to find a Co-op, which meant deviating slighly off route. It was a nice enough route but a fairly pointless zig zaggy loop. It does make me think what's the point in shelling out for this when you can do your own probably better route for nowt and avoid the crowds? Not only that, but if you so desired you could download the gpx file of the route for free so you could do it yourself :D - Plus you do get a 'certain type' at these events! Not for me! :D
De Sisti
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by De Sisti »

You're a bit late in not liking them. :wink: I stopped riding them back in 2011 (many before that date).
People still like 'em though. Try riding a few audaxes.
gbnz
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by gbnz »

De Sisti wrote:You're a bit late in not liking them. :wink: .


My thinking too. Aside from anything else, when I feel like pushing the pace, I push it (Nb. Don't know why, but the last 20 odd miles of yesterdays ride was flat out). And when I want to do bu.... all, I'll amble along such as this afternoons amble along the back roads)
Tiberius
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by Tiberius »

robing wrote:Why do folk do sportives?


Indeed.... :wink:
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TrevA
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by TrevA »

I don't see the point of sportives. They are money making machines for the organisers. A lot of people treat them as races, but they aren't. They are pretend races for pretend racers. If you want to race, then do it properly.

I'd rather ride an audax any day of the week - £5 -8 entry fee, quite often get free food at the start and finish, a great route with a couple of cafe stops and they don't attract the pretend racing element. You can go as fast or slow as you like, within the generous time limits. OK, you have to find your own way round, but most organisers provide you with a GPX route nowadays, so if you've got a Garmin you just follow the route of that.
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chris_suffolk
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by chris_suffolk »

Sound advice indeed. Couple of sportive s near me recently, and I calculated the cost at 59p per mile - which is extortionate IMO, given that the signage cost next to nothing, the marshals were all volunteers, and apparently many of the charities just got free advertising but no money from the event itself - can't see the point in them, but then 1500 people did/could so maybe I'm missing something.
robing
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by robing »

De Sisti wrote:You're a bit late in not liking them. :wink: I stopped riding them back in 2011 (many before that date).
People still like 'em though. Try riding a few audaxes.

Not really. I also last rode one in 2011 :wink:
Maybe they are for people who are just getting in to cycling?
I didn't even get a time because my chip failed to read!
landsurfer
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by landsurfer »

I often ride the course without paying and give a donation to the headline charity on line after , usually £5.
Or failing that i give a donation to BLESMA.
I don't enter the start zone / "Village" or enter the feed zones as that would be dishonest.
I'm often challenged (in a friendly manner) by riders as i have no number on my bike.
The response to my honesty has always been favourable by most riders ....
Often i get a " more sense than us" response.
The only negatives i get are from the "Wannabe Pros" .. all the gear no idea brigade.
I ride the full course but start at the point nearest where i live.
It's just a chance to ride somewhere different that someone thinks is a "good" route.

Like the AUDAX events i do but with more carbon .... :lol:
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Paulatic
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by Paulatic »

I’ve never done one as I don’t see the point in shelling out all that money to ride on a road I probably ride last week. I just don’t understand their popularity compared to Audax. I’ve ridden some fantastic Audax routes with superb food provided at key points. Yet unless it’s a prestige event participating numbers are a lot lot less.
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Jontrev
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by Jontrev »

Not worth the money, if you want to race, enter a real race.
reohn2
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by reohn2 »

I've never understood the need to pay to go for a ride that someone else dictates the route,it seems totally bizarre to me.
If you want to donate to charity set up a direct debit to your charity of choice,that way it gets a steady drip of money it can count on and as a result can set out it's financies for the coming year at least.
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horizon
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by horizon »

Paulatic wrote: I just don’t understand their popularity compared to Audax.


I worry that we're a bit closed minded on this forum (and I'm one of the worst offenders before you say it :D) I would hate to do a Sportive but there are lots of good reasons if you are that way inclined:

1. Great buzz
2. Competitive atmosphere
3. Lots of people
4. Laid out route
5. Defined targets
6. Can show off your stuff
7. See other's people's stuff
8. Spectators (well, the girlfriend, less likely to be the boyfriend?)
9. Incentive to try harder
10. Excitement
11. Chance to belong (it's the herd thing)

I think they are all right, just not my thing.
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NUKe
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by NUKe »

My one bug bear is they pretend it is for charity, yet none of the money goes to charity. You are supposed to raise that on top. A local hospice found it was losing money on one organised in its name, bcause very few people raised sponsorship money. But the organiser walked away with a fat profit.


Any charity ride now dubs its self a sportif,so real idea of an out of season ride for club racers is lost.
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foxyrider
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by foxyrider »

I completely agree that the cost of many sportives is ridiculous and what you get in return very poor. OTOH there are some, mostly the smaller club run affairs where the feeds are excellent and the reward of a nice day meeting and riding with others doesn't seem out of proportion.
I have done events local to me in the past but as has been pointed out, I can ride those roads whenever I please. No I tend to ride away from home on roads I don't know - I actually enjoy riding in a group (shock horror!)
However, compared to the events i've ridden in Germany and Austria all the UK events are pants. There's nothing quite like being part of a peloton of 5000 riders sweeping down a mountainside or watching the little kids ride their own mini events for a gong. The food too is far superior, more feed stops, more sensible food - sandwiches, soup, hot dogs, soft drinks and not an energy bar in sight! Most riders clearly do them just for the love of riding - some have a supported charity but most don't.
I've done one in Germany this year, a couple in North Yorkshire and i'll be doing another just outside Salzburg in September. I can test myself against myself, there are no losers, no failures and gives some purpose to my other riding.
You don't have to do them, much as I can't see the point in Audax, they have certainly got more bums on saddles than just about anything including petrol rationing!
Convention? what's that then?
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landsurfer
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Re: Sportives - love them or loathe them?

Post by landsurfer »

reohn2 wrote:I've never understood the need to pay to go for a ride that someone else dictates the route,it seems totally bizarre to me.
If you want to donate to charity set up a direct debit to your charity of choice,that way it gets a steady drip of money it can count on and as a result can set out it's financies for the coming year at least.


You've never done a club reliability trial .. Great fun ..
“Quiet, calm deliberation disentangles every knot.”
Be more Mike.
The road goes on forever.
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