Video: Top ten sportives - but which are your favourites?

An underrated cyclo, as far as I can tell, is the Trois Ballons in the French Vosges area near the German border. Well organised (and supported by the enthusiastic locals!) and beautiful climbs. Don't underestimate this beast, though, as some do since it's not the Alps. 4,500 altitude meters and 220km says it all.

fully agree that a lot of sportives are now poor value for money, and poorly organized. One in the Chilterns I went to charged £25 and not even a multi-tool available at the feedstop which was the boot of a car with some basic food stuffs laid out on the ground!

Evans Cycles sportives are imo the best value - they only charge what they need to to cover their costs apparently.

Nevertheless there seems to be an insatiable demand out there as so many sportives sell out months in advance with 1000s of people taking part. Not my idea of a quiet ride in a beautiful area...

Exmoor Beast is tough, made tougher by being in late autumn.

Paris-Roubaix is brilliant fun if you're up for some pavé action.

Agree about Sportives becoming a rip-off. They are becoming cash makers for the organisers. Evans charge £15 for the ones they do which is just about right but some of the charges are extreme. They should put the money into fixing the roads that they are on. Yes I know that "road tax" should do that.

What's the difference between a sportive and an Audax? About thirty quid.

Speaking of helmets....

Sadly, many sportives have rules requiring the wearing of helmets. Often they say it is because of insurance rules.

Some of those sportives are covered under British Cycling insurance - so that's a blatant lie, as BC non-competitive event insurance has no such requirement. The one sportive I contacted about this admitted that it had nothing to do with insurance, but with the opinion of the organisers.

Other sportives that I've contacted to ask for a copy of the text of the clauses in their insurance that require this, and gotten a response from, have similarly not been able to point me at any actual text, but also ended up justifying their rule with their opinion.

I've gone off sportives myself. The prices have gotten quite high. It's really hard to justify spending £20, £30+ to cycle around on public roads, usually open. It's a lot of money to pay for the handful of bananas, cakes and gels (if the event organisers were actually organised and you're not last) you get at the stops. Be cheaper stopping for expensive pub grub along the way!

Sorry to be so negative

Try this in glorious Radnorshire - http://www.cyclosportives.co.uk/epicHome.htm
You have never heard of Radnorshire? Well, do this and you will see most of Wales' most central county

In no particular order:

Mad March Hare
Black Rat Bristol/Mendips
Tour of Wessex
Maratona D'Les Dolomites
La Marmotte
GF Pinerello
Forest of Dean
Paris -Roubaix
HONC (does that count as a Sportive)
Cotswold Spring Classic

Utter waste of money/time

Magnificat (IMHO, obviously)