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  • September 30, 2015 at 10:15 am #24872
    jasecd

    So currently I ride around 100-120 miles a week and I’m fortunate that this is all good quality leisure riding, not commuting. I feel like at the end of the summer I’m in the best cycling form of my life having got back into the sport a few years ago – I’m climbing well and my resting HR is down to 50bpm. I’ve done a few sportives this year and ridden lots of metrics and the odd solo century for the hell of it all of which I have thoroughly enjoyed.

    I am however looking for a new challenge for next year to keep me going out on the winter bike when time allows and motivated on the turbo when it doesn’t.

    Any recommendations? Experience or speculation equally well received.

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  • October 4, 2015 at 4:57 pm #861033
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    Quince

    crikey wrote:Sportives are

    crikey wrote:
    Sportives are the equivalent of fun runs. They may well be taken very seriously by their participants, but the analogy still stands. If people get upset by that, meh. I’m not being dismissive, however much some folk desire to be outraged…

    I wouldn’t flatter yourself in thinking you’ve outraged anyone. It’s merely that your initial tone comes across as snotty and narrow in scope, which isn’t a helpful way of giving advice.

    Racing is a great suggestion. It may be just what the OP needs to provide a new form of challenge. However, it is not the single ‘true’ way to test oneself on a bicycle (which – yes – you never explicitly stated), and may NOT in fact be what the OP is looking for, in which case allowing for some other options would be helpful.

    Also, I’m pretty sure referring to Sportives as ‘messing about’ and racing as ‘the real deal’ does count as dismissive on some level.

    Fabricating other people’s ‘outrage’ and then getting annoyed at it is a pretty cheap way of not having to question your own actions.

    October 3, 2015 at 9:27 pm #861031
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    dunnoh

    What about the Ronde van
    What about the Ronde van Calderdale. Its in Yorkshire and done on the same day as the Tour of Flanders. I found it way more difficult that the actual ride in Belgium. Or you could do an Audax. I thought it was going to be slow old men pootling along for a few hundred K’s. It was ruddy quick old men flying along – I could barley drive home after my first one.

    October 3, 2015 at 8:09 pm #861029
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    FatAndFurious

    Would you consider a 24 hour
    Would you consider a 24 hour solo race?

    There’s Revolve24 at Brands Hatch, 24H Velo at Le Mans, the Rad Am Ring at the Nurburgring, Evenement Velo at Paul Ricard circuit, to name but a few.

    There’s also the Mersey Roads 24 held on open roads, but I don’t know much more about it.

    I did Le Mans this year and thoroughly enjoyed it – my write-up is here on road.cc – but circuit riding isn’t for everyone.

    I’m also looking for next year’s big ride idea. Let us know what you come up with please!

    October 3, 2015 at 4:02 pm #861027
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    crikey

    Sportives are the equivalent
    Sportives are the equivalent of fun runs. They may well be taken very seriously by their participants, but the analogy still stands. If people get upset by that, meh. I’m not being dismissive, however much some folk desire to be outraged…

    …and if you really want to step up from sportives, get racing!

    I’ve mentioned before that it would be a great shame if the current boom in cycling only produces a few big sportives; I’d like to see an effect on racing with increased numbers and increased opportunity for everyone. The next Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard, Lizzie Armistead and Laura Trott should be home grown, and the way that will happen is through a grass roots expansion in racing, juniors, women, vets and so on.

    October 3, 2015 at 2:33 pm #861025
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    vonhelmet

    I’m not saying it’s not a
    I’m not saying it’s not a reasonable suggestion, only that you can’t dismiss anything less than racing. You came across as somewhat derisive saying that sportives are just “fun runs”. Your tone suggests you don’t think much of either.

    October 3, 2015 at 2:15 pm #861023
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    crikey

    He’s done sportives and wants
    He’s done sportives and wants a new challenge; racing is a reasonable suggestion. If we want cycling to be a ‘sport’, it needs a structure and people to race in that structure. I’m not a snob about sportives, but they shouldn’t be seen as the pinnacle of achievement…

    October 3, 2015 at 1:38 pm #861021
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    vonhelmet

    crikey wrote:The ‘sport’ is

    crikey wrote:
    The ‘sport’ is racing.
    It has to be or it’s not a sport, it’s a leisure activity.

    Begging the question, is a leisure activity a less valid use of time than a sport? Is one a subset of the other?

    Besides, given the OP didn’t mention the word “sport” maybe he doesn’t really care about that.

    October 3, 2015 at 12:56 pm #861019
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    Leviathan

    crikey wrote:The ‘sport’ is

    crikey wrote:
    The ‘sport’ is racing.
    It has to be or it’s not a sport, it’s a leisure activity.

    This is the delusion of Amateur racers, that Cat4 is on the way to being a top pro. Unless you are 16 then it is not a stepping stone and you being a ‘racer’ is not ‘taking it seriously’ you are Sunday league, you have already missed the boat.
    Sportives, Audaxes (Audaxi?) or your own challenges are just as valid. Some of the snobbery towards these and Strava actually puts people off racing.

    Try this for a challenge:
    http://www.marrakech-atlas-etape.com/

    October 3, 2015 at 11:09 am #861017
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    Quince

    Some people hunt pheasant
    Some people hunt pheasant ‘for sport’. Others hunt Strava KOMs. Others try to take down as many Sportives as they can. It’s a trivial matter of semantics. Or rather, pedantics.

    If you manage to get Sportives commonly known as ‘Leisure-Activitives’, I’ll happily concede that they do fall come under some wider definition of ‘sport’.

    October 3, 2015 at 10:57 am #861015
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    crikey

    The ‘sport’ is racing.
    It has
    The ‘sport’ is racing.
    It has to be or it’s not a sport, it’s a leisure activity.

    October 3, 2015 at 9:40 am #861013
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    Nat Jas Moe

    Using your commute is one
    Using your commute is one thing that some professionals have done in the past e.g. Matthew Stephens. He advocates making every ride count and used his rides to work as a training session. I took took this advice to heart as I have little spare time to do “training runs” every week as I have other commitments. But with this commute training I was able to move from 8.5 miles each way to 100 km rides without any difficulty ( in 4 hours) and 100 miles again without difficulty. So what I’m saying is keep up what your doing and just keep pushing to get quicker, better, faster with each and every ride. Oh and this sport is about doing what you like to do be it “racing”, which for me doesn’t appeal in the slightest, or sportives (a race against your self), which does appeal to me or audax, these appeal but have yet to do.

    October 2, 2015 at 9:50 pm #861011
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    Colin Peyresourde

    Also, what’s wrong with
    Also, what’s wrong with commuting? I used it as my training. Everyday is a chance to go at it. I can’t abide going slow. Pacing off from traffic lights and burning up the road. I advocate good road craft, but you can still get a great work out from it.

    October 2, 2015 at 9:42 pm #861009
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    Colin Peyresourde

    I’ve done LEJOG, Cingles and
    I’ve done LEJOG, Cingles and now the Marmotte. LEJOG was a great experience as you get to see what back to back tons do for you. I felt like I flourished and it is something that everyone can indentify with.

    The Cingles de Mont Ventoux was tough, and it was beautiful. You can choose when you do this and that can make that tougher or easier. It is iconic to say the least, and of course tough.

    But for me the Marmotte was EPIC to a level which the others weren’t. The tough part is that it’s placed mid-summer. 40 degree heat and Alpe D’Huez as the dessert course in all its reflective heat glory, acting like a giant solar radiator.

    Tough, a major achievement and a classic (la doyenne) of sportives.

    My goal next year is a Spring Classic Sportive.

    October 2, 2015 at 9:07 pm #861007
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    Daveyraveygravey

    “The sport is racing “?
    “The sport is racing “? Really? Careful, you might find life is better without your head up your arse

    October 2, 2015 at 8:27 pm #861005
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    crikey

    Racing.
    Messing about with
    Racing.

    Messing about with sportives is the equivalent of doing fun runs.
    The sport is racing be that crits, road races, cyclocross or track. You could try time trials, but racing is the real deal.

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