How to ride a UK cyclosportive
Riders tackle a hill in the 2007 Highclere Castle Victor Ludorum Challenge (Britain By Bicycle)
They’re long, hard, hilly and, all of a sudden, very
popular. We’re talking about
It’s not too hard to see why sportives are so popular. For starters, they’re as hard or as easy as the participant desires. Some riders will be looking for an element of competition, perhaps by signing up with a bunch of mates for a burn up, or trying to be in the first or fastest group to finish.
Others, who might find road racing a little strenuous or elitist, can ride at a steadier pace and still enjoy the sensations of an organised bash.
If this sounds a bit like an audax ride, it’s not. Audax events are strictly noncompetitive and apply a maximum speed limit (or minimum time, which amounts to the same thing). Participants aren’t given an individual finishing time; nor is there any mention of results beyond the fact of finishing within the time limits.
If there is one factor that distinguishes a true cyclosportive from an audax event, it’s the timing chip. This enables the organiser to publish results in considerable detail, and also means that an event can either be run with a start ‘à la Française’, that is to say at the rider’s discretion, or with a mass start.
The majority of
Where to find sportives
Probably the oldest
Cyclists wanting a ride around equally beautiful mountain
scenery in the north of
Further south, the Circuit of the Cotswolds and Tour of Wessex cover less
mountainous but somehow equally exhausting terrain, while the Autumn Epic in
mid
Perhaps a little easier
is the
Dragon Ride in
What are you getting for your money and hard labour? Besides an evocative but mildly absurd title, they all have a website these days, which will have all the relevant information including stuff such as the date of the event, registration opening date, event distance (or distances where more than one is on offer), entry fee, headquarters and contact details. There should also be some indication of the route to be followed.
Since difficulty is one of the main attractions, most events go out of their way to extol the hilly nature of their particular route.
This can be as easily off-putting as enticing, but don’t be deterred by an apparently Alpine route profile. Even the hardest ride has as much descending as climbing. Entrants can expect free refreshment stops at regular intervals, plus some kind of post-ride nosh up.
Some events publish a simple list of finishers and their times on the website, but there is a growing tendency to list intermediate times and even the time taken to ascend whatever is thought to be the hardest climb on the route.
The experience
For the first timer, riding a sportive can be an intimidating experience. There’s the usual business of parking on arrival, signing on, finding team-mates, pinning numbers to backs, checking bikes, fitting the timing chip to either bike or rider and then, supposing your event is the Dragon Ride, finding the correct numbered pen for the staggered start.
After a seemingly endless
wait of about 10 minutes, you’re away. You soon find yourself on flattish roads
leading towards
This stops suddenly as the route turns inwards through Cwmafan, where the first decent climb presents a serious obstacle. The quicker climbers are already pulling a gap, but there’s a long way to go and you take it steady to the top.
A short descent and there’s another sharp climb; by now you have settled in with a group of riders who are climbing at about the same speed, and you rocket down the hill into Neath together. Turning right, you can see a group perhaps 200m ahead on the long, straight, flattish road along the Vale of Neath. Someone decides to give chase, and soon you are spinning at 40kph.
From time to time one of the headbangers on the front peels off, leaving another to take the wind. You stay at the back, wary of expending too much effort so early on and happy to allow others to do the hard work. There’s a feed at Glyn Neath; everyone pulls over, grabbing bananas, dried fruit and biscuits, and looking for water to refill bottles.
Taking your time, you are last to leave, just as the next group rolls up. Within a few hundred metres, the route turns left, and begins a long, surprisingly steep ascent.
Riders from your group can be seen strewn everywhere, each desperate not to lose too much time by the top. You catch and pass several, rejoining a small bunch at the top. Shelter again, but is that the first hint of fatigue nagging away at the quads? You’ve not even gone a quarter of the way yet…
Getting started
Sounds like fun? The first step to riding a
Perhaps the best source of information on the
Once you’ve selected a number of possibilities, get entering – fast. These events fill up very quickly once the entries open. Entry is normally through the event website, and straightforward enough provided you have web access. Once in, all you have to worry about is the ride – and details such as accommodation if it is a long way from home.
That said, the preparation put in prior to the event will have a major impact on your enjoyment. As ever, the more you put in, the more you will get out. There are two absolute requirements: a reliable bicycle, and adequate fitness.
Every year, a fair percentage of the entrants to the Etape du Tour fail to finish through lack of fitness. For sure, the Etape is always an exceptionally arduous ride, but that is all the more reason not to underestimate its demands.
British sportives, while mostly a little less mountainous, can be comparably difficult. There tends to be a lot of little climbs, many of them steep, and these can sap strength as effectively as any mountain. Besides, an eight-hour sportive ride takes some doing, whether it takes place in Blighty or on the Continent.
Take your training seriously. That may mean getting a coach, especially if you are new to cycling and unsure of how to get to a good level. At the very least, consider buying a heart rate monitor and cycle training manual.
It is hard to give a specific target for fitness, but if you can cover 160km (100 miles) in under seven hours on normal roads you’ll get round a sportive.
Pacing is vital; don’t be tempted to chase faster riders early on. For the first three hours, take it steady; when they are up, you can consider riding harder if you have the legs.
Make sure you eat and drink steadily and regularly throughout the ride; don’t be tempted to skip a feed stop to save time.
And speaking of time, you’d better enter now for this summer.
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