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Given recent discussions on here about people treating sportives like races, this made me chuckle.
I rode the Tour De Mon sportive yesterday. Although I am fully aware it was not a race and the majority of riders wouldn't be pushing hard, I wanted to see how I compared to other entrants. The fastest guy was a fair bit faster than anyone else, so I did a quick Google of him and found this:
[url= https://twitter.com/OliDuggan/status/767421251937763328 ]Fastest at the Tour De Mon[/url]
Beat him by 1 second on the Flying Mile timed section though (the only bit that was supposed to be competitive!) 😛
Good grief. What a bellend.
I've politely asked him if he is aware that it wasn't a race. We'll see if there is any reaction.
Bet he has a firm handshake.
Tweets about himself in the third person as well.
Probably got an invite to a Middle Class Dinner Party
You [i]are[/i] aware that many sportives have winners podiums, publish a top 3 etc?
Here are the winners (male and female) from the Etape Loch Ness 2016.
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Does anyone here want to dispute this with Lee Craigie?
Tour De Mon sportive
Was this a race in the UK?
On a bit of a tangent, why do roadies also feel the need to hashtag every bit of kit they've used as well? Its all a bit.... you know...
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You've only been out for a ride, you cockwomble!
[quote=binners ]On a bit of a tangent, why do [s]roadies[/s][b]some people[/b] also feel the need to hashtag every bit of kit they've used as well? Its all a bit.... you know...
So they get re-tweeted by the manufacturers, innit.
Bet he is quaking in his Rapha loafers this morning knowing he has offended the STW Sportive police. It's amazing that some people are actually trying to ride the course in the fastest time they can, I know some will take pride in number of cake stops they had but others do actually like to push themselves.
but anyway not sleeping well so let's have a full on self righteous thread
Sorry, podium or not, it's not a race.
Plus, I don't get why you'd treat a sportive as a race, if you want to race go and enter a local crit or do the local club TT. That way you know the people you beat are actually racing and not just on a nice ride out.
if you want to race go and enter a local crit or do the local club TT.
Because a crit looks like a great way to break some bones or a bike and a TT is probably along a dual carriageway for 10 or 20 miles, maybe there is demand for long closed course road races? Maybe if they were them instead of sportives then people would race them.
Bet he is quaking in his Rapha loafers this morning knowing he has offended the STW Sportive police. It's amazing that some people are actually trying to ride the course in the fastest time they can, I know some will take pride in number of cake stops they had but others do actually like to push themselves.but anyway not sleeping well so let's have a full on self righteous thread
+1
Woe betide anyone that rides fast in a sportive. Or enters a sportive, for that matter.
Sorry, podium or not, it's not a race.Plus, I don't get why you'd treat a sportive as a race, if you want to race go and enter a local crit or do the local club TT. That way you know the people you beat are actually racing and not just on a nice ride out.
Why? Why can't you ride a course and try to do as quick as you can? Sure it may not be a serious as 'proper' racing but why does it bother you?
So they get re-tweeted by the manufacturers, innit.
Aha. So just an exercise in self-absorbed narcissism then? So they can [s]shoe-horn[/s] causally drop it into conversation... "yeah... Rapha retweeted my Tweet about my Strava times..."
I think I'm getting a fuller picture of the kind of person we're talking about here 🙂
Aha. So just an exercise in self-absorbed narcissism then?
Depends if you paid for the shoes or not, just some good advertising 😉
[troll]Isn't sportive winners a Rapha target market 😉 😉 [/troll]
Deep down all these people that push themselves as hard as they can in sportives (and brag about the results,thats the key here isn't it)know that half the people they beat were just pootling along and could have beaten them in an actual race,and because of that they hate themselves and drive their audis in a much to aggressive manner on the motorways.You ok huns?
Aha. So just an exercise in self-absorbed narcissism then? So they can shoe-horn causally drop it into conversation... "yeah... Rapha retweeted my Tweet about my Strava times..."
I think its more in the hope they get sponsored by said manufactures Binners..
There are people that Blagtag everything on twitter.
scotroutes - Member
You are aware that many sportives have winners podiums, publish a top 3 etc?Here are the winners (male and female) from the Etape Loch Ness 2016
It's still not a race 😉
My 2 cents
Sportivs are treated as races by many
Strava KOMs anyone ?
Journalism has an element (cult) of individuality flamed by "bylines", getting the scoop and taken to another level via Social Media
[quote=mikey3 ]Deep down all these people that push themselves as hard as they can in [s]sportives[/s][b]The London Marathon[/b] (and brag about the results,thats the key here isn't it)know that half the people they beat were just pootling along .......
Won the #CommuteIntoWork today. Attacked early at the traffic lights outside the post office and maintained the lead to all the way into the Industrial Estate. Arrived at 07:52.
Thanks @FordS-Max @TescoPFS @George@Asda
Why? Why can't you ride a course and try to do as quick as you can? Sure it may not be a serious as 'proper' racing but why does it bother you?
Of course you can ride it as quickly as possible, that's exactly what you should do.
But riding as fast as you can does not mean you're racing it. In truth, it was the word "attack" in the Tweet that annoyed me. You attack a bunch in a race, not a sportive.
You are aware that many sportives have winners podiums, publish a top 3 etc?Here are the winners (male and female) from the Etape Loch Ness 2016.
Indeed, but not this one. The organisers repeatedly announced that this was not a race, and published times were not sortable by completion time (I had to paste into Excel to work out the "rankings"). Also, the Etape Loch Ness that you cite as an example is ridden on closed roads, so at least "competitors" experience the same road conditions without traffic or traffic lights.
Bet he is quaking in his Rapha loafers this morning knowing he has offended the STW Sportive police. It's amazing that some people are actually trying to ride the course in the fastest time they can, I know some will take pride in number of cake stops they had but others do actually like to push themselves.
Nothing wrong whatsoever with trying to ride the course in the fastest time they can - I did exactly that. All credit to him, he is pretty rapid - certainly a good deal faster than I am. However, while I did check my position I am well aware that a large percentage of entrants, both slower and faster than I, were not treating the event in the same way and as such any comparisons, apart from those against personal goals, are completely meaningless. For example "lead for 173km" is completely meaningless given that he set off in the first wave.
I think its more in the hope they get sponsored by said manufactures Binners.
or they're already sponsored/supported. In the case of the guy from the Guardian he might have been given/lent some of the kit he was riding/wearing/training with.
You'll notice he's tweeted "Thanks @rapha @sartoframes @wattbike" which suggests he's merely being polite and thanking people 😉
I agree 'attacked' is a bit over the top in a sportive but an impressive time nonetheless. A lap of Anglesey isn't easy.
Good on him for pushing himself and getting a respectable time (possibly, I didn't actually check). If this inspires him to try a real race, good on him.
Those who say "enter a real race" do seem a bit blind to the huge jump from taking part in something like a sportive to actual racing. Some of the lads in our club have just started racing this year, so starting at the bottom as expected. They're not exactly wiping the floor with the competition, but they will demolish me just on a friendly club ride given the chance. Do you think that encourages me to enter "a proper race"? Absolutely not. I've only this last couple of years plucked up courage to do a 5 mile TT and our local hill climb event!
I do think there is a market for racing for numpties without the very real risk of numpties racing in a group. Until that market is served, sportives will fill the void.
If all the people at the front are treating it as a race, then getting over the line first is as difficult as winning a race?
I think it's the fact that he "attacked" a bunch of people who were essentially out for a Sunday bimble that makes him a chump.
If all the people at the front are treating it as a race, then getting over the line first is as difficult as winning a race?
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I suspect he set off in the first wave with a group of people who were trying to be faster than each other.
That's certainly been my past experience of sportives - loads of people trying to get to the finish and small groups here and there trying to go faster than each other.
At least if you're not very fast you can say 'ahh but it's not a race' on an Internet forum later on 🙂
There are people that [b]Blagtag [/b]everything on twitter.
nice word.. i'll add.
BragTag? #my_shits_better_than_yours #£££ #conspicious_consumption #money_cant_by_mad_skillz
Hang on, "lead for 173k" - website says the longest route was only 107 miles, ie 172km...so with a bit of rounding error presumably he "went from the gun", if I may borrow terminology from a proper race*. Hardly his fault if the opposition couldn't get it together to organise a chase behind him 😉
*which this isn't.
What a whammer.
Is there much singletrack on this sportive?
If no, who gives a ****.
173km in the wind, off the front, is bloody impressive (especially considering he obviously added in some bonus miles to make it harder). Someone should tweet Tony Martin his details so he can get some tips
#Wonders #if #I #could #redub the #Four #Yorkshiremen into the [b]##STWSportiveGrumpies[/b]
@Rapha #seriousface
So from British Cycling
[i] What is a Sportive?Many people mis-interpret what a sportive is. Sportives are personal challenge rides allowing you to test your legs without the hassle of having to plan a route yourself. Routes usually range from 20 to 100+ miles, with events running more or less every weekend up and down the country.
Read more at https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/sportives/article/sp20141029--Get-into-sportives-0#c88ZbxIRReFQtGGK.99 [/i]
Seems to indicate to me that is a personal challenge, so how can you beat someone if their own challenge was to get round in say 10 hours or support someone ride their first sportive following illness, that is their personal challenge different playing fields.
So if he had written great event set myself a target of ..... just got it thanks to....
Sp its not a race, he did not win, but hopefully he had a grand day out!
P's cockwomble.....the term disturbs me having grown up watching g the wombles, I have no recollection of them doing sportive....have I missed something
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Won the #CommuteIntoWork today. Attacked early at the traffic lights outside the post office and maintained the lead to all the way into the Industrial Estate. Arrived at 07:52.
Thanks @FordS-Max @TescoPFS @George@Asda
Oi! Don't you dare disrespect commuter racers,that's where the real [s]Strava[/s] battles are won and lost 😉
Because a crit looks like a great way to break some bones or a bike and a TT is probably along a dual carriageway for 10 or 20 miles, maybe there is demand for long closed course road races? Maybe if they were them instead of sportives then people would race them.
Plenty on the BC website, any road race on public roads will be with rolling closures. the difference being, if you get dropped then you're on your own with the traffic.
Irreverent through, most sportive aren't closed roads, although the shear number of riders can make it feel like it.
Tweets about himself in the third person as well.
No he doesn't. He had another person tweet updates during his attack, obviously he couldn't pull over to tweet. All tweets that were sent whist not attacking the bunch are written in the first person.
@mikewsmith - I think you'll find that real mean Strava their sportive
Can I just point out that one of the problems of 'stepping up' from sportives to real races is that on real races most of the courses are crap. Laps and laps of back lanes that are cheap and easy to marshal.
where as we get this coming 🙂
http://letapeaustralia.com/
If I'd been riding a bit more regular I'd be giving it a go, closed roads, sprints, summits I might make the Strava private
Is there much singletrack on this sportive?If no, who gives a ****.
Samcheese endorses this post.
Does it matter if some people approach sportives competitively?
Serious question. How does it harm anyone?
The Guardian fella seems a bit pompous, but the same could be said for plenty of the posters on here eh?
As has been pointed out many times already, the problem is that sportives and races are very different beasts, and sportive organisers are often deliberately woolly about the distinction, despite the small print stating "this is not a race".
Races have to satisfy a number of requirements which sportives circumvent by classifying themselves as "timed challenges" (e.g. restricted fields, specific insurance, police approval, race specific risk assessment, marshalls, commissaires, lead cars, etc).
There's nothing wrong with Sportives per se, but a lot of hard work has gone into maintaining the right to race in the UK, and there's a risk of compromising that if you blur the distinction between competitive and non competitive events.
Also interesting to note there is of course no requirement for drug testing in UK Sportives. A couple of riders in the US Grand Fondo were actually busted for EPO, because it was part of the UCI world sportive series, and therefore subject to testing.
Doesn't matter in the slightest - just found it amusing, especially in the light of recent discussions on here. Doesn't harm anyone at all, especially given he was first off the line and rode it solo - i.e. there was no possibility of him riding like a bell end and causing issues with other riders like some sportive heroes that I've come across.
As I said before, it was an impressive time and all credit is due to him, but the choice of language to describe his achievement is laughable (you'd hope for better given his job title!).
"Sorry, podium or not, it's not a race.
Plus, I don't get why you'd treat a sportive as a race, if you want to race go and enter a local crit or do the local club TT. That way you know the people you beat are actually racing and not just on a nice ride out."
Totally this. Thinking your Peter Sagan when all your actually doing is going for a ride with people on hybrids, MTBs etc that's not a race.
Because a crit looks like a great way to break some bones
Assuming you're referring to the likelihood of other riders taking you out, more likely in a sportive in my experience.... (EDIT, maybe that's why our hero chose to go off the front, to avoid riding with all the choppers...)
No he doesn't. He had another person tweet updates during his attack, obviously he couldn't pull over to tweet. All tweets that were sent whist not attacking the bunch are written in the first person.
Getting someone to live tweet your sportive position is even worse
more likely in a sportive in my experience....
Dunno I prefer to get off the front 😉 Mind you the only Crits I've seen were serious ones.
The real serious question we need answered was if the latte was up to scratch
Is there any evidence of this Blagtagging actually working in procuring free stuff? It's just that I've noticed that it seems to have become endemic with a certain type of person. And ...erm .....how can I put this diplomatically?.... none are potential Tour winners
[quote=binners ]Is there any evidence of this Blagtagging actually working in procuring free stuff? A certain purveyor of bikepacking luggage seems to have made an industry of it 🙂 I can think of a couple of contributors to this forum that have obtained cheaper kit on the basis that they tag/blog about it.
Getting someone to live tweet your sportive position is even worse
[url= http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/olympics/secret-revealed-dan-craven-managed-tweet-olympic-road-race-272358 ]He's just copying what real pros do in real races. [/url]
No idea but a lot of people get things at less than cost for a variety of reasons and people choose to thank them. Others are just getting on trend. In his tweet he is actually thanking them, being a media guy you would probably be safe to assume that he was given some stuff along the way much like the FGF in STW.
Thanking the guys who gave you stuff is nice and polite 😉
Is it just me that is envisaging him lining up at the start with blue facepaint applied before commencing his 'attack' by screaming incoherantly and charging into a group of recreational riders while weilding his Sarto like a claymore?
Whatever turns you on mate 😆
Is it just me that is envisaging him lining up at the start with blue facepaint applied before commencing his 'attack' by screaming incoherantly and charging into a group of recreational riders while weilding his Sarto like a claymore?
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Bound to be one of the Guardian Blairites,just wait till Momentum find out.JC seems more like an Audax kinda guy to me.
You roadies are all weird 😕
binners - Member
You roadies are all weird @Gregs #SteakBake
FIFY
What a bellend. For the tone of the tweet more than anything else.
Because a crit looks like a great way to break some bones or a bike and a TT is probably along a dual carriageway for 10 or 20 miles,
Maybe that incorrect view is what drives people to sportives.
Crits really not that bad, even in the cat 4's. Crashes do happen, but people also crash (frequently) at sportives!
Time trialling. I'm down south and there's maybe a handful of fast dual carriageway courses within about an hour's drive, but there's dozens of small B road sporting courses on which most club events are held.
Can't be an audaxer. No mudguards.
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#aeroshellsuit #sweatshopnikes
Have you ever met a tricyclist? Be prepared to redefine the word weird.You roadies are all weird
Maybe that incorrect view is what drives people to sportives.
Fair enough, maybe there is a bit of both, TT is a special bike and all of that and when I was up north it tended to be on the long good A roads with roundabouts. Just never really looked appealing. Crits are just laps though and as much fun as laps are point to point is nicer idea or at least a big out there loop.
The gap in the market is there mostly due to as pointed out the difference in rules for having a sportive on roads and having a race. Hence you can have loads of big sportive/races if you remember to wink after saying it's not a race.
[i]Sportive, Isn't that like a fun-run on your bike?[/i]
Instantly destroys the ego of the sportive bragger in seconds if dropped into conversation while they're trying to show off.
* not a sportive hater, I ride them sometimes, they're great fun on good routes.
Sportive, Isn't that like a fun-run on your bike?
That is magnificent, I'll use that.
maybe there is demand for long closed course road races?
This.
Sportives might not officially be races, but to many they are races.
I did one, I stopped racing when it became obvious I would need all my concentration to simply stay on my bike given how bodies were on the ground. For a while I thought there were snipers.
The response to his behaviour is a lovely example of a British cultural/characteristic trait.
His behaviour hasn't actually affected anyone and those on the sportive would have been none the wiser of him upfront...but since we know he's strayed slightly out of the 'rules' lots of people are tutting and being quite derogatory of his character...e.g.calling him a bell end.
IMo...why care about how one person behaved since no harm done. 😀
Crits are just laps though and as much fun as laps are point to point is nicer idea or at least a big out there loop.
Depends if you're there to race or there to ride.
If it's to ride, then why pay £40 to follow some dayglow arrows. There must be hundreds of £10 guideboks packed with routes for those not adventurous enough to just set off and get lost. Ditto Audax is only a fiver usually (and the witticism, a sportive is a load of cyclists pretending it's a race, an audax is a load of cyclists pretending it isn't).
If it's to race, then a crit makes prefect sense, the result will be a bunch sprint anyway, and if you have a mechanical you can stop, fix it, and rejoin the race when it next passes.
Big sportive yesterday past my house in the Cotswolds. I live on a tasty hill and turning out of my drive I was faced with 20 gel boys covering whole road, cue squealing carbon....the other 200 or so riders we encountered were all very friendly, waving to the kids, pulling over on the lanes. Great day out on some good roads.
I have to # as its part of sponsorship. If they're as generous as mine you tag! It's all in the deal. #irideenve
If it's to ride, then why pay £40 to follow some dayglow arrows
But you get a MEDAL!
...but since we know he's strayed slightly out of the 'rules' lots of people are tutting and being quite derogatory of his character...e.g.calling him a bell end.
You say this like its a bad thing? We know what happens when we stop tutting and calling people bell ends for this kind of behavior.
Its called America.
I that what you want? [b]IS IT?!!![/b]
He's wearing a suit for his twitter account photo, he wears lycra and most importantly - he's a journalist - that's all the evidence that I need.
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😀
All these "No Harm Done" comments.
Yeah, until someone on the event has a bad accident and the insurance is void thanks to the national press (or it's representatives) screaming out about their "race".
Well he tagged "@****tbike" wrong anyway. The idiot.scotroutes - Member
binners » Is there any evidence of this Blagtagging actually working in procuring free stuff?A certain purveyor of bikepacking luggage seems to have made an industry of it I can think of a couple of contributors to this forum that have obtained cheaper kit on the basis that they tag/blog about it.
Sportive, Isn't that like a fun-run on your bike?
Totally using this too. Mind you you should see how competitive the 2 mile boxing day fun run back in my parents' village is. My wife has been first woman two years running and is training hard for the hat trick!