[Closed] Sportives = Golf

DO NOT FEED TO TROLL 😉

Guilty as charged.

But I'm happy.

So what?

As long as people are getting out there on bikes it's all good.

Just maybe they enjoy what they're doing...

Sporives ,all Rapha and niche carbon?

MTBing is a completely middle class sport as well. Full of middle aged men buying expensive toys to play with at the weekends. Sort of like Golf, but on a budget

I'm not middle class and my toys are cheap

MTBing is a completely middle class sport as well. Full of middle aged men buying expensive toys to play with at the weekends. Sort of like Golf, but on a budget

Edric 64 do you aspire to be middle class tho' 😆

Not quite related but saw 3 riders at the cafe today. All together on a ride. Two in livestrong kit, one in mellow johnny's, bikes set up wrong and everything mint.... including the I pods they were all wearing.

I pods .....

WTF !!!!

Yeah but golf is boring.

......so are sportives.

Err, what is a sportive?

No really, what are you guys on about?

S.

It's a ride not a race where you pay 30 quid or more to do someone elses idea of a good route and get timed

......so are sportives.

You're doing them wrong then 😉

you pay 30 quid or more

What sportives have you been doing? I've never paid more then £15, and that was a pricey one.

So is this a road biking thing?

15 quid is a cheap one then

Usually they're around a tenner..

I think that cfh is worried that as he's 50 and a bit chubby he couldn't ride one so has to put them down.

...and is rubbish at golf

Got a few mates that do sportives,none of them have felt the need to talk me through the entire event in minute detail as if I find it interesting.Nor do they feel the need to stand around when bored and pedal an imaginary bike so I guess it's not quite the same.

I love golf. One of the reasons I do is because it is so completely different from cycling and so involving that it's one of the few times I don't think about bikes.

I've never done a 'sportive' but I don't really see a valid comparison. There are people who will obsess about gear in any endeavour. I guess I'm guilty of that in cycling, definitely not with golf - my clubs are 20 years old.

Similarly though, whatever fancy gear you have what matters is the score on the card/time on the board (when you're doing either competitively).

Look at the facts;
Obsession with expensive kit
Obsession with one upmanship with regards to said kit
Obsession with tiny details of cadence/swing
Obsession with the whole thing taking over every tiny part of your life
Obsession with unnecessarily expensive and ugly clothing
etc. etc. etc.

See also [url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/forum/bike-chat ]here.[/url]

Obsession with tiny details of cadence/swing

To be fair, that's pretty crucial...

It is amusing that mtbers who wear 3/4 baggies, pink camo shirts and graffiti pisspot helmets, anything made by Oakley and obsess about the right type of anodising whilst riding a 6" travel bike down BKB before standing outside Peaslake PO and talk loudly about gears/ railing berms and what options they got on their Audi s-line can suggest this.

Look at the facts;
Obsession with expensive kit
Obsession with one upmanship with regards to said kit
Obsession with tiny details of cadence/swing
Obsession with the whole thing taking over every tiny part of your life
Obsession with unnecessarily expensive and ugly clothing
etc. etc. etc.

Made me laugh. The worst thing that could happen to golf is that a whole bunch of cyclists retire and hit the links. Then the comparison might hold good and golf might become the new cycling. Until that happens, I'd say that golfers are WAY less obsessed with the nuance of kit, brand, gadget and fettle - if half the threads on here are anything to go by. I can't think of a single debate in golfing circles that compares to, well let's reach for one handy example... the air/coil debate

I have done a few recently to get my fitness up. I run a Ribble Sportive Carbon (£400 frame) which I commute on and I have no spangly kit and proud of it and down ere' in Devon I did not see on the last sportive many bling bikes 🙂

i have no interest in either, but in true STW fashion i felt i should post on this thread anyway.

Is there any sport/pastime where folk are less obsessed about kit (than montainbiking)?

bare knuckle boxing?

Conkers?

Is there any sport/pastime where folk are less obsessed about kit (than montainbiking)?

F1?

I did a sportive a little while ago not expecting too much but I found it to be one of the best rides I have done. It was a nice casual day out meandering around a good route chatting to various groups of people about biking can't see whats not to like really a bit like being on here browsing bike related topics whilst being out on your bike!

Iain

+1 Iain - I spend most of my time on my MTB but I like mixing it up a little - keeps it fresh 🙂

I like sportives. They're good.

I like golf too......I dont know any golfers that are obsessed with the kit, clothing.

This thread is bull.

Do we have to criticise everything?

I did a sportive once, it was fun. I have also played golf, that was quite fun too.

Don't recognise any of these being involved though

Obsession with expensive kit
Obsession with one upmanship with regards to said kit
Obsession with tiny details of cadence/swing
Obsession with the whole thing taking over every tiny part of your life
Obsession with unnecessarily expensive and ugly clothing

grum - Member

I did a sportive once, it was fun. I have also played golf, that was quite fun too.

Don't recognise any of these being involved though

Obsession with expensive kit
Obsession with one upmanship with regards to said kit
Obsession with tiny details of cadence/swing
Obsession with the whole thing taking over every tiny part of your life
Obsession with unnecessarily expensive and ugly clothing

Then you were clearly doing them wrong, better have another go and do it right next time.

All forms of cycling seem to have a share of the “unnecessarily Worried about Kit” contingent, Most sports do in fact…

I shouldn’t let it worry you, these people have always, and will always exist.
You may view them as wasteful tossers but they do play a big part in their own way to help keep various sports alive, by paying top dollar for their DH bike/9-Iron/Kayak/Street luge/long board/Yacht/Snowboard, etc and promptly loosing interest and allowing the rest of us to benefit from their folly via ebay…

Thus the great circle is complete…

Dunno about sportives in particular (I think they are just the most accessible/well advertised of the group rides/races/whatever out there) but road cycling is certainly the new golf - I've never had so many middle managers ask me about getting kitted out as I have this year.

MTBs were for a while 5 years back too. Now I barely see anyone on one (hehe).

On the plus side, I'm hoping to replace my aging OCR next year with some cheap barely used second hand carbon bling 😀

Golf and Cricket bore the $hite out of me and I'll take it up when I'm 90 and can't ride.

Sportives are not easy although I'm getting fed up of having to enter one year earlier the sportives I normally do as everyone' is taking up riding.

I'm joining a small riding team soon and we'll be training pretty hard so thankfully it'll divide me from common man sportives and enter the Tour series possibly.

Maybe they should do Gold licence sportives only 😆

And its funny as hell to beat people with 5 grand bikes on my winter roadbike-the look on their face when they see Tiagra shifters and their 6.5 Madones with Dura Ace won't make you faster fat boy.

Oh and I'm saving for a top end road bike now... 😳

I'be done a few sportives, but I certainly wouldn't say I was in any way obsessed by them or cycling in general. I love riding bikes, I do it as much as I can but I put other things, like family, first.

Obsession with expensive kit - [b]I like nice kit but doesn't everyone.[/b]

Obsession with one upmanship with regards to said kit - [b]couldn't care less what other people use[/b]

Obsession with tiny details of cadence/swing - [b]nope, nor hr, etc[/b]

Obsession with the whole thing taking over every tiny part of your life - [b]not at all[/b]

Obsession with unnecessarily expensive and ugly clothing - [b]one mans ugly is another mans nice, who cares really[/b]

Odd post this, not sure what you're trying to say. Some people get obsessed with things and some don't.