[Closed] Wiggle sportives - any good?

£35 for a bit of water and a chocolate bar 😀

Did one with the father in law last year. First sportive so i've nothing to compare it to.

Was well organised, route was marked and made it a doddle, plenty of free stuff. A few food stops that were very well stocked. I enjoyed it and reckon I'll do another.

Ha - when you put it like that...

For me it's the signing up for an event - this means it's in the diary and is then something to train/keep putting the miles in for. Yes I could do that same ride on the same open roads...but I just wouldn't. Events serve their purpose well in this respect as far as I'm concerned.

plenty of free stuff

No you have paid for your free stuff already in advance.

Events serve their purpose well in this respect as far as I'm concerned.

I think this is why they prove so popular, and fair enough too.

Also - anyone done an audax? They seem to be big miles at a fraction of the price? How does a £35 100 mile sportive differ from a sub-£10 100 mile audax?

plenty of free stuff
No you have paid for your free stuff already in advance.

I have done 5 or 6 and they are mostly good.

Yes you could ride the same roads for free on any other day of the year and it is a lot of money for some flapjack and high5 powder...

..but it means I will actually turn up and do the ride because I have booked and paid and not end up doing DIY or a family related activity as I normally do on weekends.

It also means you get to cycle some different roads without having to think too much, you just follow the arrows, gets fed and watered at the right times and if it all goes badly, you get some first aid and a lift back to your car.

rascal - Member
Also - anyone done an audax? They seem to be big miles at a fraction of the price? How does a £35 100 mile sportive differ from a sub-£10 100 mile audax?

you don't get herds of cyclists at an audax although you can get small groups forming, you don't get feed stops with out of date energy-bars and bits of banana although the control points are often cafes where you can get proper food, the money saved on a sportive entry fee buys a lot of beans on toast and cake, the routes aren't signposted but you do get a route sheet and often a GPX file so a level of self-reliance is required, they tend not to turn out to be faux-races like sportives can although that doesn't mean riders are slow, the level of roadcraft is generally significantly higher

No you have paid for your free stuff already in advance.

I volunteered to help out at registration and did it for free. Well, i paid with my time. Saying that, I would pay with cash monies if in an area i've never ridden. All the other riders were cheery, made for a fun afternoon.

I would say steer clear of any cola flavoured gels you are offered, was what i imagine licking a dogs bum hole would taste like.

..but it means I will actually turn up and do the ride because I have booked and paid and not end up doing DIY or a family related activity as I normally do on weekends.

It also means you get to cycle some different roads without having to think too much, you just follow the arrows, gets fed and watered at the right times and if it all goes badly, you get some first aid and a lift back to your car.

I would say steer clear of any cola flavoured gels you are offered, was what i imagine licking a dogs bum hole would taste like.

Evening bump

Also - anyone done an audax? They seem to be big miles at a fraction of the price? How does a £35 100 mile sportive differ from a sub-£10 100 mile audax?

Audaxes are great. Much less organised (not less well-organised, but less stuff - no feed stations, no route signposting etc) than sportives, but usually interesting routes if you're happy finding your own way (Garmin!) and they're a friendly bunch. Plenty of folk on here have done them I'm sure.

And if I could just take this opportunity to put in a cheeky plug for our own sportive series. It's way smaller in scale than the Wiggle ones, but we think (and riders who came last year seem to agree) that the routes, organisation, and our feed stations are pretty good. Certainly not just out-of-date energy bars and bananas - lots of home-made goodies and a variety of different food, plus some hot stuff at the end, usually. Details online at www.drovercycles.co.uk/events if anyone cares to take a look.

They're far from flat, mind, especially our June everesting challenge on Gospel Pass...

I've done quite a few audax's over the last three years and I much prefer them to sportives. They are usually 200k+ which is worth getting out of bed for. Met some proper characters over the few events I have done. Audax feels very different.
You can't beat beans on toast at some old dears house in the middle of nowhere.

Sportive = folks pretending to race
Audax = folks pretending not to race

In my experience of Wiggle sportives they are up there with the best run sportives in the UK. All I've done have been well organised, well signed and had good feedstops.

I did the Wiggle Magnificat last summer. Very well organised sign on and start. Well signed and good choice of route and the food stops were very well stocked. Not cheap though but my mate wanted to do it and I could ride to the start.
Have done a few audaxes too, cheap wrll run but I paid out for my food in the cafes so doubt the overall cost is much different. Less of an event as far fewer people will be doing it. The odd Sportive I enjoy doing for riding a route with lots of people, audaxes w you really may as well just go for a ride on your own.

I'm fairly sure the different between an audax and a sportive is that it's ok to tell people you did an audax?

*turns petty sportive snobbery off*

I fancy a couple of them, the Moors & Shores one and Peak District Pioneer, anyone done either?

I like the sound of the 'vibe' - the MMH was good with there being so many doing it.
Just booked the Arrow on 6th May so have my first 'ton' to look forward to 🙂

Did an offroad one, filled my pockets with jelly beans.

Sportive = folks pretending to race
Audax = folks pretending not to race

I like that! Spot on.

You wont see many Sky kit ensembles on a Audax. You will meet some great (some interesting?) riders who just love to be out on their bikes.

Been wanting to do a century ride for a while so just went to sign up for the New Forest one in September to give me something to aim for. When you click through from the £32 link on UK cycling events page it's still £35 on Wiggle. Obviously I'm outraged with the extra £3 and refuse to pay it, any idea what's up?

Hi,

Did the peak pioneer a few years ago, very well organised good feed stations but the route is pretty rubbish, 10% good trails, 30% road and the rest the high peak, tissington and manifold trails.

Have spent a fair few weekend with the kids on those trials, you'd have to pay me to ride them now.

As ever on a sportive thread. You get loads of people recommending audaxes. This is despite the tiny number of people who actually do audaxes. Less than 10,000 starts a year I believe.

Yes, yes, but what about my £3?

As ever on a sportive thread. You get loads of people recommending audaxes. This is despite the tiny number of people who actually do audaxes. Less than 10,000 starts a year I believe.

Well, the OP asked about them, and people responded. That's sort of how 'conversation' works?

Are you saying that because 'not many people' do them, the people on this thread are therefore lying?

I don't ride audaxes or sportives for the record, I'm just a snob. 🙂

I have a mental blank with written route instructions - I just lose interest and focus before the end of each line making me a liability. Give me a map and I'm 'at one' with the terrain in a jiffy; give me a list at sign on of 'ride north 6 miles then 2nd junction on the right after the Farmer's Arms' and I get myself irretrievably lost after a couple of lines. The snag with the ones I did was there were elements of the written instructions you couldn't necessarily know from looking at the map to copy across a route and have a map to follow - just these stupid instructions that you were constantly fishing out of your pocket before they completely fell apart in the wet unless you were prepared to put a daft clipboard on your handlebars.

The tech has improved out of all recognition since I last did an Audax so now I might be 'Audax literate'!

The Wiggle sportives that I did last year were very well organized and I probably ate my £25 entry fees back at the excellent food stations.

I entered them purely as a means to get away from home and do guided rides in new areas.

I've recently found out about audax's so will be doing a few of those this year for the same reasons.
I have absolutely no interest in racing or times, I didn't even look at the placing on the website after the events.

I did a gravel one last year. Very well planned, sign-posted, great feed stations.

What took the shine off was I rode the identical route the day before to reccy it, for free, with less traffic to wade through.

If you do want a sportive, they are probably the ones to go for. Honestly, now I just steal their gpx as the routes are good if you don't know the area

flaps - Member
I fancy a couple of them, the Moors & Shores one and Peak District Pioneer, anyone done either?

Yes, PDP. It was good fun. A few testing hills. A fair bit of road sections so up the tyre pressure from normal CX pressure. Perfectly possible and quieter just to follow the route on another day

I rode the Isle of Wight one a few years ago when Wiggle were just getting started. Very well organised including dishing out almost unlimited spare tubes due to wet flinty roads (median puncture count was about four!!).

I they get you out to ride, all good. I took teen2 on another, turned up with road bike on the second day when it was of road. Rode the rout by gpx was welcomed back with the same fanfare.

Evans Ride it publish their maps before the event, and Strava makes it easy to upload for training.

I have a mental blank with written route instructions - I just lose interest and focus before the end of each line making me a liability. Give me a map and I'm 'at one' with the terrain in a jiffy; give me a list at sign on of 'ride north 6 miles then 2nd junction on the right after the Farmer's Arms' and I get myself irretrievably lost after a couple of lines. The snag with the ones I did was there were elements of the written instructions you couldn't necessarily know from looking at the map to copy across a route and have a map to follow - just these stupid instructions that you were constantly fishing out of your pocket before they completely fell apart in the wet unless you were prepared to put a daft clipboard on your handlebars.

The tech has improved out of all recognition since I last did an Audax so now I might be 'Audax literate'!

You'll meet people like this on Wiggle Sportives

"Yes you could ride the same roads for free on any other day of the year and it is a lot of money for some flapjack and high5 powder..."

You can ride the same roads for free on the same day. Obviously you wouldn't collect a 'free' T shirt or make use of the food stops, but the signs are visible to all.