Entered my first Sportive - ok on a Gravel Bike?

I’m happy doing 40 miles on the bike at the moment, and I’m going to change the tyres to something more road friendly

You'll smash it mate, and I'm sure you'll overtake a lot of people on road bikes.

Diverge is very much at the road end of gravel, so with fast tyres it'll be great

You'll be fine, the sportives I do generally have a good mix of people and bike. There will be people who shoot off at the start aiming to get back as quickly as possible but lots of riders are just there to get out on two wheels. Main thing is to enjoy yourself

Cheers. Cumbria in November....horizontal rain or blowing a hoolie. 🙂

As above - I did my first Sportive on my HT e-bike. Velo 29 Winter Warm Up medium which was about 85k. It was great, total mix of riders. I was with my club who all had road bikes! 😂

Sounds like a good idea...I reckon you'll be absolutely fine. If you do decide to change the tyres then you'll be even finer...enjoy it.

My CX bike isn't much slower with it's gravel tyres than my road bikes, but has the added advantage of much better climbing gears, and is far better for back lanes full of mud and grit.

If you're really not sure about the distance just pace yourself, I shocked myself by doing my first 200km Audax recently (total distance worked out 235km) and legs still felt great at the end, just because I was ultra careful to pace it at the start.

Easier said than done of course in the excitement of a big group, lots of other riders around etc.

Oh, and I did it on my steel gravel bike but fitted 30mm road tyres, was grand.

Op - just think that you have bought a bike based on marketing BS and that if it appeared in a brochure tomorrow as the best road bike ever it would be ideal for your road ride 🙂

Just change the tyres to something faster

I've done plenty of long road rides on my gravel bike. It's marginally slower than my road bike but also a lot more capable if the roads are shit!

You'll be fine, there'll be a mix of people on all sorts of bikes. Personally, I'm not sure I'd even bother changing tyres, especially if they set up tubeless.

Edit: having looked at the route, I'd be leaving the G-One tyres on!

i quite often ride my gravel bike on sportives.

I did the Fred Whitton last year, with Schwalbe G-one Speed tyres. I certainly didnt feel like I was held up at all.

You’ll be absolutely fine with the distance. Just stick on a pair of road tyres on if you fancy going a bit faster. Even a cheap winter toad tyre will be faster than a gravel tyre, but not by all that much I expect

I assume there is an entry fee and cake stops? In which case it'll just be 3 20 mile rides (or whatever). No way I'd be passing paid-for cake . . .

Cumbria in November….horizontal rain or blowing a hoolie.

Erm...both. Obviously. 😉

You'll be absolutely fine, TBH you don't really even need to change tyres, G One allrounds in 1.5 is pretty much a 38mm comfy road tyre anyway. You'll see all sorts of bikes (and tyres) doing the event.

Have some cake, have some chats, have a nice day out on the bike 👍

just think that you have bought a bike based on marketing BS

That’s it - make the OP feel good about his/her choice of bike🙄. Not all marketing is BS.

I'd go with james-rennie above....stick with the tyres you have (my daily ride is a GT Grade with 40mm tyres, no issue doing regular 30 and 40 mile road rides...and one in the mid 70s a couple of months back)

All I'd add is try and make sure your bike is squeaky-noise-free before the event, I once spent the best part of a couple of hours of a Dragon Ride in earshot of another rider who'd possibly never lubed his chain (we rode at a similar pace). I ended up skipping a feed stop to get away :p

Oh and take it easy on descents unless that's your thing, way too many people get carried away descending in sportives and exceed their skill (and grip) level, with mixed results.

I've done 100 mile audax on a slick tyred gravel bike, you’ll be fine

Even a cheap winter toad tyre will be faster than a gravel tyre

Perfect for wet conditions too 🐸

Brilliant. You guys are the best!! I'm going to go over the bike the weekend before, so no worries about odd noises. That'll be from my knees. I like riding the gravel bike, so no offence at all re Marketing BS. I prefer the more relaxed position than a full on road bike.

While not exactly exhaustive, this is quite a good comparison between road bike & gravel bike speed.

In summary, you'll be fine.

I've done the same route on my road bike (with 23c tyres - larger won't fit) and my gravel bike with 45c reasonably knobbly tyres.
The gravel bike was a bit slower - not as much as expected, but more comfortable & gives me much more confidence on poor roads.

People ride Paris-Brest-Paris and London-Edinburgh-London on Bromptons. You'll be just fine. Eat plenty and enjoy the ride.

BTW the slack geometry of a Gravel bike was standard for path racers and Tour de France bikes 100 years ago 😉

I did my first 60 mile sportive on my MTB with halo twin rails. Looking back was over ten years ago now and still managed an average speed of 14 mph. Was only 3000 feet of climbing though, so fairly flat.

Done a few since and both times I've found I ride a lot quicker than when on my own. Wasn't drafting or anything, but do find my vaguely competitive edge makes me go quicker.

If you can do 40 miles you'll be fine.

I used to regulary do 70-100 mile road rides on a Planet X London Road with 28mm tyres on. Probably wasn't as fast as other but I don;t think the bike was the issue there really!!

I find my gravel bike pretty decent on the road, despite being steel and having 45c Raddlers.

Had a spin on my carbon road bike the other day (for the first time in more than a year), it's a fair bit quicker.

Would happily do 60 miles round South Lakes on either.

Defo sort some mudguards out for November in the Lakes! Pick up some of the easily removable SKS speedrockers?

I find my Ally gravel bike to be around 1mph slower on the roads than my road bike.

When I've run it with 28mm road tyres the gap closes. You'll be fine - just enjoy your day.

GolfChick

Defo sort some mudguards out for November in the Lakes!

+1. When I did the Dirty Reiver this year, I hadn't had my gravel bike long enough to get any proper mud guards sorted.
I ended up sticking on an old crud guard & crud catcher. They were surprisingly effective & kept most of the muddy spray off.

If I was doing a longish sportive I would do it on my Diverge with slick tyres, it's really comfortable and descends like it's on rails compared to my road bike. Real world speed is pretty much the same when using slicks.

State of the bloody roads these days, I'd consciously pick a gravel bike over a full roadie unless it was a proper race.

I did the Dunwich Dynamo on my gravel bike with its 40mm tyres. Double the furthest distance I'd ridden before and it was fine, really enjoyed it. Just take it easy.

How much climbing is involved?