Discussion
I don't know what puts people off. The licence is £50 or someone, not really a barrier, people cite time but many still find the time to ride 150-200 mikes a week.
I don't really mind either way it's just that many people seem to think they are racing when doing fun runs and the like (sportives)
I don't really mind either way it's just that many people seem to think they are racing when doing fun runs and the like (sportives)
Zigster said:
When I do parkrun, I'm "racing" primarily against myself but I also like to see how I'm doing against other people. I don't need to be a professional runner to do that.
Similarly with cycling - I like going out for a ride with my mates and I like to see how quick I am and how I compare with them. That doesn't make me want to be a professional racer. What would be the point of a racing licence for me? What would I use it for?
We're talking about amateur racing, not riding along side Bradley on the TV.Similarly with cycling - I like going out for a ride with my mates and I like to see how quick I am and how I compare with them. That doesn't make me want to be a professional racer. What would be the point of a racing licence for me? What would I use it for?
Perhaps as gruffy says its more to do with the cost of the stuff if you stack it. And that does happen a fair bit, I was in a 5 man break on Tues night and somehow in the sprint for the line two of them came together!
Just an observation, we'd have a lot more healthy scene if there were far les sportives and more people racing.
WinstonWolf said:
With the greatest of respect, b
ks.
Sportives are a great way of ensuring you get out to train and maintain your fitness without the need to race.
IMO they're a total nightmare to most other road users, inc other cyclists that have some idea of how to behave on the roads, and the regularity of them in my neck of the woods mean that all cyclists are hated regardless.ks.Sportives are a great way of ensuring you get out to train and maintain your fitness without the need to race.
I drove back the same way as a big on in Kent last week, it was appalling, shocking riding, very poor choice of route from the orgs too, not good.
I think badly run sportives are probably quite rare, bar the routes some chose, but it's the people that ride them that seem to momentarily forget the rules of the road because there are so many others about they think it's OK to ride like clowns.
I think if they marketed them differently it would certainly push more people to get their competitive kick in a proper environment, such as TT, or a race etc. But the sprint segments, medal avg speeds etc (which are laughably inclusive) do nothing to help separate the lines between fun and competition which I think is why there are so many of them coming through and slowly the race scene is dying as there are not enough people organising events (and yes my club organise events before I get that line...).
Also, lets not even get onto the fact that a sportive is essentially no different to joining a club and going on a club run. I was a member of one of the largest clubs in the UK, the atmosphere on a big ride was great, the riding was much better, and I think so many people would find everything they want from cycling by joining a club vs being an individual entering sportive events. Anyway, that is just my view, I've done a couple of sportives over the years, A wiggle one and L2B, but I found going out with a club a much nicer way of seeing a county and having some fun.
I think if they marketed them differently it would certainly push more people to get their competitive kick in a proper environment, such as TT, or a race etc. But the sprint segments, medal avg speeds etc (which are laughably inclusive) do nothing to help separate the lines between fun and competition which I think is why there are so many of them coming through and slowly the race scene is dying as there are not enough people organising events (and yes my club organise events before I get that line...).
Also, lets not even get onto the fact that a sportive is essentially no different to joining a club and going on a club run. I was a member of one of the largest clubs in the UK, the atmosphere on a big ride was great, the riding was much better, and I think so many people would find everything they want from cycling by joining a club vs being an individual entering sportive events. Anyway, that is just my view, I've done a couple of sportives over the years, A wiggle one and L2B, but I found going out with a club a much nicer way of seeing a county and having some fun.
Edited by okgo on Thursday 21st May 11:07
thelittleegg said:
You don't have to join a club to do one.
I know a few people who ride sportives and they just aren't the sort of people who would be regular club riders.
Most club riders are not regular riders either. Of the 600 in Kingston it was pretty much the same 100 turning up most weeks.I know a few people who ride sportives and they just aren't the sort of people who would be regular club riders.
ewenm said:
The issue with cycling is that the training takes so long. I've managed to maintain decent running form despite the sprog but then I only need one run a week over an hour, the rest can all be <= 60 mins.
Kids don't ruin your life, but they do make it more difficult to train for sport.
While 'ruining your life' is a bit dramatic (why have them in the first place?) - it certainly won't help with cycling, BUT many guys I know get by on 6-8 hours a week which really isn't much, you just have to make sure you're doing the right things!Kids don't ruin your life, but they do make it more difficult to train for sport.
Matt Bottrill has two kids or maybe even 3, and he still manages to improve and operate right at the top of his game week in, also loads of elite racers I know have kids also. However as Dizeee has said, his work is quite a rare situation and certainly would make it difficult.
Dizeee said:
Good luck, did that at 1am 
And had smart recording on by the looks of it, but then so did the other KOM so I guess its much for much, if you turned it off I think it would cost you 3 or seconds looking at that.You didn't think to ride to Wimbldeon (where your train surely stops?) as its a lot closer..? Or does it not stop there...
Dizeee said:
Whats smart recording?
All trains had left by time I finished work. This was the last option to get me home
Ah I thought you meant you got to clapham and missed the train when there!All trains had left by time I finished work. This was the last option to get me home
Its a feature in your garmin, it essentially messes up the recording of data by making assumptions vs recording data points every second, on short segments where each 1s or so can make a big difference to an overall placing you often find many of the fastest people have done those times because they had that feature on which gifted them time.
For example, segment has you down as 29mph avg, but when you analyse the segment it was actually 27avg, I would turn it off purely as I can't see what good it does over taking many more data points.
https://www.strava.com/segments/610040?filter=over...
Not often you get over a page of KOM's in one ride. That is the fastest anyone has ever gone round Richmond Park and around 20 secs behind David Millar when he did a hot lap with car to keep him safe (also before they added speedbumps).
Not often you get over a page of KOM's in one ride. That is the fastest anyone has ever gone round Richmond Park and around 20 secs behind David Millar when he did a hot lap with car to keep him safe (also before they added speedbumps).
MiseryStreak said:
Awesome achievement, well done. 400W for 14 minutes is impressive in itself. Getting the Richmond Park KOM on a commuter bike with rucksack is something else!
Haha, it wasn't really on a commuter (if you were being serious) it was on my TT bike, but seeing as all the other fast times were I thought it only fair, Yeh normalised power was about 415W, quite a bit of freewheeling in the park due to corners and hills you don't need to pedal down as you're going plenty quick enough!@ Tom - Something like that I think, though oddly although the TT position does make breathing a bit more difficult, being able to support your whole upper body on the rests does seem to help when pushing as hard as you can. I must admit, the motivation to do that was quite hard to find, so not sure I'll be trying it on a roadbike any time soon haha! Your time on a roadbike was seriously fast, much faster than I ever managed on mine, no reason you won't be able to push into the top few round there I don't think.
Fastest solo roadbike time I think is from Lawrence in 14.53 - something to aim for!
Fastest solo roadbike time I think is from Lawrence in 14.53 - something to aim for!
teambeer said:
Epic! Was pretty windy in SW London last night, did that help/hinder in equal measures?
I'm struggling to break 18 minutes but forever being held up by cars. Need to try on a weekday evening after the gates are closed.
east wind is generally useful, probably a bit strong last night as you say to be optimum, and could be warmer and lower pressure. Today looks far better but its wet.I'm struggling to break 18 minutes but forever being held up by cars. Need to try on a weekday evening after the gates are closed.
How are people not understanding how these things work?
Strava - takes its own account of stopped time and gives you an average speed accordingly.
Garmin - if you have autopause on is set to stop recording at 3mph or less, obviously GPS being what it is still thinks you're moving when you may just be waiting at lights, i.e. strava may be taking the average in a different way.
How do you avoid issues - turn autopause on your garmin off, stop worrying about the average speed, it means nothing outside of an event, accept that when you see the final screen on the garmin that when you upload to strava it will do its own stopped period calculation and probably bump the avg by a small amount, its never going to be lower than a 'real' average which is so obviously distance over time.
I just cannot see why people care in the slightest about such trivial matters.
Strava - takes its own account of stopped time and gives you an average speed accordingly.
Garmin - if you have autopause on is set to stop recording at 3mph or less, obviously GPS being what it is still thinks you're moving when you may just be waiting at lights, i.e. strava may be taking the average in a different way.
How do you avoid issues - turn autopause on your garmin off, stop worrying about the average speed, it means nothing outside of an event, accept that when you see the final screen on the garmin that when you upload to strava it will do its own stopped period calculation and probably bump the avg by a small amount, its never going to be lower than a 'real' average which is so obviously distance over time.
I just cannot see why people care in the slightest about such trivial matters.
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