Sportives and Gatecrashing

Sportives and Gatecrashing

Author
Discussion

Greenish

Original Poster:

209 posts

117 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
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Not advocating to do this but having done a fair few I have come to the following conclusion.

You sign in and get a timing chip and number, however, in terms of access and lining up / getting started and the actual route which is always signposted, why bother paying? You can still park for free, get your bike and join the crowd to start, follow the clearly signposted route often for over 100 miles, then roll in over the finishing line. I bet the unsuspecting medal awarders would still put a medal around your neck and award you a bag. If they questioned you just say the number fell off.

Even food stops, they are crammed with cyclists and nobody is checking who is who.

So to my mind the only things gained by paying is a timing chip ( GPS does this all for you anyway ) and an absolute guarantee of mechanical help or collection if needed, neither of which I am bothered by nor I hope would apply to me.

Is it just me that has thought of this?

davepoth

29,395 posts

198 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
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No, all selfish idiots think that way.

HTH.

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
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Its one thing to join in if the route is local and you just fancy riding some/part/most of it with a big group or some mates, Cagey joined us (then dropped us and shot off with Steve!) for some of the Circuit Breaker recently. I doubt anyone other than Team PH noticed him. Its a wholly different thing to turn up, abuse all the facilities and then claim a medal....

CoolC

4,213 posts

213 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
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All the signs stay up, so just do it the following weekend.


yellowjack

17,065 posts

165 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
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CoolC said:
All the signs stay up, so just do it the following weekend.
Often not the case. Lots of organised events state that the strip-out begins at a given time, but usually they promise not to overtake the last rider on the course, so they take down the signage behind the 'broom'. The odd sign will be missed, but it seems to be frowned upon by local authorities and communities for event signage to remain up after the event closes.

I've ridden sections of events during them, but not deliberately. You can't know the date and route of every event, and sometimes you randomly find yourself on a road unusually thick with cyclists. It's only when you see the signage that you realise what you have inadvertently joined. It's also true to say that you can stray onto the course and find that it's pretty quiet, to the point that you don't immediately realise you are on it.

I've mused about joining RideLondon, unofficially, on here before, but I doubt I'd ever be inclined to get up early enough to 'gatecrash' an event with malice aforethought, especially as I can find any amount of quality riding a short pedal from my doorstep. It might be different, if an event were to pass through the area, as I'd then be tempted to join in, at least for part of it, on the grounds that "it's my home turf".

Greenish

Original Poster:

209 posts

117 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
quotequote all
I am not saying I would claim the mdeal, goodie bag or anything else - you miss the point.

What I am saying is that you can turn up to a sportive, leave with the crowd, ride round, finish with the crowd then go home.

So you get the same result, less all the things that most of them pay for.

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
quotequote all
Greenish said:
So to my mind the only things gained by paying is a timing chip ( GPS does this all for you anyway ) and an absolute guarantee of mechanical help or collection if needed, neither of which I am bothered by nor I hope would apply to me.

Is it just me that has thought of this?
You utter p ey. hehe

What is "gained" is the chance that there will be more sportive events because people pay to support them.

I could possibly get away with not paying for loads of things I use. If I and enough other people did though, they might not be around for much longer. How about museums, art galleries, you can often even get charity stuff without making donations if you try hard enough.



anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
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Seems a bit cheeky, using the services that the entrants have paid for.
What if you have an off, their marshals or medics will go the help you. Perhaps meaning a fare paying cyclist could be neglected.
What if a Marshall gives you the all clear at a junction and you get wiped out.
Just not worth the risk, or the ire of others..
Bit like turning up and running the London Marathon without a number wink

Greenish

Original Poster:

209 posts

117 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
quotequote all
el stovey said:
You utter p ey. hehe

What is "gained" is the chance that there will be more sportive events because people pay to support them.

I could possibly get away with not paying for loads of things I use. If I and enough other people did though, they might not be around for much longer. How about museums, art galleries, you can often even get charity stuff without making donations if you try hard enough.
Fair point, and I agree, hence my first sentence about non advocation. It was more of an observation and opinion gatherer to be fair.

I support the notion of sportives and what they offer - I really do. And I am happy to pay for the experience, but, it just dawned on me that there is an easy avenue of abuse, which would never be seen.

Greenish

Original Poster:

209 posts

117 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
quotequote all
Jimboka said:
Seems a bit cheeky, using the services that the entrants have paid for.
What if you have an off, their marshals or medics will go the help you. Perhaps meaning a fare paying cyclist could be neglected.
What if a Marshall gives you the all clear at a junction and you get wiped out.
Just not worth the risk, or the ire of others..
Bit like turning up and running the London Marathon without a number wink
But therein lies the answer.

If you have an off and the marshall's tend to you the onus is on them to recognise who they are dealing with. Any sportive will have untold random riders running through their route.

Junctions - I have never done a sportive where junctions are marshalled - please point me in the direction of one!


anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 9th November 2014
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Greenish said:
Fair point, and I agree, hence my first sentence about non advocation. It was more of an observation and opinion gatherer to be fair.
A sportive, like most mass participation sporting events, would be very easy to turn up and join in without paying.

In running, it's often known as 'banditing' a race.

http://www.runnersworld.com/races/why-banditing-is...

Steve vRS

4,837 posts

240 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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Greenish said:
Junctions - I have never done a sportive where junctions are marshalled - please point me in the direction of one!
Marshals at the circuit breaker last month.


Greenish

Original Poster:

209 posts

117 months

Monday 10th November 2014
quotequote all
Steve vRS said:
Marshals at the circuit breaker last month.
Ok, so when your 22 miles in, or 67 miles in, or whatever it might be, and you arrive in a group of 2/3/5/7 e.t.c. al l of which display numbers - what do those Marshalls do?

Not being antagonistic - but seriously - how can they identify you as a jumper on and what can / do they do?

These are open roads no?

Again not justifying this but it seems to me a no brainer.

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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Why all the questions, are you seeking tips on how to be a bandit? smile

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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Generally the sort of person who would gatecrash a sportive is the kind of person who would think that a sportive is beneath them and would not want to be associated with it.

A club ride from the Bicester area came past me at the Circuit Breaker, they were at pains to tell everyone went past that they werent part of the sportive.... to be fair they were an ok bunch and I jumped their wheel for a few miles so they might have just been saying "dont follow us or you will get lost" but one or two were a bit arsey. The guy with the Look 695 was quite happy to chat bikes with a sportiverist though...

The whole issue is the fact that the sportive riders have a number, if you dont have a number its pretty clear that you are not part of the ride. If I saw someone at a feed stop without one, I might politely advise them that its fallen off... If you have an off it puts the marshal in a diffucult position, human nature means they will attend to you, the other issue is if you ride like a dick or antagonise locals etc, it reflects badly on an event that you are not part of.

Pretty much every potentially dangerous junction on UKCE events are marshalled.

Gruffy

7,212 posts

258 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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The routes are always posted publicly in GPX format. I don't think there's any harm at all in making use of those and riding the route on another day. If you wanted to specifically ride as part of the sportive event on the day then that's an acknowledgement of the value that the organiser is adding. To participate without paying is theft and this doesn't change simply because you're unlikely to get caught.

Eddh

4,656 posts

191 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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They don't cost that much, just stop being a tightarse.

The only time I would do it would be if the sportive was full and I wanted to ride with a friend.

pembo

1,203 posts

192 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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A couple of months ago there was a 100 mile sportive going past our house and the OH had gone away for the weekend leaving me with just the bike to get about.

In the morning I had to pop to the shop to pick up a birthday present so I put my little lad on the back of the bike and cycled off, not thinking about it but in the direction of the sportive. I kept getting passed by people patting me on the back and telling me I can do it!

Then, as it happened, a few hours later I had to go out again to take the lad to the birthday party... following the final leg of the same sportive. I stopped at a set of traffic lights and a guy pulled up alongside me and started telling me how well I'd done when I replied that I'd only done about 200 yards.

So apparently it's pretty easy to blend into a 100 mile sportive even if you're wearing a pair of chinos and a hoodie with a one year old hanging off the back of your bike!!

dirty boy

14,688 posts

208 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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It's a no brainer to go out and ride with your mates.

Sportives are often done to raise money for charity (the East Anglian ones are). The guy who organised the 'Swarm' series even hired a van, spent god knows how many hours designing the route, then checking it out early hours that morning to ensure all the roads were still clear.

Paying (yes paying) some marshals to stand at difficult turning points and intersections, so that you can turn up, have a ride and enjoy some refreshments half way or something, whilst making sure it's insured and if you can't make it, you have a ride home, all in the name of raising a bit for charity.

But no.

Some utter fkjockey decides to take in a freebie riding on the back of someone else's hard work and effort.

I despise people like that.

Edited!!!

dirty boy

14,688 posts

208 months

Monday 10th November 2014
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Apologies if i've jumped the gun and it's not something you've done.