In the past 10 years there has been a remarkable surge of interest in cycle sportives. In an era of declining race numbers, it has been good to see at least one area of cycling seeing growth.
Cycle Sportives are organised touring rides of a fixed distance and can be anything between 60K and 250Km. Usually cycle Sportives are organised in areas of natural beauty and offer a mixture of a challenging cycle challenge and a chance to enjoy an area of the country.
Usually, cycle sportives have a cut off time limit, but, these usually enable a range of different time periods. Cyclists do not necessarily start all at once, but the starting time can be spread over an hour to avoid bunching on the roads. Despite, the fact it is officially a touring ride, some riders like to treat it as an unofficial ‘race’ with some competition inevitably developing.
Books on Cycle Sportive Training
Elite Performance: Cycling: Successful Sportives by Garry Palmer and, Richard Allen. Comes with good reviews from Amazon.co.uk
Entering Cycle Sportives
It is good to prepare in advance for entering cycle sportives. Some of the most popular events can sell out very quickly. Entries often open in winter, between December and February
Cycle Sportives 2009
You can get a full list of cycle Sportives at Cyclosport.org
Events for 2009 include:
- Etape du Dales
- The Tour Of Pembrokeshire 07/06/2009, Tenby, Pembrokeshire – 116miles
- Cairngorm 100/50 13/06/2009, Cairngorm National Park, Scotland
- Dragon Ride Wales 14/06/2009, Pencoed College, Nr Bridgend, South Wales
- The Dave Lloyd MEGA Challenge 21/06/2009, North Wales
- Circuit of the Cotswolds 21/06/2009, Oxfordshire
- London Paris Cycle Tour 25/06/2009, Hampton Court, London
- The Dartmoor Classic 28/06/2009, Dartmoor National Park – space for over 1,500 riders
- The Merlin Ride 05/07/2009, Carmarthenshire, Wales
- The 3 Counties Challenge 05/07/2009, Lancs, Yorks and Cumbria
- The Devil Ride 12/07/2009, Builth Wells, Powys – over 10,000Km of climbing
- Big G – Grimpeurs des Wolds Cyclosportive 25/07/2009, Yorkshire Wolds
More information on Cyclosportives in UK
18 April 2010, 18h14
Good afternoon to you!
CYCLING “SPORTIFS” IN ENGLAND (OR IN UK)
I have failed to appreciate the number of events there are up and down the country – silly me!
I discovered my failure today; friends competed in the Wiggle New Forest event (a mere 4.7 miles from my home) when I was unaware of the event – sillier me!
I am now looking for a website which provides a list of all these events.
To me such a list should be simple, clearly laid out, providing consistent information which includes the basic and essential before subjective and gushing articles of faith eulogising the particular event:
– date of event
– times of starts
– place of start and finish
– distances to be ridden
– entry details
I have trawled quite a number of websites – with dismay. (I contend most are a mess, confused and awkward to navigate; a mess because the purpose of the website is not to convey the obvious and essential information about “sportifs” … ?).
I have found one website that is better – but it is rambling, has poor presentation, and, information is inconsistent. I am fairly sure the website in question does not include all the events … really annoying if I am correct.
Am I right, or wrong, or, merely incompetent at using the websites?
(Is anyone interested in my “nutty notions”?)
Peter D. Gallagher
49 Rowans Park
Lymington
Hampshire SO41 9GE
Tel: 01590 670067