Get Into Sportives

 

Thinking of trying your first sportive but don't know what its all about? Read on.

 

Early morning, and the car park is filled with the sights and sounds of hundreds of cyclists, unpacking gleaming bikes from car boots, bike racks and roof racks, chatting excitedly with each other, comparing bikes, kit and tall tales. For many, these rides are a chance to meet up with old friends, or a chance to make new ones. The bikes and riders come in all shapes and sizes, styles and vintages "The bikes and riders come in all shapes and sizes, styles and vintages". Some riders have already signed-on and are making final adjustments to their bikes, deciding what to take and what to leave behind, an eye on their luck and the weather. Others wait and joke with each other in the long, colourful, snaking queue to the signing on desk, where numbers are collected, route cards dished out and riders can stock up on ride food and drink. 

 

An hour later and five hundred multicoloured riders are spread out on a sinuous road up a glacial valley. From the valley bottom, the most distant riders toil antlike at the head of the pass. You hit the lower slopes and drop through your gears, settling into a rhythm that'll sustain you to the top. Some riders pass hurriedly on your right, others fall behind to your left, each with the same look of determination. Before you know it, the first climb of the day is behind you and the mountain air at the summit cools your burning muscles. You wait for your mates, toiling up the gradient and then blast down the valley to the lake below, grinning from ear to ear, feeling for a moment like Lance Armstrong or Fausto Coppi. This is challenge riding epic days in the saddle set against the backdrop of our island's finest scenery.

 

There are loads of names for challenge rides cyclo-sportives, reliability trials, Gran Fondos, epics, call them what you will, but challenge rides are by far the biggest growth area in cycling. Event promoters have made the realisation that there is a huge body of cyclists out there, kitted out with bikes, kit and enthusiasm but who may never turn a competitive crank in anger. For them, the notion of full-on racing with its rules, regulations and 'unwritten' codes is a turn-off, with the idea of the personal challenge, pitted against the country's finest scenery is a much bigger buzz. Others, like me, are drawn to the idea of doing something on a bike that you thought you might never achieve. For many, a challenge ride is just a good excuse to get out on the bike, with a few hundred like-minded people.

 

Check out our growing Cyclosportive calendar for news of the latest events.