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Introduction

As the club is looking to promote cycling in all it’s forms a new Sportive championship is being organised aimed at distance based events rather than time used for most other forms of cycling. The rider who completes the most miles in Sportive (UK and European) and Audax rides will be deemed the winner. In the Sportive events section are a list of local(ish) have Sportives that members may like to enter.

The club is running a championship based on total miles completed (not time or speed)  in any Sportive or MDCC organised Reliability trial.  Details of events members have take part in can be found at Sportive Results. This document includes both completed events and planned events. The PDF also contains my email address, so if members email over the events completed or planned I will add to the table.  To get credited with the mileage, rider names need to appear on the offical finishing list.  So no point just doing the ride without formally entering.

Based on information currently to hand here are the top 2 riders in terms of distances covered.

1st Robin Smith 210 - confirmation of events required

2nd Sarah Davies 175 - confirmation of events required

3rd - a clutch of riders on 113 from doing the club reliability trials.

What are Sportives

Sportives in the UK are non-competitive road cycling events in which participants are often motivated to test their cycling endurance capabilities. Many continental European sportives are races, though some are not officially timed and are non-competitive. A typical distance for this sort of event is around 160km / 100miles, though there are often shorter routes for the less adventurous and many events are well over 200km. Terrain is varied, but generally somewhat hilly. The best non-cycling analogy for a sportive is the marathon, in that the highest profile events tend to be won by former professionals or semi-pro riders, making the chief competition for many riders themselves rather than the rest of the field. Also, because your colleagues will likely think you've gone slightly nuts for wanting to spend so much time exercising in one day.

The site http://cyclosport.org/ is a good source for all information regarding Sportives events.

Entry is normally online.  Riders are either sent or need to collect of the day a timing chip which automatically logs times. 

Why would I want to ride one of those?

It is a great excuse to travel with your bike and ride other than on the same roads you regularly use to train. Much of the world's best cycling is a few short hours from the average Londoner's doorstep, yet this person may need the extra motivation of having paid an entry fee and been assigned a race number just to go use this amazing cycling resource. Having a sportive marked on the calendar can be this motivation. Seeing a different part of Britain or another country by bike is a great way to tour any destination. You will get a better sense of the terrain, the sounds and the smells than you ever would traveling by car. If your event takes you to continental Europe, you will be exposed to cultures that readily embrace cycling and are keen to make a festival of a cycling event.