Dumb question? - difference between audax and sportive

[jimboalee]

There really is not a lot of difference between a sportive and an Audax.

A Sportive is timed to the second. An Audax is timed to the hour.

 

[Ian H]

There really is not a lot of difference between a sportive and an Audax.

A Sportive is timed to the second. An Audax is timed to the hour.

Audax is timed to the minute. It's just not published. Except PBP as above.

 

[jimboalee]

Audax is timed to the minute. It's just not published. Except PBP as above.

It's a metaphor.

 

[Ian H]

I'll have to think about that one. Especially having seen folk desperately trying to get back inside XX hours.

 

[PpPete]

Audax is timed to the minute. It's just not published. Except PBP as above.

nah, you're both wrong.... Audax is timed to the nearest 5 minutes or 10 minutes (depending on how much beer the finish controller has imbibed before you get there).

By the time I get there, they are usually dressing up in women's clothing and singing the lumberjack song....

 

[DiddlyDodds]

If your unsure just go on a sportive and you will see there is every type of bike you can think of, i did my first one (Manchester to blackpool) on a £80 Halfords Apollo mountainbike and really enjoyed it even through i was one of the slower ones and not once did i feel unwanted and unloved as everyone goes at there own pace and it opens your eyes to what is out there and what 60 mile ride is like for you as a rider.
Fast , Medium & Slow all sizes , ages and although they get a bad press on here due to the cost they do a service of getting people interested into going on and venturing further afield unsupported.
I have found getting out and cycling is the joy and to much is written about the pros and cons of each event , if you wana pay then pay if you dont then dont ,, at the end of the day whats £20 ,, its less than going on a Saturday to watch 90 mins of misery watching your local team kick a bag of wind around a field.

 

[jimboalee]

I have now decided I will NOT be riding any sportives in future.

I am happy riding Audax Mid Mesh and DIYs, as well as the local calendar rides.
I have done enough racing in my youth.

If I was to enter a Sportive, I would be robbing someone else of a rare opportunity.

 

[yello]

I have now decided I will NOT be riding any sportives in future.

Me neither.... probably. I enjoy (enjoyed?) them but, to be honest, don't really like riding THAT focused, nose to the bars, for that length of time. Nor am I a big fan of riding in big groups, preferring to saunter solo.

We've a local one on the national calendar that I may continue to do (the shorter option of, 120km), plus one I discovered by accident earlier this year. It's a local community/club 100km ride, and I thought it more of an audax, but it wasn't treated that way by the riders - €3 for the ride included food. AND I won a t-shirt! ...in the raffle...

I saw on the local news last night that Jeremy Roy (pro rider with French team FDJ) took part in a community organised MTB ride yesterday (he's a local-ish lad). He was just riding with one of his mates but it attracted some attention. A nice story.

 

[steveindenmark]

Audax, like bike riding with more beards...

No...that is recumbent riding you are talking about now.

Steve

 

[steveindenmark]

the rental of an emergency coach for those who 'Pack'.

They lay on a coach if you jack it in??

What kind of an incentive is that?

I read an account of a rider in the LEL who had suffered with tendon problems during the ride. On the return leg to London he decided to pack it in and made his way to a train station. When he got there he could not force himself to buy a ticket and bit the bullet and rejoined the ride and completed it.

That is the kind of person I want to ride with.

I think I am becoming an Audax man.

Steve

 

[ricksavery]

Appreciate all the advice. I think I will try an Audax next year as I like the idea of self-sufficiency - although won't rule out sportives. Just wanted to be sure that I wouldn't feel out of place at the back !

 

[Ian H]

...We've a local one on the national calendar that I may continue to do (the shorter option of, 120km), plus one I discovered by accident earlier this year. It's a local community/club 100km ride, and I thought it more of an audax, but it wasn't treated that way by the riders - €3 for the ride included food. AND I won a t-shirt! ...in the raffle...

Oh to be in France.