At 59 next year when I do my first sportive how high should I set my expectations. I have looked at one of two sportives...
Bike Bath July 5th the 80 mile option (graded 3)
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/122079/Bike-Bath-2015#entry
and Action 100 Bristol to London bike ride (114 miles)
http://www.action.org.uk/action-100-bristol-london
I am a regular commuter 5-6 days per week with an average of 75 miles per week. At weekends on the odd occasion I go for a long ride up to 50 miles and 3 weeks ago I did an informal 100k bike ride (well it was about 90k!) from Gloucester to Stroud to Yate into Bristol in atrocious weather conditions. In addition I am a club road runner and complete a number of half marathons per year (the last being Sunday past) in an average time of 1 hr 45mins
I want to ride a number of sportives next year and mix with my running (taking some strain of my legs) so what advice can you give a novice and what can I expect on the day? Also is a grade 3 event too difficult for me to tackle...here is the description of grade 3 on British cycling...
Grade 3 – Difficult: If you are a regular cyclist and looking for a challenging event that won’t break the legs a Grade 3 is the event for you. Usually around 3000 – 4000 ft of climbing over a middle distance route.
Bike Bath July 5th the 80 mile option (graded 3)
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/122079/Bike-Bath-2015#entry
and Action 100 Bristol to London bike ride (114 miles)
http://www.action.org.uk/action-100-bristol-london
I am a regular commuter 5-6 days per week with an average of 75 miles per week. At weekends on the odd occasion I go for a long ride up to 50 miles and 3 weeks ago I did an informal 100k bike ride (well it was about 90k!) from Gloucester to Stroud to Yate into Bristol in atrocious weather conditions. In addition I am a club road runner and complete a number of half marathons per year (the last being Sunday past) in an average time of 1 hr 45mins
I want to ride a number of sportives next year and mix with my running (taking some strain of my legs) so what advice can you give a novice and what can I expect on the day? Also is a grade 3 event too difficult for me to tackle...here is the description of grade 3 on British cycling...
Grade 3 – Difficult: If you are a regular cyclist and looking for a challenging event that won’t break the legs a Grade 3 is the event for you. Usually around 3000 – 4000 ft of climbing over a middle distance route.
