Winter Sportif - gauging interest?

ROK ON

Hi. I am simply gauging what type of interest there would be in a Winter Sportif. The calendar in the Summer is chock a block full of events which is fantastic.
A few mates and I think there is room for a winter event and want to gauge interest and feedback?
Queries
How far would people travel in the Winter for an event.
November or February - which is preferrable?
Distance. I am thinking a tough 80 and 110km route.
Goodie bags or facilities (showers, hot food, drinks reception?).

Also would people have any interest in a sportive that in incorporated some off road/cyclocross style?

Thanks

Inquitus

ROK ON wrote: »

Hi. I am simply gauging what type of interest there would be in a Winter Sportif. The calendar in the Summer is chock a block full of events which is fantastic.
A few mates and I think there is room for a winter event and want to gauge interest and feedback?
Queries
How far would people travel in the Winter for an event.
November or February - which is preferrable?
Distance. I am thinking a tough 80 and 110km route.
Goodie bags or facilities (showers, hot food, drinks reception?).

Also would people have any interest in a sportive that in incorporated some off road/cyclocross style?

Thanks

A Winter Sportif is a good idea, though attendance will always be beholden to the weather I guess. Involving off road / cyclocross would probably limit your potential attendees too much.

I'd probably plump for November, 80 and 110km sounds about right. I'd travel anywhere in the Pale. Defo hot foods at the end over a goodie bag!

TinyExplosions

Given the weather of the last couple of years, I think November is preferable to February, as there's less chance of being snow and ice on the ground!

80 and 110 sounds good, as the days will be shorter so you want to make sure that everyone can finish easily in the hours of daylight

Couldn't care less about a goodie bag tbh, hot food and a hot shower woul be nice, and much more preferable.

Would travel within the Pale, would have to be pretty special to get me outside of it (and would have to be easily reached on Public transport!)

alexanderomahon

February/March would be my prefered option. i think people will make a new year's rsolution to take part so enrolment would be up. However, attendance would depend on weather.

Captain Havoc

I know there's a few around Christmas time. November for me, not a chance I'd get a weekend day off in February. Mulled wine at the finish and maybe oxtail soup at the food stops to keep people warm and in good spirits

Plastik

Definitely November over February for me.
Lots of hot drinks - soup over a goodie bag.
No combined cyclocross/off road stuff.
Would probably need to be in the pale to get the time to attend.

Daithi BC

I'd be interested in a November sportive. It would give me some motivation to keep my training up once the glut of summer sportives is over. Distances sound right to me, but I would want to be on roads the whole way, and hot food and showers afterwards would definitely be more important than a goody bag. Anywhere within 90 minutes' drive of Laois suits me.

aquanaut

Captain Havoc wrote: »

Mulled wine at the food stops and maybe oxtail soup at the finish to keep people warm and in good spirits

Donie75

A November Sportive would be great. It would definitely help to keep the momentum up. I did a good few sunday morning club spins last November and they were great.
The backroads start to get a bit gritty and dirty from November on, so main roads might be better. I have no interest in offroad.
Location is not an issue..

thebouldwhacker

Anywhere, any time. If I'm free I'm am interested though Nov/ Dec would prob be more stable weather wise. There was one end of year last year in Kinsale which was a great success.

Hot food and showers are a yes.
All else would be nice.
The off road idea is good and would interest me...... build it and they will come!!

Caroline_ie

Orwell wheelers hosts the Gerry Brannigan Randonnee each year mid november. It usually gathers a lot of people.

ROK ON

Thanks for the replies folks. Still in planning stage. The event we are thinking of would be Munster based to cater largely for the huge amount of cyclists based in Cork, Limerick and Kerry.
It came out of a converstaion with a clubmate, where we thought that winter training was fine, but an event is something most people look forward to. To add a bit of spice I am thinking of a few spot price competitions.
(1) KOM competition,
(2) Weight handicap KOM competition - where the time is adjusted for rider weight.
(3) Most colourful gear.
I will let people know more in due time.
All suggestions are welcome: I particularly like the idea of mulled wine. I was thinking of sugared mint tea at water stop (its what I usually throw in one of my bidons over the winter). Full meal at end (stew, curry, chilli etc).
Anyway, thanks for the encouragement.

Jawgap

There should be stew at the end.......

hairy, potato-filled, sausage laden stew.......

daragh_

Sounds like a great idea.

But mint tea, lovely stew, mulled wine...

Are these the things that define Irish cycling now?

Where's the suffering and pain? Where's the grinding on and on, over ridiculous hills, insane descents, through appalling conditions for no reason whatsoever, with no reward offered or expected (expect maybe a limp looking Hang sambo and a packet of Tayto in a sweaty school hall in the middle of nowhere) plus the scorn and disbelief of the general public.

CianRyan

This is interesting to me alright.
Haven't done a sportif before and the 80k should be manageable for me at that stage.

Definitely hot food, drinks a d showers during winter and I'd prefare Leinster but I could probably travel to munster.

daragh_

Wouldn't mind going beyond the Pale. Night out afterwards is always a plus.

smacl

Unlikely to make a Munster venue unless I could organise a lift / accomodation etc... If there was public transport (or even shared transport) from Dublin, I'd give it a go. Alternatively, if it was around the school mid term (Halloween), I might be able to wangle a family holiday to coincide.

I think the bit of light off road would be great craic, covered a fair number of the bohereens (complete with streams etc...) around Waterville on the last trip to Kerry and enjoyed them alot, though i've zero proper MTB skills. You could probably organise alternate route options for those that want to stay on paved surfaces, though for me some of the best bits of Kerry and West Cork cycling have been the barely passable semi-paved l-roads.

Mulled wine, mint tea and a curry to finish all sound damn fine too.

smacl

daragh_ wrote: »

... no reward offered or expected (expect maybe a limp looking Hang sambo and a packet of Tayto in a sweaty school hall in the middle of nowhere) plus the scorn and disbelief of the general public.

Sounds like someone hasn't quite got over the W200 post traumatic stress yet

daragh_

smacl wrote: »

Sounds like someone hasn't quite got over the W200 post traumatic stress yet

I keep having flashbacks man.....

mahoo

i was just talking about this yesterday with a guy from bray wheelers. did their paddy martin randonee this year (think it was early march) and it was great. id defo be up for some more winter events. if memory serves right (which it seldom does) last november was fine up until the very last week when the snow came. up to that the weekends were dry and sunny. beautiful time of year to cycle. im dublin based but wouldnt mind making a weekend trip to munster. would prefer if it was on a saturday though so i could stick around for a few pints after

cantalach

Blarney CC have been running an ~80km sprint sportive at the start of January for the last couple of years. The short distance and easy course make it more fun than challenging which is just what you want at that time of year.

The complication with a winter sportive is the weather. The Blarney CC event got delayed a few weeks in 2010 because of ice. I guess a coastal route that avoids any kind of significant elevations would be least likely to be affected.

aquanaut

sound like a good plan. Guaranteed wet weather and Belgian toothpaste! Should be handy to get accommodation in November too as off season.

"The hell of the Wesht" - count me in

xz

Bray Wheelers run the Paddy Martin Memorial randonee in February, though that could be subject to change for 2012

funnights74

Yep definitely interested, a bit of a target to keep fit in the winter months, pretty flexible with dates, etc.

Dubba

Great idea ROK ON!

As Blarney CC have a 80km sportive sprint in January (which is a good one BTW) maybe a November date could be a good thing to aim for.

Lusk Doyle

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Orwell wheelers hosts the Gerry Brannigan Randonnee each year mid november. It usually gathers a lot of people.

Are you a mod? Rogue use of bold!

ROK ON

cantalach wrote: »

Blarney CC have been running an ~80km sprint sportive at the start of January for the last couple of years. The short distance and easy course make it more fun than challenging which is just what you want at that time of year.
.

Dubba wrote: »

Great idea ROK ON!

As Blarney CC have a 80km sportive sprint in January (which is a good one BTW) maybe a November date could be a good thing to aim for.

I did the Blarney sportif this January with some Boardsies, clubmates and TDMers. It was a great day. Furious pace.
I did very little training in past 10 weeks but I did 5 sportifs and three other epic rides. That kept me from completly dying.
Events are better than training IMHO, so I would love to look at putting one on in Nov.
For 9 months of the year the weather is the same wet dreary ****e - the only difference is the temp:D

boege

Interesting thread as I have heard comment in racing circles that season starts (late Feb) and finishes (early Sept). Some feel that September and even early October could be better for racing. Some comments in relation to sportives:

• Exclude December, January and February as any good weather brings frost which means delayed start. Blarney sportive only ran this year due to a freak gap in the bad weather - after it was delayed.
• Racing seasons starts in late Feb (Lacey Cup) but I waited forever for Leiure tour season to start => March, April (even May) parts of calander under utilised IMHO, especially in Munster.
• Soup/Stew at end a definite good suggestion. Ras Mumhain did this on their dingle etape and boy was it appreciated. (BTW, cracking event). Drop all goody bag crap for this.
• Keep circuit flat(ish) as altitude/long climbs with cold air is hard on the lungs - more people suffer asthma symptoms that you might think and cold air hurts.
• Suggestions on 80km-110km distance spot on IMHO.
• If yr going to do mulled wine at end please ensure alcohol not boiled off.:D

CptMackey

I'd be up for a winter sportive. Would want to be in the munster region. Would have to be 100% on the road tho

connie_c

I would be up for this probably, dont really mind if its November or Feb. Great idea by the way.

petethedrummer

Captain Havoc wrote: »

I know there's a few around Christmas time. November for me, not a chance I'd get a weekend day off in February. Mulled wine at the finish and maybe oxtail soup at the food stops to keep people warm and in good spirits

The Soups & Scoops Sportive.