Despite the word being in the title of this blog, my guilty secret is that I haven’t actually taken part in a sportive since 2015.
Yes, I did the RideLondon 100 last year but for some reason I have a mental block around calling it a sportive. It’s a ‘mass participation cycling event’ (whatever that means).
It feels like 2019 is the year in which this situation needs to change. Sportive-a-go-go. And where better to start than a local ride at the start of April. The RideStaffs Spring Forward Sportive.
I was encouraged to participate by the organiser, Paul, who also happens to read this blog (he tells me…).
He piqued my interest when we met and spoke about how he designs his routes (a conversation that led to my recent post about designing a great cycling route).
I wanted to test his route planning credentials in the hot crucible of a live sportive (er, what…?). So I signed up.