Sidwells - Cyclosportive+: preparing for and taking part in long-distance cycling challenges

About the Author

Chris Sidwells is a freelance writer and photographer specialising in all aspects of cycling. His words and pictures appear in numerous magazines, including Britains number one, Cycling Weekly. Cyclosportive is Chriss eighth cycling book, and a number of them have been best sellers. His titles range from biography to bike maintenance, and his work has been translated into twenty-four languages.

He is a lifelong cyclist and has won races in every discipline: road, track and off-road. He has also won in every age group, from youths to masters. In cyclosportive Chris achieved gold medal standard in the Etape du Tour. He is also a qualified cycling coach and a fitness instructor.

Cycling has undergone a revolution during the last ten years: it has become fashionable. The bikes, the clothes and the lifestyle appeal to people in numbers never known before. What other form of exercise doubles as your ride to work and a vehicle to explore the countryside, and is always there for fun and adventures?

And you can use your bike to challenge yourself, or others, or the terrain; traditionally by racing, but more recently in a type of mass-participation event called a cyclosportive. These long-distance rides, often along challenging routes, have grown quickly to rival the incredible marathon-running boom of the 1980s.

They underline the very essence of cycling: that bikes allow people to travel long distances under their own power much faster then they could by using only their own two feet. Bikes are the definition of man, woman and machine working in harmony, as they roll over our planet leaving hardly a trace behind.

Cyclosportives are for everyone. Youll find them in all corners of the world. Taking part means anything you want it to mean, from completing the distance to setting the fastest time. You decide what that challenge is.

Theyre tough, just like running a marathon is tough although, as with marathons, you set your own pace. And preparation pays dividends. Thats where this book comes in. In it, Ill show you the most efficient way to meet the challenge and get what you want from cyclosportives. Ill tell you what bike to buy; how to set it up and look after it; and how to ride in a way that will enhance your enjoyment and help you achieve your goals. Ill look at how to train, what to eat and what to do in an event. So read on ... then hit the road, and get pedalling.

What is a cyclosportive?

Cyclosportive: a modern long-distance cycling challenge

The word cyclosportive is French, and the spirit of modern cyclosportive events is very European in that they mimic the physical challenge of professional bike racing, which is historically a Euro-centric sport. However, like professional cycling, cyclosportives have spread throughout the world. Some of the biggest mass participation sporting events on the planet are cyclosportives in South Africa, Australia and America. Wherever you live, the chances are you will be able to find an event to take part in.

A cyclosportive, or sportive as the name is often shortened to, is a cycle ride, usually with a choice of distances ranging from 50km (although they are rarely as short as that) to well over 200km. Some cyclosportives use the same roads as races known in cycling as the classics; others use routes devised by their organisers. The one thing they share, though, is the toughness of their routes.

Toughness is the challenge and the attraction of cyclosportive. The queen event, the Etape du Tour, is an actual stage of the Tour de France over which the pros race in the same year. Recently that stage has been in one of Frances great mountain ranges the Alps or the Pyrenees. Events in other countries are just as hard, just as classic.

Who rides cyclosportives?

Anyone in fact that is part of their attraction. Completing a big sportive isnt easy: it requires training, good preparation and application, plus raw dogged determination on the day. However, the modern bicycle is a wonderful machine, which gives back all you put into it, and more. You might have to start with a shorter event than the Etape du Tour in fact if you are new to cycling you must do that but completing a big sportive is within the physical grasp of almost anyone.

How do I improve?

Finishing is one thing, finishing in a better time is another. Cyclosportives are first and foremost participation events: finishing is the goal, and a totally valid one.

Having said that, the events are often timed and many organisers publish a finishing list split into gender and age groups, giving everyone something to go for. This book is aimed at both sets of people: those who want to take part and finish their first cyclosportive, or their first classic event; and to those who want to post a better time and finish higher up the list.

What does this book cover?

+ What kind of bike to buy

+ How to set up your optimal riding position

+ How to care for your bike

+ Clothing and equipment

+ Training

+ Diet and nutrition

+ Cyclosportive skills and techniques

+ Where to begin

+ How to take it further

+ Physical and mental demands of an event

Cyclosportive will tell you all you need to know before taking part in your first cyclosportives, and it will help your progress towards other goals in this exciting and challenging new cycling phenomenon.

Essentially, it shows you how to train to meet the demands of what will be a challenging and unforgettable event. Whether youre approaching your first sportive or hoping to improve your performance, this book will show you how to train, how to ride and how to get the best from yourself.

There are cyclosportive events all over the world. They have grown as bike racing has grown into a global sport, and now every continent has its big bike races and its classic cyclosportives.

They also grew as bikes became accepted as the ultimate fitness tool. People the world over have chosen cycling as their way to get fit in the 21st century. Bikes combine a human fascination with technology and speed, with a need to exercise and feel the wind in the face.

Bikes are also something that featured in our childhood, when there were no barriers, no limits to what we imagined we could do. Bikes represent the chance to feel like that again, and among the many reasons for training and taking part in cyclosportives a child-like, visceral indulgence is a very strong one.

But cyclosportives also represent a challenge, a chance to set personal goals that are as basic or demanding as you want them to be. No one else sets your challenges, as they often do in everyday life, especially at work. You set them, you decide, and your effort will determine whether you achieve them, no one elses.