"Cycling events can seriously damage your health"; thoughts please

[Martin]

Follwing on from (and hopefully putting to bed) the "other" topic about this on the board, do the panel think that arduous events (sportive or Audax) are better for having words such as Killer, Corker, Monster, Mother, Joker, Maniac etc in the title and publicity material?

I personally think riders like a challenge and hills attract a certain clientelle. With Audax it's easy there are AAAs, but with sportives (where generally the market is saturated) very few people are going to go through the exact route details when browsing through, so will be attracted by one that looks a bit well 'ard from what they see on the tin

discuss...

[Jaded]

Branding helps make a ride more memorable before it is ridden, and easier to recall for entering next year. Given that Audax is such a minority activity, and to the uninitiated is mad enough already, odd names can only help or hinder. IMO.

[arabella]

Never done a sportive BUT: any audax flagged as 'gentle bimble' or similar is likely to be scenic
The one charity tide I took taller guy on understated the distance by about 20% afaicr

but being a weedy gurl I don't need to pretend to be well'ard

[vorsprung]

Follwing on from (and hopefully putting to bed) the "other" topic about this on the board, do the panel think that arduous events (sportive or Audax) are better for having words such as Killer, Corker, Monster, Mother, Joker, Maniac etc in the title and publicity material?

I personally think riders like a challenge

I've called my 400km the "Avalon Sunrise"- no machismo there it's all a bit floaty and hippified.  Also it runs as near to midsummer as possible so the night is short and the air is warm

I've tried to make it clear that the ride is zero AAA points
But it does visit Wheddon X and Bath and the HQ is atop a gert big hill

The challenge is to do the 400km in 27 hours, it doesn't need the additional "attraction" of terrible roads and multiple climbs.

There are (sadly) some rotten bits of lane in the route and there are a few hills ( 3300m ascent total ) 

But in general I've tried to stick to good roads that are quiet rather than quiet roads that are no good. 

Flat vs lumpy was considered at the first when the route was devised.  Once the controls are decided then something like the shortest route has to be used between them.  If that means going over a hill sobeit

I've done the ride like this because this is the sort of ride I would like to do  People who organize "killer" rides probably enjoy that kind of shock treatment

[Philip Whiteman]

I've done the ride like this because this is the sort of ride I would like to do  People who organize "killer" rides probably enjoy that kind of shock treatment

This is a valid observation.  As for my [future] killer ride, it is a long established 'classic' and to rename it  would result in the loss of its loyal followers and the loss of a successful event that has a rich history.  Saying that, the phrase 'killer' may well deter riders fearful of killer events.  If it were a new event launched in 2012, then a different title would be more appropriate [The AUK National 200? ].

[Salvatore]

I've done the ride like this because this is the sort of ride I would like to do  People who organize "killer" rides probably enjoy that kind of shock treatment

This is a valid observation.  As for my [future] killer ride, it is a long established 'classic' and to rename it  would result in the loss of its loyal followers and the loss of a successful event that has a rich history.  Saying that, the phrase 'killer' may well deter riders fearful of killer events.  If it were a new event launched in 2012, then a different title would be more appropriate.

The first time the KK was run in 1989, it was called the "Shropshire Lanes 200". I suspect the organiser didn't realise how hard mortals would find the route - it was just a route joining up some of his favourite local roads. Only one or two years later, when it had gained its reputation, did it acquire the "Killer" epithet.

[I have a vague recollection (but may be mistaken) that the second running had a name something like 'Thorny 200', due to the number of punctures the previous year caused by hedge cuttings left in the road. I finished it riding on the rims. The following morning one of my inner tubes, when inflated and held underwater, had eight streams of bubbles.]

[Assasin]

Remember the Waltham Wander?

That title threw a few riders off track as it implied East Anglia.

It's now the 'Beast from the East'

Sometimes its best to tell it like it is...................

Entries remain about the same so the name doesn't really make any difference.

[Martin]

back in 2003 I was looking for a first 600 and there was an event from Waltham called the PBStimulator; did it ever run?

(I was put off it as someone told me it was a little Scenic)

[DanialW]

I hope that one day, SimonP runs a 600 from Cambridge, incorporating my old Midlander 300, and simply calls it "Cambridge 600".

Macho ride names do not appeal to me, especially when they're attached to a 100km (however hilly).

[perpetual dan]

While "hilly" and "hillier" are descriptive without over egging the pudding?

I like a challenge, but my idea of a challenge is either a gentle day out or incredible to many others. I'm measuring myself against the course, not the organiser. However, I actually get to ride so few events that I can take my time choosing.

[border-rider]

back in 2003 I was looking for a first 600 and there was an event from Waltham called the PBStimulator; did it ever run?

(I was put off it as someone told me it was a little Scenic)

mmm

I rode that, thinking it might be a bit like PBP 

scenic, well yes. Most definitely.  Good ride though, very good.

[Wowbagger]

back in 2003 I was looking for a first 600 and there was an event from Waltham called the PBStimulator; did it ever run?

(I was put off it as someone told me it was a little Scenic)

mmm

I rode that, thinking it might be a bit like PBP 

scenic, well yes. Most definitely.  Good ride though, very good.

Is that short for Pubic Bone Stimulator?

[Martin]

back in 2003 I was looking for a first 600 and there was an event from Waltham called the PBStimulator; did it ever run?

(I was put off it as someone told me it was a little Scenic)

mmm

I rode that, thinking it might be a bit like PBP 

scenic, well yes. Most definitely.  Good ride though, very good.

Wasn't the simulator the (IIRC) 2300 start time? and did it go to Taunton?

I rode the Maldon Mad Ness instead where I met your good self  now that was a cracking ride; and the ride did not live up to the name
(the name was a corruption of MAD the organising club and Orford Ness)

[Exit Stage Left]

I used to ride with a heart rate monitor, and the hardest ride I ever did was Bernie's Long Flat One. Riding into a headwind and bridging to groups ahead is much harder work than climbing. But taking pictures of people suffering on climbs is easy, so that's what gets seen as difficult. The kind of folk who are good on climbs are pretty useless on the front of a group though, so for them riding on the flat is pretty easy.

[Peter]

Macho ride names do not appeal to me, especially when they're attached to a 100km (however hilly).

Dark and White Peak Grimpeur poses a bit of problem:  you take out the macho "grim" and leave the "peur" ?  Can't win, can you?!  The 4.75 AAA is a bit of a giveaway.....

[Peter]

The kind of folk who are good on climbs are pretty useless on the front of a group though, so for them riding on the flat is pretty easy.

Objection, your honour!  I'm not bad on climbs but I resent your implication that clinbers don't share the work on the flat.  I would certainly take my turn at the front - if I could get anywhere near it!  As it is, I do almost almost all my mileage on my own.

[border-rider]

Wasn't the simulator the (IIRC) 2300 start time? and did it go to Taunton?

Yes, and no.  It went across through the lumpy end of Northamptonshire then the Cotswolds, then Marlborough Downs, Berkshire Downs, Chilterns, Bedfordshire.  It was hellish foggy climbing up into the Chilterns from Pangbourne in the early hours as I recall.

I rode the Maldon Mad Ness instead where I met your good self  now that was a cracking ride; and the ride did not live up to the name
(the name was a corruption of MAD the organising club and Orford Ness)

yes, I really enjoyed that one.  Probably the easiest 600 I've done, but great scenery - in an East Anglian way.

I'd done the 500 from the same org 3 years earlier to get my SR2000

[Karla]

The kind of folk who are good on climbs are pretty useless on the front of a group though, so for them riding on the flat is pretty easy.

Objection, your honour!  I'm not bad on climbs but I resent your implication that clinbers don't share the work on the flat.  I would certainly take my turn at the front - if I could get anywhere near it!  As it is, I do almost almost all my mileage on my own.

I think Damon's point is that if I* or A. Schleck** rode in front of him, he wouldn't really notice the difference as the wind would blow right through us and hit him in the face.

* I'm fairly good in the hills, or so I like to think.
*He's also pretty handy in the vertical plane from what I hear.

[interzen]

Remember the Waltham Wander?

That title threw a few riders off track as it implied East Anglia.

It's now the 'Beast from the East'

I well remember the first time I organised the old York 600 in 1997 - quite a few people turned up labouring under the misapprehension that Yorkshire is flat. It isn't. Quite.

[Exit Stage Left]

The kind of folk who are good on climbs are pretty useless on the front of a group though, so for them riding on the flat is pretty easy.

Objection, your honour!  I'm not bad on climbs but I resent your implication that clinbers don't share the work on the flat.  I would certainly take my turn at the front - if I could get anywhere near it!  As it is, I do almost almost all my mileage on my own.

I think Damon's point is that if I* or A. Schleck** rode in front of him, he wouldn't really notice the difference as the wind would blow right through us and hit him in the face.

That is indeed the case, I recall riding up the side of the Trent into a headwind, funnelled by the levee, a gap always opened up at fifth wheel in a group of about 20. I do get a good view of the road ahead when I am in a group though.

[Peter]

The kind of folk who are good on climbs are pretty useless on the front of a group though, so for them riding on the flat is pretty easy.

Objection, your honour!  I'm not bad on climbs but I resent your implication that clinbers don't share the work on the flat.  I would certainly take my turn at the front - if I could get anywhere near it!  As it is, I do almost almost all my mileage on my own.

I think Damon's point is that if I* or A. Schleck** rode in front of him, he wouldn't really notice the difference as the wind would blow right through us and hit him in the face.

That is indeed the case, I recall riding up the side of the Trent into a headwind, funnelled by the levee, a gap always opened up at fifth wheel in a group of about 20. I do get a good view of the road ahead when I am in a group though.

'Twas but a jest!  That's a great picture, Damon.

[Manotea]

Gawd knows what riders are expecting when they sign up for the Willy Warmer.

[rogerzilla]

A large lady of easy virtue?

I think The Slough Of Despond would make a great name for an audax.

[Jaded]

Except it would have to be "The Despond of Slough".

[red marley]

I quite like the understated stoicism associated with Audax. I noticed this particularly when comparing AUK writeups of PBP 2007 with some others, notably from the US, which tended to emphasise the epic nature of the event.

For the same reason, epic sounding ride names tend to put me off a little. Not because they scare me into not entering, but rather I can't be doing with all that macho bravado nonsense. The Rapha writeup of the Bryan Chapman was a good example of how positive the understatement of the challenge was to a Sportive rider.

Of course you can take it too far the other way by claiming you are so hard that the Fluffy Kitten 600 with 12000m of climbing over off-road tracks was a lovely little jaunt in the country.