Audax: due to the economic downturn the new Sportive

[aidan.f]

Just  heard  from Joe  Applegarth that  the  Killhope  Grimpeur 100K on Sunday  has  90 entries - he  turned away  another 30.
threre will be  quite a  pleoton on Newbiggen Lane.

[MercuryKev]

I like that:  Audax the Lidl of cycling.  You're not really sure what you're buying but you are often pleasantly surprised by the quality and the variety of what's available

[itinerant]

Ooops.  Been away from home for a week so looks like my entry might have been rejected then.  Won't know until I get home tomorrow night. Done it twice before, although I got 'disqualified' once by Joe Applegarth for missing a 'control' - a car in a lay bye, even though I finished in time with all the others and could show on GPS that I had done all the route. 

[Hot Flatus]

I like that:  Audax the Lidl of cycling.  You're not really sure what you're buying but you are often pleasantly surprised by the quality and the variety of what's available

...but just like audax, it's usually the other customers that are the most off putting

[mattc]

Ooops.  Been away from home for a week so looks like my entry might have been rejected then.  Won't know until I get home tomorrow night. Done it twice before, although I got 'disqualified' once by Joe Applegarth for missing a 'control' - a car in a lay bye, even though I finished in time with all the others and could show on GPS that I had done all the route.

I've met Joe a couple of times. I think I like him even more now. 

[jimc101]

Not really, Audax has been going far longer than Sportive's.  I've only done one Sportive, about 4 years ago before I started to Audax, and that was dominated by local club riders.

Being unsuported, with Audax you have to be self sufficent, have some knowlage of where you are, and where you are going, and be able to fix your bike if it breaks, with a Sportive, you can just wait for the support wagon.  Also they seem to be far bigger than Audax's, numbers wise. 

For Audax's I've noticed some filling up early this year, but there are (seem to be) a lot less than last year and more spread out due to no need for the PBP qualifing events.

Audax does have the advantage of being about a quarter of the cost of a Sportive, so you can do a lot more on a similar budget.

[aidan.f]

A lot  of  the  entries  for this  event  have come  via  a  friend of  mine - I recommended the  ride  to her, she  promoted  it  at her  work (Durham CC) I had  forgotten I mentioned it - she told  me  last  night that many of her newbies have been out  checking the  route..
Interestingly  DCC promotes  the  'big ride' which is  for  want  of  a  better description is an  untimed  sportive, One  of the  options for this  is 'the  beast' a  ride  with gratuitous up and  downs  in a  hilly locality  switching  back and  forth  and  not really  getting  anywhere. For  some  reason it's very  popular.
Also worth mentioning is  that  the Killhope Grimpeur is  a  postal entry only  event - having  read some  of the  navel contemplation on other  threads it  just  goes  to  show that  low  tech is  not  a  show-stopper.

[Banjo]

Entry fee for an audax is about a quarter or even less than for a sportive but if you take the day as a whole you wouldnt save that much.

 Sportive riders dont usually spend time in cafes and pubs getting cards stamped and buying food and drink ,also unless your lucky to live local or fit enough to ride an extra few hundred kms the biggest cost of either event is likely to be transport to and from the start .

I would say that cost is not the biggest attraction to Audax . Also nuimbers attending Sportives are growing (Dragon Ride sold out 4000 entries in less than a day) so Im not sure if Audax is poaching from the sportives or if both are growing together with more cyclists on the road.

Personally I like the more relaxed atmosphere of Audax a bit more time to enjoy the country you are riding through.

[onb]

Ive done both ,my main priority is how close to home they are living where I do there arnt too many options , I ride sportive and audax at my own pace and at both usually find myself with like minded people ,I have found that both have people who want to tear off and then there is the the  others .I do like the signage on sportives although I have had to send a few emails to organisers suggesting they take them down weeks after the event , there no excuse for that .I like the fact that both are doing well it bodes well for cycling.

[Martin]

I did a perm GdS Audax on Sunday;  from my front door

didn't need to ride as had done a 200 2 days before but woke up and thought "nice day for some AAA" so off I went;

I met every other rider in the SE; first at Ide Hill on the VO2 sportive and later up Ashdown Forest on the SRS rip-off of my own event,

I was glad not to have committed £25-35 to have done either, especially if the weather had been as crap as  2 weeks earlier (entirely possible at this time of year)

plus I would not have got any AAA (I notice VO2 were very secretive about how much climbing on their event)

[Philip Whiteman]

As Bango suggests, it is probably the case that audaxes and sportives are expanding parallel.  There appears to be continued growth in the sportive market. For example, despite the high fees and the well publicised debacle at last year's Dragon Ride, the 2012 event sold out within hours.  To me that does not indicate people choosing to switch to cheaper events on the basis of an economic downturn.

[LEE]

I like that:  Audax the Lidl of cycling.  You're not really sure what you're buying but you are often pleasantly surprised by the quality and the variety of what's available

...but just like audax, it's usually the other customers that are the most off putting

It's not quite LIDL.

Socks and Sandals yes, but I've yet to see anyone wearing Slippers and Shell Suit on an Audax.

Note to any LIDL customers:  Slippers are for inside your house and Shell Suits are something you take off just before commencing a sporting activity.  Neither are for shuffling around in public places whilst coughing and swearing at your kids and, by the way, it's possible to wash that smell away by putting the Shell Suit in a washing machine every 3 months or less.

"LIDL...where cheap junk costs less than better quality stuff"

[L CC]

I like that:  Audax the Lidl of cycling.  You're not really sure what you're buying but you are often pleasantly surprised by the quality and the variety of what's available

...but just like audax, it's usually the other customers that are the most off putting

It's not quite LIDL.

Socks and Sandals yes, but I've yet to see anyone wearing Slippers and Shell Suit on an Audax.

Note to any LIDL customers:  Slippers are for inside your house and Shell Suits are something you take off just before commencing a sporting activity.  Neither are for shuffling around in public places whilst coughing and swearing at your kids and, by the way, it's possible to wash that smell away by putting the Shell Suit in a washing machine every 3 months or less.

"LIDL...where cheap junk costs less than better quality stuff"

The smell in LIDL is not entirely dissimilar to eau d'audax.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I like that:  Audax the Lidl of cycling.  You're not really sure what you're buying but you are often pleasantly surprised by the quality and the variety of what's available

...but just like audax, it's usually the other customers that are the most off putting

It's not quite LIDL.

Socks and Sandals yes, but I've yet to see anyone wearing Slippers and Shell Suit on an Audax.

Note to any LIDL customers:  Slippers are for inside your house and Shell Suits are something you take off just before commencing a sporting activity.  Neither are for shuffling around in public places whilst coughing and swearing at your kids and, by the way, it's possible to wash that smell away by putting the Shell Suit in a washing machine every 3 months or less.

"LIDL...where cheap junk costs less than better quality stuff"

One of Mrs Cudzo's brothers is a big Lidl fan (in Warsaw) he doesn't wear a shell suit but he persists in the delusion that all their products are great because it's German.

[GrahamG]

As Bango suggests, it is probably the case that audaxes and sportives are expanding parallel.  There appears to be continued growth in the sportive market. For example, despite the high fees and the well publicised debacle at last year's Dragon Ride, the 2012 event sold out within hours.  To me that does not indicate people choosing to switch to cheaper events on the basis of an economic downturn.

I'd agree - some of it must be overspill as audaxes pick up people who can't be arsed to sit at a computer ready for when entries are released; they probably did that already for the wife's Osmonds tickets...

[mattc]

Socks and Sandals yes, but I've yet to see anyone wearing Slippers and Shell Suit on an Audax.

This might be the overlap portion of that Venn diagram:

[itinerant]

Socks and Sandals yes, but I've yet to see anyone wearing Slippers and Shell Suit on an Audax.

This might be the overlap portion of that Venn diagram:

Now that is a quality audax kit ....... sure I once followed someone wearing that outfit on an event!

[iddu]

This might be the overlap portion of that Venn diagram:

You've been cruzin' peopleofwalmart again for a hot date, haven't you?

[itinerant]

Ooops.  Been away from home for a week so looks like my entry might have been rejected then.  Won't know until I get home tomorrow night. Done it twice before, although I got 'disqualified' once by Joe Applegarth for missing a 'control' - a car in a lay bye, even though I finished in time with all the others and could show on GPS that I had done all the route.

I've met Joe a couple of times. I think I like him even more now. 

I'm sure that Joe is a lovely bloke ...... which is why I've been back twice, since the first unfortunate time, to re-ride his event.  However, it is the first and only time in the hundreds of audax that I've ridden that I felt, at the end, why did I bother.  It might have had something to do with the fact that this is a beast of a ride and the weather alone is worth a further 2 AAA points, as all the Durham Pennine climbs are into the teeth of the prevailing gales (every year).

Any road up, just got home tonight after 10 days away to find my entry and route sheet waiting for me.  I'm obviously one of the lucky 90.

[Keggy10]

A lot  of  the  entries  for this  event  have come  via  a  friend of  mine - I recommended the  ride  to her, she  promoted  it  at her  work (Durham CC) I had  forgotten I mentioned it - she told  me  last  night that many of her newbies have been out  checking the  route..
Interestingly  DCC promotes  the  'big ride' which is  for  want  of  a  better description is an  untimed  sportive, One  of the  options for this  is 'the  beast' a  ride  with gratuitous up and  downs  in a  hilly locality  switching  back and  forth  and  not really  getting  anywhere. For  some  reason it's very  popular.
Also worth mentioning is  that  the Killhope Grimpeur is  a  postal entry only  event - having  read some  of the  navel contemplation on other  threads it  just  goes  to  show that  low  tech is  not  a  show-stopper.

I did the 36 mile ride with two of the kids last year, for the majority of the ride we were the last riders through which meant at one point we had an esscort car in front and behind us stopping all of the traffic, a sort of personal rolling road closure  . Another nice touch was that the photos were all posted on-line and could be downloaded for free, unlike other sportives where you get charged for photos.

[mattc]

Now that is a quality audax kit ....... sure I once followed someone wearing that outfit on an event!

The trous (perhaps in a smaller size) are often seen. Took me a few years to ID the rider - he finally made the mistake of winning a CTC trophy!

[Karla]

Now that is a quality audax kit ....... sure I once followed someone wearing that outfit on an event!

The trous (perhaps in a smaller size) are often seen. Took me a few years to ID the rider - he finally made the mistake of winning a CTC trophy!

Mario Cipollini now rides audax?

[itinerant]

Now that is a quality audax kit ....... sure I once followed someone wearing that outfit on an event!

The trous (perhaps in a smaller size) are often seen. Took me a few years to ID the rider - he finally made the mistake of winning a CTC trophy!

 

[recumbentim]

Everybody in Dundee wears Shell suits even if they are doing a Sportive.  I do enjoy racing the Sportif types  that come along to some Audaxes !