What's stopping you from signing up for a sportive?
Sportives are a grand day out on the bike they let you cycle around a new area without having to worry about getting lost or finding a café for a mid-ride refuelling stop. We know that loads of our FLAB community would love to enter their first sportive but have a few concerns about taking part, here are the main ones that our FLAB community forum said was preventing them from taking part. FITNESS- If you can comfortably ride 80% of the distance on similar terrain to the distance you’ve signed up to at 10mph you’ll complete our sportive. FLambassadors are on route to talk through options if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew. HILLS- STOP WORRYING! If you can’t cycle up to the top WALK, there’s no shame in walking up a hill. CONFIDENCE- Our sportive is super friendly, inclusive and supportive with the option of riding in a friendly group with the support of one of our awesome Ride Marshalls. MECANICALS- Carry a puncture repair kit and learn to fix a puncture before the event, it’s a lot easier than you think just takes a bit of practice. Loads of tutorials on YOUTUBE. FINISHING LAST- Who cares? You’ve lapped everyone on the sofa.
FITNESS Will I be fit enough? Can I make it to the finish line? First thing to remember is a sportive is NOT a race the only competition is with yourself, do it at your pace within your comfort zone and don’t try and keep up with other people or compare your pace to others. There will be Ride Marshalls on route to offer support. If you’ve done a reasonable amount of training beforehand relevant to the distance you’ve entered you will fine. So, for instance if you can comfortably do 18 miles you will be able to 25 miles on the day and the atmosphere of the event and adrenaline can really help push you those last few miles. There is always Ride Marshalls on the route that you can chat to about options if you feel you’ve bitten off more than you can chew. HILLS,HILLS,HILLS STOP fearing hills! It is so easy to go into a complete meltdown at the thought of hills on a sportive and that big hill that you know is coming up can soon become the whole focus of your ride taking away from your enjoyment, remember THERE IS NO SHAME IN WALKING UP THEM. So what if someone fly’s past you with ease having a chat with their mates making it look easy while your legs are screaming and your lungs are on fire! Everybody is different it’s your body your bike ride and your business how you get up them! If you have to walk then walk it’s much better to get off and walk to the top in one piece than push yourself beyond your limits, risk injuring yourself and having a very unpleasant experience. STOP PANICKING IT’S ONLY A HILL! If anyone mocks another cyclist for walking up a hill we say SHAME ON THEM! We salute anyone getting of the sofa and having a go! 
Our feed stops are legendary CONFIDENCE Signing up for your first event can be pretty nerve racking with so many what ifs to worry about, being judged, being last, riding on your own, what if I get lost….Our sportive is unique as we have Ride marshalls who ride the whole route with groups making sure that everyone has an awesome experience and you won’t ever feel alone or worry about getting lost as our Ride Marshalls will be there to support you along the route.
If you’d rather do it on your own the route is fully signposted and you can download it prior to the event. We also so set the longer distance riders off first you will get very few riders overtaking you along the route.
MECHANICALS It’s always important to carry a puncture repair kit, a couple of inner tubes, tyre levers pump etc. with you on the route. If you don’t know how to change a puncture it’s worth learning how to do it before hand. There are loads of very easy tutorials on YOUTUBE showing you step by step how to change an inner tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwwfV99VV8I Best time to do it is in the comfort of your own home/garage/shed when you have plenty of time , you’ll be surprised after a few goes just how easy it is to master with a bit of practice, and there will be hundreds of other cyclists passing and many of them will stop and offer to help you out if it’s not something you can fix yourself. FINISHING LAST
N’owt wrong with finishing at the back, so whether it’s taken you two hours or five hours you’ve ridden the same distance as all the others on the same route and lapped all those sitting on the couch. CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS OF THE FLAB UP NORTH SPORTIVE 2018 https://fatladattheback.com/sportive/up-north-sportive