What next?

What about the Ronde van Calderdale. Its in Yorkshire and done on the same day as the Tour of Flanders. I found it way more difficult that the actual ride in Belgium. Or you could do an Audax. I thought it was going to be slow old men pootling along for a few hundred K's. It was ruddy quick old men flying along - I could barley drive home after my first one.

Sportives are the equivalent of fun runs. They may well be taken very seriously by their participants, but the analogy still stands. If people get upset by that, meh. I'm not being dismissive, however much some folk desire to be outraged...

...and if you really want to step up from sportives, get racing!

I've mentioned before that it would be a great shame if the current boom in cycling only produces a few big sportives; I'd like to see an effect on racing with increased numbers and increased opportunity for everyone. The next Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard, Lizzie Armistead and Laura Trott should be home grown, and the way that will happen is through a grass roots expansion in racing, juniors, women, vets and so on.

I'm not saying it's not a reasonable suggestion, only that you can't dismiss anything less than racing. You came across as somewhat derisive saying that sportives are just "fun runs". Your tone suggests you don't think much of either.

He's done sportives and wants a new challenge; racing is a reasonable suggestion. If we want cycling to be a 'sport', it needs a structure and people to race in that structure. I'm not a snob about sportives, but they shouldn't be seen as the pinnacle of achievement...

Would you consider a 24 hour solo race?

There's Revolve24 at Brands Hatch, 24H Velo at Le Mans, the Rad Am Ring at the Nurburgring, Evenement Velo at Paul Ricard circuit, to name but a few.

There's also the Mersey Roads 24 held on open roads, but I don't know much more about it.

I did Le Mans this year and thoroughly enjoyed it - my write-up is here on road.cc - but circuit riding isn't for everyone.

I'm also looking for next year's big ride idea. Let us know what you come up with please!

Some people hunt pheasant 'for sport'. Others hunt Strava KOMs. Others try to take down as many Sportives as they can. It's a trivial matter of semantics. Or rather, pedantics.

If you manage to get Sportives commonly known as 'Leisure-Activitives', I'll happily concede that they do fall come under some wider definition of 'sport'.

Using your commute is one thing that some professionals have done in the past e.g. Matthew Stephens. He advocates making every ride count and used his rides to work as a training session. I took took this advice to heart as I have little spare time to do "training runs" every week as I have other commitments. But with this commute training I was able to move from 8.5 miles each way to 100 km rides without any difficulty ( in 4 hours) and 100 miles again without difficulty. So what I'm saying is keep up what your doing and just keep pushing to get quicker, better, faster with each and every ride. Oh and this sport is about doing what you like to do be it "racing", which for me doesn't appeal in the slightest, or sportives (a race against your self), which does appeal to me or audax, these appeal but have yet to do.

Also, what's wrong with commuting? I used it as my training. Everyday is a chance to go at it. I can't abide going slow. Pacing off from traffic lights and burning up the road. I advocate good road craft, but you can still get a great work out from it.

I've done LEJOG, Cingles and now the Marmotte. LEJOG was a great experience as you get to see what back to back tons do for you. I felt like I flourished and it is something that everyone can indentify with.

The Cingles de Mont Ventoux was tough, and it was beautiful. You can choose when you do this and that can make that tougher or easier. It is iconic to say the least, and of course tough.

But for me the Marmotte was EPIC to a level which the others weren't. The tough part is that it's placed mid-summer. 40 degree heat and Alpe D'Huez as the dessert course in all its reflective heat glory, acting like a giant solar radiator.

Tough, a major achievement and a classic (la doyenne) of sportives.

My goal next year is a Spring Classic Sportive.

"The sport is racing "? Really? Careful, you might find life is better without your head up your arse

Racing.

Messing about with sportives is the equivalent of doing fun runs.
The sport is racing be that crits, road races, cyclocross or track. You could try time trials, but racing is the real deal.

Try some of the Classics sportives (LBL, P-R, the Ronde) in the Spring

I did the Rapha Manchester to London (220miles) this year at it was very well organised, I'd highly recommend it. However it is in September so quite late in the year.

I did the Rapha Manchester to London (220miles) this year at it was very well organised, I'd highly recommend it. However it is in September so quite late in the year.

Fred Whitton - arguably the toughest in the UK, and as it is in May it means you have to keep the winter miles up.

I've done what I am suggesting below, and know if I don't have something to aim for next year I may well slack off over winter. I'm thinking about the Fred, but it would mean 2 nights away from home plus a day off work.

An Everesting? If you pick the right hill, it can be as much (or more) about the mental challenge of just keeping going. From my experience, I would recommend having someone drive you home afterwards...

Some riding in Europe? Any of those classics mentioned above are totally different to UK climbs, with the possible exception of Bealach. I did the Blockhaus in Abruzzo this year, 4 hours climbing (from the sea) and 90 mins to get back down again. Great feeling! And it doesn't have to be a climb, certainly the riding in Italy and France I have done has usually involved less grief from other road users.

Is commuting a definite no-go for you? I get a real buzz from it, but I don't make myself ride to work every day. I usually average 2 or 3 days a week, and vary my route. 70% of the time I use quiet country roads, but I do sometimes look for more busy routes; riding in traffic doesn't have to be hell.

Enter a race, that focuses the mind

Definitely some 'place to place' rides - C2C, Dunwich Dynamo, L2P. For some reason LEJOG doesn't interest me at all personally, it's nowhere to nowhere (and also, call me a pedant, but it should be Lizard to JOG or LE to Lowestoft).

If you like climbing what about some of the 'icons' - go and do Bealach-na-Ba, Ventoux, Galibier, Stelvio, Sa Calobra (check out the '100 Climbs' books or inrng's 'roads to ride' series).

If you prefer distance what about Audax - 200, 300, 400, 600km rides; do them all in a year and get the badge.

The old favourites, LEJOG or C2C. Even London to Paris