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Don't think the Dani King thing is comparable. She attended, for fun, an event where other competitors were simply not on her level and had no chance of succeeding when up against her.
The Radcliffe example is just fun. People running marathons are generally trying to beat a time rather than eachother.
croft-
That Dani King thing was a bit of fixie bait by me true, but she did stand on the podium claiming her prize and let's be honest of the 250 men who sign up to RH, 150 of those know 100% they don't have a chance in hell of making the final race, and 50 of the final 100 will be lapped immediately. It's just a super serious fixie-fondo for 90% of the entrants, except they only get to ride their bike for about 25 mins instead of a nice 5 hours over 80 miles.
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[Edit: replied to wrong person] Not sure if all that was sarcastic, or just some. I was quite careful in my example, said some degree of real competition was a requisite, didn't talk about current pros vs amateurs, and I'm still not talking about sportives. Some people train and treat Gran Fondos as races. Because they are. Of course it's a very low level of competition, and of course you'd look like a fool if you took it too seriously, or claimed it to be anything above what it actually is. But the same goes for lots of races, whether or not they have prizes or points.
[Edit 2: I've decided I've taken this discussion too seriously, got hung up on the definition of 'race', and by my own argument am starting to look like a fool].
youramericanlover
chez_jay
I'm not sure we disagree with each other at all. I don't have any issue with for example Paula R showing up to a local funrun and crushing all comers and then sharing a Lucozade with all the marketing execs and recruitment specialist who just showed up to stave off heart disease. Dani King going to Red Hook was our own sweet fixie version of this (if you ask me).
I feel like what this gran fondo/sportiv biz is all about is those who are riding as if it's a race, training as if it's a race and taking the 'results' as if it was a race. But there are no prizes, no points, no one is going to get 'scouted' - it's just for bragging rights. Which is stupid because that's what Instagram is for in the first place. Go on a ride, brag and start influencing. Right?