If it’s a ride not a race I don’t see why not. Might want to check with the ride organizer.
camelback & bento box = no stops AND no need for sag wagon aid.
Personally I hate it when I do an organized bicyle centruy ride & I see a large subset coached training group taking space, food supplies, creating lines & hazardous riding conditions along with having their own support car with food stops in addition to the ones along the route. Thy kinda take over. I don’t understand why they just don’t do their own ride on a different day. It’s gotten so bad at some of the rides that I don’t enter them anymore. Last one had about 5 accidents with people drafting, large packs going too fast - had no idea what they were doing and going down. The local town asked that the ride now be rerouted around them to avoid it.
But assuming your group can fit in with the " flow" & have your other stops at different places with the support car well of the road etc I don’t see it as unethical.
Barb
actually full “roadie set-up” bike and clothing . . . no aerobars but nice try. No reason to be a prick about Your answer. But our “group” is small and woudl be riding at or near the front. Otherwise, we would space ourselves accordingly. And, we are riding at a pretty high level (4:30ish for the 100 if no stops)
But responses like this is what kills me about this forum and people in general. Instead of “hey, that may be a little dangerous”, or “don’t ride with aerobars (duh)” or “I would not suggest that in the spirit of the ride” You have to give a smart ass response. lt tells me alot about You though.
If you need personal sag wagon to complete century, maybe you guys should opt for shorter distance if it is available, or, if not, skip this one or do different course as Martin C suggests.
.
If you’re saying that you will pay the price to register for the organized century since essentially you are taking advantage of whatever little road support they offer and that you’re not planning on taking any of their food since your supplying your own, then I see absolutely no problem with it. That is as long as your support vehicle is allowed on the road (i.e. not a closed course) and that your support vehicle doesn’t violate any traffic laws while supporting you. Go have fun.
This is not a matter of ethics. Regardless - why do you need SAG for a 100 mile ride? That is ridiculous, 4 large water bottles, 2 in holders, 2 in jersey pocket, the third pocket full of food, what else do you need? I’ve done loads of 100 milers like this, its not like you need to maintain perfect hydration to run a marathon thereafter.
SAG for 100 miler…come on man.
wow no need to be a jerk about it, you asked for feedback and got it. If you are such a strong small group why the need for your own support car? What you cannot carry your own grub, and supplement with the provided feed/water stops. Sounds pretty jerky to me.
Other than a cue sheet and an arrowed route, I’m not quite sure what benefit it is to your 4:30ish group to bother with a recreational century ride? You could just print the cue sheet and ride it whenever your group wanted. The route arrows will be there for quite a while
I don’t think it’s unethical to have your own sag wagon, of course provided your fueling stops are safely off the course.
BrokenSpoke
Contact the ride director and ask him/her. Their opinion is the only one that matters. You signed up for their ride, which means that you agree to follow their rules. If they are ok with it, go for it.
What you really need to do is this ride
http://www.clarksvillecentury.com/
What say the Slowtwitch forum?<<
Next time add a disclaimer at the top that you only want responses that agree with you or that you like.
I’m with the majority–why not do your own ride on another day?
clm
I have to agree with Martin. Why are you showing up to a recreational ride for charity, and then trying to ride it super fast, but require your own support (outside of the support ALREADY provided by the organizers?) To me, that comes off a little arrogant. Forget ethics, that’s just plain stupid.
If you sign up for a race (even as a training race), would you bring along your own sag wagon? Why should this be any different?
If you want to do your own thing (in the aerobars or not ;-), do your own thing, but don’t do it with a bunch of other people around that might have the quality of their ride reduced from you doing it.
And honestly, if you seriously need sag support on top of support/stops already provided by the organizers, you need to rethink your training.
“I’m with the majority–why not do your own ride on another day?”
Because they want an audience. But you already knew that.
I think you are fine.
And you are HELPING a CHARITY.
The big question is why even bother with your own sag? What are you going to do if someone not from your group stops at “your” station? You’re going to look bad no matter what. Why don’t you just have your group take off as early as possible and whoever can’t keep up (b/c of fitness or mechanical) winds up having lots of rec riders to ride with for the rest of the ride? And then everyone else can try and make their time goal. Or have cellphones for an “emergency sag.”
“I’m with the majority–why not do your own ride on another day?”
Because they want an audience. But you already knew that.
Well yes, but I was giving him the benefit of the doubt. 
clm
Sounds good if the organizer is okay with it. Not sure what’s with all these people getting their knickers in a knot over people riding a recreational ride at a fast pace. Apparently they’re assuming you’re all assholes for doing so.
Start the course as early as possible so you are not weaving around slower riders, then I don’t see any problem. Nobody is going to be around you, you won’t be causing a problem. I agree that I don’t know why you need your own SAG vehicle, but it shouldn’t cause a big problem.
In short use common sense and courtesy and that should end the ethical debate.
camelback & bento box = no stops AND no need for sag wagon aid.
Ick.
actually full “roadie set-up” bike and clothing . . . no aerobars but nice try. No reason to be a prick about Your answer. But our “group” is small and woudl be riding at or near the front. Otherwise, we would space ourselves accordingly. And, we are riding at a pretty high level (4:30ish for the 100 if no stops)
I do 4-5 charity/organized century rides each year in the Georgia area- the top group ALWAYS self sags and never stops (except for one nature break)- and we get some serious heat down here, to boot. At the last century- Two weeks ago- heat index was over 100 and real temp was at 98F by noon- and we finished in 4:03. The top group rolls well on these- anywhere from 3:50 to 4:05 for the flatter to rolling centuries- even in that heat/humidity. I personally carry 5 large bottles- two on the bike and 3 in my back pockets (120 oz of fluid) and a bunch of GUs… Yes we draft, and yes the majority of the people are roadies, but some of the top riders that pull are combo roadies/triguys 
And they are a heck of a lot of fun!