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Cost of organized rides going up?

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Cost of organized rides going up?

Old 08-21-19, 12:29 AM
  #26  
SHBR
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I can't remember the last time I paid to go on a ride.

I'm not much of a "groupie" though.

My wife on the other hand, has a strong "follow the herd" instinct and often considers these types of events.

Most are poorly organized, its usually competitive, bruised egos and injury are quite common.
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Old 08-21-19, 03:42 AM
  #27  
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Judging by all of the responses being in Dollars I don't think we've had a UK example. My last sportive was £35 and I think it was good value, I'd certainly think about doing another. Also now I've done one I get a bit of discount. Not closed roads but sensibly routed with a marshall on every busy junction. 2 fantastic feed stops (plus the start/finish line with SiS products plus cakes, flapjacks etc, medical and mechanical assistance, insurance, chip timing, finishers medal plus other little bits. I think that's really good.
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Old 08-21-19, 03:56 AM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by TheRef
I don't have any scientific date but it seems that the cost of organized rides have gone up tremendously. When I started riding in 2013 most of the rides were around $20 - $30 with stops for frit, cookies, the occasional warm Gatorade. Now it seems that everybody wants $50-60 for the same rides. Granted, there are a few events that really put up a good show and the spread at stops is fantastic such as the Apple Cider Century in Michican in the fall. I'll pay the $60 they ask for without batting an eye.
However some other events are just... Meh!!! I understand that organizing anything nowadays require time and investment. But... I'd rather ride my own ride sometimes.

I'd join and support many more rides if the cost was lower but.. What are the typical costs of organized rides around you? What do they offer? Have you noticed a increase in fees???

Insurance is going up, so the price of rides is going up.


And the price of rides depends on what the event is.
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Old 08-21-19, 04:20 AM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by downhillmaster
Assuming it is a charitable cause I see nothing wrong with the current cost of bike events.
A supported ride on a closed course with all of the associated fanfare/swag is a bargain at $80 or so imo.
Pretty sure the disconnect occurs when a cheap knucklehead tries to compare a bike event to his/her solo or club weekend ride.
They are two completely different things
Agree.

But I also wonder how much of that $80 goes to the cause, and how much goes towards expenses. I imagine it’s all over the map.
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Old 08-21-19, 05:47 AM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by datlas
Agree.

But I also wonder how much of that $80 goes to the cause, and how much goes towards expenses. I imagine it’s all over the map.
Yeah. The charity ride that I'll sometimes join for the discounted rate of $25 and that provides a t-shirt, snacks, mechanical assistance and has live music, a meal and beer at the end? I have to assume that most of that stuff is paid for/donated by the sponsors on the back of the t-shirt, because even the full price admission would have a hard time covering those expenses. IOW, when you factor in the sponsors, or the lack thereof, it's even more difficult to guess how much of your money is going where.
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Old 08-21-19, 08:59 AM
  #31  
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This is a random thought, but I wish some US clubs did the British hill climb club competition stuff. Kind of like, as part of club dues you show up once a week to destroy each other on the local hill for points, KOM, a prize of a free beer or pizza, crap talking and telling tall tales. Same for TT. I try to drive out the hour to the one club's TT's when I can. I've done two of them this year. Need to do more of them.
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Old 08-21-19, 04:08 PM
  #32  
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Bike clubs often have a lot of volunteer membership labor that keeps costs down. I helped an 85 y.o. guy mark a multi route century ride and it was exhausting. These volunteers should expect some payback for the club for their work from non members who are invited to join their ride.

The bike boom generation sort of dominated bike clubs for the last 50 years but they are now aging out of cycling clubs and the newer cycling generation are not as enamored with the older bike clubs. There either has to be a passing of the torch or just drop it and let the next group come up with something new, different, and run by the next generation.

Charity rides that cost more money and feature fancier food and entertainment seem to be more popular with younger riders. One bike club took a less popular ride, quadrupled the price and assigned a charity, and it was much more successful. The most popular bike ride in my city is a charity ride with $1,000 minimum cost of admission.
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Old 08-21-19, 07:05 PM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by burnthesheep
This is a random thought, but I wish some US clubs did the British hill climb club competition stuff. Kind of like, as part of club dues you show up once a week to destroy each other on the local hill for points, KOM, a prize of a free beer or pizza, crap talking and telling tall tales. Same for TT. I try to drive out the hour to the one club's TT's when I can. I've done two of them this year. Need to do more of them.
Nothing stopping you from doing this.
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Old 08-21-19, 09:52 PM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by Machka
Insurance is going up, so the price of rides is going up.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.hrbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/2017_brochure.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj6gsXYx5XkAhWywFkKHcXZALsQFjACegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw1xFFme2sBWAD-6Eqw2O6BU

$US 4.50 per participant. $US 3.50 per participant over 1000. In 2017 (probably not much higher 2 years later).

Insurance for club-run rides isn't likely the major reason.
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Old 08-22-19, 06:54 AM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by topflightpro
Nothing stopping you from doing this.
Earlier this year I tried to hold a hill climb ride to gauge interest in such a thing. I chose a night that didn't compete with our group's normal popular ride. There were three of us, we had a pretty decent time.

I tried it again, and nobody showed.

I don't think it's many people's idea of a fun night together and is more of a solo training kind of thing. Nothing wrong with that, it seems the existing rides around here do well, and I'm happy for that.

The dynamic at the local ride I complain about a lot has improved a lot in the last couple months. A couple bad apples haven't come back and we picked up some newer folks that seem to "get it". For my part, I've been trying to contribute more and have a little more fun while ignoring any silly stuff. That's working out.
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