Northeast - Harpoon B2B ride - June 2011

Anyone out there planning to do this ride? I've done it several years in a row, but this year Harpoon has decided to double the entry fee to $300+!!!??? And this is essentially an unsupported 150 mile, one day ride. I'm not sure I can justify this kind of money when I could just get on my bike and peddle the route with some friend the following weekend and the only thing I'd miss is the commerative jersey.

Appreciate any other thoughts on the matter. Anyone else think these big rides/races are getting out of hand? I've helped direct cycling road races, so I know full well the costs that go into putting on a race, and trust me, it aint $300/head. We charged $25/head for our last road race that lasted all day, included multiple fields from Cat 5 to pro, required multiple police details, neutral support, race officials, etc, and we were able to make a small profit. So is this just Harpoon getting greedy?

I've never done this ride but isn't for a charity? I think it raises money for a food bank in Vermont. With the economy as it is my guess is that other donations are down and they ar useing the ride to help fill in. The 5boro bike ride is up at least $20 since I did it 3 years ago.

You say you've done the ride several times and then say it's essentially unsupported? Are you sure you've done it? There's full time road/sag support by Mavic, 3 fully stocked rest areas, showers at the end with beer, dinner and a live band - not to mention they transport your bike/gear back to Boston for you (included in the price). What type of support are you expecting? Also, I paid $200 last year, not $150. If you did do it last year, you would have received an email detailing where the money goes. It's a charity ride.... the money/profit goes to charity. Does the increase suck? Kinda. I guess I could sign up for another charity ride, but most all of those are like $1000+. Bottom line it's still the best event out there imo, even with the increase.

The B2B web site lists a long list of services they provide for the $200 fee (as guy2600 mentions):

http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/index.cfm/page/Admissions/pid/158029

And minimum $100 for charity.