Originally Posted by
Rowan
There are some issues that emerge with this approach. Should a rider end up in strife, where do you, as an organiser with a duty of care, start looking? If an incident happens on a designated route, there are other riders and perhaps officials around to offer assistance; allowing a free course may have a rider end up way out in the boonies and in trouble, for example with dehydration in severely hot weather.
While I realise the OP is organsing a club ride, and things are different in the UK Audax, for example, Audax Australia requires that riders stay on the course as specified in the instructions. Obviously, GPS makes tracking easier, but going off course and not rejoining where that departure occurred could result in exclusion from the event.
I guess it really depends upon how the ride is promoted and what sort of rider the organisation is wanting to attract. Whilst I definitely agree a designated route is essential for family or novice rider events, for more experienced riders we venture out every day without support cars or food stops, so its not really clear why this would be so essential on an organised ride.
I also took that the original post was looking for a way to introduce a simple form of an event with minimal expense and volunteers, and to build on this event year by year. So my suggestion was just to get the first year and possibly the second year up and running with minimal investment which could then be developed into something much larger and catering for less experienced riders in the future.
Having organised some simple events myself. its very hard to jump straight in with a full sportive event without a sponsor and a large army of helpers.