Originally Posted by skidder

I'm going to guess those organized group rides you pay $XXX for are enjoyable to you for what you pay, and you're not going on them just to pay $XXX for a branded water bottle. Back in my youthful days I would do 10K and marathon runs. They were pretty cheap to enter, usually run by a non-profit group to raise funds,, and gave away little-to-no swag; you'd have to buy a t-shirt, mug or other goodies separately from the entry fee. I'd even volunteer to work at some of them if I wasn't running. I stopped going to those when the organizers running them became commercial 'for profit' business that severely raised up the prices, brought in paid commercial sponsors (vendors paying for a display spot or advertsing banners along a route), beer gardens, live entertainment, etc, and the 'for profit' business would try and recruit volunteer labor to staff the event. Crazy, not worth it anymore.