midschool22

I'm wondering what is the limit is that riders will pay to "ride" an event? The most I will pay for a one day event including an event shirt is $40. What about you? What is the most you will pay or have paid for a one day event? Travel costs, lodging, etc are not included.

I would like to hit about 13 events this year. 13 events @ $40 is $520 not including travel & etc. It adds up after awhile.

thenomad

AND, what are the upsides to the "event" vs riding the same distance on your own? Camaraderie? Shirts? Water bottles? The free power gel?

I'm thinking that signing up for an event or two (60mi) might give me more motivation and keep me on track to my goals.

JimF22003

I'd probably pay more than 40, but I wouldn't like it. It would have to be a good ride, or one I've done enough times to be a tradition with me. The exception is the Tour de Cure where I basically paid the minimum donation myself.

xenologer

Nothing at all.
Unless it was like for some charity where I'm giving money as a donation for something I care about.
But no, the money would never go towards the 'privilege' of riding itself; I can ride whenever I want without some silly group thing.

wahoonc

As a general rule I avoid the large organized group rides, to much hassle and quite often too many riders for my taste. I consider anything over about 6 riders too big. Probably comes from years of riding mostly by myself. I also have an issue with that type of "fund" raising, but that is just me.

Aaron

trekker pete

The LBS does a Vernon to Vernon century. The vernons are in different states, so a bus ride is involved.

In such a case, I can see paying for the cost of the bus and maybe a small bit more for incidental expenses, but, if I think that someone is putting on a ride just as a business proposition to make money, no thanks.

I could see paying up to maybe $50 for a charity ride. Maybe more if I felt strongly enough about the charity.

bikinfool

When I first got into road biking I did a variety of "rides", some were fund raisers, others weren't (I'm not sure that many even still exist). I did them partly just to see some new routes, to ride with friends, to make new ones, to see how I stacked up against other riders, to just see if I could do a challenging ride with a little help (nice to have food and water you don't have to carry). I ended up even becoming a member of an MS chapter and helped organize a few rides (heck, couldn't get anyone to keep giving me money for riding in them). Then I completely stopped as I started riding mountain bikes much more and my events became mountain bike races (quite a bit more fun than the road riding events). Probably been 10 years since my last organized road ride...and the biggest one I ever did, too (200k, 12k climbing). Maybe that was the capper...go out on the top and all.

If I did one again, and maybe I will do that again this year now that I think about it, I guess I'd have to judge how much I wanted to pay based on what the ride offered (route most important, food second, shirt third). I'd think $40 - $50 would be typical, no?

wrobertdavis

$35 max. I am riding much fewer organized rides because of the many "wanna-be" group rides that have planning problems (insufficient traffic control, poor routes, running out of supplies at rest stops, poor signage, ... whatever else can go wrong).

I also quit signing up in advance because of the number of rain-outs that can occur in Texas.

Bob

thenomad

Anyone admit to jumping in on a ride already in progress? Its safer in some places to ride in the larger group rides as traffic is controlled and more aware of you.
So you don;t get a t-shirt, big deal... (I haven't done it, but was wondering)

crackerdog

The first time I did the Seattle to Portland ride I just loaded up my panniers and rode with everyone else. As long as I don't eat the snacks or use the sag-wagons, I don't see anything wrong with it. I rode the bike back to Seattle a few days later, it was a nice trip. The next year I did it again but signed up for it and got a shirt and a discount on the bus ride back.

MKahrl

It costs money for a bike club to put on a group ride. There are a number of costs associated with scouting out the route, printing maps, publizing the ride, maintaining a website. A lot of physical effort and expense goes into marking the route with Dan Henry arrows. I once volunteered to mark a challenging hilly century route and it was an all day project at the end of which I was exhausted and paint splattered. A lot of this work is volunteer but I think any club member working all day helping put together an organized ride would like his efforts for his club to be compensated by having the club receive some monetary compensation by participants.

Having the exact right amount of food available can be tricky to predict. Most clubs try to err on the side of too much with a plan for dealing with the leftovers but sometimes twice as many people show up for a ride than what you had the previous year.

Clubs usually have liability insurance and although it is low for club members it is high for non members who participate in their rides.

The roads are public. There is no law that says you cannot ride with your friends on the same roads on the same route on the same day. Will anyone notice you didn't pay? Yes. Will you be thought of as being a bit of a jerk? Yes. Don't care what other people think about you? That's cool. But as long as you feel that way why not skip the ride day and follow the painted arrows by yourself the following day since the camaraderie of cycling with others isn't really your thing anyway?

DataJunkie

$120 is my limit and that is pushing it.

StephenH

$30-$35 or so for a normal ride. Maybe more for something special.

I ride around by myself all the time anyway. I enjoy being out with a bunch of other cyclists. It's nice to have the rest stops set up and all. Nice to go on a route that you would't think to go on, otherwise. Yeah, I COULD go on that route by myself, I just wouldn't think to do it.

I'll have more fun on a ride like that than I would on movies and a meal or something, so it's decent entertainment value.

ChiTownCyclist

I've paid $40 twice to do the Chicago Bicycle Federation's "Bike The Drive" event. After the second time doing it, I figured if I wanted to ride from Hollywood to 57th street and back, I could use the lakefront path and save myself a few bucks. LOL

I am considering riding the Tour de Shore ride this coming June (Chicago to Warren Dunes, Michigan); a two day, 96 mile fully supported ride. "Early" sign-up is $60, about the upper end of what I'd spend for an organized ride.