Night rides are getting more popular

[Steve Kish]

FNRttbaB.

Leave late afternoon from Rykers at Box Hill, get to the beach at about midnight, quick sit-down and ride back again to Rykers (assuming that they open early) for brekky.

I'm sure someone will organise this ...?

[citoyen]

No, you're not.  The event you want to do -- that ride without all the pesky money -- doesn't exist, you just think that it should. 

In the early days of the London Marathon, you could enter with no expectation of raising money for charity. I know because my dad did it three times and he was far from being an elite runner even then. My point is that it has changed and I believe the same is likely to happen to other existing sporting events, especially cycling events.

Yes, it would be harder to enter the London Marathon now anyway because it's more popular, but that's a separate issue.

d.

[teethgrinder]

This is becoming stupid.  Whatever happened to riding your bike 'cos you like riding your bike?
At this rate I'm going to charged to 'enter' my commute and be expected to raise £100 a day.

It was probably mostly killed by the popularity of the motor car.
But it still lives on as long as people still do that.

If you don't cycle, this is a big deal! It's OK for regular cyclists who ride all the time, but for someone who hasn't ridden a bike in years or decades, then London to Brighton is an epic ride, unless they are fit from doing other stuff.



Good luck to them. It might get a few more people into regular cycling and revive the riding just for the fun of it thing.
It is all about money, that's the idea. Get as much money as possible and give it to the needy. That is how it works, isn't it?

[Panoramix]

Compare with Ellen McArthur rounding up corporate "sponsors" to fund a bloody expensive round the world sailing trip.

it is completely different, it is purely commercial as companies realise it is better value for money to sponsor a round the world sailing trip than to buy TV commercials. Sailing has a bad image in the UK so it is not so common but in France where it is associated with freedom and purity rather than privilege it works very well (Ellen had a sponsor which was half French btw). There is a small industry in Western France which is funded like this.

When i was a student, a group of 10 of us managed to raise £40k to build a boat to do inshore racing. Although we didn't win any of the big races the sponsors got some good returns from the papers talking about these crazy students building a boat in the uni workshop! Racing a boat you have built is quite special. We were the first in my college to do it but since I left 4 boats (I think) were built and one has raced cross Atlantic races (not skippered by a student though).

[rogerzilla]

£89 is crazy but FNRttC has hit capacity, hasn't it? 

On the subject of capacity, one problem the commercial ride may have is that people will expect their food and drink NOW if they've paid good money for it.  May they live in interesting times, eh?

[PH]

In the early days of the London Marathon, you could enter with no expectation of raising money for charity.

I think you still can.  The places are allocated in three ways, some by ballot that anyone can enter, if you win a place that way you can raise money for any charity you want or none at all.  Some places go to athletes, either the elite ones by invitation but others distributed through local athletics clubs.  The remaining tickets are allocated to charities to distribute to those pledging to raise sponsorship.  It's been that way since at least the mid 90s, I don't think the split in the tickets has changed, the only difference is that as it's become more oversubscribed the charities have been getting bigger pledges.  Why wouldn't they?  As Teethgrinder says that's how it works.

As for Moonrides, I can't see what the problem is, it takes nothing away from anything else. 

[mattc]

It is all about money, that's the idea. Get as much money as possible and give it to the needy. That is how it works, isn't it?

Yebbut with many of these events none of the entry fee (which is rarely small) goes to charity!

[Adam]

£89 is crazy but FNRttC has hit capacity, hasn't it?  

On the standard rides, we've had up to 130, and Simon's not had to turn people away so far, on the grounds of over capacity.  There's still scope for more, although one solution has been to run more rides, to spread things around.  

As you know, the main problem is the half way stop, so with a little streamlining, such as trying to get pre-prepared orders organised, means you can get the early arrivals fed and then out of the chairs before the tail end turns up.  

With a bigger ride, you get a wider range of times, so for the Martlets charity Brighton night ride, where there was a school hall for the half way stop, they coped with nearly 500 riders fine, as it took over an hour between the first and last riders turning up.

[teethgrinder]

It is all about money, that's the idea. Get as much money as possible and give it to the needy. That is how it works, isn't it?

Yebbut with many of these events none of the entry fee (which is rarely small) goes to charity!

[Arthur Dailey]
That's right Terrence my ol' son. But I've got overheads...
[/Arthur Daily]

The difference is that these charity rides are organised by people who do it for a living and trying to attract the public at large, not a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs who are doing what they want for themselves.
So maybe the real argument is whether they should be organised by volunteers with commercial companies, like the coach company chipping in with their services and equipment. If the coach company did that, would the drivers be volunteers or employees? And if the  drivers are volunteers, what if they didn't get enough volunteers to run the event?
At least if things are paid for, it gives confidence that promises will be met.

[Fab Foodie]

I've been thinking about this of late, night riding is the next big cycling participation trend.  There will be night-time Sportives anytime soon.
But, I reckon we can keep 1 step ahead of the trends by combining 2 rides ....
So Naked Night rides anybody?  On the FNRttS, imagine steaming naked through drunken villagers or High-Wycombe at Club chucking-out time would be a hoot!

FNNRttS, FNNRttC - you heard it here first.

[jogler]

Friday Night ride to Tan Hill, July 1st 2011

[interzen]

Friday Night ride to Tan Hill, July 1st 2011

Don't recall anyone on that ride being nekkid ...

[jogler]

you mean you missed that bit...

[Kim]

Friday Night ride to Tan Hill, July 1st 2011

I must have missed the nudity due to being so slow on the climb...

[jogler]

Re: Friday Night ride to Tan Hill, July 1st 2011

« Reply #766 on: July 03, 2011, 09:34:52 AM »
 

Reply with quote
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Thankfully jogler was getting changed in a bus shelter

[jogler]

Actually,my shoes & sox were not removed

[Fab Foodie]

Actually,my shoes & sox were not removed

I think they're permitted wear under the 'Nekkid' bike ride rules ...

[Steve Kish]

So Naked Night rides anybody?

IIRC, Tigerbitten is already pioneering this.