North East England Events 2013 - Mosstrooper 300K 25th May

[aidan.f]

The Mosstrooper start  has  been moved to Snod's Edge, near Consett. Camping  and  a  Pub finish*,  Riding   the  'the  other  way  around' will make for  a  change and is  a better route. l will look forward  to  seeing you. AUK website updated today   with  map, GPX and  Route Sheet http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/13-193/
*The  Manor  House, Carterway Heads. Braised Squirrel is  on the  menu   

[CrinklyLion]

Hmm.  There's abso-blinking-lutely no chance of me riding a 300.  But perusal of the provisional calendar beyond Easter gives me a reasonably high chance of being free that weekend.  Need any volunteer helpers?

[aidan.f]

The 300K event  will be  fairly  easy  to manage thanks - I wave  the  riders  off  in the  morning and  wait  for  them in the  pub in the  evening
- That  sounds  like a good  job,  I could  appreciate company  though

[CrinklyLion]

Well, it is currently a provisional calendar.  So if it ends up being the other weekend I could come and help out on the 600

[aidan.f]

600K volunteers would be very  welcome indeed, I will be  having  to organise  Dinner  Bed  and  Breakfast 

[Deano]

I like the look of the camping at the start. It's only about 40 km from here, but I don't think I can be bothered to ride there and back.

[Deano]

I think I've got a lift and accommodation sorted, hurrah.

Since it's next weekend, I should probably take a look at the routesheet..

[shyumu]

I would really love to do this, but I've been away in Finland all week and I'm away next week too. And the week after. The week after that I'm home, but then away for the following three weeks.  I'm going to have to see if I have a family to return to before I commit to riding another audax this year, even though I'm only 1.5 points from an AAA badge.

Next year though... PBP qualifiers... Onwards and upwards. I'd love to have more and more events in the northeast, and perhaps a few 'non-AAA' events for our friends Lindagordinho, Crusty, Daisyhill et al.

[shyumu]

I think I've got a lift and accommodation sorted, hurrah.

Since it's next weekend, I should probably take a look at the routesheet..

Have fun Deano - see you for a beer soon I hope.

[aidan.f]

Just done the return for this ride, only nine starters on the  day and eight finishers including  me (did  the  ride a  week before). We  did  have 19 entries at one point, which paid for the  hall hire.
I don't  really  know  what  happened  to  everyone.  I had four who emailed  me before-hand with good  excuses but I was  disappointed  with the number of DNS's on what was a perfect  day. The  formula I thought  was good - Breakfast, camping, nearby  pub and somewhere for late finishers to meet up with food and a beer. I suspect there were a lot of speculative entries as a result of LEL. I won't  be  running  it  next  year without a good number. it's  a  hard  ride, but  great scenery - If  I can get round on a trike a few more racing snakes on full carbon should turn up and prove their mettle.

[eck]

That's a real shame after all that effort, Sleepy. Once the Snow Roads, run on the same day, was full up I steered people to your event, but clearly that didn't work.

We had quite a few withdrawals who emailed beforehand, but we still had 20 no-shows on the day, who hadn't bothered to let us know they wouldn't be riding. Catering for 20 people who CBA to cancel results in a lot of waste. 

[Noodley]

...we still had 20 no-shows on the day, who hadn't bothered to let us know they wouldn't be riding. Catering for 20 people who CBA to cancel results in a lot of waste. 

At least you'll have a list of 20 people to tell to "get tae" next year if they enter again.   

[L CC]

Just done the return for this ride, only nine starters on the  day and eight finishers including  me

That's a bit pants. It's a lovely ride. I only got as far as Newcastleton before my knees and resolve disintegrated but I've ridden most of the rest on other rides.

Is 'not turning up' getting more common, then? I can only think of one two rides I DNSd without letting the organiser know, and both times it was because I set off and then had some kind of mishap on the way.

[U.N.Dulates]

In my experience, and anecdotal reports from others yes, DNS in general are getting more prevalent. Although I can't comment on the proportion who DNS with/without notice.

I used to reckon on 10% or so not showing, but in the last couple of years this seems more like 25% or so, particularly for longer events. Both this and last years Elenydd had 30+ non starters out of an entry of 120.

I put a lot of it down to online entries. My experience is also that entries for the longer events are being made earlier, which also increases the likelihood of DNSing. Conversely online entry seems to result in later entries for the shorter (200 and under) events.