Brain recalibration - a cost of living/modern life thread
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One change having just had our open TT last weekend, is allow online entries up to 72 hours beforehand. IIRC it's something like 10/14 days which is stupidly early.
I also agree, do away with the stupid course codes.
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course codes are fine, as long as they come with a map and/or a Strava segment.
In our district alone we have 126 coded courses… without course codes it would be difficult to distinguish the 4 variants of the 10 mile from Princethorpe, for instance. The problems arise when districts are resistant to digitisation, but this is a club and district issue, rather than a CTT issue. If clubs do nor upload their events and nobody know about them, whose fault is it? On the other hand, We have octuagenarians running club series and uploading diligently everything online.
Things have improved a lot, unfortunately the stupid cost of cycling equipment is standing in our way, if we want to appeal to younger crowds. We have races that you can sign up to on the night for a fiver on rural courses, zero entry barriers… but if a decent bike costs at least 5 grand, what can we do?
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I think the course codes thing might be something that looks fine from an insider's perspective, but totally misses the marketing necessity (if you want to attract 'outsiders') of having a catchy title... though I'm not a great fan of silly sportive names, even just basic names such as 'The Honiton 10' would be easier for people to latch onto than "S26/10R".
In my line of work, if you give concerts a themed title (even as generic as "Romantic Classics"), it's a much easier sell than if it's just a list of pieces.
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I don’t disagree, in fact most successful clubs would advertise their events differently. But you still need a way to identify the course from its variants. You also need variants to allow for the almost constant stream of roadworks.
I daresay that good clubs make successful events and when events are not successful that is almost entirely the club’s fault. There is a very specific problem in involving the younger generations into this type of racing… I always thought it was a perception problem, it is seen as an old man pursue, but then you would expect that the Dowsett, the Bingham or the Tarling that come from a CTT background would inspire youths to seek TT as a way to get to the top of the sport. But that does not happen and in my opinion this is not down to course codes but it is down to the very high entry barrier brought in by the extreme cost of competitive equipment.
If you want to win the National 10 as a Junior, as well as the legs and the technique, you probably also need 15 grand worth of cycling equipment and there are very few sponsors around.
left the forum March 20230 -
OK, let's flip this around. Anyone could TT, on any bike, even one with a pink basket and tassels that was found at the local recycling centre. What's missing is the imagination in marketing and how to structure it so that there's an entry point at all ages and levels. Not being able to play in the fanciest club kit in a 80k-seat stadium doesn't put kids off playing football in their local park, but somehow CTT (as an organisation) can't seem to envisage how to make riding any sort of bike as fast as you can over a set distance appealing to all. I think it's a case of not being able to see the wood for the trees, at an organisational level.
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It’s not that simple… let’s say that you ban everything but the basic setups… who is going to police that? Who is going to check that your bike is not an aero frame, that your rims are no more than 25 mm deep, that your tyres are not TT specific, that your helmet doesn’t cost more than 50 pounds?
Also, how low is too low? Are you going to put off the kids who just got a decent bike for Christmas and only allow those with the crap bikes? Is there are a reliable enough source of crap bikes to race on?
The very pursue of speed implies that someone will always find a way to challenge the rules… and that is not a problem. The real issue here is that the market has doubled the prices of equipment in the space of a few years at a time when people have less money than they had a few years ago. What used to be 3k has become 5k and then 10k and now 14k in a little more than 10 years.
The pace of innovation is also relentless, what is the best today is likely to be obsolete in 3 years time, so the appetite for investment is even less.
On top of that, in the UK you also have the merchants of speed, the Wattshop, the Aerocoach and whatnot that prompt you to invest even more in wind tunnel time, in bike fitting, in more aero equipment…
left the forum March 20230 -
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£6 for a bag of seed potatoes about 20 of them… I am not even sure I will get six quid worth of crop out of them.
left the forum March 20230 -
Price of olive oil is daft at the moment. Cheapest small own brand bottle in Sainsburys was over a fiver today.
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yeah, we talked about it upstream… almost worth buying the top quality one, which is little more than the crap one
left the forum March 20230 -
£2.50 for a single, normal size, hot cross bun in a new ‘artisan’ bakery in Narberth. Who TF is paying that in rural West Wales?
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It may have been covered elsewhere, but the Jeremy Hunt comment that £100k wasn't a high salary should have lead to the question of *why isn't it* rather than the twitter outrage that it is a high salary
“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0 -
Tinned soup is unbuyable
£2 for a tin of Heinz Tomato in a local mini-market.
That used to buy a 4 pack
“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0 -
I can tell you. On that income in the places you’re likely to earn that you don’t feel remotely rich and you certainly will not be living a rich lifestyle, largely because you’re not rich.
I keep saying this over and over, it’s wealth that determines your lifestyle nowadays, not your income. £100k a year means you can buy a house with a mortgage, not that you can live in a big house or live without a mortgage. That’s about the luxury you can afford on £100k
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If you own your house and don't pay private school fees, £100k goes a long way.
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I think that's called 'taking the piss' by Heinz & retailers, to use technical language. Own-label stuff is often better (e.g. Co-op baked beans, for starters... well, not for starters, but for putting on toast), and about a third of the price.
BTW, on that note: top tip, if you like cocoa - Lidl's own label stuff, in the cookery section.
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I think by "own" BB is implying no mortgage
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
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Wealth doesn't dictate your lifestyle. Disposable income does.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
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You have a remarkable ability to misunderstand.
If you don't have any property costs, because you own your property outright, and you are not paying for private school fees, then £100k goes a long way. It's £260 a day net of tax.
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No you don't. A pensioner in a paid for £1m house and no income other than state pension is wealthy but has little disposable income and therefore a poor lifestyle. Your point is also regional.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.1 -
Some people I know with a £450k mortgage and £65k debt on top consider themselves doing OK. I consider myself with a £765.00 mortgage due to end soon plus £99k in savings and a good pension just about OK I know we won't be flush but will be comfortable. We hope to not be stressed and I think that is worth a lot.
Sometimes. Maybe. Possibly.
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I know. 😎
Not like a king, but not the arse end either. Just not an overpriced area where people judge each other by possessions.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.2 -
Holidaymakers.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
If you own your property outright you still have property costs.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
It’s a free market. The price literally represents supply and demand. You think it’s overpriced but that has about as much relevance as a one grain of sand does to a desert.
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Sell the house, live like a king. That’s 10 years worth of tax free earning of £100k.
Honestly, the cost of property, renting or otherwise, is so high and has risen so much that the bigger factor in your lifestyle is not your income, but how early you were able to buy.
There’s an older couple down the road who have a child in my daughter’s class. They earn substantially less than we do, just over half, but they inherited money in their early 20s abs used it to buy a property.
Their income after the mortgage is still more than ours, and their house is worth more as it’s bigger. And I’m hardly leveraged up to the hilt - I’m quite conservative with my money.
That’s because they were able to buy 10 years earlier. That’s it. That’s the difference.
I live worse than my mate who’s a civil servant for the same reason. He bought a house in Ely aged 24 because he inherited £60k and he bought it on buy-to-let.
Ive out earned him many times over that £60k, but there’s just no way I can keep up with how small his mortgage is.
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