£73 to do the Tour of Wessex - why?

vermooten

Entries now open, it seems. It's a great ride but £73?

What do you get for £73? Use of a timing chip, access to food stops (thisyear some of them ran out of food and drink), your name on the web site...

I'll be doing the 3 days but whether or not I pay is another matter.

SteveR_100Milers

If you're quick, you could get a face full of road spray from the pros.....

gavintc

vermooten wrote:

Entries now open, it seems. It's a great ride but £73?

What do you get for £73? Use of a timing chip, access to food stops (thisyear some of them ran out of food and drink), your name on the web site...

I'll be doing the 3 days but whether or not I pay is another matter.

1. Because they can. The rules of supply and demand suggest that £73 is acceptable.
2. The ratiio of beards to no-beards is reduced.

vermooten

Hmm.. I accept point 2 as valid.

oldwelshman

I suppose if your doing 3 days that just under £25 for each, about the norm.

SteveR_100Milers

oldwelshman wrote:

I suppose if your doing 3 days that just under £25 for each, about the norm.

exactly, so what's the fuss?

andy_wrx

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

I suppose if your doing 3 days that just under £25 for each, about the norm.

exactly, so what's the fuss?

...because it was £55 last year ?


I suspect it is supply-and-demand.

Sportives are popular, some fill-up in hours let alone days, a lot of people doing them have a lot of disposable income.

So they'll charge a price and see what we'll pay

Noodley

I'd rather spend the money shaping a beard.

Monty Dog

And on the same weekend I can ride the Tilff-Bastogne-Tilff sportive in the Ardennes for about 15 Euros, there'll be about 10000 riders from all over Europe, very few beards, 3 well stocked food stations, a really tough, classic courses quiet roads and it'll probably not be raining (unlike this year!).

pjm-84

And on the same weekend I can ride the Tilff-Bastogne-Tilff sportive in the Ardennes for about 15 Euros, there'll be about 10000 riders from all over Europe, very few beards, 3 well stocked food stations, a really tough, classic courses quiet roads and it'll probably not be raining (unlike this year!).

Ditto

davenewbloke

Think I'd rather a sore arse for 3 days than 5hrs of torrential rain on the T-B-T like last year — with plenty of riders doing a U turn and giving up — so I've gone for the ToW as it's local and I can return home each night. Mind you it will probably p down for 3 days.

cheers

Dave

vermooten

Well, we're doing the Paris-Roubaix sportive a week or two after Wessex which will satisfy my Euro-lust for a short while (til the Marmotte in July).

pjm-84

Well, we're doing the Paris-Roubaix sportive a week or two after Wessex

Phew....

Just had to check the dates and thankfully it's two weeks

bahzob

er I've got a beard and have entered the TOW. Should I reconsider?

bahzob

PS on the price. Also entered the Marmotte and Ronde Picardie 2008s . These cost €38 plus extras. Know they are bigger/better (though Ronde is in fact quite easy) but also have 1000s of entrants so you might think could spread costs more.

Dont begrudge the entry fee, especially if it means the events continue and grow (as the TOW is).

Tom Butcher

I notice it is a charity event - anyone know if all the profit goes to charity or do the organisers make money out of it? I don't necessarily object to either scenario - just interested to see where the money goes - especially whether it subsidises the road race.

ricadus

I just entered a 7 day stage race in Italy for the same price.

I think it's a sort of "Glastonbury" effect. The promoters are pricing it up to enhance its status as an IMPORTANT CYCLING EVENT in the UK's burgeoning sportives calendar knowing that there are probably enough people happy to burn £73 on a 3 day audax.

vermooten

What's the event in Italy ricadus?

Monty Dog

I see what's happening with Sportives as with Triathlon about 15 years ago - a whole lot of people piled-in to try and make some money but found that it takes a lot of effort, little reward and that price is no indication of quality. If triathlon's a predictor of the future, where a 1-hour race event can cost as much as £40-50, then it doesn't look too good for events with small fields making entries increasingly expensive. Sadly, what you can't change for a UK event is the attitude of some car drivers on the course and the unpredictable weather.

Spare Tyre

Riding a sportive feels like taking part in an event, rather than just going out for a bike ride. £25 seems like a reasonable price for a full day out when you compare it with the entry fee for a one-hour cyclocross race (£11 here in the south-west).

topcattim

Spare Tyre wrote:

Riding a sportive feels like taking part in an event, rather than just going out for a bike ride. £25 seems like a reasonable price for a full day out when you compare it with the entry fee for a one-hour cyclocross race (£11 here in the south-west).

I agree. When you think about how much it costs to go watch a film, or a football match, then the cost of a sportive seems very reasonable in terms of hours of entertainment.

vermooten

Can't remember the last time I saw a film that lasted 7 hours.

pjm-84

£8 in the South.

In term of pain though 1hr riding a cross race hurts far more then a UK sportive.

topcattim

vermooten wrote:

Can't remember the last time I saw a film that lasted 7 hours.

:?:

Cost of ticket in my local cinema: £8:40
Duration of average film: 2 hours
Cost per hour: £4:20

Cost of one day of 3 day ToW sportive: just over £24
Duration of ride for average sportive cyclist: £6
Cost per hour: knock yourself out, you do the maths!


Do the maths for a premiership game or even a Blue Square Premier game, and the sportive looks even better value.

vermooten

Cost of making a film: £millions

Cost of riding on the roads of Dorset and Somerset: £0.00.

SteveR_100Milers

vermooten wrote:

Cost of making a film: £millions

Cost of riding on the roads of Dorset and Somerset: £0.00.

That suggests that organizing a sportive costs nothing. Either that or you are suggesting that you ride the route as an unorganized event (e.g. club run)..?? Surely neither answer the OP.

ricadus

vermooten wrote:

What's the event in Italy ricadus?

Verm - it's a week of stages, including solo and team TTs, book-ended by a couple of 150 km granfondos.

http://www.peteranne.it/index_Page491.htm

It's more fun than a spring training camp - though in fact some of the Italians (e.g. Negrini and his Salieri team) use it as such.

See you on the beach maybe.

vermooten

Looks great, thanks for the linky ricadus!

HarryDd

The Russian version of War & Peace lasts 7 hours. Made in the 70's it cost the equivilant of $100million. Probably the most expensive film ever made - in real terms.

Very impressive film. When the book has 20,000 troops coming over the hill then 20,000 come over the hill.

HarryB

ricadus wrote:

vermooten wrote:

What's the event in Italy ricadus?

Verm - it's a week of stages, including solo and team TTs, book-ended by a couple of 150 km granfondos.

http://www.peteranne.it/index_Page491.htm

It's more fun than a spring training camp - though in fact some of the Italians (e.g. Negrini and his Salieri team) use it as such.

See you on the beach maybe.

Ricadus, that looks fantastic. I'm very envious. I like the look of it so much I'm going to do it in 2009.

Have you done it before?

ricadus

This year will be my 3rd time. It has been on different parts of the island each time. The costa Smerelda granfondo that they are going to incorporate as one of the stages is also a different route/dirction to past years, though it apparently retains a crazy 200 metre section of off-road along the back of a beach!