Etape Virgin

Road Red
Road Red Posts: 232
Hoping to complete my maiden Etape next year. The packages on offer from the various tour companies seem quite expensive. However, I am conscious that they do take a lot of the worry out of the event, particularly for a first timer.

Are the inclusive packages worth it?

What about the training weekends in Yorkshire or Devon? Would I be better spending my money on those and do the Etape independently?

Thanks.

Comments

  • I went with bikestyle. They looked after us all very well. They organised good accomodation, we we're well fed, ferried around in the support bus and everything was just hassle free.

    There is availability of entry only packages where they sell you the number and you figure the rest out yourself. This is how you would enter almost any other sportive. The thing is any other sportive tends to start and finish in pretty much the same place. The Etape being a stage, tends to finish somewhere else leaving you with some logistics to figure out.

    Can't see the point of the training weekend. Just enter some local sportives throughout the year. Spend the money instead on a cheap flight to the alps / dolomites / pyrenees etc. to experience the mountains.

    Oh, and write a training blog and tell your friends about it. This will stop you skiving on a wet March morning. A great way of keeping you on the straight an narrow!

    Good Luck!
  • Floodcp
    Floodcp Posts: 190
    I did my first Etape this year and went on an entry only basis. I arranged everything else and combined it with the family holiday.
    We had the car with us so my wife left me at the start and luckily we were only about 5k from the finish village so was able to ride back after the event.

    All in all it worked out fine and I would definetly do this again. Saying that I am still not sure what my plan is for mext year. either Etape, Marmotte or 3 times up Ventoux. Or possibly Italy if my wife has anything to do with it!!
  • Floodcp wrote:
    I did my first Etape this year and went on an entry only basis. I arranged everything else and combined it with the family holiday.
    We had the car with us so my wife left me at the start and luckily we were only about 5k from the finish village so was able to ride back after the event.

    All in all it worked out fine and I would definetly do this again. Saying that I am still not sure what my plan is for mext year. either Etape, Marmotte or 3 times up Ventoux. Or possibly Italy if my wife has anything to do with it!!

    Agreed. The package deal are a rip off and generally very disorganised. Bikestyles being one of the worst. Better to arrange yourself and more fun.

    btw/ Where did you get this years entry from ?
  • Road Red
    Road Red Posts: 232
    Thanks for responses.

    Havn't seen this years entry forms yet. I was just going on last years info.
  • Floodcp
    Floodcp Posts: 190
    Whiteboytrash

    I got this years i.e. 2008 through Cyclomundo. I contacted them as soon as the route was announced and was lucky enough to get an entry only place.
    2009 entry only will probably only be available from the time the route is announced altough I am sure some of the companies will take your money even before it is announced.
  • even the entry only places seem a rip off - ie i think it is about 50 euros in france for the etap although im sure uk entry only places are about £130. However i have heard some not good things about some of the packages.
  • elvis6093 wrote:
    even the entry only places seem a rip off - ie i think it is about 50 euros in france for the etap although im sure uk entry only places are about £130. However i have heard some not good things about some of the packages.

    Here's my problem with packages. You would assume if you purchase a package you a buying "knowledge" of the event, "knowledge" of the town you are staying in along with back up crews and tips and assistance for the event itself. This rarely happens. The two packages I've been on they the organisers didn’t even know where the local bike store was ! I’m mean if you have 60+ paying customers who are riding the biggest single day sporting event of their life you’d think one of them might ask where the local cycle store is so they can purchase some equipment. But No. They knew nothing of the town they were staying in and hadn’t even been there before. This years etatpe the weather took a nasty change from the previous week. It went from bright sunny days of 25c+ to 15c and thunderstorms. So of course everyone on my tour wanted to buy some wet weather clothes from a local bike store. Mr. BikeStyle’s tour operator couldn’t help and didn’t even suggest where they might go. So a near rebellion mounted and 60 cyclist went out on their own to find a cycle store. Some did, some didn’t This was just one example of just how poor they were at adding to the experience of the etape. I’d go individual entry everytime… unless you want to drop £1000 on mis-management.
  • Le Commentateur
    Le Commentateur Posts: 4,099
    edited October 2008
    elvis6093 wrote:
    even the entry only places seem a rip off - ie i think it is about 50 euros in france for the etap although im sure uk entry only places are about £130. However i have heard some not good things about some of the packages.

    That's because UK and other foreign cycle holiday companies who sell Etape packages get fleeced by the Etape's organiser, who demands a hefty cut - probably rather more than €50 worth. So unless the price is high it isn't a profitable thing for a UK company to bother offering.

    Some people get round this profiteering by entering individually through Velo magazine's entry form, but this (I think) requires you have a French postal address.


    Re the wet weather clothing revolt: I would partly blame the customers there for not bringing suitable clothing with them – unless they weren't warned in advance that mountain weather, even in high summer, can be changeable. You need to bring both summer clothing but also a certain amount of winter clothing. Maybe organisers should include some advice/disclaimer about this when they offer the packages. Two of my worst weather experiences have been when riding in the Pyrenees (August) and Alps (July) when the weather has closed in. They made January reliability rides seem almost tropical by comparison.
  • Floodcp
    Floodcp Posts: 190
    elvis6093 wrote:
    even the entry only places seem a rip off - ie i think it is about 50 euros in france for the etap although im sure uk entry only places are about £130. However i have heard some not good things about some of the packages.

    Yes I agree the entry only cost was about £120 but I thought it was well worth it. I was very impressed by the whole experience from the sign on the day before to the morning of the event. The feed stations were good although I only really filled up my bottles. The gifts of a back pack T-shirt, water bottle etc was a welcome surprise to me.

    I agree it can probably be done cheaper through Velo magazine but I believe there are geographical limitations on who can apply this way.

    Overall for me it was well worth the cash.
  • Ken Night
    Ken Night Posts: 2,005
    Road Red wrote:
    ..........................However, I am conscious that they do take a lot of the worry out of the event, particularly for a first timer.

    Are the inclusive packages worth it?.
    (I declare a personal interest, having run training weekends over Dartmoor this year)



    Only you can answer that question-you need to find out exactly what you get

    As you approach the weeks before the Etape, you'll see these fora full of stuff about people worrying about gearing, getting to the start, getting from the finish to the hotel, what to eat etc etc

    to some extent the tour companies help with this.

    Often difficult in the UK to get a place without the tour cos

    I'm told ASO asked the anglophone tour cos to ensure a better prepared rider after the 06 Etape, when the broom wagon was reputedly mostly Brits
    Road Red wrote:
    What about the training weekends in Yorkshire or Devon? Would I be better spending my money on those and do the Etape independently?

    Thanks.

    The training weekends are designed to help and wouldn't sell if they weren't helpful. If you don't have experience of long climbs or people to whom you can turn, they ought to be useful
    “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best..." Ernest Hemingway