jodrell bank sportive

245

Comments

  • cw42
    cw42 Posts: 205
    JGSI wrote:
    cw42 wrote:
    cjw wrote:
    I did the Cat&Fiddle challenge last year, and that was much better organised for your £25.

    The C&F is not a sportive event and imo shouldnt really be lumped together into these other rather trashy events.

    What's the C&F classed as then? :)
    live long, eat biscuit
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    It is done for a very good cause - Cystic Fibrosis - so lets say its all done for fun!
    It is extremely well organised - the afters - tea, cake and munchies are well worth trying to get under the 3 hour mark for at the end to justify stuffing ones face.... but then again it is organised by someone who knows just a 'little' about cycling - which helps.
    Nobody whinges.
  • torelli
    torelli Posts: 49
    edited March 2010
    Jodrell Bank Cyclosportive
  • cjw
    cjw Posts: 1,889
    torelli wrote:

    I guess if you only spend 3.00 pounds on a bunch of flowers and a box of mik tray for your mother on mothers day it probaby is.

    All of which is a bit rich for someone who didn't pay to ride the event.

    I'm pretty sure fungus did pay to ride in the event - and I certainly did, and registered well in advance.

    Absolutely top notch reply and indicative of your poor attitude and disdain for customers. I ccertainly would not ride in an event of yours agains or purchase anything conected with you or your organisation in any way.
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  • themightyw
    themightyw Posts: 409
    torelli wrote:
    I guess if you only spend 3.00 pounds on a bunch of flowers and a box of mik tray for your mother on mothers day it probaby is.

    All of which is a bit rich for someone who didn't pay to ride the event.

    I'm not sure that leveling personal abuse at someone who attended your event is the best way of diffusing an issue about the quality of your sportive...
  • torelli
    torelli Posts: 49
    edited March 2010
    Jodrell Bank Cyclosportive
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    torelli wrote:
    The quote came from Fungus himself. And no he didn't pay to enter the event. Maybe he should apologiseto you all for helping himsilf to food and drink others had paid for.
    [/quote]

    http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/201 ... miles.html

    Looks like somebody paid for his entry. If his mate had paid for the entry but couldn't go, and let him have it, I can't see the issue.

    This show from you, is really giving you a bad name. I guess it's a good job I'm not into paying for doing a boring ride around Cheshire.
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  • sturmey
    sturmey Posts: 964
    No wonder it was a poor event if that's the attitude of the organisers.

    I'm shocked.
  • themightyw
    themightyw Posts: 409
    torelli wrote:
    And no he didn't pay to enter the event. Maybe he should apologiseto you all for helping himsilf to food and drink others had paid for.

    As far as I understand it, he perfectly reasonably swapped out with a friend who couldn't make it, and presuably paid them for their place. So to what extent is he not a 'paying customer'?

    Regardless, the fact is that many people here have expressed a consistent view that there were problems with the event, and rather than responding in a calm and open way your response was to level a personal attack at one of them accusing them of being a cheapskate...

    For what it's worth, I didn't go to your event, but I did consider travelling to it. However based on your response to legitimate questions raised on these forums I certainly won't be bothering next year.
  • Velonutter
    Velonutter Posts: 2,437
    torelli wrote:
    The quote came from Fungus himself. And no he didn't pay to enter the event. Maybe he should apologise to you all for helping himself to food and drink others had paid for.

    Sorry just wanted to correct things, due to injury I couldn't ride and Fungus took my place and paid me for that.

    I spoke to Tony on the phone about transferring it to Fungus and he agreed and advised what Fungus had to do.

    So the correction is that Fungus did pay and didn't help himself to free stuff.
  • Velonutter
    Velonutter Posts: 2,437
    Last year (2009) there was a lot of criticism of the event being poorly sign posted, no food and a general badly organised event.

    It would appear that things have got worse this year, perhaps it was a good idea that I wasn't able to ride, my only sadness was that I could not share the fun with my mates.

    I will need some real convincing that things are sorted next year before I would consider riding it.
  • MrZ
    MrZ Posts: 55
    Its a shame when things stoop to this level of griping and counter griping.
    As someone who rode the event i can see elements of both sides. Undoubtedly some of the complainers about this event are going way OTT, but equally the event organsiser's response on here is regrettable PR and very counterproductive, whatever he feels in private.

    I rode the 80 miler and turned up at about 8.15 just as the first large group were setting off. It did take ages for me to get parked, registered and queue for the one remaining toilet but i was pragmatic enough to take some responsibility for this myself for not getting there earlier

    As a result I didnt hit the road until 9.05 leaving me to ride 80 miles solo seeing only a handful of other riders all the way round. I got back in just over 5 hours and found the route enjoyable and well marked.

    What did disappoint me was that both food stations had only gels by the time i got there and there was no food left at HQ when i returned at 2pm - but again, serves me right for setting off late i guess. I wasnt particularly slow though and an 8 til 9 start time had been indicated so i wasnt even that late. I had also passed quite a few slower riders who looked in need of food and each aid station was starting to shut up shop when i got there....

    At the end of the day it was an expensive solo ride out under these circumstances for me but it got me out on a day that i otherwise would have stayed in bed feeling rough. I enjoyed it and it served its purpose.

    I’m sure the organiser will sort out some of these minor glitches in future events but I just hope their PR machine doesn’t deter everyone from entering………
  • cjw
    cjw Posts: 1,889
    I am certainly glad to have seen torelli's response here - there were a few events I had been considering (penine tour for one) without looking at who was organising. Now I have seen the Torelli name I will skip them :evil:
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  • fungus_the_muffin_man
    fungus_the_muffin_man Posts: 1,608
    I've just woke up ( I'm on nights honest ) and been told to check out the thread. Unfortunately I can't read what Tony has put as he has deleted it.

    Firstly I have gone out of my way to support Tony prior to this ride. It was me who suggested it to as many people as I could ( read previous threads on torelli cyclosportives). I did this as share a mutual friend and I wanted to support a local sportive organiser as he started up.

    I therefore i have not gone into this for a bitching contest or to slag him off. I did think however that what I experienced needed commenting on.

    Firstly to set the record straight I did pay for my place via a friend who wasn't able to attend. So that he wouldn't lose out on his money. My name is on the sportident list as am I on 3 photo's taken by the event photographer showing a number attached to my bike.

    I don't necessarily agree with a fellow poster. I arrived at 08:10 to no parking spaces. If Tony wants to hold such big events then it is only fair that he provides adequate parking. The previous weekend I had travelled down for the MMH. The organiser of that had kept numbers low and only allowed extra riders if they could get lifts etc.. with other already accepted riders due to limited parking spaces.

    I accept that Tony isn't responsible for the state of the toilets. It just unfortunately for him made matters much worse.

    I also don't hold him responsible for the missing markers. I know he would have gone round the circuit that morning prior to the event. It's just one of those things. We were not the only group affected by this as there was a few groups of us who were all stood together trying to work out which way to turn at a couple of junctions.

    I never commented on the main feed station as we never went past it. But if what others have commented on is true you would expect a least a little bit more choice than a gel.

    The same goes for the last feed stop gels and drink don't cut it.

    That brings us to the last thing to comment on which was on arriving back at the ride HQ.

    I'm sorry if Tony doesn't agree but after paying £25 for a ride it is down right disgusting to have to pay for the great choice of a chicken curry or spam muffin. We'll not even mention having to pay for tea and coffee as well :shock:

    Even on doing an audax which can cost the princely sum of £4 you get hot food and a brew at the end. For only £10 the weekend before I'd experienced a good feed stop with banana's, malt loaf, choc brioche's and fluids. Followed by a great bacon muffin on the finish line with as much tea and coffee as you wanted.

    I guess you don't really find out how good some sportives are compared to others until you ride one. Unfortunately for you I fond out how good they can be the weekend before yours.

    I also found out that some sportives are obviously and excuse for organisers to make as much money as possible for from an uneducated cyclists who haven't been fortunate to go to a quality event.

    They say you learn from your mistakes. After reading between the lines today and the seeing the attitude of Tony who was more than happy to accept my money yet not willing to accept my critique. I guess you can safely say that I and my mates won't be helping to support him again.

    Oh and I await your apology after you insinuated that I stole gels that I wasn't entitled to!
    Bianchi. There are no alternatives only compromises!
    I RIDE A KONA CADABRA -would you like to come and have a play with my magic link?
  • torelli
    torelli Posts: 49
    You are correct John. The online entries closed on thursday night. You contacted me 48 hours before the evnt on the Friday to say you had an injury and could we be kind enough to all your friend to ride in your place. Unlike other events who have a strict no transfers no refunds policy we decided to help you out and allow Fungus to ride in your place otherwise he would have had to pay to enter the event.

    Slow-N-Old wrote:
    torelli wrote:
    The quote came from Fungus himself. And no he didn't pay to enter the event. Maybe he should apologise to you all for helping himself to food and drink others had paid for.

    Sorry just wanted to correct things, due to injury I couldn't ride and Fungus took my place and paid me for that.

    I spoke to Tony on the phone about transferring it to Fungus and he agreed and advised what Fungus had to do.

    So the correction is that Fungus did pay and didn't help himself to free stuff.
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    torelli wrote:
    ...allow Fungus to ride in your place otherwise he would have had to pay to enter the event.

    Can you not read?
    Slow-N-Old wrote:
    So the correction is that Fungus did pay and didn't help himself to free stuff.

    Seems so
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  • Velonutter
    Velonutter Posts: 2,437
    torelli wrote:
    You are correct John. The online entries closed on thursday night. You contacted me 48 hours before the evnt on the Friday to say you had an injury and could we be kind enough to all your friend to ride in your place. Unlike other events who have a strict no transfers no refunds policy we decided to help you out and allow Fungus to ride in your place otherwise he would have had to pay to enter the event.

    Slow-N-Old wrote:
    torelli wrote:
    The quote came from Fungus himself. And no he didn't pay to enter the event. Maybe he should apologise to you all for helping himself to food and drink others had paid for.

    Sorry just wanted to correct things, due to injury I couldn't ride and Fungus took my place and paid me for that.

    I spoke to Tony on the phone about transferring it to Fungus and he agreed and advised what Fungus had to do.

    So the correction is that Fungus did pay and didn't help himself to free stuff.

    Sorry Tony, but you omitted the most important bits: -

    1. I had attempted to leave a message on your answer phone that I wanted to change my ride to Fungus as I had damaged my knee quite badly, but on each occasion the message bank was full, as I had no further joy on the Thursday I emailed that night at 22:32, the following morning I was concerned that I had had no reply and then called you, which you provided the details on how to transfer my ride to fungus.

    2. Nowhere on your site can I find where it says no transfer or refunds, so naturally I was within my rights to ask for that.

    3. As mentioned previously, there had been some major criticism of the event in 2009, and from the research it appeared that you had rectified everything this time around, however speaking to my friends it would appear that that was not the case.

    Please can you answer the question: -

    Why was there no proper food laid on at the feed stations to cover everyone?

    Why was there no free food at the end of the ride or even a simple cup of tea/coffee?

    Sorry Tony, but if the toilets were a shambles, then at £25 a pop it was your responsibility as the organiser to make sure that they were kept clean and tidy.

    I can't comment on the timing or the maps as I didn't ride the course.

    Parking, although a pain in the ass, I can see how difficult it would have been to provide 3-600 parking places and although frustrating would be difficult to rectify.

    Two years on the trot now your Sportive has received very bad publicity, whereas other Sportives seem well organised, the people on here can provide you positive ways to rectify the event and you can listen or you can ignore them and fail again next year.

    In business Tony it's important to listen to your clients, not necessarily agree with them but there is no smoke without fire!
  • skinsey
    skinsey Posts: 105
    One more thing...I didn't do the sportive but live locally, and driving through the area this morning I notice all the direction arrows are still out. Organisers really need to take down as well as put up, because if they don't, then a) as cyclists we have no right to get upset if others take arrows down when they shouldn't (as has happened in the past round here on the Cheshire Cat), b) it gives cycling a bad name, because c) it's basically litter.

    Having seen the exchanges on here I'll be avoiding sportives run by this organisation.
  • sheffsimon
    sheffsimon Posts: 1,282
    skinsey wrote:
    One more thing...I didn't do the sportive but live locally, and driving through the area this morning I notice all the direction arrows are still out. Organisers really need to take down as well as put up, because if they don't, then a) as cyclists we have no right to get upset if others take arrows down when they shouldn't (as has happened in the past round here on the Cheshire Cat), b) it gives cycling a bad name, because c) it's basically litter.

    Having seen the exchanges on here I'll be avoiding sportives run by this organisation.

    +1, I think Torelli have a Tour of the Peak sportive in April, thought about entering but wont be now. Whether they care or not is another matter. :roll:
  • andy_wrx
    andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
    skinsey wrote:
    One more thing...I didn't do the sportive but live locally, and driving through the area this morning I notice all the direction arrows are still out. Organisers really need to take down as well as put up, because if they don't, then a) as cyclists we have no right to get upset if others take arrows down when they shouldn't (as has happened in the past round here on the Cheshire Cat), b) it gives cycling a bad name, because c) it's basically litter.

    Agreed, I'm glad someone else thinks this.

    They went up on the Wednesday before the event, so I was allowing a few days for them to be taken down again : just leaving them up on every junction is littering.
  • supersid
    supersid Posts: 5
    I train around that area almost everyday. I saw people out removing the signs on Wednesday, Thursday and Yesterday
    andy_wrx wrote:
    skinsey wrote:
    One more thing...I didn't do the sportive but live locally, and driving through the area this morning I notice all the direction arrows are still out. Organisers really need to take down as well as put up, because if they don't, then a) as cyclists we have no right to get upset if others take arrows down when they shouldn't (as has happened in the past round here on the Cheshire Cat), b) it gives cycling a bad name, because c) it's basically litter.

    Agreed, I'm glad someone else thinks this.

    They went up on the Wednesday before the event, so I was allowing a few days for them to be taken down again : just leaving them up on every junction is littering.
  • supersid
    supersid Posts: 5
    So you didn't ride or attend either event.


    As mentioned previously, there had been some major criticism of the event in 2009, and from the research it appeared that you had rectified everything this time around, however speaking to my friends it would appear that that was not the case.

    Please can you answer the question: -

    Why was there no proper food laid on at the feed stations to cover everyone?

    Why was there no free food at the end of the ride or even a simple cup of tea/coffee?

    Sorry Tony, but if the toilets were a shambles, then at £25 a pop it was your responsibility as the organiser to make sure that they were kept clean and tidy.

    I can't comment on the timing or the maps as I didn't ride the course.

    Parking, although a pain in the ass, I can see how difficult it would have been to provide 3-600 parking places and although frustrating would be difficult to rectify.

    Two years on the trot now your Sportive has received very bad publicity, whereas other Sportives seem well organised, the people on here can provide you positive ways to rectify the event and you can listen or you can ignore them and fail again next year.

    In business Tony it's important to listen to your clients, not necessarily agree with them but there is no smoke without fire!
  • themightyw
    themightyw Posts: 409
    What a remarkable co-incidence that this 'supersid' character is created just yesterday, and uses his only two posts to pile in to defend an event and attack other people on these forums about a relatively obscure sportive.

    Unusual behaviour for a new member?

    Perhaps the moderators could check in the *cough* unlikely event that his IP address is the same as torelli?
  • fungus_the_muffin_man
    fungus_the_muffin_man Posts: 1,608
    I wonder if supersid will give me the apology that I'm still waiting for off torelli sports?

    After virtually calling me a thief you'd think they'd be on here trying to do some damage limitation
    Bianchi. There are no alternatives only compromises!
    I RIDE A KONA CADABRA -would you like to come and have a play with my magic link?
  • moolarb
    moolarb Posts: 83
    Loads of the signs were still up when I cycled home from work (Woodford) on Thursday. I agree that it irritates locals and doesn't really help the cause of cyclists and sportives. I think they should be taken down the day after the event at the latest.
  • Philip Whiteman
    Philip Whiteman Posts: 470
    NapoleonD wrote:
    Can't believe anyone pays to ride on public roads. I would only do a sportive if on closed roads...

    Too true. I have given up on costly sportives, preferring to ride audaxes instead - they are a greater challenge too! So much so, I now organise my own.

    Perhaps one of the few sportives with a well deserved reputation is the Mad March Hare.
  • dead sheep
    dead sheep Posts: 109
    Never having ridden this event, I am not qualified to comment. So my comments below are general.

    If riders are truly feeling short changed along with a sincere belief that the service received does not meet their expectations, they should seriously consider reporting the sportive operator to Trading Standards. Participants will be deemed to have consumed a service and therefore protected under the auspices of the Sale of Goods Act and Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.

    Remember that many but not all sportive operators are commercial operators and as riders, you need protection. Do not be scared or deterred from seeing justice done where the operator has failed to deliver the services promised.

    For details, see: http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/
  • cjw
    cjw Posts: 1,889
    moolarb wrote:
    Loads of the signs were still up when I cycled home from work (Woodford) on Thursday. I agree that it irritates locals and doesn't really help the cause of cyclists and sportives. I think they should be taken down the day after the event at the latest.

    I suggest you send a complaint to your local council along with the contact details of the event organiser. They will then chase Torelli and maybe fine them... which they deserve!
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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    I saw some on my way home from work yesterday!
  • Team Banana Spokesman
    Team Banana Spokesman Posts: 538
    not done a sportive.

    after reading this I dont think I ever will.

    I also commute near woodford. are you all the superfast grumpy lookin fellas who always smoke me with ease? :lol:
    c'mon guys. at least slow down so I can get on your wheel!

    dont know why people would get so angry about signposts. if they annoy you then take them down yourself??? :?

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