Where will Bikeradar be in 2011

mgcycleguy

Anybody know if its been decided where Bikeradar sportive will be held next year ?

... I missed this years Brands one, as it was unfortunatly on the same day as the British Grand Prix and I was at that with the better half... but I really enjoyed the 2009 Donnington event... so was wondering will Bikeradar come back to the Midlands for 2011 ? Surely its a good idea to hold a "national" event in the middle of the country so giving everybody equal access ?

Jeff Jones

BikeRadar Live will be at Brands Hatch again (9-10 July).

It would be nice to be able to move it around each year, but impractical and costly. Moving it around means we have to start from scratch from an organisational point of view. Every event needs to be rescoped to fit in with a new venue and this is not an easy process. It makes more sense to stay put and build and improve on it.

There are good reasons why big festivals of any sort don't move around. In fact we'd probably still be at Donington had it not gone broke.

mgcycleguy

Ah thats a bt of a shame, Donnington is up and running again, circuit is all finished, and its just got its race licence's back,... I'm sure they would be up for some interesting deals as well as they will no doubt need to relaunch.

... well havent been to Brands for a long time, I hope its position in the country isnt a mistake in so far as it may preclude alot of people outside of the South East, as its a real pain to get to if you live north of London...

Jeff Jones

Brands is as good a venue as Donington, possibly slightly more compact but there's not much in it. The location isn't central but it's closer to a larger number of people than Donington was. And the sportive routes are nice and quiet and challenging enough, although we do miss the Peak District.

It was a tough decision to move it and we did wait until quite late in the piece which limited our choices somewhat. But it's not moving from Brands Hatch unless something drastic happens.

Garz

Really disappointed Jeff I have to say. I would love to experience the event but as the OP has highlighted it's a shame the location is not central to the rest of us.

benjboy

Make it central. .

dodgy

Wow, just checked on the map, it's a looong way. If I'm gonna drive that far for an event I may as well keep driving and go to France!

sherer

Brands is 5 mins from the M25 so would harly say it is a hard to get to for people from North London or anywhere else in the UK.

dodgy

Yeah ok.

Garz

sherer wrote:

Brands is 5 mins from the M25 so would harly say it is a hard to get to for people from North London or anywhere else in the UK.

Your location?

It's not the 'hard' part we are finding the problem Mr, it's the time taken to get there. Why dont you pop up out of the smog once in a while!

Gazzaputt

Garz wrote:

sherer wrote:

Brands is 5 mins from the M25 so would harly say it is a hard to get to for people from North London or anywhere else in the UK.

Your location?

It's not the 'hard' part we are finding the problem Mr, it's the time taken to get there. Why dont you pop up out of the smog once in a while!

'cause it's grim up north.

dodgy

It's brilliant oop north actually, especially if you're a cyclist. 8)

Ron Stuart

dodgy wrote:

Wow, just checked on the map, it's a looong way. If I'm gonna drive that far for an event I may as well keep driving and go to France!

And you will get a lot better value for money as well matey. Try the L' Ecureuil (the squirrel) in the Limousin I have done this Sportive in the most under populated part of mainland France unlike the overcrowded SE of England where the car rules the road in even more numbers than the rest of the UK. I expect it's fine for the organizers where there are so many punters your unlikely to get a poor turn out.
I have lost count of the number of folk I have met locally (Shropshire) that have moved home away from Kent to ride their bikes in relative peace. The idea that a national sportive be centered at one of the most god awful parts of mainland UK to get to for anyone living North of Watford Gap and just like the National Soccer Stadium the contempt that it indicates for those that don't live in the South is manifest..

The Ecureuil that I did on the 2nd of Sept 2007 cost 28 Euro for fantastic ride 160k, fully supported (did not run out of water), Marshall's at every junction (the law) stopping any car on to the course whilst any of the bikes were coming bye (350 marshall's in all), solid food, energy bars, gels, drinks you name it, was the order of the day at the food stops, Full sit down dinner (with wine if you want) at the finish along with a first class cycle jersey (still wear mine sometimes). Mind you it was supported by a bank but so what it was great.

mgcycleguy

Jeff Jones wrote:

Brands is as good a venue as Donington, possibly slightly more compact but there's not much in it. The location isn't central but it's closer to a larger number of people than Donington was. And the sportive routes are nice and quiet and challenging enough, although we do miss the Peak District.

It was a tough decision to move it and we did wait until quite late in the piece which limited our choices somewhat. But it's not moving from Brands Hatch unless something drastic happens.

Jeff... I take your point, Brands is close to a large population centre, but it is a little London-centric view I feel... and as a national event the ideal position would be in the middle of the UKs big conubations... London - Birmingham - Manchester - Leeds, which happens to be the East Midlands ! ... (apologies to the Glasgow belt).

I'm all for visiting different parts of the country doing Sportives, so for me its no issue to go down and visit the South East to experience that part of the world... but it does make it more expensive, which as I mentioned may preclude a lot people of joining in.

Just a thought as you have the organisational skills to run a big sportive, why not consider running a second sportive only event in the north or in the midlands ? as well as the Brands bikeradar weekend ?

Tom Butcher

I live in Derby - so maybe 5 miles from Donnington - so I'm a bit disappointed it wont be coming back but wherever it is someone is going to be disappointed. They've found a good venue, they want to make it work financially and they've decided to stay at Brands Hatch - I can understand that. Good luck to them.

Anonymous

South beats North. Keep it at Brands.

dodgy

When it comes to cycling, the south can never be better. Anyone who labours that point hasn't cycled north of Birmingham 8)

Garz

Agreed, it's a shame some people have the tunnel vision of not venturing further than the London bias.

I grew up in Bedford and worked around the South for twenty years and now have lived in the north west for nearly ten. Although I get some stick from the northerners, the number of regions accessible for hilly cycling and great scenery (lakes, n.wales, pennines, yorks) makes me laugh when I see a southerner childishly comment like this:

Gazzaputt wrote:

'cause it's grim up north.

dmclite wrote:

South beats North. Keep it at Brands.

Anyway, the suggestion to run an event at the same time to accommodate the 'other' people in the country is a great idea that should be at least considered!

jamlala

I drove from Essex to Devon for the Dartmoor Classic and it was worth every mile/hour. Man-up and stop moaning, if you want to go to BikeRadar then sacrifices need to be made. Its never going to suit everyone!

andy_wrx

Yeah, but the point is that I can't see someone from Dartmoor wanting to drive to Brentwood to do a sportive on South East roads...

dodgy

JamLala wrote:

I drove from Essex to Devon for the Dartmoor Classic and it was worth every mile/hour. Man-up and stop moaning, if you want to go to BikeRadar then sacrifices need to be made. Its never going to suit everyone!

Congratulations for completely missing the point. it's about a simple calculation - is the effort of getting to Bikeradar live worth it. Now if Bikeradar was held in the Lakes/Peaks/somewhere else nice, then it becomes a more compelling reason to sit in a car for a few hours.

So put simply, many people don't want to go to BikeRadar.

andy_wrx wrote:

Yeah, but the point is that I can't see someone from Dartmoor wanting to drive to Brentwood to do a sportive on South East roads...

At least someone gets it 8)

Garz

Exactly!

I drove to Torquay for the bank holiday weekend with the wife as the stay in a friends cottage was free..

yes that statement was as pointless as JamLala's.



Simple, do a regional poll (showing where people who vote reside) and see if your readers really like its location not a large segment of Londoners.

8)

Gazzaputt

dodgy wrote:

JamLala wrote:

I drove from Essex to Devon for the Dartmoor Classic and it was worth every mile/hour. Man-up and stop moaning, if you want to go to BikeRadar then sacrifices need to be made. Its never going to suit everyone!

Congratulations for completely missing the point. it's about a simple calculation - is the effort of getting to Bikeradar live worth it. Now if Bikeradar was held in the Lakes/Peaks/somewhere else nice, then it becomes a more compelling reason to sit in a car for a few hours.

So put simply, many people don't want to go to BikeRadar.

andy_wrx wrote:

Yeah, but the point is that I can't see someone from Dartmoor wanting to drive to Brentwood to do a sportive on South East roads...

At least someone gets it 8)

So Kent isn't nice? Some very good hills on the North Downs. Ever ridden around Kent at all?

dodgy

Yes i've ridden around Kent, but it was because I was in the RAF and was there for a while. Nice, but I'd rather ride lots of other places and Kent isn't enough of a draw to make me drive 500 miles. As I've already said, if I'm making the effort to drive that far, I might as well cash in my Tesco clubcard tokens and press on through the tunnel into France.

Do I really have to keep on justifying why I'm not interested in driving 500 miles to pay to go for a bike ride in the SE of England?

oxenhoper

Well said Dodgy........

central england is called central for a reason!!

Herbie The Dog

Bring it to Devon...you could use Westpoint in Exeter and have the freedom of Dartmoor, Haldon, Exmoor, the Quantocks and Woodbury for MTB stuff, hundreds of miles of roads in the area taking in rolling hills and other favourites for sportives etc.

Plus everyone loves Devon (Plymouth aside).

Teach

I live near Leeds and my in laws live near Heathrow. Sorry I have no desire to go even further at a weekend and back for a sportive!
I understand the organisational aspect must be a nightmare and I don't think it is appropriate to change venues every year, but as the event is given a lot of coverage in cycling plus surely the event should be accessible to most areas of the UK. I assume people from Scotland don't even bother looking at their diaries to see if they are free, they just look at the location and say no. It costs a fortune to get there.
I suspect the number of people attending in 2010 was higher than 2009 due to the increased awareness and popularity of the event. I think it would be interesting when taking bookings to look at how far people do travel but please don't say the majority 'only travel 40 miles or less there fore we will keep it here.' Please do look at why didn't more people travel further. I may be wrong with this generalisation, but for me the event looks very good and well organised, it is just in the wrong part of the country.

fungus_the_muffin_man

There will always be a southern bias from the likes of BR , wiggle etc...

It's a sad fact of life It's a shame as further north is crying out for some well hosted cycling events.

Bar Shaker

I guess when the event is a flop, that will be the time to move it.

Until then, Brands Hatch is an excellent venue with 15,000,000 people living within 1 hour's drive. Plus, it appeals to riders from Northern Europe.

dodgy

I can't imagine anyone in Europe paying to cross the channel to ride there, but I guess BikeRadar has done the sums. I wish the event well by the way, I am prepared to do some travelling, back in the day I would travel down to the Malverns every year and also a good deal of the NPS events, but Kent is just a bit too far for me, and it's also the wrong side of London - dartford crossing /shudder

mgcycleguy

Bar Shaker wrote:

I guess when the event is a flop, that will be the time to move it.

Until then, Brands Hatch is an excellent venue with 15,000,000 people living within 1 hour's drive. Plus, it appeals to riders from Northern Europe.

... if thats the argument, hold it in Richmond park, you'll have 5million within walking distance ! and you might even get some Americans to fly in for it....

... the point of my intial question is simple. IF (and its a big if), Bikeradar wishes to be considered a national event then holding it south of London shows nothing but contempt for the vast majority of sportive riders who live in around the UK.

... I fully understand that the guys at Bikeradar wouldnt want to change it, and fine so be it, but please not lets pretend to justify the location other than to say it perfectly suits those who live in the South East, and it is perfectly unsuitable for just about everyone else....