Grand Fondo Eddy Merckx

derek48

Hi
Does anyone know anything about this event, on 31st July, starting from Cricket St Thomas in Somerset. The website doesn't show a route map, but does say the great man will be present and may even ride the event. For £39 entry I would expect to know where I am riding.

Ron Stuart

Quite right mate for this sort of money it would be nice to know where your riding, I would give it a miss do a wiggle one down that way. There is one coming up in the Mendips, save yourself £14 and it will probably be run better.
All fur coat and no knickers for sure.

Garrigou

Merckx (& 5 other Tour winners) were all advertised as 'participating' at an event down in the Pyrenees last week. They all turned up on the start line, but Eddy only rode 40km or so of flat stuff before heading back to base.
Fair play, though, Indurain & Delgado rode the full-strength 3-col route & 83-year old, 1956 winner, Roger Walkowiak rode the 55km 'rolling' route.
But I wouldn't expect Monsieur Merckx to ride the whole course.

Kirky

Outline route details are on the website - and full details will be sent out to all riders in the week before the event (including gps files).

Hopefully it should be a good event, we've been told that Eddy is riding the full route - and he'll also be there for the entire weekend. There's loads in the planning at the moment and more details will continue to be released up to the event itself. All I can say is we're working hard to make it a great event, and one that people will want to come back and ride in the future - and also that Eddy Merckx bikes will continue to want to sponsor in years to come.

One of the reasons for the delay is we had been working on something a little special for it - that would set it apart from every other sportive in the UK, but sadly that hasn't been signed off in time. So we'll aim for that for next year and concentrate on making the first event in 2011 a good one.

KIRKY

P.S. At least there shouldn't be any problems with parking - there's space for thousands of cars in the various event fields at Cricket St Thomas!!

derek48

Now that the secret 'something special' is no longer taking place, will you be reducing the entry fees accordingly, as you would have factored that in to the original costing? £39 is right at the top end of 'open road' sportives, and for a new event with no history and sparse details, you are taking a very big risk. Entrants are becoming much more discerning and after recent fiascos such as the Dragon Ride, we are all looking for value for a lot of money. The Tour of Exmoor has recently been cancelled and I hope that you do get enough interest in a potentially interesting event. As yet I am undecided.

Ron Stuart

Derek48 wrote:

Now that the secret 'something special' is no longer taking place, will you be reducing the entry fees accordingly, as you would have factored that in to the original costing? £39 is right at the top end of 'open road' sportives, and for a new event with no history and sparse details, you are taking a very big risk. Entrants are becoming much more discerning and after recent fiascos such as the Dragon Ride, we are all looking for value for a lot of money. The Tour of Exmoor has recently been cancelled and I hope that you do get enough interest in a potentially interesting event. As yet I am undecided.

If pigs could fly would the price of bacon go up :?: :shock:

Kirky

Derek48 wrote:

Now that the secret 'something special' is no longer taking place, will you be reducing the entry fees accordingly, as you would have factored that in to the original costing? £39 is right at the top end of 'open road' sportives, and for a new event with no history and sparse details, you are taking a very big risk. Entrants are becoming much more discerning and after recent fiascos such as the Dragon Ride, we are all looking for value for a lot of money. The Tour of Exmoor has recently been cancelled and I hope that you do get enough interest in a potentially interesting event. As yet I am undecided.

Unfortunately if what we had been planning / working on had been signed off - the cost would actually have been more (hence we delayed launching the event until we knew for sure)!! But also well worth it. I completely agree with your point that it's at the top end entry fee wise - but it should be well worth the money. We're including a pasta party the night before the event for those that sign on on the Saturday, a decent goodie bag (and not just full of flyers!!) food stations that are well stocked with ZipVit as well as the normal foods you'd get out on the route, hot pasta when you get back and a load more.

And to be honest, the venue is costing a fortune - probably 20 times (if not more!!) what we'd pay for other venues for our other sportives. But, it does mean the event has massive amounts of room for growth in future years (including parking for over 12,000 cars - according to the land owner!!) and it also means we've got a 3km closed road section to first the event (in the grounds of Cricket St Thomas) with a final timed climb to finish things off. To put it into perspective, we normally charge £24.50 for our events - but unless I knew we were going to be getting 4000 odd riders in our first year (never going to happen!!) the entry fee had to be higher. Rest assured though, providing it's a success, if we can reduce the price in 2012 with a bigger entry we will.

We've also worked hard to make sure the event village will be worth the effort - and not just a few flags kicking about!!

Hopefully it will be an event worthy of people's hard earned money - and we've learnt a lot from the feedback we've seen from other riders at events like the Dragon Ride (and have had loads of good feedback about our other events we run).

KIRKY

Ron Stuart

Kirky, you must think we are all pretty dumb because.

1) You couldn't get route sorted out before you started advertising the event.

2) You say this: “Unfortunately if what we had been planning / working on had been signed off - the cost would actually have been more (hence we delayed launching the event until we knew for sure)!!” You mean to say you were going to ask for more than £39 so that makes £39 reasonably priced and why don’t you just tell us what ‘planning/working on’ actually was?

3) A pasta party the night before is of little value to people who will arrive on the day. Also the other “decent goodie bag (and not just full of flyers!!) food stations that are well stocked with ZipVit as well as the normal foods you'd get out on the route, hot pasta when you get back and a load more.” Is just standard £24.50 sportive bits and bobs.

4) Then you go on to say that the venue you have chosen is too expensive and therefore the price has to go up, not impressed mate.

5) So basically it’s all fur coat and no knickers.

Just to give you some idea of how many miles out you are with value for money check out my next Sportive here…. http://www.peterboroughcyclingclub.co.u ... ew/517/70/

cadelevansdog

Seems like riders pay 39 quid and have Eddy try to flog them some bikes?

Yes he was a brilliant rider but .......

Anonymous

This looks like another way to fleece those newly into the cycling scene. 40 Quid to ride on open roads with the sort of stuff at feed stations you can get for a couple of quid?

Have a look at what Polocini are offering for less.

I organised a (free) group ride via this website and managed to get a load of CNP gels, drinks and bottles for free for everyone...

cadelevansdog

NapoleonD - AGREED! Polocini events are the saviours of the northern sportive.

I've ridden first two - BRILLIANT!

www.polocini.com

Kirky

Ron Stuart wrote:

Kirky, you must think we are all pretty dumb because.

1) You couldn't get route sorted out before you started advertising the event.

2) You say this: “Unfortunately if what we had been planning / working on had been signed off - the cost would actually have been more (hence we delayed launching the event until we knew for sure)!!” You mean to say you were going to ask for more than £39 so that makes £39 reasonably priced and why don’t you just tell us what ‘planning/working on’ actually was?

3) A pasta party the night before is of little value to people who will arrive on the day. Also the other “decent goodie bag (and not just full of flyers!!) food stations that are well stocked with ZipVit as well as the normal foods you'd get out on the route, hot pasta when you get back and a load more.” Is just standard £24.50 sportive bits and bobs.

4) Then you go on to say that the venue you have chosen is too expensive and therefore the price has to go up, not impressed mate.

5) So basically it’s all fur coat and no knickers.

Just to give you some idea of how many miles out you are with value for money check out my next Sportive here…. http://www.peterboroughcyclingclub.co.u ... ew/517/70/

I don't think riders are dumb at all - and I find it quite an insult that you accuse me of that. I've been a club rider since I was very young and organised a fair number of races and events over the years.

We always try and make our events as good value for money as possible, and I believe we are better than most. I'd be very interested to know what timing system you are using for your event - as it's obviously a LOT cheaper than we pay!! We've even looked at a long term investment of our own timing system to keep the costs down - but even then the numbers don't really add up!! Also am I right in thinking you run the event as a club and therefore have a large number of volunteer's to help with the running of the event??

With regards to telling everyone what that 'something special' was - not going to happen. The reason it didn't happen this year was a very political one - and if I start shouting about it on an open forum then it is very unlikely I'll be able to get it signed off for 2012!!

Like I say I'm not going to get into an agrument on the costs of running a sportive on an open forum - I know what it's going to cost to put on this event, and I also know that we are likely to run at a loss in year one (but are committed to making it happen). For those riders that have signed up, I know they'll have a great event and have the opportunity to ride alongside one of the legends of our sport. For those that decide it is too expensive / not for them, that's cool too - hopefully you'll read great things about this years event and be there for 2012.

KIRKY

Anonymous

The problem is, people have been really stung recently on sportives, with the exception of Polocini (who had a couple of teething issues with signage on one route in their first sportive) I've heard nowt but complaints despite organisers offering bold promises.
You are offering nothing remotely new except the chance to ride alongside (albeit with several hundred other riders also trying to get alongside) Eddy Merckx. And it costs a lot more...

The sportive Market is saturated with mundane events, if I was organising one it'd be very different, another forum member and I have a good idea in mind but dunno if it'd ever come to fruition due to work/family commitments...

derek48

Kirky

When I opened this thread I was simply looking for information as the website was somewhat lacking in detail. I seem to have touched on a nerve regarding pricing and value for money, but I think your explanations are voodo economics. Ideally you would like to fill 1000 places at £39, but, as I'm sure you will agree, that is not going to happen for a new event. So, really you want to fill 1000 places so that the event is seen to be successful and you can build on that reputation next year. If Tesco wanted to shift a lot of bottles of wine, then they REDUCE the price, not increase it. Your pricing policy virtually guarantees that you will have a low entry and therefore run at a loss. Why not carry the same loss, but with a larger number of entrants at a lower entry fee, so that you can run a successful event in terms of entrants, and be able to use that to promote the event next year? That is known as a loss leader!

nferrar

Can't say I envy sportive organisers, it's a lot of hassle and I guess only a few make any decent money from it. I do agree with the post above though, it sounds like you have high fixed costs (venue/timing/marshals), you need to encourage more entries to mitigate those costs and the only real way to do that is to lower the price.

I hope the event's a success, it's near enough to me that I might do it in the future but there's no chance I'm spending £39 on a year one sportive that doesn't seem to offer anything over a normal sportive apart from Eddy being there (and it will probably be a case of a quick glimpse and that will be that).

Oh and I friggin hate pasta parties - I would never stay overnight before a sportive and I can't believe a significant percentage of riders do either so all we're doing is subsidising others. I'm paying to ride a well organised, signed route, not for other people to stuff their faces the night before.

37monkey

I'm happy to give the Gran Fondo the benefit of the doubt, if it's good this year then great, I can say I was there at the start and I'll be doing it again. If it's no good, then hey ho, at least I gave them a chance. One thing I'm not going to do is moan and get judgemental about an event that hasn't even happened yet? Innocent until proven guilty? Nobody is being forced into it and if it's not your cup of very British tea, then don't go!

derek48

I may well do it, as it's relatively local to me, and the opportunity to meet the great man is not one to be missed. However the discussion was about the pricing strategy for a new event with no history or reputation. I'm not being judgemental as I really hope it succeeds and is good value for money.

derek48

Well, what can I say? I had high hopes for a new event with the X factor. For those of us who have neither the time nor inclination to sign in on Saturday, our experience of 'riding with Eddy' was to see him ride to the head of the start queue and then head off with some journos and VIP's, never to be seen again. If we discount this, and look at the ride itself, it was bog standard, after the section down to the south coast, which was very scenic. The long ride went through some very ordinary countryside with no 'wow factor' scenery and it felt a bit of a slog. I'm not really surprised that only 350 people entered, given the pricing policy, and much as I'd like to say it was worth every penny to ride with great man, it simply wasn't. To cap it all, the final feed stop had run out of energy drink. Not a good advert for Zipvit. Sportives live or die primarily on the quality of the route and there are many out there with some stunning riding which puts this in the shade. Sorry Kirky, but that was my experience. I wish it had been different.

BillyMansell

Derek, you can hardly blame the organisation for you not meeting Eddy if you were not inclined to attend on Saturday when he made himself available to all comers both in the signing tent and VIP area. There wasn't much going on in the event village but the food and weather were both good on Saturday so made a pleasant evening.

He did set off first but was not going flat out so many, including myself, had a chance to ride with him and it felt more like a club run than a sportive. The food and refreshments at the end were disappointing but as I was on my way to stay in Looe for a few days I had plenty to eat in the car.

For someone who comes from the relatively flat Midlands who was passing through on his way to Cornwall, it was a ride that was different and challenging that I wouldn't have been inspired to organise for myself.

Will I do it next year? we shall have to see whether the X factor appears next year to set it apart from other sportives.

Mendip rouleur

See my blog post from Sunday 31 July for my experience of the day.

It was OK as a ride, I agree the coast road was exceptional scenically, and some of the northern sections were very dull. I didn't come down on Saturday, nor did I avail myself of the cold tubs of pasta at the finish- not the hot food promised.

Was it worth £39? No. It does have potential to be better, and it was way better than the Dragon Ride fiasco. Nothing tops the Dartmoor classic for southern sportives though, still definitely my best experience after riding it twice.

I'm getting a bit jaded of sportives and agree with some of the comments above from NapoleanD. The most fun I have had this year was when Somerset Cycling, a loose affiliation of attached and non-attached riders, got together and organised a small-scale ride in aid of a local charity, with no-one making any money out of it. It was relaxed, a good route, about 100 riders, and a man with a transit looking after everyone for food and mechanicals. Local cafe as "event village", and we all went home with smiles on our faces.

Sportives can be good, but it's going to be harder and harder to justify the fees when what is being given in exchange is just not worth it. I've entered the Etape Cymru, purely for the closed roads as I've not experienced it before. Maybe I'm a mug. I get more fun from driving (or flying if it's abroad) to places I have never ridden, with like-minded people, and doing it myself.

madman36

I agree that the market has now reached saturation point with sportives and organisers now need to find something different to tempt us in.

This was a new sportive and was at the top end for price.

However it was well organised, the goody bag at the end was worthwhile.

I enjoyed the event and the route despite the cramp.

I hope this event does grow into a classic, and I will be back next year.