60 quid for Etape caledonia!!

Pigtail

Well I've signed up. I started cycling in November - did the EC in May with really no experience of group riding and had an amazing day. Mean red spider there are no shortage of people to overtake. I started well back and must have passed 2000 people.

I was carried round on adrenaline, didn't stop at all and really enjoyed it. I'm sure the previous day registration has to be logistical. How on earth could you sign on 5000 people before 7 o'clock in the morning?

bompington

The saturday registration is surely for logistical and economic reasons. I don't think it's cynical to assume that they want people to come and stay over in the area, nor is it a cynical ploy by the organisers, they are trying to build it into a big event with a big event atmosphere.
A lot of us enjoy the chance to come up, even just for the night before in my case*, and even if it costs us more, we feel we're getting something in return. For anyone who doesn't, then they don't have to enter! It's not a question of someone being right or wrong, just different perceived value.


*Dundee is 50 miles away, assuming a 7am start then I could leave home at 5:45, get to Pitlochry at 6:30, find a place to park the car, get to the start... or I could freewheel the mile down to the start from our cottage at 6:55. Let me think, what will I choose?
If we had to register on sunday morning too, who knows what time we'd all have to be there?

rls

I also only lived (just moved) only 90 minutes drive from the start, but both times I've done the event I opted to come down on the Saturday and either camp (1st time) or B&B so that I get to enjoy the atmosphere and local hospitality. It's one of those events that is more than just the ride itself.

Plus imagine trying to get 5000 cyclists registered on the morning of the ride!

Next year we will be driving up from South Devon and spending 2 nights locally

Rich

Pigtail

Well Aberdeen is a bit further away, but I was glad to spend some time in the area, because the whole experience was so new to me.

I did a two day trip on the bike about 3-4 weeks before, took in a fair chunk of the course, stayed in a Pitlochry youth hostel, had a meal and bought some food in the local area.

We have a converted mini-bus / campervan and stayed on the local campsite. We had to book in for 3 nights - no single nights allowed that weekend. The day before I did about 25 miles to keep my legs moving and again to scout out part of the course, particularly the small climbs towards the end. It also helped to soak up the atmosphere.

All-in-all the weekend probably cost me £300 above the entry fee. I'm pretty frugal with money as a rule, but it was worth every penny in my view, a huge milestone in my new lifestyle.

thecrofter

The organisers have made no bones about it, they ask you to register the day before so you stay in the area and spend money in the local economy.......fair enough really. There is so much to do around the area and it's Scotland at it's best scenery-wise. You could even visit the local chocolate factory in Grantully..

thegreatdivide

thecrofter wrote:

The organisers have made no bones about it, they ask you to register the day before so you stay in the area and spend money in the local economy.

Where did you read this? Do they not just say 'spend a bit of money in the town while you're there'?

As mentioned already - trying to register 5000 cyclists before 7am so that roads are closed for the least amount of time is a logistical nightmare. For big rides like Paris Roubaix Challenge and L'Etape du Tour you have to register the day before. The Etape Caledonia isn't a turn up in a Tesco car park rip-off 'sportive' it's a big event.

suzyb

thecrofter wrote:

The organisers have made no bones about it, they ask you to register the day before so you stay in the area and spend money in the local economy.......fair enough really. There is so much to do around the area and it's Scotland at it's best scenery-wise. You could even visit the local chocolate factory in Grantully..

There's a local chocolate factory :shock:

Darn it, had I known going to this years Etape might not have been a complete waste of time.

rls

suzyb wrote:

There's a local chocolate factory :shock:

My sentiments exactly...I've added it to the list of things to see when we are up for next year's Etape. 8)

d4evr

I travelled up on Saturday morning to register this year then back again on the Sunday, which wasn't too much of a hassle as I only live in Dundee also. However I will be staying up there next year in a static caravan which will make thinks easier, and the missus and kids can get a wee break also.

As for spending money in the area, the locals and their business's deserve no less in my opinion, in fact we went back up to Pitlochry a month or so after the event to show my daughter where "Daddy went on his bike", had a spot of lunch, and let my girls bankrupt me in the local shops etc. This was all done just to put something back into the local economy and as a thank you to the locals, as I say they deserve no less.

d4evr

Forgot to say, the Chocolate Shop received none of my money and never ever will, much to the annoyance of my good lady!!

twotyred

Plus imagine trying to get 5000 cyclists registered on the morning of the ride!

There's actually no need for registration at all. The Dragon ride has just as many riders and there's no registration as it uses disposable RFID chips. Just as well really as adding registration to the their already poor start organisation would be a total nightmare.

rls

I suppose if I had one criticism of the Etape Caledonia would be to do with the cyclists at the start on the day. I was queuing to hit my allocated time slot, but there seemed to be loads of people trying to start early, which made a bit of a mess of it. The organisers did what they could, but I don't see how they could have resolved it, without allocating a large area to pushing early people back to the bottom of the high street which would have caused lots of grumbling.

The knock-on effect was that there were some really slow riders starting way to early and acting as a bit of a hazard for the faster riders when there was no real need to do so. Saying that, I wasn't aware of this causing any specific accidents and it gave me more people to overtake, so I didn't really mind

The morale of this story is to stick to your time slot so that you don't get overtaken by quite as many cyclists...I'd find it quite depressing if I had a steady stream of faster people overtaking me for the first hour or two of the event!

suzyb

But if you're slower a later start means more of a chance of getting caught by the sweep bus. Which is a total waste of £60 as they take your timing chip off you.

So people want to start earlier to give themselves more of a gap before the sweep bus starts. Even if it means a steady stream of people passing them. Especially since a steady stream of people passing them means they aren't last.

That's when it gets really depressing, believe me

Stedman

suzyb wrote:

But if you're slower a later start means more of a chance of getting caught by the sweep bus. Which is a total waste of £60 as they take your timing chip off you.

So people want to start earlier to give themselves more of a gap before the sweep bus starts. Even if it means a steady stream of people passing them. Especially since a steady stream of people passing them means they aren't last.

That's when it gets really depressing, believe me

Suzyb,

As a member of your fan club, I do hope that you are having another go so that we can all cheer you on again!

How has your training gone?

thecrofter

rls wrote:

suzyb wrote:

There's a local chocolate factory :shock:

My sentiments exactly...I've added it to the list of things to see when we are up for next year's Etape. 8)

The chocolate man is the most vocal of the two "local" protesters. He complains that the Etape is bad for the local economy, WTF!. Hence the wink at the end of my sentence.

suzyb

Stedman wrote:

suzyb wrote:

But if you're slower a later start means more of a chance of getting caught by the sweep bus. Which is a total waste of £60 as they take your timing chip off you.

So people want to start earlier to give themselves more of a gap before the sweep bus starts. Even if it means a steady stream of people passing them. Especially since a steady stream of people passing them means they aren't last.

That's when it gets really depressing, believe me

Suzyb,

As a member of your fan club, I do hope that you are having another go so that we can all cheer you on again!

How has your training gone?

I have a fan club :oops:

Haven't really done any training, been stupid busy with work at times this summer. So I wont be entering the Etape next year. Going to wait till I'm confident enough that I can give it a proper go.

Dunkeldog

Went up to stay with a mate who lives in Montrose and rode the Etape course last weekend. Epic ride and though I've paid my sixty quid to ride it 'properly' I have to say, coming from the Midlands, the amount of traffic we saw on a normal Sunday was as good as a closed road for me!

ellieb

There is a difference between cycling on a quiet road & knowing that you can take a 'blind' bend on the wrong side of the road because there definitely won't be something coming the other way. Similarly if there are 50 of you in a group it is handy to know that you can take up all the road.

fuzzynavel

I didn't realise that you had to check in the day before......I was just going to drive up from Edinburgh...do the race Sportive and drive back...guess I will have to look at staying with my Aunt and Uncle in Pitlochry....Didn't really want to do that though!

Omar Little

fuzzynavel wrote:

I didn't realise that you had to check in the day before......I was just going to drive up from Edinburgh...do the race Sportive and drive back...guess I will have to look at staying with my Aunt and Uncle in Pitlochry....Didn't really want to do that though!

it is possible to get someone to check in on your behalf. i did that a couple of years ago and it was a bit of a panic trying to find them before the start to get my number and sensor!

WTF

fuzzynavel wrote:

I didn't realise that you had to check in the day before

Same here
Why can`t they post them ?
For £61 I almost expect the "organisers" come and fit the chip and numbers to my bike for me as well.

Pigtail

Omar Little wrote:

it is possible to get someone to check in on your behalf. i did that a couple of years ago and it was a bit of a panic trying to find them before the start to get my number and sensor!

Last year I had to show photo ID to register. Though I heard of somebody replacing someone else in the event, so there must be some way round it.

Redhog14

It was my first road event last year and while I had ridden the course in part and whole previsously I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the descent off Schiehallion at full pelt was frankly brilliant. Having heard the stories of local objections etc, I have a friend who is a local Policeman, I was really taken aback by the great support from start to finsh. It was notable that only one house I passed had people in it not taking any notice, mainly cause the guy was cutting his grass! The £61 is a bit much though as I felt the goodies were pointless. I rode the Manx E2E last week and for £35 you got a decent t-shirt and 3 food stops on the way.
Did 4.30min so got to do some proper training and get under 4hrs surely.

DaveMoss

In current times of austerity , I do think the orgasnisers should give an explanation as to why the fee has increased by 7% in one year, and i think 22% since the first one just a few years ago. But 6000 of you are willing to pay £61 I guess it's your choice.

A few remarks on some of the posts:- 1)Is it worth it? I suppose it's a personal choice, it is a big event so if you like the big event atmosphere then I suppose it is. Logically the large size of the event should make it worse, not better, but human nature is not logical (thankfully).
2) "The entry includes a donation charity" I don't think that is true, the money raised for the charity is all extra fundraising by some of the riders ( I could be wrong).
3) "worth it for the closed roads". As pointed out by others with experience of Scottish rural roads, they are traffic free all the time. The road closer is purely because of the high number of riders ( and the mass start ). With so many other riders to contend with, you don't exactly get the road to yourself to take the line you want. The road closure is required, but not a plus point IMHO.
4) the challenge?...... It isn't really much of a challenge is it? one of the easier sportives around.

You will have guessed by now, this event is not for me, but each to their own. Good luck if you entered

DaveMoss

bompington wrote:

try descending the Schiehallion road to the south at 40mph using the whole road any other day of the year!), ...

Can you really do that with 6000 other riders around you?

WTF

DaveMoss wrote:

bompington wrote:

try descending the Schiehallion road to the south at 40mph using the whole road any other day of the year!), ...

Can you really do that with 6000 other riders around you?

At least they are going in the same direction and similar speed.

bompington

DaveMoss wrote:

bompington wrote:

try descending the Schiehallion road to the south at 40mph using the whole road any other day of the year!), ...

Can you really do that with 6000 other riders around you?

I certainly have really done that every time so far. There aren't 6000 riders around you by the time you're 50 miles into the course.

This debate is a bit pointless really - some are attracted by it, some not, and we might as well be arguing over whose favourite colour is the best.




but you're still wrong and I'm still right

Pigtail

I only started cycling at the end of last year. I had all the same anxieties we always see here- would a club want me, did I have the right gear, was I fast enough?

With the Etape Caledonia there was none of that, all I needed was a credit card number and I was in. Because I got one of the later charity entries I had to raise £200 for charity in addition to my fee.

I did a recce of a chunk of it a few weeks before and found some issues with vehicles on the part I did, particularly tour buses.

My recollection of the day is a bit of a blur of adrenaline, but I absolutely loved it - I started well back, overtook several thousand people and didn't stop at all. I reached over 40 on the descent.

So it means a lot to me- first big event, one of my best days on a bike, a clear marker of where I was at to check progress next year. £60 is also a bit of a bargain compared with £257 - though the £200 came from family and friends! So I'm in.

Omar Little

DaveMoss wrote:

bompington wrote:

try descending the Schiehallion road to the south at 40mph using the whole road any other day of the year!), ...

Can you really do that with 6000 other riders around you?

Yeah

The climb and then the descent really strings things out, was great fun!

suzyb

DaveMoss wrote:

4) the challenge?...... It isn't really much of a challenge is it? one of the easier sportives around.

That depends on the rider.