Ride London 100 or not in my case!

vinnymarsden

Has anyone else had the super glossy brochure from the Ride London ballot entry telling you you DIDNT make the cut!!
What an insult, a letter would have sufficed, it's even got the brass balls to have a training plan in it for the ride you DIDNT get into!!. Then as you read its full of ads from charities offering you a place if you promise to raise set amounts etc etc. I know it's probably been paid for by those charities but I still had to check twice to confirm I hadn't actually got in, the clue really was in the front cover banner that said COMMISERATIONS!!!
Talk about taking the proverbial, but I guess we have come to expect to be let down gently nowadays, for me a simple email saying no would have sufficed really.

IanRCarter

viewtopic.php?f=40007&t=12978496&start=240

Haven't bothered going through that thread, my guess is a few people got in, a lot didn't.

sloppyschleckonds

http://youtu.be/2h3PAIrthTc

cougie

It's the same thing with the London Marathon - I think they are modelling themselves on that.

Ride London will make a lot of money selling places to the charities - so obviously they want to make it so attractive that you will sign up with a charity.

The LM Congratulations/Commiseration magazines are almost identical apart from the cover.

Anonymous

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

http://youtu.be/2h3PAIrthTc

Priceless

Anonymous

VinnyMarsden wrote:

Has anyone else had the super glossy brochure from the Ride London ballot entry telling you you DIDNT make the cut!!
What an insult, a letter would have sufficed, it's even got the brass balls to have a training plan in it for the ride you DIDNT get into!!. Then as you read its full of ads from charities offering you a place if you promise to raise set amounts etc etc. I know it's probably been paid for by those charities but I still had to check twice to confirm I hadn't actually got in, the clue really was in the front cover banner that said COMMISERATIONS!!!
Talk about taking the proverbial, but I guess we have come to expect to be let down gently nowadays, for me a simple email saying no would have sufficed really.

Its a charity gig……………….. bet you take a charity place now the glossy mag has started working its magic on you

P.S. ugo will be along in a minute to smack your bum for starting this thread :shock:

vinnymarsden

I won't take a charity ride..the logistics of it are mind-blowing….someone said that on average you are "assailed" 2 to 3 times a month both at work/home etc, for some well deserving charity, that being the case I don't feel that it's right to chug money off people for a charity I am only supporting just because I want to ride in this glorified sportive, i will look for something nearer home, and ride like I intended to ride the London gig…for the fun of it.

matt-h

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

http://youtu.be/2h3PAIrthTc

10/10

Matt

southdownswolf

The London Marathon Limited are one of the 3 main organisers, that might give you a clue... ;-)

Emphursis

I got the same yesterday. Third year in a row I haven't got in, bit of a p*** take saying they prioritise people that haven't ridden it before when there are plenty of people getting in year after year.

Zerotails99

Didn't get selected either. I shall still be joining in somewhere along the route.

llen

Same feeling as you emphursis. 3rd entry 3rd failure. The only two people I know that have got in this year will be doing it for the third year running!!! How does that work????

aberdeenal

Didn't get in either but now have a cycling top with Ride London 100..............not too sure if I can wear it since I haven't ridden it but I can always iron transfer on "Not the" to the top :-)

Never mind with thousands riding in London that day it'll make the roads less busy for us "failures" - might even look at riding Applecross!

vinnymarsden

Im confused even more now….. did you surrender your entry fee in order to get the ballot losers top or something???

HertsG

llen wrote:

Same feeling as you emphursis. 3rd entry 3rd failure. The only two people I know that have got in this year will be doing it for the third year running!!! How does that work????

That'll be me then ....

2013 = charity place
2014 = ballot place (but still raised money for a charity)
2015 = charity place

It's really not that hard to get a ride .....

markyone

Emphursis wrote:

I got the same yesterday. Third year in a row I haven't got in, bit of a p*** take saying they prioritise people that haven't ridden it before when there are plenty of people getting in year after year.

same here p**s take 3rd year of trying through the ballot but no success,will do a charity ride again.

Chunky101

VinnyMarsden wrote:

Has anyone else had the super glossy brochure from the Ride London ballot entry telling you you DIDNT make the cut!!
What an insult, a letter would have sufficed, it's even got the brass balls to have a training plan in it for the ride you DIDNT get into!!. Then as you read its full of ads from charities offering you a place if you promise to raise set amounts etc etc. I know it's probably been paid for by those charities but I still had to check twice to confirm I hadn't actually got in, the clue really was in the front cover banner that said COMMISERATIONS!!!
Talk about taking the proverbial, but I guess we have come to expect to be let down gently nowadays, for me a simple email saying no would have sufficed really.

Jesus, you weren't successful and you're unhappy, I get it, but ranting about the literature? Really? I bet there are many people that appreciated the mag and would have been equally offended by just a letter. Get over yourself.

crispybug2

Didn't get in but then I realised that I finish my family holiday in Devon on the 2nd of August so I wouldn't have been to compete anyway.

Still the jersey they sent is nice.

Bar Shaker

I got a place as a British Cycling team rider last year. BC registered clubs get allocated team places and of 5 teams in our club, 4 got places.

I had to defer my place as I broke my leg so have a place for this year.

They don't sell the places to charities to make money, they allocate a huge amount of places to charities so the charities make money.

I'm looking forward to it.

Anonymous

Anyone else still not had a reply letter yet? Not even the commiserations letter. I definitely had my application submitted as I got an email back at the time. A bit frustrating when I know I have to pay soon if I got a place

turbotommy

Chunky101 wrote:

VinnyMarsden wrote:

Has anyone else had the super glossy brochure from the Ride London ballot entry telling you you DIDNT make the cut!!
What an insult, a letter would have sufficed, it's even got the brass balls to have a training plan in it for the ride you DIDNT get into!!. Then as you read its full of ads from charities offering you a place if you promise to raise set amounts etc etc. I know it's probably been paid for by those charities but I still had to check twice to confirm I hadn't actually got in, the clue really was in the front cover banner that said COMMISERATIONS!!!
Talk about taking the proverbial, but I guess we have come to expect to be let down gently nowadays, for me a simple email saying no would have sufficed really.

Jesus, you weren't successful and you're unhappy, I get it, but ranting about the literature? Really? I bet there are many people that appreciated the mag and would have been equally offended by just a letter. Get over yourself.

I'm with the OP on this one.

In poker it's called a slow roll. Thought I was in and I'd received some kind of entry pack. Then the penny dropped... I wouldn't do it for charity unless I intended to donate all the money myself, and have never intimated to any charity I would consider riding to support them. The magazine, training plan and all, just felt like salt in the wound I'm afraid. Also probably compounded by the fact I've also had 3 failed attempts at it...

southdownswolf

If you've had three failed attempts, then surely you should have known that a magazine would have come through your door to inform you as to whether you had not made it through the ballot or not?

Ride London make more money out of charity places than they do through the ballot places, the charities pay a lot of money for these places. They have every right to have their advert sent out in the magazine.

Sand in the wound? It's just a bike ride (albeit expensive one) go ride 100 hundred miles elsewhere.

Get over it...

kentphil

Just waiting for the "is it ok to ride without an official place" comments to start :-)

turbotommy

southdownswolf wrote:

If you've had three failed attempts, then surely you should have known that a magazine would have come through your door to inform you as to whether you had not made it through the ballot or not?

Ride London make more money out of charity places than they do through the ballot places, the charities pay a lot of money for these places. They have every right to have their advert sent out in the magazine.

Sand in the wound? It's just a bike ride (albeit expensive one) go ride 100 hundred miles elsewhere.

Get over it...

"Get over it"? I am well over it, and frankly just enjoying a bit of a rant. How about you get over yourself!?

They may well have every right to advertise in the magazine, just as I have every right to show displeasure at what is essentially junk Mail coming through my door.

The charities pay a premium for entrants because they know they will get a large return on their investment, and as I said, I never showed any interest in riding for a charity. Perhaps they should give us the option of opting out of the magazine, the same way companies are legally obliged to before selling your personal information to third parties.

Ridelondon was aparantly first set up to promote cycling and sport in general in conjunction with the 2012 Olympics. Well I'm all for that. It's also a chance to ride on closed roads around the place I live. I'm all for that too. So in that sense it's not just a bike ride, and not the same as riding 100 miles elsewhere.

Is it ok with you if I show a little disappointment at not making it in?

mfin

I think you missed the point there really. I think what he was trying to say is if you wanna go ride your bike then just go do it, unless there is some allure to punctuating your regular rides with one that stacks of people are drawn to in order to be one of the sheep. The closed roads thing is a little non-sensical as those roads are then flooded with people who are ignorant as to how to ride a bike when sharing that road with thousands of others.

Fairdoos though, if you wanna be pissed off about not riding it then fine, most people who have ridden for years seem to be able to get all the cycling enjoyment they could wish for without participating in sportives with all the pre-planning it takes to even take part.

turbotommy

mfin wrote:

I think you missed the point there really. I think what he was trying to say is if you wanna go ride your bike then just go do it, unless there is some allure to punctuating your regular rides with one that stacks of people are drawn to in order to be one of the sheep. The closed roads thing is a little non-sensical as those roads are then flooded with people who are ignorant as to how to ride a bike when sharing that road with thousands of others.

Fairdoos though, if you wanna be pissed off about not riding it then fine, most people who have ridden for years seem to be able to get all the cycling enjoyment they could wish for without participating in sportives with all the pre-planning it takes to even take part.

Oh dear...

Did I miss the point? Thought I was making the point others responded to? What did my original point have to do with the merits (or not) of doing the ride...

Thanks for the cheap shots though, made me smile on a Monday morning which is always a bonus!

You think only sheep with no cycling experience go into the ridelondon? Have you entered in the past? Yes? What does that make you? No? What qualifies you to talk about it with such authority?

Maybe I just wanted that experience, good or bad... Is that ok with you?

None of this has anything to do with my original point but hey ho. Sorry if I sounded pissed off, I wasnt, I was just having a moan. Maybe you were just doing the same.

DavidJB

lol at this thread...

stueys

I'm in this year but I think it's a shame that the ride has ended up on the same lines as the London marathon. Ultimately the original intent was to encourage cycling and be part of the Olympic legacy. That it's not become very hard to do unless you commit £500 as the price of admission is a shame I think.

Anonymous

Stueys wrote:

I'm in this year but I think it's a shame that the ride has ended up on the same lines as the London marathon. Ultimately the original intent was to encourage cycling and be part of the Olympic legacy. That it's not become very hard to do unless you commit £500 as the price of admission is a shame I think.

The original intent was not solely Olympic legacy. It was always more about charity.
I think Boris's actual words were something like "I intend it to be the biggest fundraising cycling event in the world".

Have to agree that the Olympic legacy thing has been a bit lost, but it was never that apparent in the first place.
Unless there are less ballot places this year, nothing much has changed regards people wanting to do it for non charitable reasons.

Its more like £650-750 now rather than the original £500 average though isn't it?

Not saying I agree 100% with how it's done but I think it does encourage cycling.
Most people on here are probably already cyclists just moaning (maybe justifyably) that they cannot do a fantastic 100 mile closed road route for a good price.

markhewitt1978

Given there is such massive demand for Ride London, the it would seem to suggest there is demand for similar rides elsewhere, Ride Birmingham, Leeds, Edinburgh etc?

Tjgoodhew

Carbonator wrote:

Stueys wrote:

I'm in this year but I think it's a shame that the ride has ended up on the same lines as the London marathon. Ultimately the original intent was to encourage cycling and be part of the Olympic legacy. That it's not become very hard to do unless you commit £500 as the price of admission is a shame I think.

The original intent was not solely Olympic legacy. It was always more about charity.
I think Boris's actual words were something like "I intend it to be the biggest fundraising cycling event in the world".

Have to agree that the Olympic legacy thing has been a bit lost, but it was never that apparent in the first place.
Unless there are less ballot places this year, nothing much has changed regards people wanting to do it for non charitable reasons.

Its more like £650-750 now rather than the original £500 average though isn't it?

Not saying I agree 100% with how it's done but I think it does encourage cycling.
Most people on here are probably already cyclists just moaning (maybe justifyably) that they cannot do a fantastic 100 mile closed road route for a good price.

After not getting in for the 3rd year running i was going to look at a charity place and yes they are looking for £650+ now. Iv since thought about it and im not that desperate

I do find the pricing a bit strange as last year, three days before the charity registrations closed there were a lot of charities still with places. I think it will be similar this year as im not sure this event is attracting lots of non or new cyclists in the same way the marathon inspires Non runners.

It seems the ballot is a bum fight for cyclists who want the closed road in London experience