Velo Birmingham 2017

ic.

The email I received today is trying VERY hard to convince everyone this is going to sell out in an instant. I can't see it happening.

For one, I won't be entering if the cost of a ride is over £30. Which it sounds like it will be way in excess of. I'm not going to pay over £100 to ride 100 miles and I don't think they will find 15,000 cyclists that will. How many Sportive organisers have gone bust lately? Kilo To Go, Etape Cymru to name 2. And why? Because they were the higher end of the cost scale and even then they were half the predicted price of this one.

fenix

I can't honestly ask people to sponsor me for a kind of distance I'd do for fun on a Sunday. So that's out for me.

I think the North Wales closed road sportive was about £60 to enter ? That was quite good fun in the end. Closed roads weren't needed so much on the climbs as people thinned out and the climbs were mainly quiet roads - but the run in on flattish roads was good - building up a mini peleton.

rank_amateur

IC. wrote:

The email I received today is trying VERY hard to convince everyone this is going to sell out in an instant. I can't see it happening.

For one, I won't be entering if the cost of a ride is over £30. Which it sounds like it will be way in excess of. I'm not going to pay over £100 to ride 100 miles and I don't think they will find 15,000 cyclists that will. How many Sportive organisers have gone bust lately? Kilo To Go, Etape Cymru to name 2. And why? Because they were the higher end of the cost scale and even then they were half the predicted price of this one.

15,000 does seem ambitious, regardless of the cost.

carbonclem

Rank_amateur wrote:

I entered this morning via British Cycling. If you're a member you'll have had an email a week or so ago with a link to pre-register for entry today. They sent me an email this morning, I clicked the link, entered, boom.

Aha! I really should read BC emails more closely :oops:

Cheers

carbonclem

IC. wrote:

The email I received today is trying VERY hard to convince everyone this is going to sell out in an instant. I can't see it happening.

Yes, certainly building a hype and urgency that makes people enter to get in on it and overlook the cost .... its a bit cheeky.

ugo.santalucia

Fenix wrote:

I can't honestly ask people to sponsor me for a kind of distance I'd do for fun on a Sunday. So that's out for me.

I think the North Wales closed road sportive was about £60 to enter ? That was quite good fun in the end. Closed roads weren't needed so much on the climbs as people thinned out and the climbs were mainly quiet roads - but the run in on flattish roads was good - building up a mini peloton.

55 pounds... it was OK, as you said closed roads were hardly needed

capt_slog

At that price i'm out too.

As it is I'd be doing it on my own

Despite facebook messages to sons and text messages telling them to read the facebook message, it seems that neither of them has the command of plain f***ing english because neither of them understood that they had to register before 5pm today, so didn't :evil:

Wonder why i bother.

kingrollo

Capt Slog wrote:

At that price i'm out too.

As it is I'd be doing it on my own

Despite facebook messages to sons and text messages telling them to read the facebook message, it seems that neither of them has the command of plain f*ucking english because neither of them understood that they had to register before 5pm today, so didn't :evil:

Wonder why i bother.

That makes me feel better. I have that problem to.

Kneesaway

Getting this message from their website at the moment. I guess a lot of people are trying to find out how expensive it is and not do it!

Sorry, but we could not process your request
Our support staff have been notified of this error.

Please try again later.

kingrollo

I went with the charity entry for the hospital where I work.

£75 - no booking fee & a free cycling top !

VmanF3

Link in the email now states the event is no longer available??? Lol, either it's massively over sub'd or the website is screwed!

VmanF3

Too much demand, check your emails - it'll be back up later...

Srsly, how are modern websites still getting it so wrong?

Der Kaiser

I wasn't going to enter and having seen the prices I'm still not going to enter.

I would seriously doubt they will get this off the ground long term. Looking at the route They will have to speak to three unitary authorities, 2 of which will see no financial benefit from the event. So the only way they can get the roads closed is to say it is a charity event.

This is a watershed moment in the Sportive market. Anyone who pays £75 for this needs their head examining.

ugo.santalucia

Among those alleged 15,000 a lot will be targeting this event solely in 2017. It is sad, because it means smaller local events will continue to die out and these big monsters will rule the landscape. It is bad because many local events are run by volunteers and a significant proportion of the charity goes directly to the organisations (see Fred Whitton 1,000,000 pounds in ten years as a relatively small event, see Etape du Dales, directly funding young promising riders). These massive things have huge costs associated and the fact they ask you for extra money essentially means of the 75 quid, very little if anything goes to charity... very little goes into food for the ride, a lot goes into logistics, policing etc.

I wish people were a bit less sheepish when it comes to sportives... rant over

ic.

They cannot seriously think they are going to be over subscribed for this. If they did, they'd be using the ballot method for entry. Telling all your customers to hit your website at the same time is just asking for trouble. IMO they're trying to sell early bird places at a premium to raise cash early doors to pay bills that will be mounting already. I'm still not entering, I don't know why I'm bothering to keep up with it.

Bit surprised by a few of my friends who basically convinced themselves to ride the event without even knowing the date, the price or the route. Bit bonkers really.

Der Kaiser

[url][/url]

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Among those alleged 15,000 a lot will be targeting this event solely in 2017. It is sad, because it means smaller local events will continue to die out and these big monsters will rule the landscape. It is bad because many local events are run by volunteers and a significant proportion of the charity goes directly to the organisations (see Fred Whitton 1,000,000 pounds in ten years as a relatively small event, see Etape du Dales, directly funding young promising riders). These massive things have huge costs associated and the fact they ask you for extra money essentially means of the 75 quid, very little if anything goes to charity... very little goes into food for the ride, a lot goes into logistics, policing etc.

I wish people were a bit less sheepish when it comes to sportives... rant over

I rode a sportive for my local Hospice on Sunday. £25 paid directly to them with local businesses pitching to do signs, a local bike shop doing support and a local catering company doing some brilliant food at very reasonable prices. I'd rather ride that than Velo Birmingham.

graememacd

I've entered this ride as it's local to me so no travel or accommodation costs unlike ride London where the entry fee was the small part of the whole weekend cost. I agree the price is steep but I think more events like this are needed in Birmingham as it's not really a cycling friendly city at the moment

graeme_s-2

In my email

Velo Birmingham wrote:

Due to overwhelming demand we have temporarily suspended sales.
There are still 15,000 entries available

Wouldnt' that suggest they'd sold no entries at all so far? Yet we know people have entered via BC yesterday, via the website this morning, and via charities...

Anonymous

I do not like the 'tone' if how this is organised, it just seems a creepier version of what VelothonWales did last year.

Not sure the route will be as good as London and Wales, so I am sticking to those if I do another.

Generally I am in favour of closed road sportives though and accept they cost money to put on.

If people like smaller events they will still do them.
If not they will die out. That's just how it goes and there are far worse good things that die out because it's not what the masses want, and people don't care about those.

Charity is nothing to do with it.

If people are only doing the smaller events to ride them and do not care about the charity, then they don't care about the charity, nothing has changed IMO.

If they care about the charity, then they will still ride them, or better still, just donate!

There is no point comparing a closed road sportive to a non closed road one IMO.

You can also do both!

ugo.santalucia

Carbonator wrote:

If people like smaller events they will still do them.
If not they will die out. That's just how it goes and there are far worse good things that die out because it's not what the masses want, and people don't care about those.

Independent shops die out because big retailers have more money to put in advertising and they are perceived to be better value. The net result is that your high street sucks and nobody goes there anymore because it sucks.

If that's your ideal of a competitive and free market, then be my guest, it's not mine, because it sucks

carbonclem

Ive binned off the idea of this one now, I agree that they are taking the pi55 with the entry fee. Ride London was only what? £60 in comparison and as much as I looked the Brum route doesn't take in iconic landmarks, the Olympic Box Hill climb nor does it finish on the Mall. There's also no indication of a high quality pro race on the same day either.

Good luck to all those entering.

fenix

Not entirely sure that a big event kills off little ones.

I did the Cav ride a few weeks back. Next one for me is a £12.50 local thing.

kingrollo

IC. wrote:

They cannot seriously think they are going to be over subscribed for this. If they did, they'd be using the ballot method for entry. Telling all your customers to hit your website at the same time is just asking for trouble. IMO they're trying to sell early bird places at a premium to raise cash early doors to pay bills that will be mounting already. I'm still not entering, I don't know why I'm bothering to keep up with it.

Bit surprised by a few of my friends who basically convinced themselves to ride the event without even knowing the date, the price or the route. Bit bonkers really.

The date and the route have been known for a few weeks. Its local to me - so I m paying £75 to ride on closed roads...

ugo.santalucia

Fenix wrote:

Not entirely sure that a big event kills off little ones.

I did the Cav ride a few weeks back. Next one for me is a £12.50 local thing.

They do... events have begun to fold since RL 100 came about. The reason is simple... the financial committment of doing RL 100 for someone who doesn't live locally is around 300-500 pounds, which is enough to blow the budget for the all year. Ride Birmingham 100 might be less impactful, as I suspect most entries will be relatively local.

You look at Belgium and it is a different scene... RVV is 20K entrants but costs a bag of nuts and you can travel from all over the country in an hour or so, so even the other events are booming as a result... besides, in Belgium they ride their bike because they enjoy it, rather than as a way to extort cash to their colleagues

fenix

RL doesn't interest me at all. Massive hassle to ride a not inspiring course. Is Box Hill even a Hill ?

Not keen on having to drive to ride my bike - much rather do the local events.

Is it not boom and bust with these events ? As cycling has got more mainstream dozens of events popped up - and they can't all survive. Good ones with good courses and good organisations usually do well.

ugo.santalucia

Fenix wrote:

RL doesn't interest me at all. Massive hassle to ride a not inspiring course. Is Box Hill even a Hill ?

Not keen on having to drive to ride my bike - much rather do the local events.

Is it not boom and bust with these events ? As cycling has got more mainstream dozens of events popped up - and they can't all survive. Good ones with good courses and good organisations usually do well.

I can name a few good courses well organised that didn't do well... Polka Dot Challenge in the Peak, the old Cornwall Tor, the old Tour of the Cotswolds... all events which were very popular 5-6 years ago and they are gone... Etape du Dales used to sell out in hours, now you can enter on the day if you want to. The only ones that are still doing well are FWC and the Dragon ride (which is not a locally organised event BTW), the others are all resizing or struggling for numbers.

On sunday I am doing the Autumn Epic, it's a stunning course, one ofthe best... 200 entrants...

wongataa

graememacd wrote:

I've entered this ride as it's local to me so no travel or accommodation costs unlike ride London where the entry fee was the small part of the whole weekend cost. I agree the price is steep but I think more events like this are needed in Birmingham as it's not really a cycling friendly city at the moment

It's good that they are putting on such an event in Birmingham but pricing it more than RL for the first event is daft. It is an unknown quantity so I don't think such a premium price can be justified and having a 5% booking fee on top of the already high price is really taking the piss.

I live in Birmingham and was really interested in this until I saw the price.

ugo.santalucia

The categories more in need of getting involved in cycling are exactly those that cannot afford to splash that kind of money in an event... I find it bizzarre that they are always keen to stick out for cancer, diabetes, children in need, aid for Africa, but when it comes to helping or encouraging the more in need in society to get active, they always fall short. It's not a million miles off the government concept of a "living wage"... if you can live with that wage, raise your hand

graememacd

wongataa wrote:

graememacd wrote:

I've entered this ride as it's local to me so no travel or accommodation costs unlike ride London where the entry fee was the small part of the whole weekend cost. I agree the price is steep but I think more events like this are needed in Birmingham as it's not really a cycling friendly city at the moment

It's good that they are putting on such an event in Birmingham but pricing it more than RL for the first event is daft. It is an unknown quantity so I don't think such a premium price can be justified and having a 5% booking fee on top of the already high price is really taking the wee-wee.

I live in Birmingham and was really interested in this until I saw the price.

I agree with what you're saying. I think the price is a bit of a joke but knew if I didn't enter I would regret it closer to the day. If the event turns out to be as badly organised as the entry system then it will more than likely be a one off

Anonymous

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

If people like smaller events they will still do them.
If not they will die out. That's just how it goes and there are far worse good things that die out because it's not what the masses want, and people don't care about those.

Independent shops die out because big retailers have more money to put in advertising and they are perceived to be better value. The net result is that your high street sucks and nobody goes there anymore because it sucks.

If that's your ideal of a competitive and free market, then be my guest, it's not mine, because it sucks

People suck Ugo.
I would rather they did not, but they do.

I don't think closed road sportives should be banned so that other events can thrive personally.
People are the problem, not the concept.

VelothonWales and this one seem not to be great champions of the format though, so personally I would prefer they fail if this is the best they can do.