Charity rides too expensive?

[byegad]

I forgot to say I've done Durham Big Ride a few times, held in September and cheap to enter, IIRC it was £25 in 2013. It is well organised and you get a bag of goodies thrown in. You can do the same route another day for free but I've found it good fun.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Ok so the whole large charity rides sound like a bit of a circus that maybe are best avoided. Totally different to how I naively imagined them to be. That's a shame.

Also worth considering you may have entered a bit of a hot topic here as the Ride London ballot only came out a week or so ago and the other way in is very expensive Charity places. Coming in to cycling a couple of years ago, and being in the South East I'd naturally heard about the London Brighton, I was quite surprised to find what a terrible reputation it has amongst established riders. Basically anyone with a rusty bike in the shed gives it a go and that it's a 60 mile crawl dodging broken bikes, worn out bodies and just crowds in general. I've still not experienced it, but the horror stories seem to make it one to miss.

I don't know if I've missed something here but this sounds laced with suspicion and cynicism. Let me explain. I'm new to the world of cycling, as is my wife. We wanted a target to train towards. If we could have an experience to remember and help a charity at the same time then everyone's a winner.

There are a lot of smaller scale rides that could be worth targeting, talk to your local shop about what is coming up this year. A lot of Sportives offer multiple distances and so finding one that appeals to you and working towards achieving that could be a very good goal. I did the Ride London 86 last year and there is a focussing effect on knowing that you are doing a specific ride on a specific day. Other options include the Friday Night Rides to the Coast (FNRttC) that come up here, there will be one that goes from Hyde Park Corner to Brighton this year, the pace should be reasonable, nobody gets left behind and it ends in the right place for you. Friendlier, and pretty inexpensive.

 

[BigAl68]

The hospital I work at is doing London to Paris in the summer to raise funds and wanted each person to raise £1,500 each. I decided not to bother as it seemed a huge amount to raise.

 

[lee1980sim]

Simple solution, or at least it's what I've always done is do a ride get people to sponsor you for doing it then give the money raised to charity you've been raising for

This year I'm doing sportive's I'll pay my fee then speak to a representative of a local charity that's means a lot to me informing them of the ride I'm doing and that I intend to raise money for them to continue with the utterly amazing work they do, I did exactly the same with a bungee jump and intend to do so when I've saved enough for a sky dive

 

[Roadrider48]

Also worth considering you may have entered a bit of a hot topic here as the Ride London ballot only came out a week or so ago and the other way in is very expensive Charity places. Coming in to cycling a couple of years ago, and being in the South East I'd naturally heard about the London Brighton, I was quite surprised to find what a terrible reputation it has amongst established riders. Basically anyone with a rusty bike in the shed gives it a go and that it's a 60 mile crawl dodging broken bikes, worn out bodies and just crowds in general. I've still not experienced it, but the horror stories seem to make it one to miss.

But surely anyone and everyone who rides any bike is a good thing!
Even more so if it is for a charity ride. "Established riders" are probably the expensive carbon fibre riding middle aged tosssers who think they are professionals.

 

[BigAl68]

I am going to Eroica this summer with a few mates and doing the 100 mile ride so we are thinking we may raise a bit of cash for one of the local kids charities as it seems it would be a good way to double up.

 

[robgul]

I have some experience here, having organised, as a volunteer, about 30 cycle fundraising events for Macmillan Cancer Support over the past 10 years ..... I think the thread is perhaps confusing what the charities call "challenge rides" and "sponsored rides"

Challenge rides are invariably the ones demanding what are perceived to be high levels of "sponsorship" - and have a high cost element ... with a confusing area of cross-over between the cost of the event and the money actually going to the charity to use. There is then the debate about sponsors paying for the rider's "holiday" The way that charities run these events is to use a commercial contractor to take care of, usually, the whole nine yards ... at a price - and as suggested some of the things included do seem to be unnecessary (post-ride celebration dinners being a prime example). The returns that the charities get from these challenge events is within a realistic target range otherwise they wouldn't do them. The profile of entrants is very often "cash-rich, time-poor" people - happily paying for someone to provide an event with very little effort required by the entrant ... and these people invariably have "connections" that contribute large sums to their fundraising efforts.

Sponsored rides, usually at a more local level (which is what we're up to) have a relatively low entry cost and encouragement to raise some money (by sponsorship or making a donation) ... but there is no "contract" with the rider for a specified amount as there is with the challenge rides. The downside of the low-ish entry cost is that people pay that, ride and make no further contribution .... there are costs to cover (in our case we have event sponsors in kind and cash - as well as sales of event jerseys with logo sponsors - that minimise our costs and increase the fundraising amounts we achieve) There is a trend towards a "pay to ride" charity event model .... rider pays a bit more for the entry for the organiser to raise a realistic amount for the effort and whatever costs are involved Some events have a dual-scale entry structure : a) pay to ride at £x or b) enter for £y and agree to raise at least £n - the jury is still out on whether that works.

The volume of events, and entrants, does imply that the charity/sponsored event organisers are doing what the market demands and is largely happy with.

Rob

 

[nickyboy]

[QUOTE 3531546, member: 45"]I recently looked at a charity ride where £750 of each person's sponsorship went to the company the charity had asked to organise the ride.

Having done one of these a few years ago I felt that a lot of this cost could have been cut, for example by not providing an expensive celebratory meal at the end of the ride.[/QUOTE]

And often the company organising the ride is seeking to make a profit for themselves.

I won't do these events because of lack of transparency. Of the money I raise and the entry fee, how much goes to the Charity, how much to the Company running it, how much to the Celebrity endorser who cycles with you? And of the money the Company gets, how does it justify this based on its outgoings. No problem giving to charity, big problem giving to a private company wanting to profit from my fundraising

 

[mjr]

I think the thread is perhaps confusing what the charities call "challenge rides" and "sponsored rides"

You've no room for the old-style "fun rides" either then? :-(

 

[biggs682]

being a tight ar@e i dont understand this either and it also stops me entering Audax events for same reason why should i pay £25 to do a 50 mile ride

 

[robgul]

You've no room for the old-style "fun rides" either then? :-(

Not quite sure what you're getting at here .... ? FWIW our rides are pitched at being FUN and raising money for Macmillan ... at a reasonable and realistic cost - and a goodly amount of sponsor/donation cash rolls in too.

Rob

 

[Fab Foodie]

[QUOTE="w00hoo_kent, post: 3531761, member: Coming in to cycling a couple of years ago, and being in the South East I'd naturally heard about the London Brighton, I was quite surprised to find what a terrible reputation it has amongst established riders. Basically anyone with a rusty bike in the shed gives it a go and that it's a 60 mile crawl dodging broken bikes, worn out bodies and just crowds in general. I've still not experienced it, but the horror stories seem to make it one to miss.



.[/QUOTE]

I can't agree with your assessment of the L2B.

I've been riding it since 1984 or so, maybe 20 odd times and the real joy IS the very fact that people haul any old bike out and have a go. For many it may be the longest ride they will ever do. It's busy, slow, full if badly ridden bikes, but it's also a joyous day long celebration of cycling.

I love it.

 

[robgul]

being a tight ar@e i dont understand this either and it also stops me entering Audax events for same reason why should i pay £25 to do a 50 mile ride

You're (presumably as you are here!!) a keen cyclist .... and capable of creating your own rides ....... the market seems to be infrequent riders paying for someone to organise a day out on a bike for them, doing something different (compare the entry cost with a day at a theme park?) .... or the regular sportive type rider who again is happy to pay for the organisation planing routes, putting up signage etc

Rob

 

[Roadrider48]

[QUOTE="w00hoo_kent, post: 3531761, member: Coming in to cycling a couple of years ago, and being in the South East I'd naturally heard about the London Brighton, I was quite surprised to find what a terrible reputation it has amongst established riders. Basically anyone with a rusty bike in the shed gives it a go and that it's a 60 mile crawl dodging broken bikes, worn out bodies and just crowds in general. I've still not experienced it, but the horror stories seem to make it one to miss.



.

I can't agree with your assessment of the L2B.

I've been riding it since 1984 or so, maybe 20 odd times and the real joy IS the very fact that people haul any old bike out and have a go. For many it may be the longest ride they will ever do. It's busy, slow, full if badly ridden bikes, but it's also a joyous day long celebration of cycling.

I love it.[/QUOTE]
LIKE!!
Amen to that....

 

[Roadrider48]

You're (presumably as you are here!!) a keen cyclist .... and capable of creating your own rides ....... the market seems to be infrequent riders paying for someone to organise a day out on a bike for them, doing something different (compare the entry cost with a day at a theme park?) .... or the regular sportive type rider who again is happy to pay for the organisation planing routes, putting up signage etc

Rob

How is a charity bike ride comparable to a day out at Thorpe park?
Why can't EVERY aspect of a charity ride be organised in the true spirit of charity.
I.E....People giving their free time to organise, other people donating food at what not. To me that's charity, and the said charity/charities get all the proceeds.
Instead of putting people under pressure to raise a minimum of £500 or whatever. Then giving all different slices of it to profiteering peanuts.
These things are not charity! They are just a money making scam and the charity gets whatever is left over.