RideLondon-Surrey 100 (2016) Anyone?

[Racing roadkill]

Didn't get in this year so I'm now 1 out of 2 (got in first time in 2015, didn't enter in 2013 or 2014). Out of the three people I personally know who entered the ballot, the two who rode last year both got the "Commiserations" magazine like me, while the one who missed out last time, got "Congratulations" this year.

Better go cancel that hotel booking for the Saturday before while I remember...

Or keep the hotel booking and do the freeride on the Saturday.

 

[Mile195]

Did you give payment details? Then I think you donated you entrance fee. I remember the website was a bit tricky, if you weren't paying attention, you could miss the "i want to donated my fee" box to uncheck. They do not ask for payment if you don't check that.

On the brightside, there's another ballot for those generous souls, so you may still get in.

I can't remember to be honest. I did it in a rush and I have met goldfish that have more attention to detail than I do. It may not even have been £40.
I don't think I elected to give it to charity though. I seem to remember a picture of the jersey you get looking genuinely cheap and nasty.
I know that's not the point and they're all good causes but I just prefer to donate to smaller local charities given the choice.

 

[jefmcg]

I can't remember to be honest. I did it in a rush and I have met goldfish that have more attention to detail than I do. It may not even have been £40.
I don't think I elected to give it to charity though. I seem to remember a picture of the jersey you get looking genuinely cheap and nasty.
I know that's not the point and they're all good causes but I just prefer to donate to smaller local charities given the choice.

You don't see the button. It's pretty dishonest.

I've just had a play with it, the site is a teensy bit broken. On the main page where you fill out most of your details, there is a hidden box about donating you fee. When you get to that page, hit submit without filling in all the fields. Then the page will redraw with most of the boxes highlighted in red. You'll also now see the "I want to donate my entry fee" button, which is checked. Uncheck it and then you can enrol without it asking for your credit card.

IE if you fill out all the fields correctly the first time, you will never even see the question, you just go to a page where they ask for payment,

Sorry, but you aren't getting your money back. You will be getting a nasty jersey though.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I haveI seem to remember a picture of the jersey you get looking genuinely cheap and nasty.
.

I can't speak for all of the charities, but Scope supplied a not too bad DHB jersey, with their logo and the PRLS logo on it. I still wear it on rides now, it's still going strong. So ( that one anyway ) certainly isn't "cheap and nasty". It's not 'Rapha', but hey ho.

 

[JoeyB]

I got in. Failed last two times. Magazine was sat by front door for two days!

 

[Milkfloat]

There will be a charity or two that don't have a minimum sponsorship level. Last year I did it for the Spinal Injuries Assoc who had no minimum donation. I raised about £250 which is about the max I can ever raise for some reason!

Thanks for the tip! I got place through the same charity which is pretty apt seeing as I had some spinal surgery last year. Fingers crossed I can find some people willing to sponsor me doing something I really enjoy.

 

[sleaver]

You don't see the button. It's pretty dishonest.



IE if you fill out all the fields correctly the first time, you will never even see the question, you just go to a page where they ask for payment,

Sorry, but you aren't getting your money back. You will be getting a nasty jersey though.

I saw the question and managed to elect not to donate my entry fee so that I didn't get asked for payment. Just saying.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I was feeling a bit flush and generous, and I figured that donating my fee might help me change my run of failures.

I was wrong.

But, on the upside, I do have a jersey that is very probably too small (I haven't bothered trying it on).

 

[jefmcg]

I saw the question and managed to elect not to donate my entry fee so that I didn't get asked for payment. Just saying.

Well, obviously it's possible to see the button, otherwise everyone would have paid it. The wrong part is that it is possible to never be shown the button, and not realise you can enter without paying and that the money you pay is not refundable.

 

[Markymark]

It was pretty clear to me that you can enter without paying.

 

[123456789]

I was feeling a bit flush and generous, and I figured that donating my fee might help me change my run of failures.

I was wrong.

But, on the upside, I do have a jersey that is very probably too small (I haven't bothered trying it on).

Just out of interest what does the commiseration Jersey look like

 

[jefmcg]

It was pretty clear to me that you can enter without paying.

It was a long page, with lots of fields. If you filled in any field wrong or missed any field - as most people would have done - then when the page refreshed with errors highlighted, you saw the check box, and probably assumed you had just not noticed it the first time - and it would seem "pretty clear". If, however, you filled in each and every box perfectly the first time and the page never refreshed, then you never saw the check box and were taken straight to a payment page. And as it is pretty normal for such events to take payments and then refund, there would be nothing to suggest you could enter without paying.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Just out of interest what does the commiseration Jersey look like

It's still in its plastic bag, so I'm not quite sure. I think it's blue. But I have dodgy colour vision, so maybe not.

 

[sleaver]

@jefmcg What's to be gained by constantly criticising the ballot entry page when it is clear it was understandable? You seem to have gone into a worrying amount of detail in testing ballot page of an event that you had no interest in and making assumptions on what ten's of thousands of people will have done with nothing to back it up with.

Maybe it is just your aim to be a troll in this thread.

 

[jefmcg]

I've always fancied this but cant work out how to just enter for myself...or how much it costs, or what happens if I am not selected (do I loose the money?)

the info on the page is pretty poor and when I enter the ballot it asks for my payment details without any confirmation of how much...or what the conditions of the ballot mare.

Can anyone save me from trawling the sites "information" and summarise please.

So, that's at least 2 people on this thread on this thread who got taken to the payment page without seeing the checkbox.

It was either an error with the page design or deliberate to get more donations. I don't know which. I do this for a living, so it bugged me.