- This topic has 53 replies, 40 voices, and was last updated 12 years ago by SSBonty.
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£30 for a 12.5 mile ride – WTF?
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grumFree MemberPosted 12 years ago
But paying for someone to point out where the trails are in Alps makes total sense
For some people it might make total sense in Surrey too, just not to the average STW user.
purser_markFree MemberPosted 12 years agoI tried following an MBR route around the North Downs one time. A right royal pain in the bum, stopping to get the map out at every path junction, there’s a lot! Deffo ruins the flow of a nice piece of singletrack, having someone that knows their way around is great if you have never been to the area before.
Lets face it, we wouldn’t think twice about spending £30 down the pub, in fact it would be a cheap night out. 😀
On the other hand there is great satisfaction in finding yourself a new piece of trail for the first time.
If people were happy to get the OS maps out and self navigate all day, would we have as many trail centres as we do??
HoratioHufnagelFree MemberPosted 12 years agohmm, I think i have sussed out the rules for riding in surrey…
The trails should be for the select few only, who must ride on the correct bikes, not 100 BSO’s from Tesco, but not 4k 150mm+ travel full-sus bikes either. They should have a good level of skill, which should not be learnt through skills courses. There must be no maps or easy to find knowledge on where the trails are, and paying for guides is wrong. They must be found be asking the right people, who make a judgement as to whether to pass you some information, or by going along to a group ride which you must be able to keep up with, if you can’t you should go home. They must be able to read an OS map, although the trails aren’t on any maps and there are no directions. Theres no point in asking on a forum because you shouldn’t publicly tell anyone where the trails are because that will result in them being ridden too much. You should drive a Skoda OctaviamissingfrontallobeFree MemberPosted 12 years agoAnd how much does Biketreks charge for their evening rides in the Lakes? Another example of north/south divide, haves/have nots etc? 😆
wlFree MemberPosted 12 years agoGood luck to them. If people will pay £70 for a Howies bobble hat, or a few quid for a box of nuts and raisins sent in the post, nowt surprises me.
bent_udderFree MemberPosted 12 years ago@HoratioHufnagel – I think you hit the nail on the head there. 😀
One of the reasons people are quite cagey about telling others about where the trails are is that quite a lot of very good trails are nowt but scratches in the ground. once everyone knows about them, then they suddenly become 20ft wide mudfests. As there’s no obligation to tell everyone, people tend to pick and choose, and show their little stash to people they like.
Put another way – better that than Surfer-style localism, which sucks. One of the local paper’s journalists, a keen srufer, was gobsmacked that ‘us locals’ weren’t beating up outsiders for riding on ‘our’ trails. We had to explain that it doesn’t work like that in mountain biking.
ampthillFull MemberPosted 12 years agoGrum that was my point. Perhaps not well made
I was trying to be ironicIt seems accepted on here that people will pay to be guided in the alps, to save on hassle. But that some how this is insane in Surrey. I don’t think I would pay for guiding in Surrey but I can see why you might.
Paying for a guide instructor for a family I think makes total sense if know one in the family has expertise on a bike
vdubber67Free MemberPosted 12 years agoJeez I hate trail names. Makes me cringe every time someone talks about them, especially the ones where it’s just some crappy bridleway… 🙂
“oooh yes we rode all the way up Bobby’s A**ehole last night then over to Ewok village 2”
aaaaargh!
djgloverFree MemberPosted 12 years ago@HoratioHufnagel – I think you hit the nail on the head there.
+1
When I moved down south I put a lot of effort into meeting the right people to find the good stuff in Surrey, some of them are still friends.
However, I don’t really ride any more as I have young twins, a manic job and my wife works, so what little free time is available takes meticulous planning to get the most out of. £30 is a small price to pay to take the planning out IMHO…..
Not that I’d actually undertake that myself, as planning is part of the enjoyment of the process, but I can see the appeal
trailertrashFull MemberPosted 12 years agoI think if people feel more comfortable with a guide, even in a central area of the country, then that’s fine. Some urban born-and-bred people find the countryside a wee bit alien, others are intimidated by the technology and hype of so called extreme sports. A bit of help to get past that coud be worth paying for. At least they are giving it a go.
PotdogFree MemberPosted 12 years ago30 quid per person sounds pretty damned reasonable to me. When you look at the likely number of days work the guys are going to have, the fact that it’s very likely to be seasonal, Liability Insurance costs (assuming they have some!) they can probably only do one trip per day as even if it should take a couple of hours, it could take 5 hours with an inexperienced group, so no chance of safely arranging a 2 trips per day and coining it in! So it might only be a half days work, but you still need to earn a days wage.
I could go on, but I doubt they are going to get rich doing what they do, I certainly know that feeling.oldnpastitFull MemberPosted 12 years ago£30 for 3.5 hours – seems pretty reasonable.
If I had an afternoon to spend in Surrey I think I’d be tempted. I’d be paying £30 so that I’d spend my time cycling rather than wandering around lost.
Tiger6791Full MemberPosted 12 years agoIt’s £30 FFS, I spent that on lunch in the smoke today. Can’t see the issue, if you don’t like it don’t spend it but why criticise?
Nothings waymarked so it may £30 well spent
SSBontyFree MemberPosted 12 years agoI like how their XC routes are all 25 or 25 & 3/4 miles long, regardless of if they are 30km or the ‘killer loop’ 40km in length. Ooops.
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