It seems that suddenly, this year, everyone’s event entries are down loads. 40% seems pretty normal. Organisers like No Fuss have had to cancel events and others are half-full.

So why are people doing fewer events this year? I’ve put a poll up on the front page and the early leader is ‘The rubbish weather’. However you may have other thoughts…

No spare money is my excuse.

It’s my ‘year of weddings’.

plus I suspect the financial climate and shit weather have put loads off.

Surely a better question would be ‘why are YOU doing less event’s this year’ rather than asking people to summise on other’s reasons. In which case you’ll have to include an I’m not, I’m doing the same, (which should attract 60% if the reported reduction is accurate)

Prefer to have a weekend away just riding with friends in Lakes / Scotland / Wales etc.

weather mainly
lack of quality at events
lack fun and challenge like trans alps, trans provence
Can get great quality week in europe Andorra etc

Not done events for years and years. I realised that although the social scene is great, I have no desire to spend a fortune to ride round and round the same course (for racing) or in a massive chain of riders (enduros) when I can get the same kind of sociability by attending rides organised by mates through the forum

Surely a better question would be ‘why are YOU doing less event’s this year’ rather than asking people to summise on other’s reasons

That’t the final option and hence why this thread was created.

For me I stopped years ago attending them as a competitor, I only ever did it for the social aspect so now go along for that either as a dogs body or just a spectator.

I suspect a mixture of lack of cash/generally being more careful with it and the weather

There’s been at least 2 events where I’ve decided to wait and see what the weather’s like and go for a late entry, both were a washout.

– Entry fees (seemingly rising costs of events year-on-year, with no extra for your cash)

– (price of) Fuel to get to events

– My perception that some events have just become tired, and I’m bored with them ie same venue, similar course

I was bored with my local(ish) Winter race series the last season so started doing off-road duathlons instead. I opted against MM24 becaue of the cost and I’m bored with it, and decided to do the (cancelled) Thetford Summer Enduro instead, as it was far cheaper/closer

And I’m saving cash/being choosy on events as I’m off to Les Arcs this month.

Weather (who wants to camp in this?). Expense (events are not cheap and fuel is horrible ATM).
Wanted to do some gravity enduros but they’re full of ex pro DH racers so what’s the point?
Doing laps and laps of a smallish circuit doesn’t appeal to me at all.

A lack of decent competitive events I think for me.

I like long marathon style races & we cant “race” on bridleways etc & the events that are that distance have pretty lame & un-inspiring routes.

Shorter races remain interesting though..

Yes, theres the Gorrick series et al but quite often they are just riding round in circles for 4hrs+ & that gets a little dull after a while..

That & the weather is utter cr@p!

Weather has little to do with it for me. I book months in ahead and if it is bad just take it and ride anyway.

I’ve done a few –

Kielder Marathon series
Selkirk Weekend (Sportive and MTB marathon)
Virgin Money Cyclone
GT7

Price has put me off. I’ve done plenty of them before and for the price of an event I can just drive somewhere and go for a ride.

What they offer is often poor value for money in my eyes. I’d rather not pay for the free bottle, t-shirt, millions of feed stations that I don’t use (just water for me would be fine) etc.

Ones I have done that I won’t be doing again include

Whinlatter – as it was pretty expensive for what it was and I don’t like queueing for sinlgetrack.

Kielder 100 – just for this year. I’ve done it twice and after finishing last year spent £100’s fixing my bike.

New ones –

3 Peaks – one of the more expensive but it is unique and I’ve never had a go before.

Local XC series – cheap and local so done in an evening

Local CX series – cheap and local so done in an evening

Local Time trials – cheap and local so done in an evening

Sportive wise I’ve bought a GPS and don’t need the “support” that goes with an event as I can quite happily go off and ride centuries without arrows, feed stations, photographers etc. HAving said that a few of the more interesting ones like Fred Whitton and Etape Caledonia may be on my list for next year.

The market is pretty saturated and all sprotives seem pretty similar. So unless you offer something unique then I probably won’t bother. It would be good to see more hard courses. 100miles is fairly standard riding wise so it would be good to see some longer (150m+) ones or ones that really pack in the hills.

Same for the mtb stuff. I love the Selkirk course and like to support the Kielder race series but they are 4.5hr and 3 hr rides respectively (for me). I’d like to see more hard races which are longer. 50-75miles off road

‘Change in focus’ for people’s type of riding maybe, are gravity enduro events getting full entries? or are people just doing trips and sacking off the racing altogether?

I couldn’t interest any of my riding mates in the weekender this year and its too expensive to travel up from the SW on my own.
My mates entered the 24/12 at Newnham Park but i’ve used the weekend away riding pass from the wife on a weekend riding the Quantocks and Dartmoor at the end of the month instead – didn’t fancy riding the same course in laps for 24 hrs.
The only event i have entered this year is the Exmoor/Mondraker gravity enduro as it seems right up my street, natural (and hopefully technical) riding on Exmoor where i’m likely to gain a new route for future rides as i don’t know the area and i like the idea of the racing format, and it seems really good value for money.

80% of major events seem to end with in camping and riding in a swamp. We make the best of it but it’s not my idea of fun really. Once in a blue moon they’re dry but the hit rate is too low.

Only doing a handful this year – did the MacAvalanche 2012, and all set for the Fort Bill DH Enduro in a few weeks time 🙂

Poll ‘fixed’ 🙂

weather and mud is my excuse, i keep hoping it will improve…. it never does.

Enjoy Xiphon, wish i was further up north sometimes!

Mostly as per the general ecconomic suituation,

lack of spare cash flow,(affecting everything)

Cost of fuel,

Vehicle running costs, distance etc,

Weather, rain and mud, doing damage to bikes etc, lack of showers etc.

Poor feeding options, never any vegetarian options,

Cost of event entry,

poor level of bike shop support at some, people do need some spares at races , like tubes and derailiers,along with tyres.

Has the total number of people doing events actually gone down though?

Or are people spreading themselves more thinly around more events?

Locally, there seem to be a lot more events these days which appear to be well supported. Plus, those I know that are prepared to travel are travelling further afield to even more events. Maybe the ‘larger’ events are losing out as a result?

Weather, event prices and travel costs/time for me.

Also, if people are getting into road riding they may be switching to sportives from MTB events.

Can’t comment on this year as I moved out but…

It was costing me about £100 in fuel to go to some races last year – can’t do that every weekend
The point above about Gravity Enduro being full of ex pro DH’s is a fair one. Series looks better this year but wasn’t that bothered about missing some as it was turning into mini dh.

Best events for price was still the Mega and the IOM E2E despite the cost of getting there.

In general the weather or a lack of cash wont kill an event. Both together and it will.

One exception to the rule – the annual Leigh Hill Mega entry numbers were massively up on last years 😉

Mountain biking got really quite big a few years back, and the demand for events grew.

Now that many of us have done Mayhem four or five times, we know the location and the course, and some of the fun has gone. Many of us also remember the truly appalling conditions and it’s hard to get people to come along to that a second or third time.

And I think mountain biking has had its Elvis year – people are moving on to other things.

I was at 24:12 this weekend, and enjoyed it, but the rain-shortened course was either cataclysmically dull or unrideable. Not sure I’d hurry back if it wasn’t for the blokes I did it with, and given it’s a 5-hour drive and we were camping in a waterlogged field, I’ll need some persuasion to do it even with them.

@stevede

I live in Lancashire, so it’s still a 5hr trek up there!

Making the most of it, and having a mini-hols with mrs xiphon. Driving up Thursday, back Sunday.

Not done events for years and years. I realised that although the social scene is great, I have no desire to spend a fortune to ride round and round the same course (for racing) or in a massive chain of riders (enduros) when I can get the same kind of sociability by attending rides organised by mates through the forum

This +1

I could pay £40 for the weekended or £60 for a gravity enduro, or i could tag that onto my existing ‘budget’ for a weekend away and go somewhere further.

Last weekend I did Llandegla, Cannock (twice) and the Peak, in 36 hours, no accomodation costs, no extra food, just petrol and a bootfull of bikes. If I wanted to be compettative I’d probably do exactly the same, but with Strava.

I had entered Rd 5 of the gravity enduro and was really looking forward to it as it was going to be my first race ever. Then I found out that I had been walking (and riding) around for 6 months with a broken leg. No more riding for me until mid October and no proper riding until December at the earliest. 🙁

I still plan to go along to the race as my mate is taking part and doesn’t drive.

I can see money being an issue.
So far I did 4 event so far this year. All being local (so local as I could ride to the start to one of them). I even registered to a club to race the event. I was tempted to do a fith one, but at 40€ a pop to be honest even for a two day event not sure it’s great value for money. At the end of the year once you’ve factor the costs associated, I am sure I could have caught a plane and go for an extended week end of riding in scotland.

Not done events for years and years.[b]Have done a couple of events in the past.[/b] I realised that although the social scene is great, I have no desire to spend a fortune to ride round and round the same course (for racing) or in a massive chain of riders (enduros) when I can get the same kind of sociability by attending rides organised by mates through the forum

This. I’d rather organise something on here, or a camping and biking get together with mates for a weekend.

The market is pretty saturated and all sprotives seem pretty similar. So unless you offer something unique then I probably won’t bother. It would be good to see more hard courses. 100miles is fairly standard riding wise so it would be good to see some longer (150m+) ones or ones that really pack in the hills.

One for your list

http://www.richmondcyclingclub.co.uk/content/cyclosportives-2012

Real hills, £15 entry, Proper changing facilities with showers and a meal at the end

I took part in my first event for about 15 years at Mayhem this year. Yes the weather spoilt it but I think we’ll be back next year. Major consideration is the cost. When you add up the days off work, entry fees, fuel etc its not a cheap weekend and if i’m honest apart from the atmosphere, which was great, i would rather have a weekend away in wales or scotland.

It seems that suddenly, this year, everyone’s event entries are down loads

at the moment our entries are stable/ going up

race 1 over 100, race 2 97 pre-entries, heavy rain but 50 riders signed up on the day so 133ish on the course (we did benefit from the racing calendar going quiet though)

we have great sponsors and prizes for a grass roots race £100 in vouchers for the win, vets on £75 in vouchers for the win, fantastic series prizes wheelsets/ brakesets from Hope loads of spot prizes. Our only issue is that we have lost prize parity for the women when the category is just starting to grow. Compare that to a £10 voucher TEAM prize for 3rd in Open category at a recent very large 24 hour race….. and we have the best butty van around 😀

Haven’t done teh CRC marathons due to having a new son.

SITS is just too expensive as a solo or a pair.

A lot of the marathon/12/24hr things are down south – too far to go IMHO.

Entry fees seem to have gone up, bar Evans for thier Ride It series.

I am however doing the Hope series up at Lee Quarry, which is great value and a Wiggle sportive in Northern France, which for £50 includes the return ferry, parking in Dover, breakfast, feed stops and a goody bag.

ill health has curtailed me for the last couple of years.
but the cost of events would be a factor now……the price of a event is the price of a weekend away with mates riding in some very nice places.

Wanted to do some gravity enduros but they’re full of ex pro DH racers so what’s the point?

wasn’t that bothered about missing some as it was turning into mini dh.

Genuine question, why? Isn’t the whole point of the format to ride several relatively easy but longer than normal DH tracks back to back. You can’t complain that the winners better than you, that’s the whole point, to find out who’s best. Bessides pro DH’ers are super fit, Mosley’s been raceing the XC world cup this year! So the “ex pro DH’ers” would probably beat 99% of weekend warriors up the hils too!

We were going to enter the No Fuss events but then they were cancelled with no notice.

Most of the remaining events don’t fit my niche enjoyment – of long distance endurance events that are not continuous short laps. A No Fuss lap would last me an hour, and as such over 10 hours, I would not get bored. Doing 2 laps or more per hour bore me.

Kielder 100 would be a good event, but bike destruction and significant amount of fire road put me off.

Trailmasters looks perfect, but cost is prohibitive and only for quite short special stages overs a very long distance event.

Travel costs/time to event (and therefore time off work / away from family) are also a major issue (based on Isle of Man so logistics always a big issue).

not picking on project but it’s an easy way to get some points across

project – Member
Mostly as per the general ecconomic suituation,

lack of spare cash flow,(affecting everything)

Cost of fuel,

Vehicle running costs, distance etc,
£40 for a series entry of 4 races, we even threw in some free coaching for those who wanted it. You can get a free race (and a Buff) if you turn up early to help with the course layout

Weather, rain and mud, doing damage to bikes etc,

it’s Lee Quarry, you get weather, bikes suffer if dropped

lack of showers etc.

no really viable for our little commando raid of an event

Poor feeding options, never any vegetarian options,

difficult for us as we aren’t big enough for much more than a bacon butty van

Cost of event entry,

see above, free if you get early

poor level of bike shop support at some, people do need some spares at races , like tubes and derailiers,along with tyres.

for a short event like ours it’s difficult as cyclists tend to be as tight as the come and will only buy something if it’s 20% cheaper than online. for longer events I agree it’s really part of the event picking something off a sale rail

that’s the whole point, to find out who’s best

Ummm, I think we already know. Hence my comment.

So the “ex pro DH’ers” would probably beat 99% of weekend warriors up the hils too!

Considering that they’re professional cyclists, we would certainly hope so.

I was looking for a more relaxed race experience aimed at mere mortals.