where do they get the prices from?

been making a list of rides and events that i would like to do…..i will have to get a second job to pay for em all.

£65 bloody pounds to ride your bike for a day…….eh!!!!!

Look at triathlons. Suddenly MTB events will seem stunning value!

I imagine the sum total of all the costs involved, plus a bit extra on top for the organisers?

With only 5 or 6 races a year, I haven’t seen any millionaires running them yet 😉

They sell out, so why not charge that much?
Insurance, marshalling, feeds, car parking, use of private land etc, etc.
I’ve almost stopped as well due to costs.

A well known London Cycling clothing Brand have a SuperCross series starting soon, £15…

Bargain, I’ll have all three and the training events too fankUverymuch 😀

Doing stuff costs shocker.

Don’t enter?

of course stuff costs…..no shocker
but having you pants dropped and being dry bummed is a bit off….no?

a audax ride costs £5 with a nice buffet tea at the finish.

A local (to me) club manages to put this on for £15 and make a small profit
Hot meal at the end and fully stocked feed stations, sausage rolls at the first one 🙂

http://www.richmondcc.co.uk/cyclosportives

Stunning ride to boot

ton – Member

a audax ride costs £5 with a nice buffet tea at the finish.

Yep, that seems completely comparable 😕

Why enduros are expensive- quite a lot of timing kit and crew. Huge amounts of track prep, authorisation, taping, often digging. Lots of marshalls. Insurance and medics (for what is after all a gravity sport so more dangerous than most mtb events). Permissions to use the land. Ticketing costs. And all spread around a relatively small number of entrants- the biggest enduros ever seen in the UK still top out at 700 or so but 150-300 is more typical.

I think £65 for the UKGE was worth every penny. In fact I would have paid more if required. These things cost a lot of time and money to organise and I doubt anyone’s getting rich off it.

No
it’s not £65 to ride your bike for the day

its to race.

if you want to ride your bike go do it, but if you want to race then pay up and join the racers.
Too many events sell out because of people out for a jolly, this stops the actual racers being able to do the sport they enjoy.
i Organise races for people to race, not come for a ride, I also organise ride for people to come and ride for free.

Its easy to see the difference

i reckon the prices are so expensive because it is what is fashionable now in cycling, enduro’s and sportives.

UKGE is 65quid for 3 days riding on an excellent course including free camping, free support and servicing from shimano, SRAM and mavic and a bloody good crack to boot.

65 quid seem a lot, but I’m worth it

i have been off the bike too long, reality and fantasy are blurred.
or my mind is maybe…… 😆

ton – Member
i reckon the prices are so expensive because it is what is fashionable now in cycling, enduro’s and sportives.

So folk ARE getting stinking rich from race organising?

*starts scribbling out resignation letter*

i want the race organisers to make a living

i want racing in the UK to become like it is in Europe and to do that the organisers need to make a living doing it

PMBA Enduro series is £37 per race, pretty reasonable if you ask me. Scottish Open Enduro was only £39 too and for a big event like that I was more than happy to stump up the cash.

A lot of time and effort goes in to these events, not to mention the time of volunteers, given this £37 seems fair to me.

it’s to race

Brilliant insight and I mean that without sarcasm. I don’t race these days but many of my mates do and Sancho hits the nail on the head. I paid over £40 to race the 3 Peaks CX and it didn’t bother me at all because it is 100% a race, nothing else.

Sportives cost very little to setup as you’re paying to do just a ride.

Enduro events and full races cost a lot of to setup and run, every thing you see from tape to toilets, marshals to medics, crowd barriers to podiums all have to be paid for.

also while we are on the subject, why is enduro specific clothing more expensive than normal cycling clobber?

Not quite correct Drac, we’ve priced a Sportive for our club and I would not call it “a little”. Marketing, insurance, catering, goody bags etc,, it adds up.

ton – Member

 of course stuff costs…..no shockerbut having you pants dropped and being dry bummed is a bit off….no?

What a strange thing to say. Really odd.

ton – Member 

also while we are on the subject, why is enduro specific clothing more expensive than normal cycling clobber?

It’s not. Some things are dearer than others, but thats always been the case.

Just ride a bike. If an event is too expensive then don’t do it!

Not quite correct Drac, we’ve priced a Sportive for our club and I would not call it “a little”. Marketing, insurance, catering, goody bags etc,, it adds up.

Of course it does which is why they’re not free, drop the goodie bags no body cares about them.

An MBO Score event by comparison is £11 – £15 generally, nearly always including parking plus food and drink at the finish plus an OS map of the area and a good few hours riding as well as being part of the national league. Not sure why marshalling is mentioned as a cost above but from my experience marshalls are voluntary. I can understand why folk would be unimpressed by a £65 price tag for an off road event.

just scrubbed enduro’s off my to do list.
sorry for mentioning it and upsetting anyone……. 😀

Been put off the enduro malarky myself because of costs! Sam Houghton Challenge and the Dyfi enduro are well priced and worth the money as most of it goes to nominated charities 🙂

Not sure why marshalling is mentioned as a cost above but from my experience marshalls are voluntary.

Because a lot of events pay them to try and ensure they’re not begging folk to stand in the rain come race day

Looking at the uk gravity enduro series they have massive costs and a lot of financial risk.
And to be fair £ 60 for a whole weekend of entertainment including free camping for 3 days is not bad value.
You can ride most of the same tracks for free but it’s not racing is it

BenjiM – Member

Not sure why marshalling is mentioned as a cost above but from my experience marshalls are voluntary.

Not in mine- it’s usually a fairly token amount but with a crew of 20 marshalls that still adds up.

£65 is the pay rate for a UKGE marshal.

MBO Score event by comparison is £11 – £15 generally, nearly always including parking plus food and drink at the finish plus an OS map of the area and a good few hours riding as well as being part of the national league. Not sure why marshalling is mentioned as a cost above but from my experience marshalls are voluntary. I can understand why folk would be unimpressed by a £65 price tag for an off road event.

So a few hours riding for 11 quid vs 3 days riding for 65 quid at a UKGE, these MBOs sound like a massive rip off to me !

Ardrock enduro near on doubled in price in 1 yr. great course , but **** me 100% mark up. Stick that. Can’t blame people for milking the latest fashion. Just a shame it’s ours.

Not sure why marshalling is mentioned as a cost above but from my experience marshalls are voluntary.

The events I’ve helped with have all fed and watered the marshals, that costs money.

Cycling events are a rip off but why not there’s enough golfer type cyclists out there to pay it.

They are for people from London who can afford it and can’t figure out where they are going. I am with you ton they seem overpriced to me.

Consumer in “no ****ing idea about reality of trade” shocker!

Drac – Moderator
Not sure why marshalling is mentioned as a cost above but from my experience marshalls are voluntary.
The events I’ve helped with have all fed and watered the marshals, that costs money.

POSTED 4 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
Marshals get £65 a head at the ukge

kimbers – Member
UKGE is 65quid for 3 days riding

I doubt my mates got anything for the many hrs spent creating the various off piste stuff on my local event..
Cost the cafe money to fill the competitors water bottles/hydration packs due to eater being metered. The miserable sods didn’t even buy a coffee!! 👿

mulv1976 – Member
I think £65 for the UKGE was worth every penny. In fact I would have paid more if required. These things cost a lot of time and money to organise and I doubt anyone’s getting rich off it.

❓ Nice motor home with a garage full of bikes, a few hangers on, goes for a ride around trail, talks about what the locals and FC are going to provide? Job done till race day. 😉

cynic-al – Member
Consumer in “no ****ing idea about reality of trade” shocker!
POSTED 5 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Bicycle commerce thinks it’s owed a living shocker!

Trekster – Member

Cost the cafe money to fill the competitors water bottles/hydration packs due to eater being metered.

And did they sell no food, water, kit, repairs, goes on the power washer? I wasn’t at the UKGE but they seemed pretty happy when the SES rolled through