Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

It's hard, if even possible, to break even with only 23 riders.  I 
know...I've been there.

Barbara
Ride manager for 30+ years


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sharon Levasseur" <sharon1359@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Barbara McCrary" <bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 9:03 AM
Subject: Re: Ride amenities (was "Patriot Day Ride")


> I'm a brand new ride manager, and let me tell you, it was hard enough to 
> provide
> even food/drinks for volunteers and a burgers/dogs BBQ on ride day.  In 
> fact, I
> ended up several (many) hundreds of dollars short of breaking even.
>
> Yet I found that lots of riders who I would have called experienced had NO 
> IDEA
> what kinds of costs are incurred in putting on a ride.  (I won't go into 
> detail
> on what their comments were, as much as I'd like to.)  My costs for a 
> 30/50 ran
> over $3000 even though most of the awards were donated, and I only had 23
> riders.  Sure, next year will be better because I'll have already 
> purchased a
> few of the things I'll need, but it won't help THAT much.
>
> Just a dose of reality for those who may not know...
>
> -Sharon L. in Maine (Hot Toddy Hustle manager)
>
>
>
> Quoting Barbara McCrary <bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
> > It sounds like it was a great event!
> >
> > While I am not disparaging this event in particular, I also realize that 
> > some
> > ride managers are unable, for one reason or the other, to provide such
> > luxuries.  Nowadays, it almost seems like the rides that provide more 
> > goodies
> > draw the riders more than the ones with spare amenities.  I can't say I 
> > blame
> > the riders, but it seems that the focus is not on the trail and the
> > adventure, but on the luxuries that are provided.  I hope I'm wrong, 
> > because
> > there are a lot of good rides offered that do not have all the frosting.
> > Could this trend also be the reason that 100-mile rides are diminishing? 
> > The
> > original idea was to endure a tough ride, discomfort, and challenges. 
> > Are we
> > now gravitating to rides that are shorter, and ones that offer 
> > refreshments
> > at every corner?
> > Please do not interpret this as criticism of the Patriot Day ride, but as 
> > a
> > philosophical discussion.
> > I'd like to hear other opinions on this.
> >
> > Barbara
> >   ----- Original Message -----
> >   From: amber applegate
> >   To: PNER ; ridecamp
> >   Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 8:14 AM
> >   Subject: [RC] Patriot Day Ride
> >
> >
> >
> >   The local people from Greenville are wonderful! The local Grocer set up 
> > a
> > lemonade stand at one junction where there was a water stop. He had the 
> > best
> > ice cold lemonade, iced tea, organic bananas, apples for the riders, they 
> > had
> > alfalfa for the horses at this stop. Amazing!
> >
> >   Off to VC where so many people that were not even horsey people were 
> > from
> > the town and volunteered to help. This was incredible to me to see 
> > coffee,
> > buckets of iced drinks for the riders, food out in abundance for the 
> > riders,
> > luscious alfalfa hay everywhere for the horses, candy, cookies,  I felt I 
> > was
> > at a party.



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