The 'Ride London 100' accepted/rejected thread

[frontsplitter]

I didn't get in via the ballot either, but I had already decided I should do it for Guide Dogs anyway as it's a very worthwhile cause. So if you'd like to sponsor me you can do it here
Thanks

[okgo]

Next year I'm adding an hour to my expected finish time and taking my racing category off it. I'm convinced they want a load of nodders doing it.

[Celtic Dragon]

OKgo, I declared a 6 1/2 hour ride, and never ridden a sportive before and a BC member.

TBH I think as long as you declare under their 8 hour cut off, nothing else matters.

[Black can man]

So how does the charity entry work ? i'm assuming you have to raise x amount payable closer to the run ?

& i'm assuming that if you don't raise x amount you pay the balance yourself.

is this pretty much how it works ?

[upsidedownmark]

Another avenue for some: If you are in a club that is british cycling affiliated, the club can put in for 'team' entries; I believe that starts after the ballot. In our case the club got (IIRC) 3 male teams and 1 female. The only part that is 'team' is your group of 4 is assigned the same start time. We started out as a pretty big bunch, and whittled down as the ride progressed. We were also given a pretty early start slot, whether that was down to the team entry, or the predicted time I don't know.

Edited by upsidedownmark on Thursday 5th February 12:46

[thepawbroon]

Re: British Cycling Club Challenge

The RL2015 website says: Full details on the British Cycling Club Challenge for 2015 will be available soon.

Details of the 2014 version are still here:

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/article/sp2013040...

cheers

[MadDad]

Black can man said:

So how does the charity entry work ? i'm assuming you have to raise x amount payable closer to the run ?

& i'm assuming that if you don't raise x amount you pay the balance yourself.

is this pretty much how it works ?

Depends on the charity, most of them ask for a one off 'admin fee' to enter then a min of £500-£750 in donations - not sure about how you make up a shortfall but I am sure it is in the small print somewhere.

I can't rattle the tin for a year or so, I raised a couple of £k riding to Gibraltar last year by riding 100 miles per day, asking for sponsorship to ride 100 miles would be taking the wee-wee a bit......

[anonymous-user]

Black can man said:

So how does the charity entry work ? i'm assuming you have to raise x amount payable closer to the run ?

& i'm assuming that if you don't raise x amount you pay the balance yourself.

is this pretty much how it works ?

Pretty much, yes. How you pay the money is irrelevant be it through sponsorship or from your own pocket. I've often looked at big events/challenges with £2k mimnimum sponsorship values and thought I'd just pay it myself given, like many others, I have asked for charitible donations in the past for previous events...

As far as I am aware, the "minimum sponsorship" thing is not legally binding. I did the Bath 1/2 a few years ago for the Guide Dogs as public entry sold out before I decided to enter. I was injured in the weeks beforehand and emailed them to say that I wasnt collecting anymore sponsorship as I may not reach the start line, they were grateful for being told and sent a few "you said you would raise £x for us...." etc etc but didnt push it too hard. As it turned out, my leg fixed itself, I paid the delta between what I had already collected and the minimum myself and everyone was happy.

Its worth remembering that the charities have bought those spaces so the minimum may well only cover what the organisers charge for a charity place and an admin allowance. Most minimum values appear to be £500 for Ride London and the links below suggest charity places for the London Marathon cost the charity about £400 so its fair to say that by covering the minimum you are only allowing the charity to cover their costs.

Two interesting articles here
http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/charities-start-tough...
http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-networ...

The first link implies that some charities are holding the entrants personally liable should they not meet the minimum but you would know that when signing up for the place one would assume...

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 5th February 13:48

[ALawson]

If you approach the charities closer to the cut of date where they need to confirm names then they are a lot more reasonable as they don't want to loose a place. Last year the charity I rode for said raise what you can, £1600 later they were happy as it exceeded there £650 minimum.

I asked about this year this week and it was a can you raise £650 minimum. So I will wait until closer to the event.

I have a hunch that if you tick the box to donate to charity in the event of not getting a place, you a more likely to not get one!

[anonymous-user]

I guess that works like the bonded place referred to in the article, a silver bond place in the marathon gets a charity a single entry every five years at a cost of £300. Given its effectively a sunk cost, I'm sure they would rather someone run albeit without raising quite as much as originally hoped than not at all if only for the sake of increasing awareness of the charity.

[Dizeee]

Hotel booking is proving a nightmare. Many bed and breakfasts are claiming to be full already, the cheapest and dirtiest ones rated 1 star on Trip Advisor are £55 a night! I tried Travelodge etc and for two nights looking at around £300.

Onward with the search!

[anonymous-user]

Have you tried Airbnb? that way you at least get a place to yourself which means you can sort out an early breakfast and not worry about noise.

I stayed with a mate in Clapham in 2013 and there were loads of people riding in at 5am from the South, it was quite surreal being in a thirty strong peloton early in the morning as party goers and clubbers were being sick in the street...

[Teddingtonian]

Dizeee said:

Hotel booking is proving a nightmare. Many bed and breakfasts are claiming to be full already, the cheapest and dirtiest ones rated 1 star on Trip Advisor are £55 a night! I tried Travelodge etc and for two nights looking at around £300.

Onward with the search!

Have a look at the Ibis Styles in Leyton. I stayed there a couple of years ago. £89/night for a twin room incl. breakfast. Plenty of parking nearby. About 4 miles from the start. Lots of RideLondoners staying there and you can take your bike up to your room. Plus there's a cheap and cheerful Italian about 10 minutes walk away for carbo-loading the night before. They still have rooms.

[edit] Ibis Styles at Excel is only £68 on Travel Republic. Same distance, better location.

Edited by Teddingtonian on Thursday 5th February 15:55

[Jonnny]

Am I a crack head for thinking about driving in and parking for the day somewhere?

[richardxjr]

^ thanks for that link. Travel republic seem to have plenty availability and only £1 down. It looks like you have to pay £40 if you cancel even more than 3 days though.

Parking is unclear at that hotel for those of us driving in. I think ExCel charges a flat £15/day so be aware of that. The cheaper Travelodge is a bit further out and has a free car park.


Edit Johny remember you have to sign in at Excel on the Sat though

[Jonnny]

That's about 2 weeks before hand isn't it? I'll get the train up for that, I'm just guessing trains on a Sunday morning with bike and supplies won't be very nice.

I'm in Guildford so it's not too far from me, just not sure how easy it is to park in London as I'll usually get the train.

[Dizeee]

Really fking me off now, its becoming quite a problem. Called the hotel above and a few other equivalents, most fully booked, those that aren't want hundreds for one night let alone two. Ibis Styles quoting me £240 per night for the last available rooms.

[richardxjr]

Sign in Thurs 30th July - Sat 1 Aug. Ride is Sun 2 Aug with starts between 6-9am

[richardxjr]

Dizeee said:

Really fking me off now, its becoming quite a problem. Called the hotel above and a few other equivalents, most fully booked, those that aren't want hundreds for one night let alone two. Ibis Styles quoting me £240 per night for the last available rooms.

Eh?


Travel republic website. Put in London ExCel and the date. They have allocation not available to other websites (or the hotels direct for that matter)

Edited by richardxjr on Thursday 5th February 17:55

[Jonnny]

richardxjr said:

Sign in Thurs 30th July - Sat 1 Aug. Ride is Sun 2 Aug with starts between 6-9am

I didn't see it was that soon.. It's only a train journey from here, still think I'll go up on the Thursday by train and possibly scope somewhere out to park for the Sunday. Got to be easier to have somewhere to leave your stuff and easily get back home after.