Value has two sides: what you pay and what you get in services and
products. $25 for an invitational ride with sag, rest stops, route
markers, cue sheet, t-shirt, lunch afterwards ... is reasonable or
better in CT. The evaluation of “fair” for value results primarily from
the lack of “lots of carbs” at rest stops.

Somehow I did not make my basis for evaluation clear. I wrote: “I look
for an invitational or century ride to provide two things: (1) sags so
if I have an equipment problem I can get a ride back to my car and (2)
food and drink at least every 25 miles.”

I did not get food & drink on the ride, although the organizers did
incur the cost of food & drink at the end of the ride. I got two slices
of pizza and two half turkey sandwhiches at the end of the ride. It I
got the two slices of pizza at a rest stop around the 25 mile mark and
the two half turkey sandwhiches around the 50 mile mark, I would have
rated the value as "good" or "excellent".

Notes:

I have been on over 20 different invitationals. Many ride reports are
in the archives of this newsgroup.

On this newsgroup I rated the value of CycleFest 2004 also in NW CT as
"excellent" - it costs $25 on the day of the ride; t-shirts were extra.
There were many sags and lots of carbs at rest stops.



Pete Salomone wrote:



*The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital** *and the *Center for Cancer Care
Fund** **sponsored the ride held on Sunday, August 7, 2005.** *I
registered quickly at Coe Park for $25 on the day of the ride and got
a t-shirt. Unfortunately for smaller people only L and XXXL t-shirts
were left.

In the ride announcement I noted that the rest stops were called
rest/water stops. I was concerned that there would not be food at the
rest stops. At registration I asked if food was available at the water
stops – “only bananas and water”. I immediately returned to my car and
got two bagels.

As I finished registering at 8:10 I heard the announcement that the
first riders had passed the water stop in Litchfield. While the tour
is not a race, the registrar referred to the 75-mile route as the
75-mile race. I wasn’t racing.

When I reached Litchfield the water stop staff held out cups of water
that you could grab as you rode by. I had a camelbak and two bottles
that I expected would last the ride. A large number of strong riders
took the 30 and 50-mile routes. The route continued on US202 which was
not busy and then CT341 a quiet and hilly road. There were lots of
SAGs, emergency, and police directing traffic on the route. On this
stretch I met a husband and wife who lived near the top of West
Mountain Rd, Canton, a climb we often avoid on easy weekday rides but
a good one to use for hill training. CT341 ended with a very long
downhill (over 3mi) as it reached Kent. Several cyclists(racers) were
making the climb in the other direction; I presumed they were doing
hill training; they picked the right spot.

I stopped at the Kent rest stop for a banana and continued on. I rode
with a fellow from New Hartford, a community our weekdays rides often
pass thru. We had a number of similar routes. He wanted to know about
the Farmington Valley Greenway, where we start many rides. We had this
conversation on US7 since it was not busy. We passed many old homes
right on the highway and the Sloane-Stanley Museum.

I started seeing highway signs for the W Cornwall covered bridge. I
was less than five miles away, when the route turned NE away from the
bridge. Another time I’ll take a ride to W Cornwall. After the turn we
started climbing. I was riding with a lady from S Windsor. We talked
about bike clubs, rides, mapping software, topo maps, etc. All the
while we rode thru beautiful scenery.

While the beauty did not end, the increased traffic on CT63 and US44
reducing our attention to beauty. We had about 15 miles of busy
highway, although we stopped noticing the traffic as we climbed into
Norfolk. The climb got our attention. From Norfolk there was lots of
good news. We still had good scenery, the traffic dropped off on CT272
AND most of the route was downhill into Torrington.

A nice finishing touch was pizza and turkey sandwiches at the end.

Delorme’s Topo 5 assessed the route at 76.4 mi and 5525 ft of climbing.

EVALUATION

Brochure – I didn’t see a brochure, but there was complete information
on the website.

Routes – good. Scenic terrain if you like hills, trees, lakes, brooks,
and rivers. Lots of traffic on the second half of the route.

Intersections - excellent.

Cue sheet – excellent. A map was also provided, so if you needed a
bailout route you could take a short cut back.

Rest stops – poor. Water and bananas are not enough. Turkey sandwiches
and pizza were needed at the rest stops.

Bananas and water don’t meet my definition of food and drink. I’d like
to see some of bagels, cookies, brownies, PB&J, etc for food and
Gatorade, lemonade, etc for drink.

Using a table from Bicycling Mag; and it may not be correct I burned
about 3,000 calories on the ride and replaced it with two bagels, one
Clif Bar, three bananas, and two bottles of Accelerade during the ride.

Sags – excellent. Sag wagons were all over the route.

Value – fair. I look for an invitational or century ride to provide
two things: (1) sags so if I have an equipment problem I can get a
ride back to my car and (2) food and drink at least every 25 miles.

Conclusion – This ride is not on my schedule for 2006. I will not go
on an invitational or century ride that does not provide lots of carbs
every 25 miles.

Charlotte-Hungerford sponsorship means hunger for d carbs; I will
hunger for d carbs once; but not twice.