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The cost of Century Rides



 
 
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  #11  
Old April 21st 16, 01:21 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
AMuzi
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 13,447
Default The cost of Century Rides

On 4/20/2016 7:43 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/20/2016 7:34 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 3:01:54 PM UTC-7, sms wrote:
I was at the Sea Otter Classic last Saturday and visited
a booth of a
California cycling magazine which had information on a
bunch of upcoming
century rides.

I looked at the one for my old bicycle club, where in the
1980's we
argued about raising the entry cost to $12 from $10 (or
maybe it was $8
to $10). Our century was never intended to be a
fund-raiser, so we set
the price to just break even.

I saw that the registration for that ride is now $80 ($70
for early
registration) and that a tee shirt is another $20.

Are there enough people paying $70-100 to ride on public
roads to keep
all these century rides in business?

Of course the smartest cyclist guys of all time were the
ones that began
the Cinderalla Classic
http://www.valleyspokesmen.org/cinderellaclassic

I also notice that the clubs no longer require or perform
any bicycle
inspections. Way too much liability if they allow an
unsafe bicycle on
the ride. At least that ride is a slightly more
reasonable $58.



$30-40 up here for a standard century. $70-80 for the
deluxe free beer/wine good food ride -- with a crappy
route. http://www.portlandcentury.com/ I don't typically
ride organized centuries -- and there are not that many up
here. I think the SCV has way more of them -- and more
people with money.

I did a super-expensive century last year in Washington --
which was $135, but I got in free because my sister-in-law
was working support. That fee also included an O.K.
jersey and a shuttle bus ride. You could get the ride
only for $60 (along with admission to the "festival"):
http://giganticbicyclefestival.org/#...r_registration.


Interesting point-to-point ride -- you had to shuttle to
the start or from the end back to the start. I got a
shuttle ride to the start and then did the ride back to
Snoqualmie.


Wow. Seems to me it's another example proving that there's
no upper limit to what some people will pay.

Normal economic theory always said that when prices rise,
fewer sales will occur (a phenomenon known as "elasticity"),
so maximum profit can be visualized as the intersection
between the profit-per-sale curve and the sale-vs-price
curve. Or something vaguely like that. (Hey, it's been
years.) But there are buyers that defy the logic, and pay
very high prices for products that most consumers would
reject. Which is _not_ to deliberately slag custom lugged
steel frames...

One of the _Freakonomics_ books had another example of
that. A very intelligent woman, maybe (I forget) with
degrees in economics, liked sex very much. She turned
professional and did quite well, with "johns" who were
upper-income and generally pleasant.

But it got to be just too tiring, or something, so she
decided to apply elementary economics and raise her prices
sky high. She found to her surprise that she had about as
much business as before; but she was raking in a lot more
money.

So in economic terms, the demand for a good whore is
inelastic. Maybe the same can be said of a "luxury" century
ride.


The term you want there is "Veblen goods".

Over in the economics department overfilled sagging shelves
are rife with theses on pricing theory but you do have the
essence of it above.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971


Ads
  #12  
Old April 21st 16, 03:13 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
JBeattie
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,870
Default The cost of Century Rides

On Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 5:21:10 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 4/20/2016 7:43 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/20/2016 7:34 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 3:01:54 PM UTC-7, sms wrote:
I was at the Sea Otter Classic last Saturday and visited
a booth of a
California cycling magazine which had information on a
bunch of upcoming
century rides.

I looked at the one for my old bicycle club, where in the
1980's we
argued about raising the entry cost to $12 from $10 (or
maybe it was $8
to $10). Our century was never intended to be a
fund-raiser, so we set
the price to just break even.

I saw that the registration for that ride is now $80 ($70
for early
registration) and that a tee shirt is another $20.

Are there enough people paying $70-100 to ride on public
roads to keep
all these century rides in business?

Of course the smartest cyclist guys of all time were the
ones that began
the Cinderalla Classic
http://www.valleyspokesmen.org/cinderellaclassic

I also notice that the clubs no longer require or perform
any bicycle
inspections. Way too much liability if they allow an
unsafe bicycle on
the ride. At least that ride is a slightly more
reasonable $58.


$30-40 up here for a standard century. $70-80 for the
deluxe free beer/wine good food ride -- with a crappy
route. http://www.portlandcentury.com/ I don't typically
ride organized centuries -- and there are not that many up
here. I think the SCV has way more of them -- and more
people with money.

I did a super-expensive century last year in Washington --
which was $135, but I got in free because my sister-in-law
was working support. That fee also included an O.K.
jersey and a shuttle bus ride. You could get the ride
only for $60 (along with admission to the "festival"):
http://giganticbicyclefestival.org/#...r_registration.


Interesting point-to-point ride -- you had to shuttle to
the start or from the end back to the start. I got a
shuttle ride to the start and then did the ride back to
Snoqualmie.


Wow. Seems to me it's another example proving that there's
no upper limit to what some people will pay.

Normal economic theory always said that when prices rise,
fewer sales will occur (a phenomenon known as "elasticity"),
so maximum profit can be visualized as the intersection
between the profit-per-sale curve and the sale-vs-price
curve. Or something vaguely like that. (Hey, it's been
years.) But there are buyers that defy the logic, and pay
very high prices for products that most consumers would
reject. Which is _not_ to deliberately slag custom lugged
steel frames...

One of the _Freakonomics_ books had another example of
that. A very intelligent woman, maybe (I forget) with
degrees in economics, liked sex very much. She turned
professional and did quite well, with "johns" who were
upper-income and generally pleasant.

But it got to be just too tiring, or something, so she
decided to apply elementary economics and raise her prices
sky high. She found to her surprise that she had about as
much business as before; but she was raking in a lot more
money.

So in economic terms, the demand for a good whore is
inelastic. Maybe the same can be said of a "luxury" century
ride.


The term you want there is "Veblen goods".

Over in the economics department overfilled sagging shelves
are rife with theses on pricing theory but you do have the
essence of it above.


Although I doubt the snob effect operates with much force in the bicycle century market. There are exceptions though: http://gourmetcentury.com/ride/?project=portland-or

Chris King is now in the business of high-end foodie metric centuries. You should consider branching out. Consider the "corn dog" ride or something like that.

To really enjoy the Portland area rides you can't be from around here or a serious cyclists because the courses are so well known. I do these courses in response to a one-line text from a friend. They are gourmet rides if you consider Cliff Bars to be gourmet food. IMO, riding with a small group of friends is so much better than the herd scene or a theme ride.

-- Jay Beattie.

  #13  
Old April 21st 16, 03:29 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Duane[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,900
Default The cost of Century Rides

On 21/04/2016 10:13 AM, jbeattie wrote:
snip

Although I doubt the snob effect operates with much force in the bicycle century market. There are exceptions though: http://gourmetcentury.com/ride/?project=portland-or

Chris King is now in the business of high-end foodie metric centuries. You should consider branching out. Consider the "corn dog" ride or something like that.

To really enjoy the Portland area rides you can't be from around here or a serious cyclists because the courses are so well known. I do these courses in response to a one-line text from a friend. They are gourmet rides if you consider Cliff Bars to be gourmet food. IMO, riding with a small group of friends is so much better than the herd scene or a theme ride.



Agreed. My club has a century ride but it's just for club members. The
only organization is we pick the route and the start times. You have to
buy your own cliff bars. Groups take off somewhat together but quickly
split up based on speed so we end up riding with our groups. Riding
with my group is like riding with a small group of friends.

I've been to a few organized rides and being in a pack or people with
varying levels of competency on varying types of terrain is not one of
my favorite things. To each his own.

  #14  
Old April 21st 16, 03:35 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,374
Default The cost of Century Rides

On Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 8:43:23 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/20/2016 7:34 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 3:01:54 PM UTC-7, sms wrote:
I was at the Sea Otter Classic last Saturday and visited a booth of a
California cycling magazine which had information on a bunch of upcoming
century rides.

I looked at the one for my old bicycle club, where in the 1980's we
argued about raising the entry cost to $12 from $10 (or maybe it was $8
to $10). Our century was never intended to be a fund-raiser, so we set
the price to just break even.

I saw that the registration for that ride is now $80 ($70 for early
registration) and that a tee shirt is another $20.

Are there enough people paying $70-100 to ride on public roads to keep
all these century rides in business?

Of course the smartest cyclist guys of all time were the ones that began
the Cinderalla Classic http://www.valleyspokesmen.org/cinderellaclassic

I also notice that the clubs no longer require or perform any bicycle
inspections. Way too much liability if they allow an unsafe bicycle on
the ride. At least that ride is a slightly more reasonable $58.



$30-40 up here for a standard century. $70-80 for the deluxe free beer/wine good food ride -- with a crappy route. http://www.portlandcentury.com/ I don't typically ride organized centuries -- and there are not that many up here. I think the SCV has way more of them -- and more people with money.

I did a super-expensive century last year in Washington -- which was $135, but I got in free because my sister-in-law was working support. That fee also included an O.K. jersey and a shuttle bus ride. You could get the ride only for $60 (along with admission to the "festival"): http://giganticbicyclefestival.org/#...r_registration.

Interesting point-to-point ride -- you had to shuttle to the start or from the end back to the start. I got a shuttle ride to the start and then did the ride back to Snoqualmie.


Wow. Seems to me it's another example proving that there's no upper
limit to what some people will pay.

Normal economic theory always said that when prices rise, fewer sales
will occur (a phenomenon known as "elasticity"), so maximum profit can
be visualized as the intersection between the profit-per-sale curve and
the sale-vs-price curve. Or something vaguely like that. (Hey, it's
been years.) But there are buyers that defy the logic, and pay very
high prices for products that most consumers would reject. Which is
_not_ to deliberately slag custom lugged steel frames...

One of the _Freakonomics_ books had another example of that. A very
intelligent woman, maybe (I forget) with degrees in economics, liked sex
very much. She turned professional and did quite well, with "johns" who
were upper-income and generally pleasant.

But it got to be just too tiring, or something, so she decided to apply
elementary economics and raise her prices sky high. She found to her
surprise that she had about as much business as before; but she was
raking in a lot more money.

So in economic terms, the demand for a good whore is inelastic. Maybe
the same can be said of a "luxury" century ride.

--
- Frank Krygowski


not.

Century $$$ . is https://goo.gl/IlBACn

neither biological nor Pucker n Ramble

  #15  
Old April 21st 16, 03:42 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,374
Default The cost of Century Rides

///////////////////

So in economic terms, the demand for a good whore is inelastic. Maybe
the same can be said of a "luxury" century ride.

I wuz on this at YakYak

The Car Wash https://goo.gl/BHukpq

cars line up day after day all VC542))=+ winter deep so I cannah get around to pass onto DV The Shell Station

helpless senile old gaffers looking for company...at the car wash ! HD detail$

OOOOOOHH nice Merc Rhonda....is the hubby in surgery ? go for a spin ?


  #16  
Old April 21st 16, 03:53 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,374
Default The cost of Century Rides


rrrrrrrrrrrrr

Sure it's dopey, but if you get the right ride -- something epic and well done -- it's worth it. Some of the rides cater to foodies and are just an excuse to eat and drink, which certainly sells tickets.


instant camadairy ...take me for example. I have no riding friends. Money I have.

so I book a ride $250 no prob...hell, I can drag the attendant into the bushes....ride ride ride and whoola ! theresmuhgroup I ride with muh group.

some days are better than others so but urine right ?

I held up on the green going under the overpass which is blind.

waited for a complete cycle.

easily rounded the abutment n who who who why a carload of beachies running the light at 20 mph in the wrong lane making a 6 lane crossing against the light onto the beach road.

they waved.

its the real thing.......

not from Ohio


  #17  
Old April 21st 16, 03:53 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Joerg[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,016
Default The cost of Century Rides

On 2016-04-21 04:38, John B. wrote:
On Wed, 20 Apr 2016 19:21:18 -0700 (PDT), jbeattie
wrote:

On Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 5:55:26 PM UTC-7, John B. wrote:
On Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:01:41 -0700, sms
wrote:

I was at the Sea Otter Classic last Saturday and visited a booth of a
California cycling magazine which had information on a bunch of upcoming
century rides.

I looked at the one for my old bicycle club, where in the 1980's we
argued about raising the entry cost to $12 from $10 (or maybe it was $8
to $10). Our century was never intended to be a fund-raiser, so we set
the price to just break even.

I saw that the registration for that ride is now $80 ($70 for early
registration) and that a tee shirt is another $20.

Are there enough people paying $70-100 to ride on public roads to keep
all these century rides in business?

Of course the smartest cyclist guys of all time were the ones that began
the Cinderalla Classic http://www.valleyspokesmen.org/cinderellaclassic

I also notice that the clubs no longer require or perform any bicycle
inspections. Way too much liability if they allow an unsafe bicycle on
the ride. At least that ride is a slightly more reasonable $58.

??? Californians have to pay to ride 100 miles ??? On a public highway
???

A new tax system perhaps?


Sure it's dopey, but if you get the right ride -- something epic and well done -- it's worth it. Some of the rides cater to foodies and are just an excuse to eat and drink, which certainly sells tickets.

-- Jay Beattie.


One can't just get on the bike and ride off into the sunset?


I had my weekly "half-century" yesterday, along with a pint of Kaffir
Leaf Saison at one of my watering holes and then had the "bike growler"
filled with that as well. Entry fee: Zero. $20 plus tip got me five
pints of excellent brewsky (four of which my wife and I drank in the
evening at home, not during the ride). With my bike and outfit they
probably wouldn't have let me on a fancy organized ride anyhow.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
  #18  
Old April 21st 16, 04:54 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Doc O'Leary[_20_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11
Default The cost of Century Rides

For your reference, records indicate that
Frank Krygowski wrote:

Normal economic theory always said that when prices rise, fewer sales
will occur


Not if the product was underpriced for the market in the first place.
Most luxury goods are not price-sensitive, just as long as the demand
is there. An organized bike ride might not be a great luxury, but
anyone who is going to bother spending $40 on one probably has the
resources to spend $60 on one (and even more with “extras”).

But it got to be just too tiring, or something, so she decided to apply
elementary economics and raise her prices sky high. She found to her
surprise that she had about as much business as before; but she was
raking in a lot more money.


That’s just Business 101. She was a constrained supply in high demand;
she should have been raising her prices all along. If the demand is
still too high, she didn’t raise prices enough. Same would be true of
other sorts of “ride” organizers. :-)

--
"Also . . . I can kill you with my brain."
River Tam, Trash, Firefly


  #19  
Old April 21st 16, 09:02 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,538
Default The cost of Century Rides

On 4/21/2016 7:38 AM, John B. wrote:
On Wed, 20 Apr 2016 19:21:18 -0700 (PDT), jbeattie
wrote:

On Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 5:55:26 PM UTC-7, John B. wrote:
On Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:01:41 -0700, sms
wrote:

I was at the Sea Otter Classic last Saturday and visited a booth of a
California cycling magazine which had information on a bunch of upcoming
century rides.

I looked at the one for my old bicycle club, where in the 1980's we
argued about raising the entry cost to $12 from $10 (or maybe it was $8
to $10). Our century was never intended to be a fund-raiser, so we set
the price to just break even.

I saw that the registration for that ride is now $80 ($70 for early
registration) and that a tee shirt is another $20.

Are there enough people paying $70-100 to ride on public roads to keep
all these century rides in business?

Of course the smartest cyclist guys of all time were the ones that began
the Cinderalla Classic http://www.valleyspokesmen.org/cinderellaclassic

I also notice that the clubs no longer require or perform any bicycle
inspections. Way too much liability if they allow an unsafe bicycle on
the ride. At least that ride is a slightly more reasonable $58.

??? Californians have to pay to ride 100 miles ??? On a public highway
???

A new tax system perhaps?


Sure it's dopey, but if you get the right ride -- something epic and well done -- it's worth it. Some of the rides cater to foodies and are just an excuse to eat and drink, which certainly sells tickets.

-- Jay Beattie.


One can't just get on the bike and ride off into the sunset?


I don't do many invitational rides. (In fact, many of my riding friends
are surprised at how few of them I ride.) I generally prefer to get on
my bike at my own house and ride off into the sunset, or sunrise, or
whatever.

But there can be a nice energy among a group of people at an event ride.
At the most recent one I did, I had miles of friendly conversation
with a guy from a neighboring state, comparing bikes and riding terrain
and club customs and much else. Later I chatted with a guy about his
nice custom touring bike (with SON hub and B&M headlight); discussed
aero bars and handlebar bags with other folks; talked about the
excellent scenery with yet another person, and so on.

So, every once in a while I have fun on an organized ride. It's very
rare for me to drive more than an hour to attend one, though.

--
- Frank Krygowski
  #20  
Old April 21st 16, 09:20 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Joerg[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,016
Default The cost of Century Rides

On 2016-04-21 07:13, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 5:21:10 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 4/20/2016 7:43 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/20/2016 7:34 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 3:01:54 PM UTC-7, sms wrote:
I was at the Sea Otter Classic last Saturday and visited a
booth of a California cycling magazine which had information
on a bunch of upcoming century rides.

I looked at the one for my old bicycle club, where in the
1980's we argued about raising the entry cost to $12 from $10
(or maybe it was $8 to $10). Our century was never intended
to be a fund-raiser, so we set the price to just break even.

I saw that the registration for that ride is now $80 ($70 for
early registration) and that a tee shirt is another $20.

Are there enough people paying $70-100 to ride on public
roads to keep all these century rides in business?

Of course the smartest cyclist guys of all time were the ones
that began the Cinderalla Classic
http://www.valleyspokesmen.org/cinderellaclassic

I also notice that the clubs no longer require or perform any
bicycle inspections. Way too much liability if they allow an
unsafe bicycle on the ride. At least that ride is a slightly
more reasonable $58.


$30-40 up here for a standard century. $70-80 for the deluxe
free beer/wine good food ride -- with a crappy route.
http://www.portlandcentury.com/ I don't typically ride
organized centuries -- and there are not that many up here. I
think the SCV has way more of them -- and more people with
money.

I did a super-expensive century last year in Washington --
which was $135, but I got in free because my sister-in-law was
working support. That fee also included an O.K. jersey and a
shuttle bus ride. You could get the ride only for $60 (along
with admission to the "festival"):
http://giganticbicyclefestival.org/#...r_registration.




Interesting point-to-point ride -- you had to shuttle to
the start or from the end back to the start. I got a shuttle
ride to the start and then did the ride back to Snoqualmie.

Wow. Seems to me it's another example proving that there's no
upper limit to what some people will pay.

Normal economic theory always said that when prices rise, fewer
sales will occur (a phenomenon known as "elasticity"), so maximum
profit can be visualized as the intersection between the
profit-per-sale curve and the sale-vs-price curve. Or something
vaguely like that. (Hey, it's been years.) But there are buyers
that defy the logic, and pay very high prices for products that
most consumers would reject. Which is _not_ to deliberately slag
custom lugged steel frames...

One of the _Freakonomics_ books had another example of that. A
very intelligent woman, maybe (I forget) with degrees in
economics, liked sex very much. She turned professional and did
quite well, with "johns" who were upper-income and generally
pleasant.

But it got to be just too tiring, or something, so she decided to
apply elementary economics and raise her prices sky high. She
found to her surprise that she had about as much business as
before; but she was raking in a lot more money.

So in economic terms, the demand for a good whore is inelastic.
Maybe the same can be said of a "luxury" century ride.


The term you want there is "Veblen goods".

Over in the economics department overfilled sagging shelves are
rife with theses on pricing theory but you do have the essence of
it above.


Although I doubt the snob effect operates with much force in the
bicycle century market. There are exceptions though:
http://gourmetcentury.com/ride/?project=portland-or

Chris King is now in the business of high-end foodie metric
centuries. You should consider branching out. Consider the "corn dog"
ride or something like that.


Or a "farm-to-fork" ride where three specially arrange lettuce leaves
and one slice of super-duper-organic tomato costs 50 bucks extra. 60
bucks with an eco-friendly onion ring.


To really enjoy the Portland area rides you can't be from around here
or a serious cyclists because the courses are so well known. I do
these courses in response to a one-line text from a friend. They are
gourmet rides if you consider Cliff Bars to be gourmet food. IMO,
riding with a small group of friends is so much better than the herd
scene or a theme ride.


Amen!

After moving to the Netherland decades ago I started riding with some
groups and found that almost their only motivation was sports. Faster,
harder, tougher. No chatting, no pub stops, nothing. If you aren't
walking on your teeth at the end the ride wasn't exhausting enough. Not
my cup of tea.

Soon I noticed other much smaller groups, they chatted all the time, had
a slightly different accent. Belgians. They rode for what really
matters: Fun. Some carried two bottle holders and one contained a
demi-bouteille (375ml, usually red wine). They let that circle once in a
while during (!) rides. Nowadays you'd probably get arrested for that.
When one of them saw a promising pub he hollered "Venten, daar is en
mooien kroeg!" and the whole "peloton" veered right over there. Nobody
was going to miss a nice big glass of Trappiste.

Fast forward to the US where I now live. Road bikers are much more
competitive, almost like in the Netherlands. All in fancy Lycra and
whatnot, brand new bikes, they probably consider me close to homeless or
so. Even slightly hinting "I'll stop over at Mraz Brewpub" often results
in comments like "Oh, that would slow me way down" or "Beer? That'll sap
the energy right out of me". Huh? Mountain bikers are very different in
that respect. "Where is that? Let's go there!"

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
 




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