The cost of Century Rides

On 4/21/2016 8:54 AM, Doc O'Leary wrote:
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.

Also, in the case of many century rides, they limit the number of
riders. So if they are trying to maximize revenue they would keep
raising the price until the demand is about equal to the supply.

On Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 5:27:24 PM UTC-4, sms wrote:
On 4/21/2016 8:54 AM, Doc O'Leary wrote:
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.

Also, in the case of many century rides, they limit the number of
riders. So if they are trying to maximize revenue they would keep
raising the price until the demand is about equal to the supply.

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

you are the problem

who wants me when the weekend horns out of software n chips have unlimited funds.

you are the problem


who wants me when the weekend horns out of software n chips have unlimited funds.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWW

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/...ors_picks=true

Millennial men earn more than women their age, but by 29, one-third of women received a bachelor's degree, compared with just about one-quarter of men. !!!

back to drunks loading motorcycles .................

On Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 2:27:24 PM UTC-7, sms wrote:
On 4/21/2016 8:54 AM, Doc O'Leary wrote:
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.

Also, in the case of many century rides, they limit the number of
riders. So if they are trying to maximize revenue they would keep
raising the price until the demand is about equal to the supply.

Has anyone here organized a century? I really do wonder how they set the price. Most of the labor is volunteer, even for some of the really big rides. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattl...icycle_Classic

The STP has gotten horrendously expensive -- $155. https://www.cascade.org/rides-major-...p-registration

They have to run the course for two days, though -- but the price is the same whether your ride it in one day or two. Also, there is a ton of advertising, product placement, etc., etc. I'd bet that the advertising revenue pays most of the overhead and that entry fees are approaching pure profit.

I rode the STP one-day version a few times when it was a lot cheaper, but still relatively expensive -- and made more expensive by the cost of the train, hotel and pre-ride meals. I did get some swag -- a couple Tyvek jackets that I never wore again and the stupidest fanny pack known to humankind. Oh, and the memories -- yes the precious memories. I did ride it fast with a bunch of racers one year (8:47 with stops), so that was a point of pride -- and a basis for disappointment when I rode it the next time without a bunch of racers, or a tailwind or sunshine. 200 dreary miles. Some memories are not that precious.

-- Jay Beattie.

On 4/21/2016 5:42 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 2:27:24 PM UTC-7, sms wrote:
On 4/21/2016 8:54 AM, Doc O'Leary wrote:
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.

Also, in the case of many century rides, they limit the number of
riders. So if they are trying to maximize revenue they would keep
raising the price until the demand is about equal to the supply.

Has anyone here organized a century? I really do wonder how they set the price. Most of the labor is volunteer, even for some of the really big rides. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattl...icycle_Classic

It's possible that there are parade permit costs that have increased
greatly, as well as the cost of insurance, but I don't know for sure.
When I was talking to this newspaper editor he mentioned the cost of
renting the venue where people park, and where the ride begins, has gone
way up.

When I worked on the Sequoia Century for Western Wheelers the big cost
was the food. Minor costs were insurance, fuel for sag wagons, signage,
road marking, patches, and rental of a local high school to use their
parking lot and campus. Now they are renting a local community college
because the high school was no longer interested in renting out the
school on weekends to them.

With the advent of Costco, food costs have probably not gone up as much
as inflation.

On Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 8:42:51 PM UTC-4, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 2:27:24 PM UTC-7, sms wrote:
On 4/21/2016 8:54 AM, Doc O'Leary wrote:
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.

Also, in the case of many century rides, they limit the number of
riders. So if they are trying to maximize revenue they would keep
raising the price until the demand is about equal to the supply.

Has anyone here organized a century? I really do wonder how they set the price. Most of the labor is volunteer, even for some of the really big rides. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattl...icycle_Classic

The STP has gotten horrendously expensive -- $155. https://www.cascade.org/rides-major-...p-registration

They have to run the course for two days, though -- but the price is the same whether your ride it in one day or two. Also, there is a ton of advertising, product placement, etc., etc. I'd bet that the advertising revenue pays most of the overhead and that entry fees are approaching pure profit.

I rode the STP one-day version a few times when it was a lot cheaper, but still relatively expensive -- and made more expensive by the cost of the train, hotel and pre-ride meals. I did get some swag -- a couple Tyvek jackets that I never wore again and the stupidest fanny pack known to humankind. Oh, and the memories -- yes the precious memories. I did ride it fast with a bunch of racers one year (8:47 with stops), so that was a point of pride -- and a basis for disappointment when I rode it the next time without a bunch of racers, or a tailwind or sunshine. 200 dreary miles. Some memories are not that precious.

-- Jay Beattie.

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

$93000 is a business

The Watertribe costs twice that...and they sell adverts

http://www.watertribe.com/Events/Default.aspx

On Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:01:41 -0700, sms
wrote:

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

Yep.

Dunno why. I go on rides for peace and quiet- being surrounded by 2000
other riders is anthithetical to that. If I want to ride a century, I
just start from my house early in the morning and pick a 100 mile route.
But there's no T-shirt to wear as a badge of honor.

I have volunteered for some 20 years for a ride here that gets 5000-6000
particpants for 30 miles, I think it costs $50 or something like that
plus more for a T-shirt. People seem to have a lot of fun on bikes for
the day, which seems like a good thing. The ride is a fundraiser for a
local bike advocacy group.

On Thu, 21 Apr 2016 17:42:47 -0700 (PDT), jbeattie
wrote:

Has anyone here organized a century? I really do wonder how they set
the price.

Well, I have sat on the steering committee a few times for the local
ride I've volunteered for since the early 90s. There are a few
surprisingly big ticket costs: "renting" the roads which are closed to
other traffic , hiring police along the course to control traffic (we
hire like 100 officers for 6 or so hours at time-and-a-half), first aid
nurses at the rest stops, buying food for 6,000 people, liability
insurance, renting tents and things like that for registration, credit
card fees/registration web site/marketing, and paying the one full-time
year-round staffer, etc.

The price per rider can be pretty well estimated based on adding up the
known overhead and dividing it among projected riders. Then you add
whatever profit you want to have- in our case, fundraising for a bke
advocacy group- and add another little bit "just in case" for the stuff
you forgot about.

On 4/21/2016 8:42 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 2:27:24 PM UTC-7, sms wrote:
On 4/21/2016 8:54 AM, Doc O'Leary wrote:
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.

Also, in the case of many century rides, they limit the number of
riders. So if they are trying to maximize revenue they would keep
raising the price until the demand is about equal to the supply.

Has anyone here organized a century? I really do wonder how they set the price.

Well, I ran our club's century ride for 7 or 8 years. (Got an award
from LAB for having one of the top three best LAB-sanctioned centuries
one year, although I don't know how they could possibly determine that.
But I was happy to accept the award, a pretty nice Blackburn folding
work stand.)

As I recall, when I took over the century, I kept the price whatever it
had been - probably in the $15 to $20 range. We never raised it much.
We always made at least a moderate profit, which was all we wanted. As
I recall, the big cost was food, but we negotiated discounts for that.
Club volunteers handled everything, including baking lots of homemade
cookies for the 25, 50 and 75 rest stops. Other minor expenses were
things like rental of facilities for registration and lunch, printing
forms and maps, advertising, mileage costs for volunteers (sags and road
markers do lots of driving), road marking paint, signs, and other
miscellaneous stuff.


--
- Frank Krygowski

On Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 9:13:30 AM UTC-5, jbeattie wrote:

IMO, riding with a small group of friends is so much better than the herd scene or a theme ride.

-- Jay Beattie.

True, true, true.