British Cycling and Tour de Yorkshire

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PaulSB

Legendary Member
To be clear from the outset I didn't get a place on the Tour de Yorkshire pre-registration entries yesterday. So yes I admit to being disappointed but hope I'm mature enough not to be posting vindictively.

For those who don't know BC members who had pre-registered via BC had the opportunity to enter the Tour de Yorkshire sportive 24 hours ahead of the general entry. I had registered as I was keen to take part.

The event opened for entry to BC members at 9,00am yesterday and was full to my knowledge at 4.00pm.

Sunday morning 9.00am is the start time for many club rides and I can't help but feel BC should have taken this in to account when deciding on the pre-sake timing. I think it shows a lack of consideration or appreciation of BC member interests. Perhaps Saturday 9.00am would have been a better option?

What do others think?

Or should I have skipped the club ride on what turned out to be the best day of the year so far??
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
Bad luck. Many members of CC will have difficulty understanding your rancour and will suggest that you simply go for a ride around the race circuit on the day with some buddies from your regular club.
 

screenman

Legendary Member
You cannot please all of the people, what about those who have to work on a Saturday? What time did you try and get in?
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
What do others think?

Or should I have skipped the club ride on what turned out to be the best day of the year so far??

Bad planning on your part. You were given the opportunity to purchase from 09:00 and chose to do something else instead. You can't blame British Cycling. They published the hours and you failed to take advantage of the opportunity in good time. The fact the the opening time coincided with 'club ride time' is a red herring the fault lies with you.

I attend a lot of live music events and some of the big names launch their tickets at 09:00 on a Friday morning. You'd think that there would be a large window of opportunity with a lot of folk working but no, Ive seen a venue sell all 12,000 tickets in five minutes and I'm in a seven minute queue. I shrug and walk away. I've still got the money to spend on another band later in the year.

At the end of the day, you can still ride the route on a later date and you'll have the entry fee in your pocket. A win-win.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Sunday morning 9.00am is the start time for many club rides and I can't help but feel BC should have taken this in to account when deciding on the pre-sake timing. I think it shows a lack of consideration or appreciation of BC member interests. Perhaps Saturday 9.00am would have been a better option?

What do others think?

Or should I have skipped the club ride on what turned out to be the best day of the year so far??
No, not worth skipping a ride for. 9am does seem a common start time for BC club rides, so picking that as the time to open sales maybe suggests that BC wants to prioritise non-club riders for that event? But hey, you're a BC club member, raise at your next club meeting and get your rep to ask up the democratic chain until it gets answered.

As @Globalti hints many may be, I'm fairly surprised that a BC club rider is so keen to pay money to ride a non-race with typical sportive riders. I've done a few and even I've been rather alarmed at the dangerous riding despite being used to riding day-in/day-out for transport, around motorists that do some of the strangest things.
 
OP
OP
PaulSB

PaulSB

Legendary Member
Thanks for the responses, I can see the point people make that I chose to ride rather than stay home to book a place. I wouldn't argue against that at all but do still feel the Sunday 9.00am timing is poor.

I emailed BC and was impressed by the speedy reply:

"Thanks for your email.


The event is being run by ASO, the owners of the Tour de France and also of this legacy event. We are simply partners within it, we don’t have any say in their timings."

I fully understand this though all the emails I received from BC gave the impression the relationship is more than "simply partners."

Anyway hoping to get a place today. I usually only ride sportives with my club, we support local small charity rides. My son asked me to ride with him and his friends. I'm very keen to do it because of this and imagine most fathers would feel the same.
 
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