Saturday events

[doonhaemer]

There are 2 days in a weekend. For the towns and cities, roads are busier with traffic on Saturday than they are on Sunday with more shops being open. But for the best locations for Sportives and Audax events ( and road races for that matter), Sunday tends to have more traffic on the road with the day trippers and Sunday drivers. In the olden days few people worked Sundays and lots of people worked Saturdays, especially among the working class bike riding types. These days almost as many folk work Sunday as do on Saturday, and cycling is no longer confined to the riff-raff.

So why are there so many more events on Sunday than Saturday? There seems to be more reason for it to be the other way round.

 

[Crimmey]

Polocini have events on saturdays, could be worth asking how numbers compare. I know because ive been unable to get to the majority as i work sats but have choice of working sunday. He did a midweek one too.

 

[Noodley]

Maybe the organisers go to the shops that are open on a Saturday?

 

[DCLane]

I'd prefer Saturday events for personal reasons - I'm usually at church on a Sunday morning.

The Richmond sportive in June was on a Saturday, as was the Big G in Hull in July. This Saturday I'm doing the Otley sportive.

Evans tend to do their MTB events on a Saturday, road ones on a Sunday.

 

[Noodley]

I have just checked the AUK webpage and there are loads of events held on a Saturday. In fact, nearly every Saturday for the next year has a list of events.

http://www.aukweb.net/events/?From=...Sat&Category=&Dist_min=&Dist_max=&Aaa=&Region=

 

[vernon]

I've just ridden a Saturday Audax event.

If the original poster cant find any audaxes that meet his needs, there's nothing stopping him from doing DIY audaxes and he can even choose his own starting point and time as well as his day.

 

[DCLane]

Missed one; Colomba Chemo Classic - Sat 10th November - http://www.colombachemoclassic.org.uk/

 

[doonhaemer]

I think perhaps not everyone understands my question
I know there are a good number of Saturday events around , I didn't ask why are there no Satuerday events, or even why are there few Saturday events. Nor was it "Where can I find a Saturday event ?"
My point is that whilst there may be a lot of Saturday events, there are lots and lots and lots of Sunday events (especially in the case of races). And the question is :- Why are there more on Sunday than Saturday? (a lot more), when logically it should be a 50/50 split, or even more on Saturday, it's probably more like a 20 / 80 split or less at the moment. A supplementary question might be :- Why to most organisers go for Sunday rather than Saturday?

I know most threads tend to transform into a different topic from what they start of as, but i would like to know if anyone has any ideas about my original question.

 

[Noodley]

No

 

[Lee_M]

I think perhaps not everyone understands my question
I know there are a good number of Saturday events around , I didn't ask why are there no Satuerday events, or even why are there few Saturday events. Nor was it "Where can I find a Saturday event ?"
My point is that whilst there may be a lot of Saturday events, there are lots and lots and lots of Sunday events (especially in the case of races). And the question is :- Why are there more on Sunday than Saturday? (a lot more), when logically it should be a 50/50 split, or even more on Saturday, it's probably more like a 20 / 80 split or less at the moment. A supplementary question might be :- Why to most organisers go for Sunday rather than Saturday?

I know most threads tend to transform into a different topic from what they start of as, but i would like to know if anyone has any ideas about my original question.

Did you not know that the forum isn't here to discuss your question, it's here to discuss whatever other posters want to turn it into :-)

 

[Ron Keegan]

I have no idea what Noodley's posting above has to do with doomhaemer's original and subsequent postings, but my response to the purpose of the thread is as follows:-

I believe holding the vast majority of cycling events on a Sunday is traditional and a throwback to times when it was the only certain day that most would be free from work. Club runs - then the backbone of cycling - were always held on a Sunday, as were time trials and then, subsequently, road races. This appears to be a habit most find hard to break. Not so Just Events, organisers of yesterday's inaugural Moor2Sea sportive, which attracted 500+ entries.

For mass participation events such as the, non commercial, Dartmoor Classic ( of which I am proud to be the promoter ), a Sunday is the preferred weekend day, because Saturday is needed for the Mid-Devon Cycling Club's volunteers to get everything set up and in place for an early start the following morning. I see no reason why commercially run events, with paid staff, don't more often go for the Saturday option.

 

[DCLane]

I'd agree with Ron here - all of the clubs local to me have their runs on Sunday, with one locally having a short Saturday run (I met a few of them yesterday). My guess is that is simply because that it's tradition.

 

[frank9755]

It's a fair question to ask. The reason it was traditionally like that is that lots of cyclists used to work in bike shops. Shops obviously were open on Saturdays but didn't used to be on Sundays so that was the day that was free for riding and racing.

 

[doonhaemer]

No

Sorry, I should have mentioned you did answer the question with your first post. And it's probably true, some of the people involved in running events still do either work in, or like to spend Saturdays in bike shops.

Lee, yes I knew that, i wasn't complaining. Just asking again.

I agree with the others, as they say round here, "It's how it's aw bin" .
our local cycling club in Dumfries only started having a club run about 20 years ago ( well it probably did have long before that, but thew club almost died, it revived about 20 years ago) . We are a bit cut off from other clubs influence, and it just naturally happened that the club run is on Saturday, we think it's normal.

 

[BrumJim]

It's not that long ago that most people would be working on Saturday morning, particularly in manual work. Cycling started as a rich man's pursuit, but then became a working-class past time as the rich turned to the Internal Combustion engine, hence Saturdays would not have been a suitable day. Now turn up to any Sportive and it is apparent that the middle classes are very keen to pit themselves against the road and the clock ontop of a bike.

Alternatively, Sunday is universally the day for wheeled sports - see motorbikes, F1, bangers, etc. Saturday is for field sports - football, rugby, etc.