England : Durham Velo North (Durham)

[Nomadski]

Hopefully the weather, and locals, will be friendlier for this Velo event.

Was just announced that my old back yard, Durham will be the start and finish location for a 50 and 100 mile closed road sportive.

Beautiful city centre to begin and end the event, and will no doubt be quite challenging as the route takes in Durham county's rolling hills and the Pennines to the west.

Takes place on 1st September, tickets will be available from 7th march for those who pre register interest. Registration is open until 6th march.

 

[NickWi]

I'm in, just the 50 mile but that's enough for me.

 

[Nomadski]

Sadly the event has been cancelled due to a lack of participants.

Seems to be a problem for north east rides.

 

[Milkfloat]

Maybe it was the cost that put people off.

 

[Pale Rider]

The local authority's leisure committee allocated £400,000 to this event.

That ought to go some way towards paying for it, although I expect the money was also to cover the associated 'family fun' events.

A mate of mine considered doing one of the rides but at - I think - £70 or £80 it was more than he wanted to pay.

 

[Nomadski]

I get the idea the event had to attract a certain number of riders to offset the amount of disruption it would cause with it's closed roads.

 

[Skuhravy]

Putting it on the same day as the Hell of the North from Darlo was always a piss-take. The cooncil and local CCs have been running their monthly rides on the first Sundays of the month for yonks, and the 100-miler is a lovely ride. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/copy...019-the-hell-of-the-north-tickets-58256841782

 

[Nomadski]

Having grown up in Durham, this closed road event was of particular interest to me so am more than a bit sad it didn't prove as popular as it should have.

 

[Pale Rider]

The event was backed by the county council, they sign the road closure orders, so they are not going to worry what a few residents think if it interferes with one of their pet projects.

I suspect the event has been cancelled because not enough riders signed up to give the private company the amount of profit it wanted.

The Durham Big Rides just about broke even from a few hundred riders paying £30 or so over each of two weekends.

Those rides were cancelled a couple of years ago when it became clear they were going to lose money.

It's a common theme, the County Durham Marie Curie Etape was cancelled due to falling numbers.

The so-called boom in cycling may have happened in that there London, but it has certainly not happened in the north.

 

[PaulSB]

As Club Sec I received an email from the organisers 2-3 months ago asking if I would publicise to our club. I did this via the FB page.

The few who commented to me were basically of the opinion why do I need to drive for three hours and pay £80 to ride my bike?

I'm sure it would be a lovely ride but I've reached much the same conclusion. £80 for sportive is way over the top. Does it matter if the roads are closed? Not to me as I ride 150-180 miles/week without closed roads.

While I appreciate why costs are high I think the fundamental problem is £80 is too much. I can take my wife out for a good meal and have at least £20/30 change and then ride 100 miles for free with cycling buddies the next day. It's a no brainer.

 

[Lee_M]

I don't mind paying for sportives if they're interesting, I don't even mind paying a lot for a charity ride, I do object to paying a lot to line someone elses pocket.

 

[Nomadski]

You can't compare riding on closed roads to a regular day out on the bike though. I agree it's probably priced a little too high, but the experience of these closed road events is just fantastic.

Just a shame Velo Birmingham and RideLondon seem to be the only ones on the calendar.

 

[13 rider]

You can't compare riding on closed roads to a regular day out on the bike though. I agree it's probably priced a little too high, but the experience of these closed road events is just fantastic.

Just a shame Velo Birmingham and RideLondon seem to be the only ones on the calendar.

If fancy travelling a lot further north a couple of closed roads in Scotland ,Etape Loch Ness and Etape Caledonia .

 

[I like Skol]

I have to agree, the closed road events I have done have been very enjoyable and worth the fee IMO.

 

[tom73]

Velo29 look to have spotted this one and added an extra one. Velo29 North with full route out on Monday max 1000 riders anyone who signed up for velo North get's £5 off signing fee. Not closed roads so may not be for everyone.

https://velo29events.com/sportives/...il&utm_term=0_a55bad54b4-761b64124d-407813109