So what's the deal with paying people to either run somewhere or ride your bike? I recently saw an add for an organized ride, and I was surprised to see that it cost $30 to sign up. They had 10, 20, and 50 mile routes, but they were all on the W&OD only, so it was $30 to ride up a section of the public bike trail that I ride all the time. There may have been a T-shirt involved, but that's it as far as I can tell. What the heck's the $$ for? I looked around a little and realized that these things happen all the time, and that in fact $30 was on the cheaper end. The only organized ride I've done before was bike to work day which was free and more of a lets get as many people to sign up as we can type of event, since everyone was biking to and from different places.
A few events claimed themselves in the name of charity, others were on routes that required road closures and such, so perhaps I can understand those, but all in all they seem like steep prices for something I can just go out and do whenever I want. My sister has signed up for a couple rides in New York, and invited me up for one, but it's the weekend of the BBBBQ festival so I can't go. Instead she's going to come down here in May and we're going to do Bike DC - http://www.bikedc.net/ - for $40 each. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but it'll be fun to do a ride with her, and it'll be on closed roads that I couldn't otherwise ride.
How much do people pay for running places? Marathons, half marathons, 10Ks, and the like? Why don't you just run 26 miles on your own? What happens if you go to the place and just run with people without signing up/paying? The event I mentioned at the start of this was Saturday morning, so I may try to just go see what its like up there.
Anyways, maybe I'm just a cheapskate, but I don't know that I see the point of paying to do things I can do for free.
Paying for runs makes sense to me. I run all the time for free, but those aren't on major roads with thousands of other people, a t-shirt, water and food stations, bathroom, medical aid and free beer at the end. The Pittsburgh Marathon has something like 25,000 participants between the full, half and relay. Part of what you're paying for is the experience. Other runs get people to pay because they have a gimmick like a Zombie Run, Tough Mudder or Color Run, those are usually a little pricier and if they're not long enough I'm usually not willing to pay a lot for them.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you're saying about paying to ride with a group of people on a public trail on a Saturday. Maybe it's just a good way to meet new people with a similar interest in biking trails? Most people train better and work harder when they are participating with a group instead of individually, so that kind of thing is probably also a factor.