haters will hate.
A few pics of you on the pink rocket here http://www.asmileadayphoto.com/Sonja/Bike-Racing/DURYEA-Reading-PA-5-2013/29292807_6Qj2sT#!i=2497913386&k=C4PmtBt
I have no doubt the race was fun and the course was great, I had reasons other than $$ that I made it so I couldn't attend. But where I do take up issue with the cost is that it's such a drastic jump from the usual 70-75 for a race entry fee (at mountains with lifts), that it could now raise the bar and other races will say "well now we can charge $100 for a DH race." If they had 150+ racers then I guess the demand is still there regardless of the price, but with gas, food, hotel rates, and bike parts all increasing as well what is the price ceiling for entry in a DH race? In 2007 we started hosting DH races at Clemson and the entry was only 30 bucks, and that got you two race runs and now 6 years later they were still charging only $30 and they had close to 130 racers at the last race. I'm not bashing the GES, I love the GES, there might be some one-off cost that caused this particular race to bump up to $100. If there were still that many racers then I guess that's a good sign that the sport is still strong and potentially growing, I just wish costs weren't swelling along with it.
never been to a clemson race, but if i had to guess this probably cost alot because they had to rent 3 uhaul trucks and drivers,close public roads, hire security guards to watch the pits(seroiusly),the city gets a chunk of it, the (really busy) EMTs probably got a chunk of it, and i bet USAC grabbed a chunk. While i am kinda in the same boat as to the "its not a mountain" part-consider this. _______ mountain has the lift running every weekend, that isnt really factored into the race entry fee. If the trucks were free, duryea might not have cost 100 bucks. The rest of the GES (and esc for that matter) races will all be the same generic cost. I am sure that there are 100s of other things that helped increase this race that i dont even know about.
I completely agree. I didn't mean to attack that race in particular, anytime you see the price of something jump 40% you're going to have questions. The point I was trying to make about the Clemson races wasn't the cost difference, we were a major University and had a lot of support from the school and affiliates (the local fire department volunteered ATVs, Ambulances, workers etc. other things were donated) I was trying to say the race hadn't increased in price in 6 years. We were/are a bunch of drunk college students that didn't need to make any profit on the race, we just did it for exposure, fun and the after party. I would never get mad at a race promoter or resort trying to make a buck so they can continue to operate, make a living and host more races. This is 'merica, the land of capitalism and if you can host a DH race for $100 bucks a pop and get 150+ racers then obviously there is still a high demand, even at that price. My point is sort of a parallel to the thread about the Thomson seatpost selling for 440 dollars, if people will buy it then they'll keep selling them at that price and all the competitors will raise their prices and pretty soon we'll all be riding bikes with 900 dollar seat posts. I guess that's a microcosm of the biking industry as a whole though...
Really?
highest murder per capita, no?
Gotcha, I didn't see much in a quick search.
Lol, it isn't a surprise to me. I work in the city, carry a concealed weapon at work, and when riding alone or in small groups on the mountain.
first year i did the race the was a shooting less than 6 blocks away a few hours after the race finished
...and to think, you could have relived your youth and enjoyed that moment again in 2013...if you would have only shelled out that 100 bucks...
