Charity RIdes: Yay or Nay?

[BroDeal]

Usually I do a charity ride every year, but lately it is really starting to grind my gears that every other cause is attempting to suck money out of recreational cyclists. To make matters worse, I feel like I am being taken advantage of when I write a check for a couple of hundred bucks and the rest stop food is crap.

 

[Escarabajo]

Well I still love to do the MS150 every year. It is like a Marathon with 13,500 cyclists at once. I used to ride more, but not so much anymore because of the money factor. Now I pick the ones I consider the best Foundations and organized rides like Pink Ride (Breast Cancer) and other related rides.

 

[hillytn]

MS150 and the Tour de Cure are ones I try to do every year, and we've been pretty lucky here in chatta-vegas to get pretty decent sag stops. sometimes it does worry me that the % of money actually going towards the causes is too low, but i guess you can't be bothered by it too much. i don't mind people getting paid to put the rides together and make sure they go smoothly, but hopefully in the end the charities get what they need.

 

[craig1985]

Did one of them last year (100km). Was going great (ave 37.4km/h until that point) until I bonked with 15km to go.

 

[tifosa]

I have done charity rides in the past. No more. Now I donate as I please to a deserving charity, and ride as I please on my own. Just as satisfying, imho - and far less paperwork.

 

[Anonymous]

Usually I do a charity ride every year, but lately it is really starting to grind my gears that every other cause is attempting to suck money out of recreational cyclists. To make matters worse, I feel like I am being taken advantage of when I write a check for a couple of hundred bucks and the rest stop food is crap.

Yes, I do charity rides.

No, I don't complain if the peanut butter is runny.

 

[BroDeal]

No, I don't complain if the peanut butter is runny.

I do but then I think everything is a scam. When I pay $45 for registration and $200 for a contribution then I find myself sitting in 95 degree heat, eating a dry sandwich, and drinking warm dilute Powerade, I start asking myself why thirty cents of my registration fee could not have bought a can of Mountain Dew and some ice.

Another complaint: White T-shirts. Why do 80+% of events use white? I have a closet full of these things.

 

[quadsRme]

I have rode a charity ride in 20 years--I would rather donate to a good cause , like the Veterans. Too many goofy hours at work to accomodate those types of events. Bro you are right , usually the food is of the cheaper variety. I guess that is how they put more money in the pockets of the admin people.

 

[Anonymous]

I do but then I think everything is a scam. When I pay $45 for registration and $200 for a contribution then I find myself sitting in 95 degree heat eating a dry sandwich and drinking dilute Powerade, I start asking myself why thirty cents of my registration fee could not have bought a can of Mountain Dew and some ice.

Another complaint: White T-shirts. Why do 80+% of events use white? I have a closet full of these things.

Yes, I think it's true, you think everything is a scam. Really. Everything.

And, Yes, I can see you clearly being on a charity ride bitching about the food. Really, I can see that.

You sound like Micky Rooney with insults instead of humor.

 

[quadsRme]

Jack you need to lighten up a bit there. Have you been on vacation recently? Sounds like time to take a long one.....

 

[BroDeal]

You sound like Micky Rooney with insults instead of humor.

You sound like Meg Griffin but with less popularity.

 

[quadsRme]

You sound like Meg Griffin but with less popularity.

LOL touche'

 

[msjett]

I understand what you are saying about wondering why they can't give you a decent sandwich and drink when you have paid registration and also made a donation. It may be that the food and drink isn't a priority in organising the event and because no one has pointed this out directly(being a charity people tend to not want to offend) that they have not reassessed what they are giving you to eat and drink.

As for the t-shirts, most likely white ones are cheapest to print on?

 

[craig1985]

Not just charity rides, does anybody else do cyclosportive's?

 

[El Imbatido]

You sound like Meg Griffin but with less popularity.

Thats not the worst thing someone can be called, you have to remember that Mila Kunis is the voice of Meg Griffin and she is smokin

 

[Archibald]

you're doing an event for a charity and you're whinging that your donation isn't paying for better food??
reckon you're missing the point of the actual event.
here's an idea for you, how about the charity puts on an event where all the money raised/donated goes to making a sh*thot event and none of the money gets to those who need it most...

you don't have to buy the t-shirt either...

I've done several charity events/rides/marathons and have no problem ignoring the food stops and just riding. i'm there to enjoy the ride and the day while giving something to those who need it, not give a toss about what "freebies" i think i should be entitled to...

 

[craig1985]

I usually make sure I bring more then enough food with me and make sure I eat a fair bit before I start the ride. As long as I can get water and maybe a bannana, then I'm happy.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Charity rides are a way to get off the weaning of racing. That being, when you quit racing it's because you don't have it anymore, and usually get your rear handed to you more than once on your way out, and it's a shiitty feeling if there ever was one. So we wait a few years, get fat without really noticing how, and get back into riding by preparing for one of these things. It's still a crappy feeling when some older Fred in full USPS kit with matching Madone who obviously never raced in his life drops you, but you know in your heart you can go much deeper into oxygen debt than he ever did, and so it doesn't matter. Screw him.

Used to ride the Tour de Cure here, it was 10,000' of climbing total, after going up 6,000' on Mt. Hood. They ditched that course as being too tough, and moved it out to farm land. Rode a few more charities, but that was my favorite.

Keep saying I'm going to ride the Markleeville Death Ride (plus the extra punishment up super steep Pacific Grade) or the Mt. Shasta Challenge. But that takes serious dedication and weeks of training through the hills, and each year I get slower and creakier, and remember the day when I rode those roads in a 39x23 without too much difficulty, and it's a tough pill to swallow.

Club rides are often less grand or organized or fun than the charity rides. But they are cheaper and you get more comraderie and chatting. Plus it's less dangerous to wheelsuck (and believe me, I'm a real pro at this).

 

[craig1985]

I use them as training for racing myself.

 

[Mainerider]

I've done lots of one day events and just completed my first multiple day event, the Trek Across Maine.....3 days and 180 hilly miles. It seemed like a really well organized event, with an opportunity for some decent amentities based on fundraising levels, but maybe I just have low expectations. I never know what to expect for food at these things, so I always just bring my own. If it's all about the food and gifts instead of the fundraising, you may want to consider saving yourself some dough and just going on a group ride somewhere.

 

[shawnrohrbach]

Haven't done one in a decade or more. The last one was in Seattle for some Aids fundraiser and we discovered the company putting it together was taking a 85/15 split for "overhead" and the Executive Director was hauling in a 95K salary for organizing ONE RIDE.

 

[BroDeal]

you're doing an event for a charity and you're whinging that your donation isn't paying for better food??
reckon you're missing the point of the actual event.
here's an idea for you, how about the charity puts on an event where all the money raised/donated goes to making a sh*thot event and none of the money gets to those who need it most...

They are not pure charity. If they were then the organizers would simply ask for X number of dollars, you would send it to them, and that would be it. They are asking people to raise money and in exchange providing a fun ride. It is not too much to ask that they provide a decent service for their end of the bargain.

This goes beyond charity rides to regular centuries, more of which I am finding have allied themselves with some sort of disease or social problem and jacked their fees because of that. Which brings up one of my original points: Is it a good thing that the charity "industry" has discovered cycling is an easy way to make money?

 

[vtrich]

I did the Pan-Mass challenge several times,...6 years ago being the most recent. That is a really efficient charity,...something like 95% of the money raised goes directly to the Dana Farber Cancer Center. So that's all well and good, but the food is truly impressive, both at the various refreshment stops and at the sleep over at the Mass. Maritime Academy. Man,.. the choices are endless,...you burn 3 or 4 thousand calories,..and throughout the afternoon you "replenish" by eating 5 thousand. Ugh!

 

[Escarabajo]

Which brings up one of my original points: Is it a good thing that the charity "industry" has discovered cycling is an easy way to make money?

That's correct. And I am sure some other Charity Foundations would love to have a piece of the pie of what the MS150 makes in their rides. Here in Texas in just 1 ride they make more than 10 million dollars. "How do you like them apples?"

 

[Anonymous]

You sound like Meg Griffin but with less popularity.

Odd that you'd say that as it's you that's doing the whining about sandwiches at a freekin' charity ride.