Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 10am until 5.30pm
Saturday 10.30am until 5pm
Telephone Number: 0191 482 6131

Cycle Rides and events

Do you think that Sportive rides are a rip off to ride on roads you can ride on for free?

This is a list of rides that are in the north of England.

Audax rides are cheap to enter from £2.00 to £6.00

The Darlington rides organised by Darlington Council cost about £5.00 to enter

Both this type of ride is worth paying for the entry to cover the cost of administration. You ride on roads that are open to all traffic and mostly have to find your own way round by a route sheet sometimes there is a sign or to no marshals.

The sportive rides can cost between £ 25.00 and £60.00 and are purely a money making event for business. They are generally on roads that are open to all traffic and  you may get a feed station and a Volunteer unpaid marshal here and there. These rides usually have yellow arrows at junctions to tell you which way to go. As the roads are open to all traffic there is nothing to stop you riding the route without entering the event. Sometimes this type of event is billed as a charity ride but no part of the entry goes to the charity, you are expected to get sponsors to support the charity.

A lot of people are unaware of this and think that the entry  fee or at least a large part of it goes to the charity.

For example the The Marie Curie Cancer Care Etape Pennines,

GENERAL ENTRY

General Entry gains you a place in the Etape Pennines 2014, regarded as one of the most challenging and rewarding events in the cycling calendar.

Cost: £63

ENTER ETAPE PENNINES

Please note, your entry fee pays for your event entry only, none of this goes to Marie Curie Cancer Care. We will guarantee your place in the event at the time of entry subject to receiving cleared payment for the entry and places still being available.

And The Great North Bike Ride

This is a sponsored Charity Bike Ride for The Chris Lucas Trust. Your entry fee only covers the cost of running the event. £25.00.

Now to me if people can put on an event for under £10.00 how can they justify £25.00 and more and then expect your to raise money for charity as well.

The Rides in BOLD are under a tenner to enter.

 

The other rides on the list are £20.00 or more to enter, but apart from the Marie Curie Cancer Care Etape Pennines which is supposed to be on closed roads, there is nothing to stop any other vehicle including Cycles to use the same roads at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18 May 2014 Tees Valley Riders Sportive 2014
01 June 2014   Darlington The Round 50 
01 June 2014    Audax Beverley 100 
15 June 2014 Derwent Dash Challenge
29 June 2014 Audax Mother Shipton 100k 
13 July 2014 Audax The Two M’s Ride
13 July 2014 Darlington The 70 
20 July 2014 Wiggle Northern Angel
20 July 2014 £63.00 Marie Curie Cancer Care Etape Pennines
27 July 2014 Hartlepool Cycle Sportive
03 August 2014 Darlington The Castles Ride 
17 August 2014 Audax The Crystal Run 
24 August 2014  £25.00 Great North Bike Ride
31 August 2014 Durham Big Bike Ride
07 September 2014    Darlington Hell of the North 
07 September 2014 Blue Giraffe Bicycles Tour de North York Moors
14 September 2014 The Beast Sportive

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