GVBR - Rumours

On Tue, 07 Dec 2004 at 22:19 GMT, Dallas G (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

please chase up your disappointments on the ride and keep us informed of any
reply

What dissapointment?

Am I allowed to not have any?

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
E = MC ** 2 +- 3db

TimC said:

On Tue, 07 Dec 2004 at 22:19 GMT, Dallas G (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

please chase up your disappointments on the ride and keep us informed of any
reply

What dissapointment?

Am I allowed to not have any?

As far as I'm concerned, sure. The fact that _I_ suffered disappointment
with regards BV's organisation (or lack thereof, at least insasmuch as it
was perceived by me) does not mean that anybody _else_ is obliged to.

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My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@ to usenet".

I got in on this late...

I guess BV thinks that showing how many people actually ride bikes will lead to increased funding for cycle ways and more facilities for cyclists in the future.. ?? I have not been on the ride, almost went this year.

Isn't there also some responsiblity on cyclists here, I mean how many actually went into the event totally under prepared ??

but I guess they are caught between a rock and hard place, people participating in cycling and running a well organised event ??

Aren't half the people in the event school kids you are part of organised school outings ??? sounds like schools getting a cheap way for an organised event to me.

Hike up the Cost!!! then they can afford to offer volunteers some money or organise better facilities and also keep the numbers appropriate.

e.g Tasmanian Bike Ride next year.. im planning on doing that one.

[quote="MikeyOz"]I got in on this late...


Hike up the Cost!!! then they can afford to offer volunteers some money or organise better facilities and also keep the numbers appropriate.

this year I've been on a 'boutique event' (Alltrails Kosi to StKilda) and the GVBR. Both offer different experiences (at different costs - Alltrails= x3GVBR). Whilst many of the criticisms of the GVBR are valid, criticising it for not being 'as a boutique event' is not valid.

MikeyOz said:

I got in on this late...

I guess BV thinks that showing how many people actually ride bikes will
lead to increased funding for cycle ways and more facilities for
cyclists in the future.. ??

In a nut shell, that is both sides of the ongoing discussion.
One side favours mass rides and the other small, regular bicycling.

Quoted message said:

Hike up the Cost!!! then they can afford to offer volunteers some money
or organise better facilities and also keep the numbers appropriate.

Multiple self-contradictions here.

Far better to just restrict the numbers to a manageable amount, than
increasing the cost. People expect more for higher cost and the
expectation rises steeply.

Volunteers should be rewarded, but once you start "paying them", it
radically changes the situation. In reality, you could only pay Nike
sweat shop wages anyway. And many people like being a volunteers because
you can just walk away at any time {:-).

"ProfTournesol" <[email hidden]>
wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

MikeyOz said:

I got in on this late...

Hike up the Cost!!! then they can afford to offer volunteers some
money or organise better facilities and also keep the numbers
appropriate.

this year I've been on a 'boutique event' (Alltrails Kosi to StKilda)
and the GVBR. Both offer different experiences (at different costs -
Alltrails= x3GVBR). Whilst many of the criticisms of the GVBR are
valid, criticising it for not being 'as a boutique event' is not
valid.

Prof, you're making of habit of posting your new text as if it were quoted
material from the prior post. In your post your material is indented to the
same level as MikeyOz's. That makes it next to impossible to distinguish
new text from old. You should not be using the quote character for your own
material (">"😉.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

Dallas G said:

hi all

well ive had many emails re the Harry Barber interview audio on 774 am radio
last week

i hope everyone emails BVwith their griefs AND posts a copy here too

please chase up your disappointments on the ride and keep us informed of any
reply

D

I too hope everyone emails or snail mails BV with their comments. My
famiy and I had a bad and pulled out at Camperdown. However many people
had a great time. Both should let BV know how they feel. I intend to
try and keep it positive. Many of the irratting things were easily
fixed. That makes it more annoying I guess. Also I think that they hyped
the event too much and therefore made it harder to meet expectations.
Aonther comments was to make it dearer. That would raise expextations
higher. It is not cheap now. $540 for 9 days is $70 a day. Compare
what you got on the ride for what you could get else where for that
money. As an example my family caravaned around the western half of
Australia for $100 dollars a day for the four of us, not $280 dollars a
day and we did have not poor campsites, smelly toilets ( well not
erverday any way). If you throw in the cost of the caravan it was still
only $200 a day.
However I have spoken to people who had a great time on the ride.
Others like me had bad time and there are plenty in between no doubt.
But please don't just complain here tell BV directly. That way it may
improve on future rides. If you had a good time tell them that too.

"MikeyOz" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I got in on this late...

I guess BV thinks that showing how many people actually ride bikes will
lead to increased funding for cycle ways and more facilities for
cyclists in the future.. ??

Yes this is part of their goal - getting "more people cycling more often"

Quoted message said:

Aren't half the people in the event school kids you are part of
organised school outings ??? sounds like schools getting a cheap way
for an organised event to me.

No!! You don't seem to understand the aims behind school group
participation. BV gets mass number through these school groups to make this
the biggest ride in Australia, and at the same time lots of youth are
exposed to the achievement and possibilities of cycling amazing (to the
average 15 yo) distances on a bike. = future cyling commuters.

Quoted message said:

Hike up the Cost!!! then they can afford to offer volunteers some money
or organise better facilities and also keep the numbers appropriate.

And then destroy the ride. As far as cost is concerned, for school groups it
is not so cheap really. About $580 once you add in transport to start and
insurance. Our Year 11 students went on a Ski trip to Mt Buller last year
for _less than that_. Admittedly it was only 5 days, but it included motel
style accommodation, breakfast and dinner in a proper dining room, bus
transport to and from the mountain, all ski lift tickets, ski hire and
instructors for 5 days.

To top it all off, they didn't have to pedal their own bus, put up a tent or
stand in meal queues in the rain. And staff were included in the price, free
at a rate of 1 per 10 students. GVBR is the only school camp where I am
expected to pay to go to work. Think about it, does your boss make you pay
to go to your business conferences?

So on that basis I wouldn't describe the GVBR as cheap for school groups.
Bumping the price up an extra $100 would see numbers drop significantly. And
before you greedy yuppies say good thing, think about whether you like the
idea of more young people taking up cycling. Or maybe you'd rather have them
all in cars, clogging the roads and dooring cyclists?

Cheers
Peter

Peter Signorini said:

So on that basis I wouldn't describe the GVBR as cheap for school groups.

I wonder why schools don't just organise their own end of year bike
tours. It's much cheaper to organise it yourself than pay someone else
to do it. The students could use the process of organising a tour as
part of their studies in geography, physical education, etc

Peter

--
Peter McCallum
Mackay Qld AUSTRALIA

quote='Peter McCallum'Peter Signorini said:

So on that basis I wouldn't describe the GVBR as cheap for school groups.

I wonder why schools don't just organise their own end of year bike
tours. It's much cheaper to organise it yourself than pay someone else
to do it. The students could use the process of organising a tour as
part of their studies in geography, physical education, etc

Peter

--
Peter McCallum
Mackay Qld AUSTRALIA[/QUOTE]

It's just groupthink. You trust BV to pick a good route and turn up with hugs and cuddles at the end of each day. I agree that the first few days were hard on the uninitiated, but not really that taxing if you had done your training, and had all day to do it.

Schools would be in an enviable position to do it on their own, if they had the right amount of will and on-board knowledge. But also, several thousand cyclists are like a school of fish, only the unlucky ones on the outside get nibbled on. Fewer problems with on-road hoons. More backup (theoretically). So, pros and cons.

Me, setup/packup. On Road Support. Ride (sometimes). I stayed up all hours fixing the darn things when they broke down, mainly though inadequate prep., and then did the whole thing again, 8 times in a row. Still getting over the sleep deprivation.

M"poor preparation leads to [censored]-poor performance" H

mfhor said:

It's just groupthink. You trust BV to pick a good route and turn up with hugs and cuddles at the end of each day. I agree that the first few days were hard on the uninitiated, but not really that taxing if you had done your training, and had all day to do it.

Schools would be in an enviable position to do it on their own, if they had the right amount of will and on-board knowledge. But also, several thousand cyclists are like a school of fish, only the unlucky ones on the outside get nibbled on. Fewer problems with on-road hoons. More backup (theoretically). So, pros and cons.

Me, setup/packup. On Road Support. Ride (sometimes). I stayed up all hours fixing the darn things when they broke down, mainly though inadequate prep., and then did the whole thing again, 8 times in a row. Still getting over the sleep deprivation.

M"poor preparation leads to [censored]-poor performance" H

how many bottom brackets did you replace?