TDU Challenge 2011
Looks like some early info is out about the TDU Challenge Ride for 2011...
http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/getinvolved/mutualcommunitychalleng...
Short at 135 km for the long course but there is a sting in the tail...Checker Hill. I think it is an 18% climb. Never done it myself but have heard that is tough.
Looks like there are some other climbs along the way. Finish is at Strath.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Smudge on -
This was a great ride this year, and will be even better next year! Just quietly, and you didn't hear it from me, Ride Like Crazy will be on 16th January, and will I think start & finish again in Victoria Square!
Derek is 100% spot on, brilliant event last year, well organised by Star Group Officers and SAPOL. Can't for the life of me work out why, but we had no trouble with motorists for this ride, and no freeloaders. Go figure!
Drink & food stations were every 20kms, staffed to the hilt by the best volunteers ever, and so much food! Each time we were getting pulled over into a drink station, bidons were being filled, pockets were being stuffed with food, and smiles were being had by all.
Back in Victoria Square families were being entertained, and the bbq and Subway that was thrown in was amazing. Oh, and drinks too at Victoria Square!
This year option was two rides, 110km from thej Square, or 50km from Woodside. Needed to get to Woodside? Cool, bus from the Square TEN dollars! $10? I can't drive there in my car for that much!
Drop in to www.ridelikecrazy.com, and register for the mailing list!
-
Permalink Reply by Don Plush on -
Agree, 100%.
A great ride. If I get the chance I will be doing it again in 2011. -
-
Permalink Reply by Peter Hill on -
I'll tell my mates Buster Wheel, Roger Seatpost and Diana Heatwave to steer clear of TDU discussions!
The TDU has to be challenging (hence the name). The heat and the crowds (and the starvation) is all part of it.
I enjoyed the event. It was a personal milestone and the cost doesn't bother me.
-
Permalink Reply by Laurens Bloem on -
Yeah, but I'm Dutch ;-)
-
Permalink Reply by Laurens Bloem on
-
Great, then we both get it free!
-
-
Permalink Reply by Smudge on
-
I'm with you Peter. I enjoy the challenge side of things, and don't mind shelling out the bucks to be a part of it, rather than free laoding on it to get the feeling of riding with lots of people.
Others on here will tell you little chance of me starving on a ride though, I go out prepared for a big day on the bike, & carry enough food and drink for two normally!
Yes, I can ride these same roads for free any day I choose to, hell, we plan on doing the ride before January, but on the day when so many are paying for the pleasure, I personally think it is just rude to jump on and bandit ride.
I'll see you there Peter!
-
Permalink Reply by Laurens Bloem on
-
Same here. I think it's nice that events like these are held so I think it's only fair to pay.
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Warner on -
Rude to whom, exactly?
Paying riders? You'd be contributing to their experience of riding with lots of others, which is presumably what they want, and not competing with them for any of the support they've paid for. Chances are you'd even tow some of them along for a while.
The organizers? That'd be a fair point, except that they seem to be charging whatever they think the market will bear, rather than a fee realistically reflecting the expense on each rider, and AFAIK none of it goes toward any good causes.
Anyway, I'll shut up about this now :-)
-
Permalink Reply by Roger ... on -
When you get to the day waiting to begin it's pretty moving. You see all the 1000's of people and it's immediatly pretty apparent the cost of the ride is nothing compared to the fun. There will probably get 8 to 9000 riders along for the day January and although it might seem someones scraping off lots of filthy lucre, really we are just ordinary people being motivated to have some fun, get up off the couch and give some money to charity.
-
-
Permalink Reply by Don Plush on
-
Does any money go to charity? I can't find it stated anywhere that money goes to a charity. My bet is the $1m+ collected for this event goes straight into Tourism SA coffers to offest the overall cost of the TDU. If this is true, then I think it is wrong.
I think that $130 is over priced for the event, given the cost of other rides and what you get (or don't!). BUT it is all about supply and demand and setting a price that the customer is willing to pay.
I will pay my $130 and go along for the ride because I want to be part of a big event and ride the stage - something I have not done before. I know I can do it for free (on the day or any other day) but morally I believe I should pay. I guess that is the way I was brought up - not saying that is right or wrong, just MY values.
In 2010 I signed up for the event, paid my money, did the long miles in the saddle training for the big day, fought my way thru the crowds in Vic Sq to get my oversized jersey and then didn't get to ride :( My daughter decied that the Monday before the ride would be the day that she was going to come into the world, 2 weeks early :) So hopefully in 2011 I will atleast get to the start line.
(my profile photo is of my daughter wearing my TDU jersey on the day of the ride - it was a bit big for her as well!) -
-
Permalink Reply by Smudge on
-
This will only be my 5th or 6th MCCT, bit of a late starter into this whole fitness type thing, days were previously spent slothing and working on an everincreasing waist line.
I really can't remember the prices rising that much over those years, I think it has always pretty close to being the same, but would welcome being corrected on this.
I know as a rider I sometimes don't "seem" to get my monies worth, especially when last years jersey I used as a sail on the return ride. But then I look at all of the infrastructure that goes into place to make an event happen, and I think of all of the free entertainment I get for at least two weeks, if not more, during the Tour Down Under, and the opportunity to ride with thousands of other cyclists on that one day, and I think hell, that's pretty good value for a fortnights entertainment!
Like others in this thread, I was also brought up with a pretty good set of morals, and if I am going to join in on any event, I'm going to pay for the pleasure of doing so!
In my opinion, and only mine, I find it personally offensive that any Adelaide ccylist would think that they have the right to bandit ride an event that others are paying for. Then to think that they think they are doing so at the benefit of others is laughable.
If you don't want to pay, don't, I'm all for freedom of choice, but don't ride alongide of us and call me brother, you might not like the response. I might end up looking for the monkeys so they can sling some poo at you.
On some positive notes though, being the curious type that I am, I have made some different contacts, and discovered that they are currently letting the tender for the supply of jerseys for 2011. They also learnt from their mistake with the water situation this year, and there will be more water stops along the way.
I will be signing on as part of team CancerVoicesSA for 2011, and bringing my small team of Stercus Accidit into CancerVoicesSA too. Love to have a heap of you superstars signing on as part of CancerVoicesSA too. 2008 they had 123 members, would like to think that now with the Adelaide Cyclists site, we could increase that number, and enter the biggest single team in the history of the MCCT!
*Folds up soapbox, puts highhorse away, removers preachers robes*
-
Permalink Reply by Dahondude on -
Hey Mark
I'm with Michael Warner on this one. The 2010 TDU ride was not worth paying ANY money for. The jersey debarcle, the course, the poor organisation, lack of food and water, the disorganisation at the finish. The weather this year just highlighted the holes in the organisation and left me and ll my mates visiting from interstate entirely jaded by the experience. If you pay $130 you don't expect to have to have to be stopping at shops to buy the last bottle of softdrink in their fridge.
By comparison we rode out to see the stage that finished at Stirling and sat on the road to see the pros go past three times, watched the sprint in Hahndorf and rode down to Willunga Hill to get the buzz there. All self supported and we had a ball.
I for one will be "banditing" the Challenge Ride ride next year but in no way feel I am being disingenuous to anyone. I wont rely on any of the water stops, or food, or mechanical backup and we will probably pull in at Hahndorf or Meadows, have a beer and watch the pros come past and then ride home, saving all the hassle of getting back to Adelaide from Strathalbyn. I just don't see the point in paying any money at all to get a jersey I dont need (or probably wont fit AGAIN), arrive at the start 90 minutes early to stand in ques for the bag drop, and the 4 toilets on offer, fight for the crappy blue gatorade and two bananas, and then get treated like a nuisance at the finish. -
© 2013 Created by Gus K.
