Tour of the White Mountains

Mikie said:
I cancelled my ride in Arizona, it was 50 miles of scenic Singletrack, called the Tour of the White on Saturday. It snowed there last Sunday, rained there Monday and yesterday, 30% chance of rain tomorrow and 70% chance of rain on Saturday which is ride day. I wasn't all that excited about slogging 50 miles of rain and mud, but life’s an adventure! I had a cabin rented for 2 days and the truck was loaded and Cathy and I were leaving to go do this regardless.

But when Epic Adventures start sharing on their Facebook page that they have a plan B and a Plan C and looking heavily at plan C which would be laps on a gravel grind, AND will make that decision at the riders meeting tomorrow at 8:00pm? I guess I’m just not willing to drive 10 1/2 hours and fork out for a cabin to find out the product I purchased was going to be short changed.

Am I bitching right now? Yeah kinda. For one I really wanted to do this ride, overcame some serious physical damage to myself to bone up for a 50 miler.

I guess where my rub is there is a balance difference and a 10 dollar upcharge if you want to step up to a bigger ride after registering, no price reduction if you choose to do a lesser ride. But what really gets me is that they can significantly lessen the product and not offer a percentage refund. I didn’t pay to do some lame gravel grind laps ride, I paid for 50 miles of alpine Singletrack.

Probably will not sign up for a ride of this kind again. Seems the event promoter is not financially at risk, the patrons are. They just received over 200 bucks of free money... :(

Guess I’ll be looking for a ride for Saturday.
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:cry:
 
Bummer! But I agree with you Mikie on pulling the plug and your frustration. Time is precious and driving that far for a gravel grind ride just doesn't cut it for some of us. Fortunately there are some 50+ rides coming up for those who are into that stuff so that will cover you for miles ... and the company should be quite entertaining.
 
Mikie said:
But what really gets me is that they can significantly lessen the product and not offer a percentage refund. I didn’t pay to do some lame gravel grind laps ride, I paid for 50 miles of alpine Singletrack.

Probably will not sign up for a ride of this kind again. Seems the event promoter is not financially at risk, the patrons are. They just received over 200 bucks of free money... :(
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Sorry to hear, Mikie. I wouldn't drive out there to ride 50mi of gravel either. Some of the roads out there can become a sticky mess too. Much as it sucks I am glad to hear they didn't run the race on singletrack. An organizer in SD did exactly that right after a rain a few years back and made a complete mess of that trail network.

As for race organizer receiving free money, sure you could look at it that way. But also look at it from the organizer's point of view. He was never going to make much money from this event to begin with. And he's had to front a lot of the costs for organizing, setting up, and any merch ordered. He won't get those costs back either. If he had to refund everyone who didn't want to show because of bad weather or because they don't like the revised course he'd have EVERYONE backing out, and he'd lose a massive amount of money. No one would be willing to take on that kind of risk. Events like this would simply not happen. Dealing with the weather is an unfortunate part of signing up for these events. Sometimes they are perfect, sometimes they are not. Personally I don't like to pay to ride and don't like big events like this where people expect support and many need hand holding. Free also makes it easier to stomach bailing on a ride when conditions are bad.

mtnbikej said:
:whistling:

https://wwfifty.weebly.com/

:whistling:
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And this: https://rockyroad5050.wordpress.com/

They don't offer refunds either, but I don't think you'll mind when you see the price
 
evdog said:
Sorry to hear, Mikie. I wouldn't drive out there to ride 50mi of gravel either. Some of the roads out there can become a sticky mess too. Much as it sucks I am glad to hear they didn't run the race on singletrack. An organizer in SD did exactly that right after a rain a few years back and made a complete mess of that trail network.

As for race organizer receiving free money, sure you could look at it that way. But also look at it from the organizer's point of view. He was never going to make much money from this event to begin with. And he's had to front a lot of the costs for organizing, setting up, and any merch ordered. He won't get those costs back either. If he had to refund everyone who didn't want to show because of bad weather or because they don't like the revised course he'd have EVERYONE backing out, and he'd lose a massive amount of money. No one would be willing to take on that kind of risk. Events like this would simply not happen. Dealing with the weather is an unfortunate part of signing up for these events. Sometimes they are perfect, sometimes they are not. Personally I don't like to pay to ride and don't like big events like this where people expect support and many need hand holding. Free also makes it easier to stomach bailing on a ride when conditions are bad.
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I don’t feel sorry for them, they chose the business. I don’t think ride organizers do this for the fun of it. They have to make money or they would not do it. Show me another business that can take your money and then deliver less than promised and see how long they stay in business. I still would not drive 10 hours for a dirt road ride, but if they offered a voucher for so much off another event I would at least feel some customer satisfaction. As it is, I paid full price for 50 miles of organized supported Singletrack and I get instead circles on a dirt road as a consolation? How can anyone feel good about that as a consumer?

Epic Adventures will neither get more of my money nor my support in the future.
Lesson learned.
 
LLPoolJ said:
Hope you did not give up to early on this ride @Mikie. I am gonna take the risk and hope the weather reports are misguided as usual. Enduro Sunday in Prescott here I come. If it rains still gonna have a great time doing something.
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I did give up, still 30% chance today and 70% race day. That’s a 70% chance of them saying we are switching from the Tour of the White Mountains to Tour of some Brown Dirt Road. Was not willing to drive 20+ hours for those odds.
I’m inconsolable right now, just pissed off. Took a day off from work today for travel, was really looking forward to this ride. I’m usually a pretty up person but just feel I got dealt a Sh!t sandwich for 230 bucks. Wahhhhhhh! :cry::(
 
Mikie said:
I did give up, still 30% chance today and 70% race day. That’s a 70% chance of them saying we are switching from the Tour of the White Mountains to Tour of some Brown Dirt Road. Was not willing to drive 20+ hours for those odds.
I’m inconsolable right now, just pissed off. Took a day off from work today for travel, was really looking forward to this ride. I’m usually a pretty up person but just feel I got dealt a Sh!t sandwich for 230 bucks. Wahhhhhhh! :cry::(
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It's just money my friend, you will make more tomorrow. Cheer up buttercup!
 
Faust29 said:
It's currently 11 degrees with 30 mph gusts there... Although it reminds me of home, I think I'll pass. :p
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Or the White Mountains in NH.. add a 2 in front of that 30mph and now you’re talking Mt. Washington numbers.

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