Ride for the Roses / Livestrong ride series

[Bruce K]

I just noticed on the Lance Armstrong Foundation website that they have changed the whole structure and feel of the Ride for the Roses.

The LAF now has a series of 5 regional Livestrong rides (3 west coast - 1 east coast - 1 in Austin) followed by The Ride for the Roses.

Now the RFR is an invitation only event for people who rasie $15K or more. It also follows the Austin event by 2 weeks (if my math is any good).

I guess a lot will depend on how much effort and support the regional rides get, but since the RFR was about the survivors, where does that leave them?

It's just sort of sad that the big event has gone kind of "elitist". I will probably try to do something for one of the regional events depending on other commitments. Austin is definitely out as the Regional Ride in Austin conflicts with the USGP of Cyclocross / Michelob Ultra GP of Cyclocross in Gloucester.

BK

[Len J]

[I go back and forth on this.

On the one hand the "energy" that was the RFTR is gone and that's a shame, but then I remember two things:

1.) It is primarily about fundraising.......they are trying to raise more money by giving many more people around the country, who couldn't go to Austin) a chance to ride with Lance, thus raising more money, and trying to "entice" more $15 K + fundraisers by having a weekend just for them. If they are right, and I suspect they are, they will end up raising more money.

2.) They are proably aware that the "Lance" factor will wane year by year.....they want to "make hay while the sun is up" so to speak......I can't blame them for this at all.

A friend and I had targeted this yeaar to do RFTR about 2 years ago (couldn't do last year) so we were disappointed (We were going to RV from home with the wives, see a little of the country etc etc), but I think they might be doing the right thing for the foundation.

Len

[MartyE]

I'm sorry that I missed last years R4R as I'm pretty sure
I won't be raising $15K.
I'm just glad I've done the ride in the past.
For charity rides I'll do some of the small local cancer fundraisers
(like velobash in Dallas area) and avoid the LAF machine.
While I appreciate that the R4R has gotten huge and needs
to be managed it's a shame that the ride has become so exclusive.
I wonder how much of this is due to Lances new rockstar type status.
I liked it much better when he was just some guy who won the Tour de France two or three times.

Marty

[PanTerra]

It was nice for me to ride it in its infancy, even got to ride with Lance for a few yards, ;-) I had an email exchange with the PR guy about the 3rd or 4th year they had it when the entrance fee doubled to $100. He said that a couple of factors had driven the rate increase. As it stood at the time, they already had more riders than they wanted since it had exceeded 6,000 the previous year, just a lot more than they wanted to handle, and primarily they wanted this to become the biggest charity fundraiser ride in the country.

[Bruce K]

They have a long way to go to achieve that last goal (see PMC thread/s).

It is understandable that they want to reduce the number of riders for the event, but just 2 weeks prior they are having the regional Livestrong ride.

All this really appears to be is re-naming the private ride and dinner they did for the big fundraisers and taking the name away from the more public and survivor oriented event. That is the sad part.

They could have had a special "major fundraisers" event and left the RFR name on the Austin event. I think that would have been more palatable for those of us who have supported the event in the past.

BK

[MartyE]

Entry into the austin livestrong ride requires a
$500 pledge.
The Ride for the Roses and the Livestrong ride
are not about suvivorship anymore they are
about fundraising.

very sad as I've been a supporter (both financially
and as a rider(?)) since 2001 when I returned from
South Africa

Marty

[SoCalSteve]

(used to) being the key here...

It is ALL ABOUT MONEY!

Like anything else, it is a business.

For me, it was a labor of love. Mixing 'giving back' with being a cycling coach....But, the bottom line got in the way for me.

Especially being a member of a labor union for 25 years. Just kind of stuck in my throat. I thought it was a "doing good" thing....But, in the end, it was just to make the "suits in the office" look good so they could get their bonuses and move up the corporate ladder at the expensive of people who were volunteering their time and me, getting paid a miniscule amount with TONS of responsibilty.

So, I moved on. Sad, but true.

Steve

[Bruce K]

Marty;

Take a look at the fundraising requirements for the Pan-Mass Challenge.

For the 2 day "traditional" route from Sturbridge, MA to Provincetown, the fundraising minimum is $3,300.00. This amount is GUARANTEED by your agreement and credit card number when you register. If you do not raise the minimum by early October, they charge your credit card for the amount you are short.

It's not about the amount of fundraising, these programs need large amounts of money to do what they do and hopefully achieve their goals.

It's about taking the name away from what was their signature event and assigning it to a elite event that does not serve their original supporters.

I know it's mostly semantics, but as a supporter of the event, I'd rather be going to the Ride for the Roses, than the Autin, TX Livestrong Ride (which I cannot attend anyway) while others get to do the RFR.

I think it is a poor marketing / fundraising strategy on the part of the LAF.

BK

[Bradford]

Bruce,

I suspect that this Ride for the Roses business is directly related to the PMC and Billy Star. Billy never stops bragging about how great the PMC is, how it is the biggest fundraiser, yadda, yadda, yadda. My guess is the the folks at the Ride for the Roses are just trying to move up to first place in some meaningless catagory, and they are probably trying to overtake the PMC.

A move like this could very well be about status.

[Bruce K]

Bradford, that could be. They did have representatives at last years ride observing all that the PMC does.

It would be most unfortunate if there were developing a competition between these 2 great events.

If that is the case, they will have a long way to go to match the single event total ($23M) and efficiency of the PMC (97% of rider revenues passed on to the Jimmy Fund/Dana Farber Cancer Institue).

BK