Harpoon Brewery to Brewery 2011

[Mark Longwell]

Have I missed the registration for this years race? I have not seen anything on their site or received my customary "time to register" email?????

[Mark Longwell]

I meant 'ride" I know it is not a race:)

[scott_sweeney]

Not have I....

[rusto]

It's on 6/18, right?

[chadgould]

Yes, it's scheduled for 6/18. here is a note on the Harpoon website:
NOTE TO RIDERS:
STAY TUNED FOR AN EMAIL FROM US AND WEBSITE UPDATES WITH INFORMATION ON THIS YEAR'S B2B RIDE
I've not seen anything in my email yet either....

[Rcrane]

I contacted Harpoon last week and Jessica Cox (New England Promotions Manager) said there would be an email going out "very soon".

[scott_sweeney]

I just received the B2B Alumni Registration email. Frankly, it sounds like it's becoming the PMC and I'm a little turned off by the tone of the email...

In any event here are the highlights:

-Registration Fee is $304 this year ($200 reg, $4 'service fee', and now a $100 minimum donation)
-Alums have only 2 days to register rather than the week we had last year
-Alum status is no longer guaranteed after this year....apparently we have to "qualify" in the future by staying within your pre-selected ride group....if that's not the definition of sandbagging....

I'll do it because it's a great long mileage training day with friends....but this is becoming elitist IMO.

[teamkimball]

What a shame... This was such a great ride. It is too bad that is becoming like PMC. I will not be doing the ride anymore.

[rusto]

Pfooey, I was getting my split-second mouse-click all ready for registration day. Mb the MRC should find a sponsor (JHBH?) and put on our own long ride...

[Mark Longwell]

Yep- they are taking the popularity of it, jacking up the prices and making you pay $100 fee to cover a charity and elite athlete training for the Olympics.
Harpoon should take some of the $200 fee and donate to a charity (maybe $50) IMO. Think of the PR that they could get out of it. A marketers dream

Yes, it is becoming pricey and elitist and I agree that the tone of their email was just not nice.

Count me as one that will most likely not sign and fork over $304 to ride (basically double from 2009)

I will go ride 150 on my own for $10 of goodies at a few troadside stops......... who wants to join me.,...

[tsavage]

At risk of opening a can of worms... MRC had once considered a B2B ride to/from John Harvards in Framingham and JH at Jiminy Peak.

All the event needs is a champion.

Make the way you think it should be. Apparently an audience is not a problem.

[chadgould]

It's highly unlikely I'm gonna sign up at this point. I am completely bummed out about that fact too. Will need to find another 150 mile ride to do about the same time organized or not.

[scott_sweeney]

Well if the majority of the crew is going to bail, then I may too. I can always go kill myself at a road race (I think Purgatory was that weekend last year?)....

Who else has a strong feeling one way or the other? Post up.

[rusto]

If it's the same weekend as Purgatory, that's easy: Purgatory. You'd spend less time finally getting around to drinking some beer.

[Smudger]

Yeah got the mail yesterday and had the same response.

Glad I did it when it was cool.

I did Purgatory last year and it lived up to its name but at least it didn't rip your sole out like paying $304 for a group ride.

[steen]

Trying to get a BTB JHBH ride together in a few months might not be in cards. Many things to consider, flesh out and get lined up. If there is interest in setting this up I can start working someone (very closely) to try and get this off the ground, but probably not this summer...

However I might suggest another ride that is totally fun, hard and memorable: J-Pow's Grand Fundo. This year he is adding a Grand Hundo, or at least he hinted at that earlier in cx season. The course is through rural western MA with many a dirt road used. Great tune up for the D2R2.
A few of us did this last summer and I think we would all do it again in a heart beat. Great riders, awesome terrain and killer apre' BBQ with beer to boot.
If you're looking for something with the vibe of Harpoon's B2B of old this is the event.

[tsavage]

Sorry Steen, I didn't mean to throw you under the bus.

I think the original plan was to do a club century to test logistics and then expand if everyone was happy.

[carlshimer]

It would be great to organize a "premium" endurance ride / event. I have to be careful with overcommiting myself (given that we have a baby due in a couple of months), but I'd like to participate. IMO - there aren't enough of these kinds of rides in New England. The best we have are the fundo (mentioned above) and the D2R2. The CRW centuries are ok but are kind of blah (but maybe I am just jaded at this point). And then you have the large number of charity rides which feels like it has reached a saturation point.

When I lived in the midwest there were a number of longer events in the 200K to 300K range. The best was the Horrbily Hily Hundreds. The ride was well supported and offered chip timing for those with a more competitive bent. If you were in good shape, you could ride it like a race. If you weren't - it was just a long event with beautiful countryside.

Organizing a one way ride seems... challenging. Busing people and their gear back, coordinating with multiple towns and cops, etc.

[steen]

Well, I may have found that person who wants to work closely... Stay tuned.
And, don't worry Todd; you didn't throw me under the bus and the new guy can see the forest for the trees.

If you want to hear about a really fun adventure that could be good for family and riders - come to the Feb meeting. Although if you fear 131 miles of rural riding, hills, hate suffering and don't like cold beer and pulled pork then you're good, stay home... If not show up to the meeting and hear what's on the hot stove for 2011.

[carlshimer]

when's the feb meeting? I didn't see it in the club forum...

[steen]

Based on what I have been hearing from Art, it would be the 1st Mon in Feb. Usually at 7pm at JHBH Framingham.

[scott_sweeney]

After spending the last week with fam in Cancun and really considering it, I am out for the B2B as well. I had sent the "organizing committee" a tersely worded email to express my displeasure with the whole event (and received a "go pound sand" reply). I'm pretty curious to see what the turn-out is this year. I have a few groups of friends that have participated and all of them (including MRC) that have bailed on it!

Did everyone else get the "we're sort of sorry" email?

On a side note, I will absolutely plan to do Jeremy's ride this year. Sounds like too much fun was had to miss it!

[rusto]

On a side note, I will absolutely plan to do Jeremy's ride this year. Sounds like too much fun was had to miss it!

what is that?

[irusk]

I hope this turns out to be a PR nightmare for Harpoon (I'm already regretting picking up that six pack of IPA last night). Let me see... Take a brand (Harpoon) and event (B2B) with a loyal and enthusiastic following, insult them with the aforementioned e-mail, then try to extort more $$ from them, and finally disguise it as charity. Seriously?!

If they have issues with the field size, then limit it further. If they want to support a charity, they should support it with their profits, not by asking their customers to fork over additonal coin. I support charities of my choosing both personally and through my company. I can't imagine telling one of my clients that their fee will be $XXX, plus another $XXX so I can contribute the additional money to a charity of my choice. Sheesh.

I'm with Smudger. No more B2B for me. It's an "unsupported" group ride ending with a keg party. Fun, but not $300+ fun. If there's interest in riding a similar course, and having a picnic and brews at the finish and a nice ride back, we can do that ourselves.

[scott_sweeney]

Ian, well said sir! I am officially boycotting Harpoon product right now too. I like Wachusett IPA just fine....

Rusto, that's Jeremy Powers Fundo that was mentioned earlier.