Re: ride fees

[BMcCrary27@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-07-07 14:29:37 EDT, you write:

<< I had to pull out of a ride recently, I called the day before the ride.
 When I got my refund it was $65 The original fee was $95 because I sent
 it in after the deadline. On the check the deductions were for vet, drug
 fee and banquet. I don't know what is customary but that seemed like a
 bit much to me. I almost feel that if that is the way all or most ride
 mgrs do it I would perfer to pay the extra fee for being late and sign
 up when I get to a ride since you never know what might happen.  >>

Julie, I'll explain how we handle our rides and refunds. Our fee for a 50 mile
ride is $65 plus $3 for the Calif. state drug testing fee. If the ride is
outside of CA (Applegate-Lassen), we don't pay CA state fee, but we do pay the
$1 AERC fee. We don't charge extra for that.  If the rider withdraws from the
ride before the event, we refund all but the cost of meals, as we must commit
to those about 10 days before the event and must pay the caterer for what we
order, not just what is eaten. If the rider cancels before the meal order is
submitted, we refund the entire fee. We don't withhold money for the vet and
drug fee, as we have to have the vets anyway and we don't pay the state or
AERC a drug fee for riders who don't attend the ride.  If the ride you
mentioned was a 50 mile ride, $95 is a generous (!) fee to charge.  One thing
we don't allow are drop-in entries, therefore there is no add-on fee for late
entry. It's really too complicated to try to pull things together at the last
minute with an unknown number of drop-in riders.  I do ALL the paperwork, help
build or restore trails, do quite a bit of the flagging, order the awards,
etc., etc. Too much to think of to deal with last-minute riders.  Riders who
come to our rides know this is the way we operate and plan accordingly.  It's
much easier to cancel a rider from the list than add one on at the last
minute.  We would never know whether we need extra utilities, vets, food,
rider cards, etc.  I don't like surprises when it comes to ride management.
But riders know we give complete and prompt refunds for cancellations in
advance, and all but vlaue of the meal(s) if the cancellation is last-minute.

Barbara McCrary
Ride mgr., Castle Rock 50, Applegate-Lassen 5-day, Swanton Pacific 100