[Closed] Riding bike event (on public trails) without signing up - is it naughty?

Will you be asking for a cup of water?

The event takes place on publicly available trails.

You have your answer. If the trails are public and not closed for the event (this can happen in, say, FC-controlled woodland), then they are fair game for everyone, assuming that...

Obviously I would not use any of the provided facilities.

I don't have a problem with this if you can't sign up on the day anyway. Personally, I like to support such events so tend to pay. If nothing else, I like the food stops! But obviously, if you can't for whatever reason, you are perfectly entitled to use the trails regardless.

Will you be asking for a cup of water?

Haha! It didn't take long!

You are falling foul of rule 1: Don't be a dick.

You are falling foul of rule 1: Don’t be a dick.

It could be argued that the organisers are by not allowing sign ups on the day. If he doesn't use the facilities, I think he's walking the fine line between doing what he can to be non dickish and getting out  to ride with his mates.

organisers might be limited for some reason by howver they got consent in the first place..

With events like these you are not paying for access. You are paying for the facilities and feed stations. However, you are also paying for the nature of the event. Some one has taken the time to plan a route, advertise it, put things in place to encourage a number of people to get together and do something at the same time.  So by riding on the day you are taking part and in my view should pay. You could take the route and go ride it the following weekend on your own with no other people. I do this a fair bit with sportive routes. I use them as a good basis for riding in areas I don't know - If visiting family it is rare that coincides with an event.

Your case is a little different. If yo ureally want to do it then go ahead, you want to pay at short notice but can't.  Give the entry fee to a charity. Mountain rescue, air ambulance or something of your chosing.

Is this off-road? If so, then for the duration of the event these are not public trails. The organiser will be responsible for the health and safety of all, and marshals under instruction to stop anybody without a number board.

Also, don't be a dickswab applies all the time.

Perhaps if they won't take our money on the day there'll be a charity (or even the local rescue team) that you can support in aid of your coincidentally very similar bike ride?

Equally there are plenty of routes planned by other people and given away for free, I'm off to do the Moors one hundred next month, the event was free and the maps are now free.

If I avoided the Chilterns every time there was a sportive or triathlon on I would never he able to ride my road bike!

Ride it, and don't be a dick about it, that includes taking as much water and food as you need. And if relavent and you feel guilty sticking a fiver in whatever charity box the event supports, if its a commercial event then stuff 'em, they're as much your local trails as it is their right to charge people an exorbitant amount for a map and a bit of flapjack halfway.

Which ride is it?

Take the gpx of your mates strava and ride it another time with your mates or alone.

Is this off-road? If so, then for the duration of the event these are not public trails. The organiser will be responsible for the health and safety of all, and marshals under instruction to stop anybody without a number board.

Not necessarily I’ve done plenty with no marshals on bridle paths just marked with tape. The paths were still open to all. I probably wouldn’t ride with mates in the circumstances the op described,if it were cheap and I was keen I’d enter it anyway. Depends on cost, nature of the course, who’s organised it etc

End of the day, they're public trails and no-one can tell you not to ride with your mates.  Whether you should depends entirely on how you feel, how you'd explain yourself if challenged and how you'd feel about giving that explanation.

infrequent opportunity to ride with mates, came up after entries had closed, you're whacking a bit in the sponsorship pot for the cause.  just riding with them for a bit (guessing you'll meet them down the trail a bit, away from the main start?

Organisers would have had permission to allow x,000 riders, so as not to swamp the trail and roads for other users, so bumping up the number is a little naughty from the "what if everyone did that?" point of view.

Depends what your mates think too.  I'd be tempted, and just be ultra-nice and helpful all day to everyone just to make sure you're an overall positive influence on the ride and participants.

BHF LtoB?

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Is this off-road? If so, then for the duration of the event these are not public trails.

Is this true? How does that work?  Are walkers booted off too?

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Don't think its being a dick at all if these are public trails. I assume the event is being organised for the profit of the organising body? (i.e. not a charity event?) so why should your "right to roam" be compromised to benefit their pocket.

Of course if its a charity event, then "don't be a dick" fully applies - so make a nice donation.

indeed... i'd yield to race on my local, but wouldnt not ride (i guess i'd avoid taped stuff too.. )

i've ridden my local during an event.. i didnt ride the route, but did do a trail that they used (just a climb i think with a station at the top)..and people at the stations were very friendly when i passed through even though i wasn't in the event..

i didn't have a cup of water/tea though..

Those publicly available trails belong to someone from FC to private land owners etc. ... and the event organiser will doubtless have agreed with.

I'd expect they have for many reasons (including insurance etc.) have made these not publicly available for the duration of the event...

I know a couple of lads who do it a lot.  They're just taking the p@$$ IMO and this isn't on.

I assume you're not in this sort of category and it's a one off.  if that's the case and you're not going to be using the feed stops then don't worry about it.

There's a whole lot of assumptions in this thread about land-owners rights etc and much depends on the type of event and the exact route taken. A good example (which was in my mind when I replied) would be the MTB sportives run by Evans Cycles around the country - these are typically run on public bridleways, (one of the reasons why they are specifically defined as not a race!) and those bridleways are most certainly not closed to other users for the duration of the event. You have as much right to be on them as anyone else, including the sportive riders and dog walkers as they are public rights of way.

I mentioned in my reply that other routes (e.g. FC land) may indeed close the trails for the duration of said event which, as the land owner, they are entitled to do and you would not be permitted to ride the route in such a situation.

Another good example would be the three peaks CX - much of this route is on public footpaths and specific permission to ride bikes (well, carry them at least!) is granted by the landowner for this specific race, on this specific day only for those competing in this event. You can't even practice the route (well, I guess you could always run it with your bike on your shoulder - good practice anyway!) as bikes are not normally permitted on large sections of the route.

So, it depends, but if it's on a public right of way and no official closure has been made for the event, then you are perfectly entitled to ride on them. Whether you do so or not is down to the conscience of the individual churchgoer...

With events like these you are not paying for access. You are paying for the facilities and feed stations. However, you are also paying for the nature of the event. Some one has taken the time to plan a route, advertise it, put things in place to encourage a number of people to get together and do something at the same time.  So by riding on the day you are taking part and in my view should pay. You could take the route and go ride it the following weekend on your own with no other people. I do this a fair bit with sportive routes. I use them as a good basis for riding in areas I don’t know – If visiting family it is rare that coincides with an event.

Your case is a little different. If yo ureally want to do it then go ahead, you want to pay at short notice but can’t.  Give the entry fee to a charity. Mountain rescue, air ambulance or something of your chosing.

^ this +1

and to add, if you for example had a bad crash during this event, would you expect their support crew, SJA or similar to step in and assist etc. ?

My position would be to pay up front and risk losing the money.

If they allowed entries on the day they wouldn't know how much stuff to order (t-shirts, water, food etc).These events don't have enough leeway to over order.

The event probably has an entry fee that covers insurance - for riders and the organisers and 'staff'. If you have an accident and you are at fault, the event insurance won't cover you.

Ride (if you must), but be very conscious of everything around you.

As others have said...don't be a dick.

I’d expect they have for many reasons (including insurance etc.) have made these not publicly available for the duration of the event…

Not if they're bridleways they can't unless they get a TRO which is unlikely.

My position would be to pay up front and risk losing the money.

This - on the basis of not being a dick. Unless it's a commercial event, in which case I wouldn't want to ride it!

 If so, then for the duration of the event these are not public trails.

Nope. If you want to close a BW for an event you have to apply to do it through the normal channels, which no-one does because it is a ballache and requires all sorts of bureaucracy. If I randomly roll up to a section of BW during a ride which happens to be part of someone's event, I'll be riding it, as there's normally not much alternative!

As above though, if it's FC land - eg stuff like the Cannock Evans thing next month, they can close it to non-participants if they want.

As far as the OP is concerned, it's a little bit dubious even if he doesn't use the feed stations etc. These events also tend to have marshalls opening gates, waymarking, parking facilities etc, so I'd feel like a total freeloader riding the entire route without an entry.

...and I wonder why I stopped organising events.

The event takes place on publicly available trails.

For me, it would depend exactly what this means. If the trails in questions are rights of way then crack on, you've as much right to be on them as anyone.

If the access is permissive (so trail centre / forestry commission type stuff) then there's a risk that you turn up on the day and "sorry, it's closed for an event" and then if you choose to duck under the tape and sneak on then you may well be in breach of rule 1.

In either case, use of any facilities associated with the event would be poor form.

However, this

 if you for example had a bad crash during this event, would you expect their support crew, SJA or similar to step in and assist etc. ?

strikes me as a bit of pointless whataboutery - I'd expect people to jump in as appropriate - there have been loads of cases where accidents have happened and there happens to be an emergency services team or whatever in the area for something else - of course they'll step up and assist if appropriate.  I'm talking here about a medical emergency, I wouldn't expect them to repair your bike for you if you bend something.

This exact issue happened with myself and a mate, an Evans "offroad sportive" a couple of years ago, I signed up and paid in advance, He wasn't so sure he could do it, but ended up coming along on the day...

The only real issue was the start, while I was kettled into a starting group and given a briefing, he waited 100 yards down the road, I picked him up on the way past and off we rode together...

He was honest at the feed stops and never picked up any cake or energy drink (He could easily have grabbed stuff, there's no real checking for a sticker on your lid/bike), He did top off a water bottle (with water not Hi-Five) at the last stop I think but that was it...

Ultimately you're just a private individual riding along some public roads/paths, following a route someone has helpfully signposted. So long as you don't try and make use of the event infrastructure/facilities (timing and feed stops) you're doing nothing wrong IMHO... So crack on fella.

strikes me as a bit of pointless whataboutery – I’d expect people to jump in as appropriate – there have been loads of cases where accidents have happened and there happens to be an emergency services team or whatever in the area for something else – of course they’ll step up and assist if appropriate.  I’m talking here about a medical emergency, I wouldn’t expect them to repair your bike for you if you bend something.

I'm not suggesting they should let him bleed out! More along the lines of if the OP is expecting to be supported in the event of an issue he should consider paying up in advance and taking the hit if he doesn't ride.  Its alright saying that people step in regardless, which they do. But they wouldn't be there at all to help if it wasn't for the event in the first place.

As above though, if it’s FC land – eg stuff like the Cannock Evans thing next month, they can close it to non-participants if they want.

Slight digression, but me and the lad are doing this next month and I'd assumed it would be on open trails like all of the previous Evans MTB sportives we've done in the past - is this not the case? If it is a closed event, I'll turn the boy's "race dial" up a couple of notches for it 🙂

(And, before anyone asks, yes we're already booked and paid up!)

Edit: Although it might all be moot... :-/

https://news.sky.com/story/wheel-turns-for-evans-cycles-as-struggling-chain-eyes-rescue-11503069

OP - Whats the event? that way we can all stop second guessing the circumstances?

Not sure I'd say "naughty", more "rude" to impose yourself uninvited on someone else's event. Like any other sort of gatecrashing. Would you turn up uninvited at someone else's wedding, or funeral for that matter? OTOH I have used proxies to access UK TV from abroad so who am I to criticise? (Similar issue in that I would happily have paid a reasonable fee for access but it wasn't permitted.)

OP – Whats the event? that way we can all stop second guessing the circumstances?

And the organiser can come on to tell the op not to be a dick. 🙂

If you’re asking for an opinion here’s my 10p worth.

Considering the fact that you won’t actually know until the night before and they don’t take entries on the day, the ride is all on public roads and BW’s then it wouldn’t bother me personally, if your reasons are totally genuine.

Presume the entry fee covers things like a feed station, mechanical/medical support, sports timing, insurance, marshalling, fund raising etc. However, as a gesture of good will, if the event does give a percentage of the funds to a chosen charity, then making a donation would be nice thing to do.

 Would you turn up uninvited at someone else’s wedding, or funeral for that matter?

Amateur. Everyone knows its the reception & wake that have the free bar.

So long as you don’t try and make use of the event infrastructure/facilities (timing and feed stops) you’re doing nothing wrong IMHO… So crack on fella.

If your happy with everyone else around you thinking your a dick then crack on.

The reception and wake are private events where gatecrashers are trespassing. Anyone has the right to turn up to the wedding itself. Which was the point.

This thread reminds me of sneaking in to see the world cup downhill at Fort William, twice I've dropped off my son and pals who queue up to pay whereas I walk up Annoch Mor then Beag fantastic views by the way of Ben Nevis jaggy bits and then saunter down free views of the racing but pretty knackered then don't mind paying for the expensive takeaway food.

This is sounding a bit 'have cake and eat it'.

If the organisers have had to ask to open up any otherwise unavailable trails, you are really taking the mick. What happens if you bin it and are seriously injured? Presumably the organisers are only insured if they know who is on their event. As most of the thread seems to suggest that the event is happening on trails that you could just happen to be on at that time, then this point is moot.

As it stands, it doesn't sound like any organisers or registered participants can have any strict objections, but personally I wouldn't do it.

I've ridden on parts of event routes when they've used the some of the same BWs as the ride I happened to be doing. I made a point of letting the marshals at the gate know that I wasn't part of the event as at that point I was going in a different direction.

One point not covered in the replies so far is that the marshals may be counting the number of riders through for safety reasons. Let's say as you go past a marshal they are slightly distracted and don't notice you haven't an event number on the front of your bike but mark you down anyway. A little further back one of the tail enders has gone wrong, taken a wrong turn and come to grief. The "last" rider (plus possibly a sweeper) comes through and the marshal radios in that all have gone through. The rider who's had the accident is left behind, no-one knows they are there.

If you think the above is far-fetched then think again, it happened to a runner in a fell race. Sadly he died. He would probably have died anyway but because of the "numbers" being correct it was several hours before anyone realised the guy was actually missing.

Rule #1 Don't be a dick!

If you want to ride "the route" then pay up and take a number. If you can't make it then tough.

^^^^^^

I didn't think of that and certainly didn't know it had actually happened.

Pay and take a number or go for a ride somewhere else, nearby perhaps, and have a pint with your mates afterwards.

there is a big difference between public trails and public rights of way (bridleways)

public trails can be closed by the landowner (consent to ride them withdrawn), however bridleways can't be closed for a race, even with a TRO racing cannot take place on the bridleway (hence why the Commonwealth Games at Rivington had such a limited course)

Insurance isn't an issue

if it isn't a "race" and on PROW then "don't be a dick" applies but wouldn't worry about riding the course

if it's "public trails" then I would be  having second thoughts

if it's a "race" then go and spectate, don't ride it because that would make you a "dick"

Fundamentally this comes down to wheter you think of your self as an individual or a member of society.

As an individual, you're doing no harm.  However if everyone did this there'd be no event for anyone to enter.

I once rode past a feed station when i was hungry on a solo training ride.  I bonked a bit later and spent the slow hour home wishing i'd just gone in and asked!

 Would you turn up uninvited at someone else’s wedding, or funeral for that matter?

Again, the answer to that would depend on the venue - if someone held their wedding on a public bridleway, then yeah, I'd happily ride through the middle of it. Private venue, different kettle of worms.

You'd actually set out deliberately with the intention of riding through it? Well it takes all sorts I suppose.

If its Evans or Wiggle and its a ride to swell their bank balance and / or promote their brand - And its on public roads and bridlepaths then i see no reason why not - I actually resent the idea that just because some business enterprise has decided to put some tape along a public path that means you should feel bad about being there. Just don't take food and if any marshals are counting riders then just be clear you are not part of the event.

If you think the above is far-fetched then think again, it happened to a runner in a fell race. Sadly he died. He would probably have died anyway but because of the “numbers” being correct it was several hours before anyone realised the guy was actually missing.

Being brutal, but if you're relying on counting heads coming through a checkpoint on a public right of way to ensure safety of participants, then you're going to be in a pickle regardless. If it's that important, record entry numbers which are compared against the start list and can't be confused by an extra person joining the route. I'm not saying this would have saved anyone's life, but every marathon event I've attended has made very sure that the start list and finish lists match up and if they don't, you can expect phone calls to be made...

One point not covered in the replies so far is that the marshals may be counting the number of riders through for safety reasons. Let’s say as you go past a marshal they are slightly distracted and don’t notice you haven’t an event number on the front of your bike but mark you down anyway. A little further back one of the tail enders has gone wrong, taken a wrong turn and come to grief. The “last” rider (plus possibly a sweeper) comes through and the marshal radios in that all have gone through. The rider who’s had the accident is left behind, no-one knows they are there.

If you think the above is far-fetched then think again, it happened to a runner in a fell race. Sadly he died. He would probably have died anyway but because of the “numbers” being correct it was several hours before anyone realised the guy was actually missing.

If you're referring to the Buttermere one in 2012 then that's not what happened - they correctly counted how many finished but there was confusion about how many they were expecting to finish (double counted an early drop out) - no members of the public out on the hills contributed, going on the reports of the inquest evidence.

If you're running something on public rights of way then the onus is on the organisers to factor that in to their planning - if they **** up the count because of members of the public being where they have a right to be, then that's not the fault of those members of the public.

This isn’t quite the same as riding your local trails when there happens to be an event taking place. The reason he’s riding it is because of the event. Pay & take the hit is my view.

If you’re running something on public rights of way then the onus is on the organisers to factor that in to their planning – if they **** up the count because of members of the public being where they have a right to be, then that’s not the fault of those members of the public.

Yep, this!

When marshalling a local event we had a list of numbers to tick off and runners have to display it prominently (including stopping to show it if wearing a jacket over etc).

If its Evans or Wiggle and its a ride to swell their bank balance and / or promote their brand – And its on public roads and bridlepaths then i see no reason why not – I actually resent the idea that just because some business enterprise has decided to put some tape along a public path that means you should feel bad about being there. Just don’t take food and if any marshals are counting riders then just be clear you are not part of the event.

Whoah there! Before you ride off into the sunset on your high-horse, the Evans rides in particular (I can't talk about the Wiggle ones) are actually well run events and have introduced me to riding that I would never have thought to do and I've since re-ridden their routes (which tend to always be 100% public rights of way) with friends and thoroughly enjoyed them. They don't "tape along a public path" (although they do stick some signs up) and the entry fee (typically less than £20 for both myself and my son) is well worth it to me for the support, feed stations, maps / GPX and, for winter rides, knowing that someone rode it the day before and pronounced it rideable!

I don't work for Evans, but my understanding is that they don't aim to make much money on them but use them to advertise their brand and provide some decent rides around the country. I've never had anything to complain about with them and the team that support them (who are the same year in, year out) are friendly and cheerful.

Of course anyone is free to ride the course whenever they want, on the day or not, without paying but I've never considered the cost or corporate element to be an issue to me. They are just well run events.

 You’d actually set out deliberately with the intention of riding through it? Well it takes all sorts I suppose.

Devil's advocate... yeah, possibly. If someone knew there was a right of way but wanted to "deter" people from using it, whether that's by putting a load of tape along it to make it look like a private event track, parking a wedding marquee in the middle of it, or (what more often happens in the real world), ploughing the **** out of it, then I might well deliberately go out of my way to use that right of way.

@edlong - yes, I should have said "something similar". The FRA race rules are different now because of that incident.

People make mistakes, deliberately riding an event route when you aren't part of that event is just going to increase the likelihood of mistakes regardless of whether you've a right to be there or not. Putting extra responsibilities on the organisers for no other reason than "I can't be arsed" is frankly stupid.

If the OP wants to ride the route during the event then he should pay up, otherwise grab the GPX and ride it some other time.

I don't believe that these events make any attempt to deter people from using PROW. Certainly I've never come across this myself. Finding yourself intersecting with an event that's taking place on a PROW is a very different matter from deliberately going out on a ride with a group where you are not invited. Neither is illegal but the latter is generally pretty rude.

what is also forgotten is that these organised events effectively close bridleways for horse riders as the long chain of riders going through stretched out make it difficult for them to progress along,

This causes a lot of upset in that community which organisers need to be mindful of

If your happy with everyone else around you thinking your a dick then crack on.

Yeah, but do they? I've not encountered that kind of arseyness on Evans/wiggle/BHF rides or sportives (although I'm never in the early starting bunches)...

Like I said, I've paid to go on a few of these sort of events, and while I appreciate the stuff they lay on (for a fee) the photos, the timing the cakes, etc I'd happily ride the same routes without all of that cobblers TBH... It's nice, certainly not a necessity...

The routes are always along PROWs so there's nothing really wrong with following the same route that a bunch of other people on bikes happen to be riding along also...

If you actually encounter someone who, having paid extra for some cake and a number board, really has enough of a chip on their shoulder that they think they're also somehow more entitled to the actual road and berates you accordingly, then who's the actual "Dick" in this (hypothetical) situation?

It is Tour de Moor, in Dartmoor - organised by St Luke's Hospice, so definitely not a commercial-type ride. I've never done the "free ride", hence my question 😉

Paying in advance means the worst case scenario is that a hospice gets 25 quid of your money for nowt. I could probably live with that.

It is Tour de Moor, in Dartmoor – organised by St Luke’s Hospice

If you do ride then donate £25. Easy.

It is Tour de Moor, in Dartmoor – organised by St Luke’s Hospice,

Im sure you can just turn up and ride then put the cash into the collection bucket they are bound to have on the day.

The map is downloadable now, so why not do it this weekend, rather than on trails this crowded?!

A cycle helmet, t-shirt, ID chip and ID number must be worn whilst on the route on your tshirt. You will not be able to take part without these.

From the T&Cs.... This makes it interesting

PS - Its for a frigging hospice. give 'em £25 anyway.

You can view the "cake and eat it" the other way around too.  The organisers are making use of public trail network in order to provide an an event that would otherwise be restricted in views, appeal and geography and potentially (no idea tbh) more expensive to secure.

The other side of the coin is that they're still public trails with many access points and they have to allow for the fact that people other than the paying participants will want to use them.

Edit - hadn't refreshed to see the OP's latest.

Enter now. Worst case is that you've given £25 to a hospice, and missed a bike ride with your mates.

Enter now. Worst case is that you’ve given £25 to a hospice, and missed a bike ride with your mates.

Yup, given that it's a charitable event, this is a no-brainer to me. I definitely wouldn't consider freeloading on such an event - don't think I could sleep at night if I did that.

Is this local ground?  Just using a bit of your local area with no use whatsoever of facilities offered isn't to bad. However making an effort to ride fresh stuff , thus benefiting from route marking etc is being greedy.

You chose either to pay and risk it or go else where in my opinion.

The no entries o the day is the organisers choice. They can be a real pain to deal with as you can't predict numbers.

You’re expected to wear a nasty event T-shirt if you’re on course. (Cotton?) Autumn, on Dartmoor - that’ll be comfortable.  And the little promo film almost gave me epilepsy. 😂

You’re expected to wear a nasty event T-shirt if you’re on course.

Aren't they usually handed out at the end? That's been my experience.

Anyway, it'll be mandatory like the organisers want everyone to wear hi-viz tabards at the HSBC City Ride events (formally "Sky Ride") - my son took one look at it, and said "no thanks" to the nice lady offering it and she didn't bat an eyelid. To be fair, we had just arrived straight from a CX race and he was still in his bright orange skinsuit, so he wasn't going to be easy to miss already 🙂

Aren’t they usually handed out at the end? That’s been my experience.

No, it says that everyone should be wearing one. See that pic up there. ^^^^

As it's a charity do (and looks from the website like they're actually managing it themselves, so all the surplus after running costs will be going straight into their coffers unlike some commercially organised "charity" events where the charity gets a cut, after the company running the show take their profit), and £25 is a sum you can drop without worrying about it, I'd be inclined to register anyway - think of it as a donation to charity, with the possibility that you might get an associated bike ride out of it if you're lucky.

I'd probably feel a bit tight personally, tagging along on a fundraiser without contributing, regardless of rights of way issues.

Really? All this to save donating 25 pounds to a hospice to sort your own personal admin issues? I invoke the dick rule again.

Is it definitely all public trails though ?  The Viking Challenge for example is 90 % public but some parts go through private sections not generally open.

I think ink you pays yer Monday and don't be a dick to the people, marshals, officials etc that have done their bit for your mates to ride !

If your not doing it for charity, not sure why you’d do the tour de moor. Awful choice of route with thousands of people on. I think last year they went up the widow maker. Twice.

Where is it going to be held as I too am in similar predicament which is looming and not sure if I can 100% make it or cba to wake up for an 8:30am start from the starting point

Aha Jam bo - I was thinking bout doing this tour de moor but am expecting to go to someone’s 70th do.

can I just sign up without necessarily donating an amount of monies except I’d probably give a nominal amount.

I cannot remember which widow maker is but remember coming down a rocky bed from Princetown to Burrator then partly back up the rock bed but then said **** this as I got tired of pedal bashing the odd rock.

maybe I should’ve used that fancy lockout or trail switch 🤣 which actually would be handy from now on.

I can’t even see a route for this tour de moor...!???

Strange but true

If you injure someone else, good luck paying out instead of the racing insurance.

Aha just seen the route can be viewed on their site.

looks like I might go... 😬

I’ll be the one at the front if I get up early enough then flailing towards the end haha

Charities are easy to rip off, just let them have all the hassle organising the route, marshalls etc, turn up, don't pay and just point out that it's public land 🙂

Save yourself £25 easy peasy, you could do it for lots of other events (runs, bike rides etc) year after year..................

Having looked at the route, it’s not all public rights of way, it takes a loop through the buckland abbey national trust site which isn’t usually open to the public.

You could miss that section and join them for the loop up from sheepstor to nuns cross and back down the old railway.

Or you could go and ride something good in the area and meet them at the pub afterwards.