Re:
Here are the main reasons why I dislike the event - none of them are directly to do with the price (despite repeated accusations that people on here are just ' moaning' about the cost. If 70 quid is what it costs to organise a good UK event in line with the real version, so be it.
1) The organisers used (or tried to use) unpaid volunteers to run a for-profit event. I think this is wrong, and they could have at least been more generous in what they gave the volunteers. The LEB website is not clear about the fact this is a profit making event, so maybe the volunteers were unaware of this.
2) The real Eroica was set up to save the Strade Bianche from being paved over. LEB is in a national park which is already protected, so LEB is not really doing anything extra to protect an endangered environment or make it more accessible. There are areas like the Ridgeway where access for cyclists is a problem so an opportunity to do something positive was missed.
3) Events like L'Eroica and the Retro Ronde are part of networks of other local rides that support and promote each other, generating a choice of events. LEB clearly sees itself as in competition with other rides ('only official UK route' etc), and does not seem to want to promote or encourage others to set up similar events in the UK (see again the Scottish Eroica).
4) There is no meaningful or clear charity contribution from the event (except a rather obscure 'partnership' with the pseudo-charity Movember foundation). That contrasts with the real Eroica, which sells a number of tickets at a higher price to raise money for charity.
5) The real Eroica has unlimited entry for women and older men (65+). No such attempt to encourage underrepresented groups at LEB, as far as I can see [edit - there may have been a discount for over 65s].
6) The organisers were in my view dishonest in only announcing that the festival would be free after getting the registrations in. Why not be open and tell everyone that entry to the festival is free from the start?
7) It's hard to see how LEB can generate a lot of economic benefit for the local area if it's held on a sealed-off site. That contrasts with the Retro-Ronde, La Savoureuse and L'Eroica, all of which are held in the heart of their respective towns and thus generate some business for shops, hotels and so on. There is talk of 1.5 million being spent in the Peak District that weekend on the LEB website, but that's pretty meaningless without any further context - is that much more than usual? Was it spent on the LEB site or outside?
Some basic aspects like the showers and some of the signposting were not up to scratch, apparently. Again, a sign the organisers weren't putting cyclists first. Compare that to, e.g., La Savoureuse, who managed to get the signposting spot on from their very first event, and also provided an excellent 'camion balai' service.
9) One of the stallholders I met at the real Eroica said the fees were so high he struggled just to break even, and the stallholders were treated as subcontractors and had to do most of the work (admin, risk assessments etc) themselves. A pretty shabby way to treat those people. The same guy was pretty surprised when I told him it was only about 20 euro to have a stand at the Retro Ronde bike jumble.
10) The organisers use part of the the national cycling network, which is set up and supported by Sustrans. No credit or thanks is given to Sustrans for their part in setting up the NCN, and there is no evidence of any donation or co-operation with that group. Again, an opportunity to do some broader good for UK cycling seems to have been missed.
As I said, it would be great if the organisers addressed some or all of these problems, and if they did, I would congratulate them wholeheartedly and might try to take part if it's possible. However, I suspect they will be too busy writing airy marketing guff for next year's event.
In any case, given that several of my objections are ethical, and given that I don't need to attend the event to know that I don't like these aspects, it would be silly of me to hand over my money to the organisers.
At the moment, I feel like people in the UK are still missing out on a good, properly organised, affordable event that benefits the local area and does something long term and constructive for cycling.
