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Ride 3rd - 5th Nov: GS Astuto ride/training camp with Emma Pooley

Half-Fast Mike

Lanterne Rouge-et-vert
May 22, 2007
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Y'all know who Emma Pooley is, right? According to http://www.emmapooley.net/ Emma Pooley is a multi-sport athlete, competing in long distance triathlon, duathlon, cycling, and running events. She is one of Great Britain's most respected and successful road cyclists of the past decade.

FAX BEGINS

[GS Astuto] will be hosting a 3-day (2-night) ride in the Gunma/Nikko area with Emma Pooley. Short notice, but sure to please for those wishing to spend a couple days on the road with an Olympic medalist and World Champion.​
Cost is 150,000 yen/ person - all inclusive. (Except for alcohol and personal incidentals)​
Sunday 3rd to Tuesday 5th November, 2019.​
Tim Smith​
Founder, GS Astuto​
USAC Coach​

FAX ENDS

Likely to be hardcore. And lots of beautiful autumn foliage. That is all the information I have. If you want to know more, please reach out to TimS @ GSAstuto . com
 
What on earth does 150,000 pay for?

I assume Tim comes round to your front door and loads your bike before driving you there, for starters.
 
What on earth does 150,000 pay for?
You are being trained by one of the best for a few days … I don't think this is really that expensive. Subtract the cost for the hotel, for the food and for the rental van(s), gas, road tolls and such, and you see that nobody is getting rich here. (Sharing gas and the toll cost me about 9,000 ¥ alone during my last race, and I was sharing that with two other people.)

Of course, you might still conclude it isn't worth it for you, but that's another issue entirely IMHO.
 
I don't know what the going rate for a three-day training camp with a world-class former professional is, but I know that most of that price isn't food, gas, and accommodations. I take it they aren't looking to get more than a handful of participants at that rate, though.

(Not a criticism, just an observation.)
 
Where are you guys seeing that it's a training camp? The wording in the fax sounds to me like it's more of a ride with her rather than a training camp.
I hope he gets quite a few people joining but at that price I can't see it happening.
Tolls and petrol cost to Gunma or Nikko would be very minimal from Tokyo.
 
Says
[GS Astuto] will be hosting a 3-day (2-night) ride in the Gunma/Nikko area with Emma Pooley.

Not sure how you got
being trained by one of the best for a few days

Are you part of the organising committee and privy to information not given above? If so, could you jot down an itemised list for me to evaluate its worth in my honest opinion?
 
Alternative event for those of us who don't sling other people's money for a living.


A chance to ride the training hills of Tama with a former national road race champ and Giro participant (2016), includes a meet & greet with more of the KINAN team at Cross Coffee, all for n-n-n-n-nanto, 6,000 yen.....!
 
What will we do about rental van(s), gas, and tolls? Is n-n-n-n-nobody getting rich here?
 
Are you part of the organising committee and privy to information not given above? If so, could you jot down an itemised list for me to evaluate its worth in my honest opinion?
I'm not sure why your posts are so acerbic.
You don't need to be part of an organizing committee to roughly estimate costs for such a trip, it is very easy to ball park travel expenses in Japan for things like the hotel or road tolls. I have also done a 4-day bike tour with an ex professional a few years ago and have recently checked prices on velo guides for tour guides as well. Although I am sure none of them have Olympic silver medals and world champion jerseys hanging at home. Overall, I don't think the price is outrageous, especially if Emma is, as it seems to me, not by herself but riding with other guides (as is common). People's time is not free. Whether this is a fun ride with a star or a training ride is also a game of semantics, I am quite sure this ride will attract people who are fast and who know who Emma Pooley is in the first place.

Again, you can think that it isn't worth it to spend that much money just to ride with a famous ex professional, that's fine. But that's different from the trip being overpriced.
 
I don't know what the going rate for a three-day training camp with a world-class former professional is, but I know that most of that price isn't food, gas, and accommodations. I take it they aren't looking to get more than a handful of participants at that rate, though.

(Not a criticism, just an observation.)
Oh, I agree.
Just to be clear: my point was that once you subtract the fixed cost from the fee, the money that remains is not all that much, especially if it it split amongst >= 2 people. Pooley isn't getting rich here, only very few top-level female athletes make remotely as much as their male counterparts.
 
Alternative event for those of us who don't sling other people's money for a living.


A chance to ride the training hills of Tama with a former national road race champ and Giro participant (2016), includes a meet & greet with more of the KINAN team at Cross Coffee, all for n-n-n-n-nanto, 6,000 yen.....!

Just anecdotally I got to ride with one of KINAN's riders and another former national champ this year at an event that only cost 1,000 and included food. Haha. I even got on NHK because of it.

I just assumed it was a training camp because 150,000 yen would be, let's just say, a very high premium for three days of supported riding regardless of who it was.

And here I was thinking that the Nasu Kogen Longride was a bit steep... although this year they had a previous giro winner as a guest.
 
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