I need your advice: A giant tour.

[Sean.Havins]

We now have 120 registered participants. I received 11 new registrations in the last 7 days.

Several people have mentioned that it will be very difficult to find places each night for this many tents. Food will also be an issue because many small villages may not be able to feed us all at the same time.

Some people have said that they are not going to ride the entire tour so there probably will not be 120 people in camp on any night. But some who initially said they could not ride the entire tour may change their mind and ride the whole way.

Some will cancel. I think that the cancelation rate will be low because this may be a once in a lifetime event.

I need to find a way to make this tour work for this many riders or more. I do not want to close registration so soon, I want everyone who wants to join us on this great tour to be able to experience it. But I do not want this tour to be so large that it is not fun for the riders and SAG crew. I also want the tour to leave a good memory in the villages we pass through.

So, those are my variables and my problem.

Here is one of the solutions that I have thought of:

• Leave registrations open until 2/1/13.
• Run the tour in waves that are no more than 50 people each.
• Start the waves one day apart.
• Each wave travels the same distances.
• All waves stay at the same camps.

This way there would be no more than 50 riders in camp at a time, we only need to secure one set of campsites (but for 4 or 5 nights in a row) and villages would not be as impacted. It would also give riders more dates to choose from.

Is there a better solution? Ideas please?

[fetzl]

Nearly every town in Belgium has it's soccer team. Some towns have even 2 or 3, depending on the division they are playing in.
They have a main field, but often also a training field.
They also have showers and a canteen....I could not believe that it would be impossible to arrange with them to spend 1 or 2 night on their lot, if you promise to keep it clean (no littering, no campfires,...)

Belgians are very open you know, so maybe that's a good alternative (could be for free, could be that a minimal fee is requested

and maybe take it a step further... why not look for a local caterer at the same time
these canteens are regularly rented for parties, so caterers are familiar with the site
Prepared on site or delivered... they could handle a bunch of 120 easily...
if you keep the meals simple, it would probably be peanuts, compared to going out in town and look for a place to eat
People still can do this

maybe you can even find a caterer who is willing to follow your throughout the country and prepare meals 2 or 3 times... it's work for him, right ?

just an idea

[dmd]

Taking leave for a whole month is also difficult for my situation. Is it an idea to ride in 2 groups, a slower and a faster one? In that case we would re-use camping space from time to time (with the additional advantage that catering and other facilities can remain)

[Brechtix]

Or hire a caterer for the entire event?

[Evelien van Jeroen]

I know a guy who makes delicious BBQ diners for moderate prices. Let me know if you need an offer.

[Sean.Havins]

Nearly every town in Belgium has it's soccer team. Some towns have even 2 or 3, depending on the division they are playing in.
They have a main field, but often also a training field.
They also have showers and a canteen....I could not believe that it would be impossible to arrange with them to spend 1 or 2 night on their lot, if you promise to keep it clean (no littering, no campfires,...)

Belgians are very open you know, so maybe that's a good alternative (could be for free, could be that a minimal fee is requested

and maybe take it a step further... why not look for a local caterer at the same time
these canteens are regularly rented for parties, so caterers are familiar with the site
Prepared on site or delivered... they could handle a bunch of 120 easily...
if you keep the meals simple, it would probably be peanuts, compared to going out in town and look for a place to eat
People still can do this

maybe you can even find a caterer who is willing to follow your throughout the country and prepare meals 2 or 3 times... it's work for him, right ?

just an idea

Good ideas, Thank you.

Questions:
When should we start contacting the clubs for the use of their fields in July 2013? When is the latest we can contact them?

Same questions for traveling catering companies?

[Sean.Havins]

Or hire a caterer for the entire event?

This is what we will probably have to do. It will not be cheap.

Unless someone wants to volunteer to cook for the army of velonauts.(???)

[fetzl]

When should we start contacting the clubs for the use of their fields in July 2013? When is the latest we can contact them?

Well, soccer teams do not play in july - also it's holiday season, so don't think the infrastructure is used that much during that period
think you're pretty safe... but off course, the sooner the better

for caterers it's more or less same story: when you know dates and locations, you can start inquiring
maybe you can arrange a deadline for confirmation...
if it's prepared meals which are simply delivered, then I think you can even cancel up to the very last minute (before buying the goods)

[Edje]

As participant of organising Flanderstour 2006/2008 I know it's not easy to get soccerclubs to receive guests in july.

If you want to find clubs to help you, the best way to do this is contacting the alderman of sports in the town, and ask him witch soccerteam they have in ther town. This way the goverment knows of your organisation, and can put some pressure wen needed to a club wen you don't get a possitive reaction, write as mutch clubs you can, they are not very helpfull to do this, because they are just have pay a lot of money to maintaine there fields, and have a lot of trainings sheduled for the new compition.

You can try it, but start NOW, we have don it 5 years and know it is not easy, BUT it can be done. We paid between 75 - 200 € a night and had ONE club in the five years that did it whitout fees.

Good luck.


(The bad English is for free )

[NL-ligger]

Why not use regular tourist camping area's wich are virtually everywhere near or in villages or towns in every European country ? Like most traveling tourists with tents, caravans(trailers) and motorhomes do

Sure this will cost a regular overnight fee per tent but with so many participants you should be able negotiate a discount. It's also much easier plan and execute then contacting all those soccer field owners since almost every tourist camping area's can be found on the internet including their terms and price and how to reach them. Without use of electric power and with basic comfort tourist camping area's with only showers ands toilets this can be very cheap. With electric power it will ofc be modestly more expensive.

The only question being if that tourist camping area has the capacity to take you in that season of year. Most do when reserved, i expect, and if thats a problem theres always the ones on farmland with very basic comfort that are less attractive to all but the most ecologic light traveller or families. They have no electricity and the cows may keep you wake at night though

If you guys bring your own ( light ) cooking gear i would be very surprised local grocery centres/supermarkets cannot supply what you lot need even if you come by the hundred. Mostly every village has it's own large enough well stocked supermarket and if not somewhere not very far in a cluster of villages is a huge shopping centre where they all go for groceries. It's also the cheapest way to go around to cook your own food.

I never travelled further then 15 km/9,4 mi from my camping site in any western european country i've been to to find a large supermarket or shopping centre. It's just the small stores like bakeries or butchers inside old city centres that can't support your horde....but you can be sure to find much larger supermarkets nearby in the outskirts or outside those villages

[Sean.Havins]

Why not use regular tourist camping area's wich are virtually everywhere near or in villages or towns in every European country ? Like most traveling tourists with tents, caravans(trailers) and motorhomes do

Sure this will cost a regular overnight fee per tent but with so many participants you should be able negotiate a discount. It's also much easier plan and execute then contacting all those soccer field owners since almost every tourist camping area's can be found on the internet including their terms and price and how to reach them. Without use of electric power and with basic comfort tourist camping area's with only showers ands toilets this can be very cheap. With electric power it will ofc be modestly more expensive.

The only question being if that tourist camping area has the capacity to take you in that season of year. Most do when reserved, i expect, and if thats a problem theres always the ones on farmland with very basic comfort that are less attractive to all but the most ecologic light traveller or families. They have no electricity and the cows may keep you wake at night though

If you guys bring your own ( light ) cooking gear i would be very surprised local grocery centres/supermarkets cannot supply what you lot need even if you come by the hundred. Mostly every village has it's own large enough well stocked supermarket and if not somewhere not very far in a cluster of villages is a huge shopping centre where they all go for groceries. It's also the cheapest way to go around to cook your own food.

I never travelled further then 15 km/9,4 mi from my camping site in any western european country i've been to to find a large supermarket or shopping centre. It's just the small stores like bakeries or butchers inside old city centres that can't support your horde....but you can be sure to find much larger supermarkets nearby in the outskirts or outside those villages

All excellant ideas.

In past conversations, I was given the impression that finding room in regular campgrounds for a horde would be difficult. Having no experience, I began to look for other options.

So, is it this easy to find room in campgrounds in a five of the countries we will be passing through?

[NL-ligger]

You will need to contact the camping management of the campings along your route and ask i suppose....but i don't see why large groups with tents should be a problem by default for all but the smallest ones. There are often many campings in a given area, and often close to one another aswell.

I have the feeling farm campings maybe the most suitable given the situation. Very basic, but lots of open space.

I suspect this is very interesting reading : Camping in Europe, a first timers guide http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/09-02 ... guide.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you haven't done so, the link in above article may actually something you could use to find campings along the route, compare what they offer at what price : http://www.eurocampings.co.uk/en/europe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Most can be contacted by e mail.

Campings with a low number of stars are the cheapest and most basic. Campings with high amount of stars are very luxurious with swimming pools and entertainment centres and such. And much more expensive.

Normally with no exeptional demands in luxury but toilets and shower you could expect to put your tent down for the night for around 10 euro per person but this varies with region, season and luxury rating. Most campings have both basic and somewhat more luxe spots with electricity, the latter being more expensive ofc. You have a good chance to try and get a discount because you bring a lot of customers at one time.

[dmd]

I think it will be difficult to find camping space for more than 100 riders (tents), certainly in summer season...

[Edje]

I think it will be difficult to find camping space for more than 100 riders (tents), certainly in summer season...

IF it's not impossible

[bicky]

Most of the campings i went have a big field for 100 1 night campers. You can always ask

Example
Last year we went to puyenbroek in august and there was enough room for 100 campers.
This is the location in puyenbroek: http://goo.gl/maps/rPec" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
cost: 11€ for 1 tent with 2 persons if group is larger than 10