As expected, the Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party was the first Cascade Bicycle Club bicycling event to sell out when registration opened at noon Monday.
Jan. 22, 2011 — Cascade to offer new ride in 2011 — RSVP 2
What wasn't expected, however, was a breakdown in the ride registration process this year. Many people waited hours to register for the highest-demand rides, only to be shut out of the system and have to start over again, according to complaints at the Cascade forum.
Apparently, the sudden influx of registrants at noon on Monday bogged down the registration system for hours this year, the first time Cascade tried to handle it in-house. Executive director Chuck Ayers apologized to members for the snafu (see below).
Register
The Aug. 5-6 RSVP bike ride can take 1,400 participants and is historically the first event to sell out every year. Spots for all other bike rides, including the popular week-long Ride Around Washington, appeared to be available Tuesday morning.
The registration process begins at Shop Cascade for all rides — Chilly Hilly, Flying Wheels, STP, Ride Around Washington, High Pass Challenge and Kitsap Color Classic.
Hours online
Some members could not get onto the Cascade website in the opening hours of registration, while others reported the booking process took from 2 to 4 hours. Those who could not stay online that amount of time found RSVP had filled up by the time they finally got through.
While being shut out of RSVP is nothing new, apparently wrestling through the registration process for that many hours only to discover the ride has been sold out is something new.
In previous years, Cascade contracted out the registration process through a third party. This year, Cascade is handling the event registration in-house using Amazon cloud servers. Some speculated that insufficient capacity led to the login and registration problems.
Apology
Tuesday morning, executive director Chuck Ayers issued this statement to members from the Cascade blog:
“I’m very sorry about the problems we encountered during yesterday’s registration process and for the frustration it caused you, our members. Yesterday’s level of service fell well below our customer service standards. We value your support and membership very highly, and do not take the situation lightly.
“While we carefully diagnose the problems, our immediate next step is to come up with a plan to rectify the situation as best we can for all those who tried to register for RSVP but couldn’t. Because RSVP is a “limited” rider event and is currently sold out, our team is already investigating a number of options. You can expect a follow-up announcement from us by next week, hopefully sooner.
“However, with this said, we will certainly correct the system for next year.”
Possible solutions
There are a few of ways out of this problem.
— Limit the number of rides offered the first day. Not everyone trying to get through the virtual door at noon on Monday was lining up for RSVP. Maybe registration for the rides can be offered on different dates.
— Tickets for popular rides such as RSVP can be issued on a lottery basis. That's already the case for Redmond Cycling Club's RAMROD (Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day) in Washington state. Some larger state rides, such as Ride the Rockies and RAGBRAI, also use a lottery system.
— Increase the server capacity during the registration process.
In any case, some people aren't going to get into RSVP with its current ride limits.
Other Vancouver rides
There are a couple of other Seattle to Vancouver bike rides that have been launched in recent years by those left out of the RSVP registration limits.
One is the Hot Springs Express bike ride, offered Sept. 17-19 by the Redmond Cycling Club. Geared toward experienced cyclists only, the 180-mile ride leaves from Seattle. The first overnight is in Bellingham, and the second night at Harrison Hot Springs, B.C., a resort about 40 miles east of Vancouver.
The bus for the return trip to Seattle leaves about 11 a.m. on the final day.
There's also a ride called Bark Fooey that can take about 40 riders. Last year the Bark Fooey two-day ride to Vancouver coincided with the Celebration of Light, a music-themed fireworks festival over English Bay. In 2011, Bark Fooey originally had planned on the Aug. 5-6 dates. With the additional RSVP2 ride announcement, however, Bark Fooey organizers were considering a date change to July 29-30. Check the website for details.
The Bark Fooey bike ride is unsupported, except for a luggage van that hauls stuff to Bellingham for the first night and Vancouver for the second night. Riders are responsible for getting back to Seattle on their own.
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