Feb. 1 update: The RSVP lottery details have been posted.
According to our history, the Ride from Seattle to Vancouver, BC & Party (RSVP) was born of calamity. In 1980, the eruption of Mount St. Helens interrupted Cascade’s marquee event, the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic. With uncertain road conditions in southwest Washington, an alternative double century was needed. Thus, Seattle to Vancouver was born.
While the current route bears little resemblance to the original bike tour, much credit goes to Jon Jacobson and Dennis Noson for the concept and route scouting in 1980 and 1981. Approximately 40 people participated in the inaugural three-day ride, from Seattle to Bellingham to Vancouver then to the Tswassen ferry to Sidney and down Vancouver Island to Victoria and home on the Princess Marguarite.
The event lapsed in 1982 and was canceled in 1986 due to The World’s Fair Expo in Vancouver. This year, therefore, marks the 3oth anniversary RSVP event.
RSVP’s popularity has risen steadily over the years, hitting 1,300 riders in 2010. Demand for the event is so high that it sells out in hours. This year, in fact, members clamoring to register brought down our web servers.
“Why don’t you make it bigger?” we are continually asked.
If RSVP were double or triple in size, it would be a different event. RSVP is lauded precisely because it offers a different experience from the Seattle to Portland double-century, which draws 10,000 riders. The road support on RSVP is less, and riders are generally more experienced to handle the more challenging terrain on the route to Vancouver.
After the servers crashed, letting so many of our members down, the Cascade staff went to work brainstorming solutions. And so out of the registration calamity of 2011, Ride from Seattle to Vancouver BC & Party 2 was born.
30th ANNIVERSARY AND A NEW EVENT
RSVP2 will take place the same weekend as RSVP, but will depart a day later. Riders on RSVP2 will depart from Seattle for Bellingham on Saturday, Aug. 6 and arrive for the party in Vancouver on Sunday, Aug. 7. The rider limit will be 1,400 riders, identical to RSVP. This route will be the same. The road support services will be the same. These measures will ensure that the event flavor will be the same as well.
The registration process, however, will be remarkably different. For 2011, registrations for RSVP2 will be offered only to Cascade members on a lottery basis.
LOTTERY RULES
- Only current members may enter the RSVP2 lottery.
- You must have an account on the online registration system to participate. Set your account up at http://shop.cascade.org any time.
- Your name, email and current Cascade membership number are required when signing up for the lottery.
- You can only sign up for the lottery once.
- We will offer a “group” lottery entry for two to six Cascade members under one lottery ticket. If that one ticket is drawn then all six members will be allowed to register. This is to ensure your whole group is either all in or all out.
- Individuals may sign up for the lottery, but you cannot be in a group lottery entry and an individual lottery entry simultaneously.
- The lottery registration will open in mid-February and will close 10 days later. The lottery open date will be announced on www.cascade.org, our Facebook, Twitter, the Cascade blog and through Braking News
- It does not matter when you sign up for the lottery during those 10 days. It’s not necessary to sign up on the first day as the lottery draw will be randomly generated by a computer.
- There is no cost to participate in the lottery.
- Lottery winners will be notified via email with instructions on how to register.
- If you register, but decide not to ride, you can return your registration for a refund, per our refund policy. Registrations are not transferrable, but are refundable until 30 days prior to the event.
LOTTERY BENEFITS
The benefits of a lottery system are many. There will be no rush to register at a precise time, so you do not need to be at a computer to access the Internet to register before the event closes.
You can sign up for the lottery at your leisure, provided you do it within the ten days that it’s open.
By using a group lottery entry, you’ll know if your riding partners made it in with you. If riding with your partners is less important, we recommend getting an individual lottery entry.
LOOKING AHEAD
We hope that this new event will absorb much of the demand to ride from Seattle to Vancouver. RSVP1 is sold out, and we expect the second to fill through the lottery. This, unfortunately, does mean some members will not get in. With more members than RSVP slots, we simply cannot accommodate all who might want to ride the event each year. However, we hope that by producing a second RSVP event and by using a lottery registration, the process will be more efficient and fair.
This year we will evaluate the lottery process to determine if we’ll use it for RSVP registration next year. We will also evaluate the new RSVP2 event to ensure we can continue to provide the same level of service you’ve come to expect from a Cascade event.
Thank you for your support, and we look forward to partying with all the RSVP riders in Vancouver this August!
The Cascade Bicycle Club team
This is great!!!! way to go cascade bicycle club!!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Cascade Bicycle Club and M.J., awilliams53. awilliams53 said: RT @cascadebicycle: .: Announcing RSVP2 http://blog.cascade.org/2011/01/announcing-rsvp2/ [...]
Brilliant!!!!!
Awesome. Way to rise for the ashes Cascade. Thank you!
Got to excited. That is rise FROM the ashes!
ok…now that sounds like a great plan….way to respond guys!!
I have to say that after the disappointment of RSVP registration, I am impressed by this response to put another alternative together for this year and for listening to members to try to find a fair registration process. Good job!
And if one is on a cycling vacation in New Zealand from Feb 4 through Feb 22, one HOPES the 10 day period begins on Feb 13 at the latest…..
[...] Announcing RSVP2 [...]
Lottery? So if you want to ride with certain people and they don’t make the lottery pick, You ride with other people you don’t know, party with other people you don’t know and can’t share the experience with people you do. Darn, I was so hoping to get “in” this year, but not sure if this is a viable alternative.
@Carol, you can do the group lottery entry for up to six people.
@JeffK………interesting post, but what does it have to do with RSVP, Cascade Bicycle Club, or cycling in general???
It sounds like a viable alternative yet what do I do if I barely made it into the RSVP after trying for 5 hours and was unable to register my four family members before it closed.
Could I register my family members for the RSVP2 and ride with them even though I am registered for the RSVP1?
Please let me know!!!
Thanks
Thanks for responding to the frustration. Hopefully this will work for everyone.
Even though I was able to register my family and myself for the RSVP1, I was so mad about the registration process I was going to leave Cascade when my membership expired. The solution and new process that you developed, and your willingness to evaluate and improve them for the future, have convinced me to stay. Good work!
CBC,
Thank you for all your efforts trying to clean up the registration debacle and trying to make this work for as many of us as possible.
I got the follow up email mentioning the transfer ability for me to RSVP 2 so that I have a chance of riding with my buddies that will enter the lottery. But, I still have some questions/concerns:
My transfer is guranteed and non-reversible. Fine. My buddies can sign up for the lottery for RSVP 2 and if they get in fine. We are all happy.
But, I’m guessing there are hundreds of us people where our entire group didn’t get in and we will all transfer to RSVP2. This will reduce the number of open lottery spots in 2 and increase the openings in 1.
Follow me? So, how are you going to fill all the open spots in 1? Waiting list? If so, how will you seed it? Picture this, I transfer from 1 to 2, my buddies don’t make the lottery for 2, but do get put on a waiting list for 1 and ultimately get into 1. But, now my transfer is non-reversible and I am stuck in 2 and my buddies are in 1.
Now what?
Chris
@Rita: Your RSVP1 bib is good only for the Friday/Saturday event. If you change to the Saturday/Sunday event, you’ll have a different bib for RSVP2. If your family members get in via the lottery, they can join you. Riders may not switch between the two events, and bibs will show clearly who is registered for each event.
In addition, we are required to supply a documented list of riders to the border police for each day.
I’d suggest that if it’s important to you to TRY to ride with your partners, then move to RSVP2, which you must do by Friday. Your riding partners should then enter the lottery on either individual tickets or a group ticket, whichever is preferred. If they get in, you’ll get to ride together. If they don’t get in, you’re in the same situation you are now, just a day later. Yes, the lottery is a gamble, but it’s the best option available. Good luck!
@Chris: It’s a difficult situation for an event that is sold out and a new event that is expected to sell out. Unfortunately, we can’t make everyone happy (we really want to!), and this solution was designed to be fair and to satisfy as many people as possible. For clarification: there is no wait list for any Cascade events.
Per our refund policy: “Up to 30 days before the event, a registered rider is eligible for a 75% refund of registration fees. Transportation, parking and other “add-ons” are 100% refundable up to 30 days prior to an event. [...] A previously sold-out event may reopen for registration if we receive a high number of refund requests. The earliest this would occur is 29 days before the event.” Full policy is here: http://shop.cascade.org/content/events/refund-policy
It’s highly unlikely that RSVP1 would reopen before early July. Based on the people we’ve talked to, we expect few people to move from RSVP1 to RSVP2. We’ll post an update here on Friday, if that proves different.
I’d suggest that if it’s important to you to TRY to ride with your partners, then move to RSVP2. Your riding partners should then enter the lottery on either individual tickets or a group ticket, whichever is preferred. If they get in, you’ll get to ride together. If they don’t get in, you’re in the same situation you are now, just a day later. The lottery is a gamble, but it seems to be your best option. Good luck!
So, are all the return logistics the same for RSVP2 returning on Monday (i.e. buses, times, PARKING, etc.)? I suspect PARKING would be the biggest logistics problem since our cars might be taking up spaces that are used on weekdays. Also, will there even be any parking spaces left for the RSVP2 people? I’m strongly considering switching to RSVP2 but need this verified. I’m also thinking there might be a break on prices for Vancouver hotels for Sunday night but maybe that’s just wishful thinking
I don’t think Cascade could have come up with a better alternative and am VERY IMPRESSED. Well done, Cascade!!! Cheers!!!
Jerri
@Jerri: Buses for RSVP 2 are returning on Monday. We will be using the UW E1 parking lot that has 2,800 spots, so no problem there.
@M.J. Kelly,
I understand that this is a difficult situation and that you have made the best possible situation from a problem of over popularity (a good thing). But I think you are still missing the frustrating situation that many of us are stuck with. Say my buddies miss out on the lottery for 2. In that situation I won’t ride and I’ll surrender my ticket back to you in plenty of time to get my refund. But I am picturing potentially hundreds of people moving from 1 to 2 in an effort to get with their riding buddies. Suddenly you will have hundreds of openings in 1 and you might reopen the registration for 1 but not until “29 days before the event.” This again gives my buddies the opportunity to re-register for 1 but you are leaving me high and dry since I am stuck in 2. Sure in any event I would be in the same situation that I am in right now… riding alone. But, now you’ve made it so that I cannot get my refund (on an oversold event) because the refund period ends 30 days before the event and the potential re-registration won’t begin until 29 days before the event.
Do you see the conflict there?
@Chris Loeliger
Yes, we see the conflict. Everyone involved with the event is very sorry we can’t make it perfect for everyone. We wish we had a perfect solution that would satisfy all riders with every possible combination of issues.
I’m at a loss for what to suggest to you at this point. You got in; your riding mates didn’t. Next year, if we continue with the lottery system, you and your buddies would be on the same ticket.
We realize the lottery is a “gamble,” but it’s also one that could come out in your favor. Best of luck with your decision.
M.J.
I think your process is still flawed. You are asking folks to change to RSVP2 by Jan 28 (4 days from now) and the lottery is not for a while. Either way, most of our group did not make it in due to your very poor system and may not make it in again via the lottery. Some of our folks have rode this event since it started and were on their computers the second it was available. Now everyone is trying to plan without really knowing where they stand. I really do not understand why you just don’t increase the ridership. Like STP, riders are heavely spread out along the 200 mile course. I think you stubed your toe again. More to the point, I think this will cause many to not really worry about your rules.
Any word on when the lottery will start?
Wow people…Congrats to everyone that sees the folks at Cascade are DOING THEIR BEST to make a difficult situation easier, and to open the event to more riders. Perhaps those that have issues with the new system should offer their services as event planners next year? I’m certain that would offer a better perspective on how difficult it is to make this amenable to everyone.
[...] RSVP2 is coming, and if you want a chance to ride it, read on. [...]
[...] RSVP2 is coming, and if you want a chance to ride it, read on. [...]
I was only going to ride the STP. Now, I may sign my husband and myself up for the RSVP2 lottery. I am new to the club. I read there was a stop in Victoria. Is that correct? Can my husband and I leave the group in Victoria? Do we have to go to the party? We are not party people, but we like to ride.
@Ronda
RSVP no longer goes to Victoria; that was the very first, three-day ride. The current two-day event starts in Seattle, with the halfway point in Bellingham and the finish in Vancouver. You can learn more here: http://shop.cascade.org/content/events/rsvp-details
The party is completely optional. You can finish the ride and go on your way.
Three friends put in for the RSVP1 lottery and were accepted, while another friend and I missed out, and are entered for RSVP2 (we did not realize that once the lottery was entered we could not add to the entry). Will there be any mechanism allowing us to swap with anyone wanting to move in the opposite direction? Cheers.
If RSVP2 fills AND enough people in RSVP1 request refunds, then those spaces in RSVP1 could be put up for sale. The earliest that a decision on this will be made is at the close of the RSVP1 refund period, 7/19. At this time RSVP2 still has openings and there have been very few RSVP1 requests for refunds.