Prices

How much is all this luxury and fun going to cost?  Less than a trip to your cousin’s wedding.  Less than that awful weekend that your ex-sweetie insisted on.

The price varies a bit because depending on the options you pick, but here’s a ROUGH guide. Remember that there is NO fundraising required for this ride.

Ride Registration

Adults: $250

Kids 12 and Under: Free

Volunteers: Free

Your ride fee includes:

1. •Two days of beautiful riding in the country on bike paths and low-traffic roads -- marked routes, route sheets, the best S.A.G. support anywhere...
   

1. •Fantastic rest stops on Saturday with too much food. Sunday is a day of riding at leisure with no formal rest stops. We will have a road-food buffet at breakfast so you can grab energy bars and snacks to take on the road with you.
   

1. •Light breakfast at the start line on Saturday and Sunday
   

1. •Optional escorted rides with trained leaders on Saturday and Sunday
   

1. •Spectacular post-ride meal at a local farm on Saturday.
   

1. •Our wonderful Saturday Night Dorm Party
   

1. •Free hot tub rental at nearby Elements Hot • Tub • Spa
   

1. •Free post-ride massage on Saturday.
   

1. •Free ice cream stop at Herrel’s -- the best ice cream store in the U.S.
   

1. •Free racing socks for the first 150 people to sign up
   

1. •All the ugly stuff you never see ($3 million worth of insurance, permits, UMass’s administrative fees...)
   

1. •Free outdoor parking for your car at UMass (indoor parking available for $5 per day).
   

The following items are optional -- buy them only if you wish:

1. •Lodging at UMass.  Housing ranges from $30 - $133 per night, depending on your choice of accommodations.  (Most cyclists will stay on campus, but we understand that you may have other places to stay off-campus, and that’s fine).
   

1. •Transportation. Some people get themselves to the ride; some take our optional transportation from Manhattan.
   

1. We offer two departures from Manhtattan: 10:00 a.m and 6:30 p.m. We serve a light meal enroute. Your bike travels in trucks with our special custom bike racks; you travel by 15-passenger van (except that we don’t put more than 10 people in to a 15-passnger van so you have room to spread out).  The price for round-trip transportation is $70.
   

1. •Lovely Farm Ride T-shirts -- $12.  Why do we charge for T-shirts?  Because ours are 100% cotton Haines Beefy T (their top-of-the-line model) and they are lovely, especially compared to that cheesy thing you got at some ride for “free” (English translation of Free T-Shirt: “We raised the price of the ride to cover the T-shirt, so you paid for a shirt whether you wanted it or not.”)  THAT “free” shirt from some other ride came with Fred’s Muffler Shop printed on the back, along with 20 other corporate logos!  Ours does not. What can I say? We are T-shirt snobs.
   

1. •Extra pairs of custom-made CUSHY Farm Ride racing socks by SockGuy.  The first 150 people to register get a FREE pair, but you may wish to buy more.  (Mmm... CUSHY!)
   

1. •The Express Lane. Some of my friends hate to wait in line, so we offer the Express Lane. We will mail you all of your ride materials to your home or office a week before the ride. On ride day, do NOT get in line -- just grab a route sheet and go!  At lodging check-in your room key will be ready for you to grab and run!
   

Complete details on the Express Lane can be found during on-line registration -- just click here.

How to Register

The Short Version: On-line is the best way to register.  In fact, it's pretty much the only way to register! Just click here and it will take you to a secure on-line registration site. You will need a credit card to register.  (Yes, you can use a friend's credit card... with their permission!) 

The Full Story: We do all of our registration on-line -- there is no mail-in, fax-in, or walk-in registration. We use a private company called Active.com to handle registration. When you click here to register, you will be taken to the Active.com web site.

Active.com uses a secure internet site to collect your registration information, so your privacy is safe.

You will be asked for your name and address, plus information on your ride preferences: what distance you want to pedal, where you want to stay, if you want the optional transportation from NYC... At the end of registration you will be asked for your credit card information. Yes, you can use a friend’s credit card (with their permission, of course!) By the way, we receive your name and ride preferences from Active but we never see your credit card information.

You have NOT spent ANY money, and you have NOT registered until you click the OK button and see a confirmation message on your computer screen. Be sure to look for that on-screen registration confirmation -- if you don’t see it, you ain’t registered! (Every year a few people get 90 percent of the way through registration, bail out for some reason, and then can’t figure out why they aren’t on the check-in list on ride day!)

After you register you will ALSO receive a confirmation via email, sent to the email address you gave us during registration.

Note that you will not receive ANYTHING from us in the U.S. mail before the ride.  In your registration confirmation you will be instructed to come back to this web site to read the info on where to show up on ride day, when, what to bring...

If you are having trouble registering on-line, it MIGHT be because you are trying to register from your office. Many corporations set up computer firewalls, to protect you from fun at work. Try another computer outside the office. If you get stuck, you can call Active.com customer service at 888-543-7223. Have your credit card ready.

Our Incredibly Unfair Refund Policy

Once you register, there are no refunds.

Of any kind.

For any reason.

Ever.

(Even if all six of your grandmothers die on the day of the ride and you break your leg while your dog eats your homework and you are in a car crash). 

Why the hard line on refunds? Good question. As soon as you register for the ride, we take your money and we go right out and SPEND IT. We buy more Gatorade, we rent more trucks and portable toilets, we sign up for more insurance (we pay per cyclist). We can’t refund your money because it is not sitting in our vault; it is GONE. Thanks for understanding.

Transfer Your Registration to Another Ride

If it turns out that you can’t make it, you can often transfer your registration to one of our other events. Take a look here to see if any of our other events works for you, and then contact us for details.

Do NOT just sign up for another event until you contact us first -- you will need written confirmation from us to make the switch, but we’re pretty reasonable about this. Please note that we need AT LEAST 15 DAYS notice before the event you want to skip in order to transfer your registration. (Why? See paragraph above!)

You can also roll-over full credit for your registration until next year, with our written permission. Again, we need at least 15 days advance notice, and again we’re usually pretty reasonable about this. Your registration credit will be valid through whatever the last event is that we run in ’10.

When you transfer or roll-over your registration to another event we will refund your ride fees in full except the on-line service fees, since we don’t get any of that money -- we are not refunded or credited for them by Active.com. (We’re nice enough to roll over your fee to another ride. We’re mean enough that we don’t want it to cost us $7 every time someone does this, since people do it a lot!)

Sell or Give Your Ride Registration to Someone Else

All you need to do to sell your spot is give your name to the new rider. The new rider MUST check in at the start on ride day so we can update our records, even if you bought the Express Lane pre-mail service.

Why?

Because if they get smooshed by a truck and they are wearing a numbered wristband that our records show belongs to you, we won’t know the difference (because them smooshed and you smooshed look pretty much the same...) and we will call YOUR family and tell them that YOU are DEAD, DEAD, DEAD! (Try explaining THAT ONE at Thanksgiving dinner!)

When the new rider checks in, they simply say, “I’m riding for Jim Smith, but my name is...”  They can pick any distance, no matter what you specified when you signed up. They get whatever extra-goodies you signed up for -- if you registered for transportation to the ride, they get it. If you bought a Medium racing jersey, they get a Medium (only) racing jersey.

Craig’s List - NY

Craig’s List - Boston

The Farm Ride Chat Group

The New York Cycle Club Message Board

Please note that re-selling your ride registration is completely legal, but we do not get involved in any way with these transactions. It is up to you to work out payment with the buyer/seller.

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Photo by Stacy Young

Registration Deadlines

Early-bird discount registration: Ends at 11:59 p.m. on August 3, 2010 -- prices go UP after that! That’s not to be mean; that discount is a reward for those who sign up early, since early registration makes our jobs easier.

Advance registration: Ends on August 10th at noon.  (Why do we end registration “early”?  We need time to print out all the registration info and make copies so it can be waiting at morning check-in, and that takes serious time!)

Last-Minute Registration: It’s the last minute and you want to join the ride? Good! Here’s what to do:

We’ll post as much info here as we can, so you can see if space is still available.  (The ride will not sell out and housing will be available; housing specifically in the Campus Center Hotel may sell out.)

1. •If you want to take the optional transportation from NYC to the ride, be at our departure location (to be announced) on Friday August 13th at 9:30 a.m. or 5:00 p.m. (We are offering two different departure times). There’s no guarantee that we can accommodate you, but we’ll do our very best.  The day-of price is $300 and is CASH ONLY.  (No checks, no credit cards. ATM machines are nearby). This price does NOT include lodging, which you can pay for separately. Lodging costs $30 - $134 per night, depending on which housing you choose.  (Dorm room, deluxe dorm apartment, or hotel). 
   

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3. •If you are driving on your own to the ride, and you want to stay with us on campus, check in is on Friday August 13th any time after 3:00 p.m. Again, we can NOT guarantee a spot for you unless you pre-register, but we’ll do our best. As a rule of thumb the Campus Center Hotel may sell out, but the dorms do not.
   

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5. •Have your own place to stay? Getting to the ride on your own? Excellent! The ride itself never sells out. Just show up at the start line for the ride on Saturday August 13th at 7:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. and sign up there. Again, day-of registration is CASH ONLY -- no credit cards, no checks. ATM machines are nearby.
   

The higher day-of price is not to be mean; it’s to encourage you to sign up in advance, since that makes our jobs easier. Some riders prefer to pay the day-of price, and call it “rain insurance.” They pay a bit more, but since they don’t register until ride day, they are guaranteed sunny weather!

I Hate Computers! I Don't Have A Credit Card! Why Do I Have To Register On-Line? Why Are You So Mean?

When we did mail-in registration, a bunch of us volunteers would wind up sitting around until midnight every night for about two weeks, opening mail and stuffing envelopes. By the time the actual ride rolled around, we were burned out and cranky and having no fun, and I happen to be pro-fun. 

My number-one goal is to take better care of the cyclists AND our volunteers. On-line registration makes life much easier for the volunteers, and that's important. On-line is also more accurate for you – if you fill out the registration form yourself, there’s little chance of typos or lost paperwork!

Nowadays, most people either own a computer or know someone who owns a computer (and public libraries have internet access you can use for free).

Most people either have a credit card or know someone who has a credit card.

Glen

Your tour director and humble servant

glen @ the farm ride . com

Not ready to sign up yet, but want to be added to our bike ride mailing list? Just click here.