What is going on here?

ridge
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2394
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4/1/2008
Location
Apple Valley, CA, USA
Edited Date/Time 1/24/2012 1:54pm
What's with all these tracks charging $25 to practice? I'm not bitching about $25 to ride all day, but $25 to ride from 12 to 5, or 3 to 8. On top of that, some tracks have separate practice classes so you can only go out when it's your turn. Some tracks will charge for the first half of the day and then charge again for the second half.

What really gets me is the tracks are not prepped. It's almost like they're doing us a favor by opening up, or we're bothersome to them. Where are the flaggers?

If you are going to charge us $25 to ride, than open it all day. What else are you doing? You own a freakin MX track! Open it all day or spend half of the day prepping it so we feel we are getting our monies worth. Use some of the property to grow pot and then sell it if you are that hard up for cash.

I know most don't ride here so they will just think I'm whining, but I spent $50 (total) today and got to ride for 45 minutes because the track owner had too many classes.
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RuFfRyDaH
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250
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5/18/2009
Location
Halle, DE
7/18/2009 12:47am
wow thats crazy...

here in germany we dont get the tracks prepped, we dont have flaggers...but we only pay like 10 euro to ride...;-)

50 and only 45 minutes sucks major balls!
bullpen58
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4399
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8/15/2006
Location
Fresno, CA, USA
7/18/2009 12:51am
My guess is, we're naive when it comes to how much it costs to operate a track. EVERYTHING costs money from prepping the track to the flaggers.

Either that, or we're getting butt-raped by the industry and they're laughing all the way to the bank.
Big Lenny
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14378
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Location
Compton, CA, USA
7/18/2009 1:00am
Ridge, where? give us names...
FIREfish148
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Location
Kirkland, WA, USA
7/18/2009 1:05am
Albany?

The Shop

Electro21
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2165
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6/11/2008
Location
Dumfries, VA, USA
Fantasy
7/18/2009 2:37am Edited Date/Time 7/18/2009 2:39am
Move to Oahu. Its only $3 a day to ride trails and/or mx with a $25 annual membership. The downsides are it is only open on the weekends, and everything else here is outrageously priced. It also costs $70 per class to race. But, the trip up to the track allows for lots of eye candy along the North Shore.
Foo723
Posts
197
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Pensacola, FL, USA
7/18/2009 5:45am
50.00 for 45 mins would be unacceptable to me.

of course, i''m old school. i raced in the 70's and 80's. never paid a dime to just ride practice, nobody did back then. there were many claypits in our area and everyone of the had some type of track layout, some better than others. a buddy's dad owned a paving and grading company, so the claypit behind their place was usually prepped pretty.

back then, all the local tracks had gates, but the track owners never bothered to lock them because everyone would break in and ride anyway. everyone.

nowdays, riding areas are drying up and society is litigation happy, you just cant have people doing that anymore.

but 50.00 is too much
Kinetic1
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2796
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6/4/2009
Location
Gun Lake, MI, USA
7/18/2009 5:58am
I pay $100.00 a year and ride as much as I want. Technically he is only open Tue,Thur,Sat and Sun but I know him well enough he will let me ride whenever. He only charges a $100 a year for a single rider and $150 a year for a family. There is a full size track and a kiddie track as well. The downsides are there are never any flaggers so you have to be super aware of whats going on when you ride and it only gets properly groomed once or twice a year. The rest of the year he goes around with a backblade on the back of a big tractor. It gets pretty rough and there is no water so it can get dusty if there is no rain but for what it costs you just can't beat it. It is a beautiful track with a great layout that anyone can ride and have fun. I guess I'm spoiled.
minidad
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57
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4/1/2008
Location
Las Vegas, NV, USA
7/18/2009 6:24am
30 bucks for 4hrs around Vegas
jib-tmb
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835
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8/8/2008
Location
Meadville, PA, USA
7/18/2009 6:34am
We have a decent place here to ride. You pay $200.00 a year. Can ride every day from 9:00 till dark. Really the only downside is no watering so it can get pretty dusty if more than 6 riders are out on the track. Not bad though if you space yourselves out. We take turns discing and mowing too. No flaggers here either. Membership is down this year though due to the economy I suppose
jib-tmb
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Meadville, PA, USA
7/18/2009 6:41am
jib-tmb wrote:
We have a decent place here to ride. You pay $200.00 a year. Can ride every day from 9:00 till dark. Really the only downside is...
We have a decent place here to ride. You pay $200.00 a year. Can ride every day from 9:00 till dark. Really the only downside is no watering so it can get pretty dusty if more than 6 riders are out on the track. Not bad though if you space yourselves out. We take turns discing and mowing too. No flaggers here either. Membership is down this year though due to the economy I suppose
Forgot to mention there's also a couple miles of challenging woods trails too.
MxDaD324
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1628
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9/28/2008
Location
Mechanicsville, MD, USA
7/18/2009 7:26am Edited Date/Time 7/18/2009 7:26am
50 bucks for 45 minutes seems a bit odd, but do you think its cheap to run one of these tracks?
WhKnuckle
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7327
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7/17/2007
Location
USA
7/18/2009 7:37am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 12:58am
I never paid $25 even for a whole day, but it doesn't surprise me that tracks are having a hard time making ends meet. The sport (thanks largely to four strokes) got much more expensive right when people had less money to spend on discretionary things, so that's a bad combination. I know there aren't as many people at the track these days as there used to be - but it seems to me that raising prices when the core problem is that people are finding it hard to afford the sport in the first place is a self-defeating system.

Crying about track prep, though is bullshit. It's motocross.

I pay $500/year and ride for $5 per day. Track isn't always prepped but it's always fun, and I like it unprepped better anyway.
newmann
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24437
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4/1/2008
Location
USA
7/18/2009 7:46am
That's how much you pay on raceday for 36 minutes of track time. And that is the reason I'd rather go on a practice day, to get in as much ride time as possible. Paying twice in the same day? How many people would honestly go for that? With myself and the two kids, I would have had to say something........Smile
TerryK
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9899
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8/17/2006
Location
CA
7/18/2009 7:59am Edited Date/Time 7/18/2009 8:00am
$50.00 for 45 minutes is steep, but many people have NO idea how much it costs to run a track. Insurance for MX tracks these days is outrageous. The last time I ran our local track, (about 5 years ago now) insurance was $1800.00 for the day, ambulance was $1700.00 for 8 hours. Put all the rest of the costs on top and your talking a nice chunk of change.
ASH510
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640
Joined
2/11/2009
Location
USA
7/18/2009 8:05am
i quit going to public tracks when they hit $15 i had heard $25 holy shiot that is a bit much. i live 96 miles from the closest track and the only track besides my personal track that i have ridden on in 4 yrs. but i paid a membership to that track to help out i only go like 3 to 6 times a yr it is like $100 for single and 150 for family.
it is not a great track never ever prepped but i dont prep my own track anyway.. i always wanted rougher tracks to ride on any way. but $50 for half a day wow do they use any
KY or do you supply? if your ass is stilll sore 3 days later from it i say find another track
to ride it might hurt less Wink
Wolfman
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2675
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4/1/2008
Location
Bixby, OK, USA
7/18/2009 8:50am
Tracks around here started doing the same thing years ago. It always seems like when prices go up, you actually get less track time.
calimxer91
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5077
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4/1/2008
Location
Lancaster, CA, USA
7/18/2009 9:00am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 12:58am
LACR had about a hundred riders last WED.They had at least 5 people on Staff and more volunteers.Saw lots of people there leave in about 2 hours.Considered it a bargain and so should you.













SH_105
Posts
646
Joined
5/18/2008
Location
Murrieta, CA, USA
7/18/2009 9:21am
Electro21 wrote:
Move to Oahu. Its only $3 a day to ride trails and/or mx with a $25 annual membership. The downsides are it is only open on...
Move to Oahu. Its only $3 a day to ride trails and/or mx with a $25 annual membership. The downsides are it is only open on the weekends, and everything else here is outrageously priced. It also costs $70 per class to race. But, the trip up to the track allows for lots of eye candy along the North Shore.
Electro, my buddies dad is building the new track on I believe the North Shore right by the Airport. Its meant to be a huge outdoor sports facility with around 3 Mx tracks as well as BMX, wakeboarding and other sports. Have you heard about anything like that going in?? Its nearly 400 acres along the shorline thats Government land. Im hoping to come out when the tracks are finished to ride and do some riding schools.


SH 32
WORCSRacer
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2295
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Location
Clovis, CA, USA
7/18/2009 9:42am
ridge wrote:
What's with all these tracks charging $25 to practice? I'm not bitching about $25 to ride all day, but $25 to ride from 12 to 5...
What's with all these tracks charging $25 to practice? I'm not bitching about $25 to ride all day, but $25 to ride from 12 to 5, or 3 to 8. On top of that, some tracks have separate practice classes so you can only go out when it's your turn. Some tracks will charge for the first half of the day and then charge again for the second half.

What really gets me is the tracks are not prepped. It's almost like they're doing us a favor by opening up, or we're bothersome to them. Where are the flaggers?

If you are going to charge us $25 to ride, than open it all day. What else are you doing? You own a freakin MX track! Open it all day or spend half of the day prepping it so we feel we are getting our monies worth. Use some of the property to grow pot and then sell it if you are that hard up for cash.

I know most don't ride here so they will just think I'm whining, but I spent $50 (total) today and got to ride for 45 minutes because the track owner had too many classes.
Just think for that kinda of money you could have raced at REM.

Practice days are a funny thing, tracks open up, don't water, don't prep, don't have flaggers and split practices up and then charge $25 bucks and yet riders keep showing up... Every extra rider over the 25th rider is profit for the track operator after expenses. The shitty tracks barely make it and the tracks that work at it are doing OK. Not my idea of a great living but for a lot guys I would think making $1500 to $2000 grand a week running a track would beat the shit out of swinging a hammer or turning wrenches. Its a business Ridge, and like anything someplaces are going to be a better deal than others. In Socal I think Adelanto Motoplex is a good deal as well as Comp Edge, Starwest and Pala. LACR can be fun too.


drmarkr
Posts
3226
Joined
8/21/2006
Location
Tucson, AZ, USA
7/18/2009 9:50am
That's the going rate (and hours, for the most part) here in AZ. However, we are getting prepped tracks.

Flaggers at some locale's.
Cygnus
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14845
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8/15/2006
Location
Hanover, CO, USA
7/18/2009 9:52am
$10 all day every day. Hell mother nature helps with track prep sometimes.
cpj36
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724
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7/4/2009
Location
USA
7/18/2009 10:15am
I like it when they decide to charge per class to practice on race day, your entry fee used to cover practice, now they want to sell it separate and you need to buy multiple classes to actually get any decent time.
jtiger12
Posts
1723
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8/2/2006
Location
Forest H Ill, MD, USA
7/18/2009 10:25am
jib-tmb wrote:
We have a decent place here to ride. You pay $200.00 a year. Can ride every day from 9:00 till dark. Really the only downside is...
We have a decent place here to ride. You pay $200.00 a year. Can ride every day from 9:00 till dark. Really the only downside is no watering so it can get pretty dusty if more than 6 riders are out on the track. Not bad though if you space yourselves out. We take turns discing and mowing too. No flaggers here either. Membership is down this year though due to the economy I suppose
hmm.. where would this be?

I was told by the guy who runs the local track here, it takes 22 people a day to break even. saturday and sunday are the only days they actually MAKE money other than races.
ASH510
Posts
640
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2/11/2009
Location
USA
7/18/2009 10:27am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 12:58am
the best way to get your money's worth move out of town buy 40 50 acres and build exactly what you want. my track is at my dads house i have not bought land yet. when i do it will be for the purpose of a bad azz track MX and SX and i was thinking
of hiring a track builder for the SX track then i can ride whenever i want without driving
30 min. this is the only way to get what you really want Smile
ridge
Posts
2394
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Apple Valley, CA, USA
7/18/2009 10:35am
I'm driving through the mountains so i can't type good.

I won't mention track names but i'm not in CA.

Most socal tracks are $20 for all day practice and they are packed! REM is a great deal but a lot of times i just wanna ride...sorry jody!

I don't have any idea what it takes to run a track but i know when i'm not getting the sewrvice i paid for. Also, the last 2 ttracks i've been to are great tracks that ive ridden many times in the past, but since then they have raised the price, radically reduced track time, and don't prep (or shorten the course to the likes of a backyard track.)

I just wanna get what i pay for. No prep and 1/2 day practices should be $15. Full day and prepped is worth $25 to $30 in my opinion.
WORCSRacer
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2295
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Location
Clovis, CA, USA
7/18/2009 10:55am
ridge wrote:
I'm driving through the mountains so i can't type good. I won't mention track names but i'm not in CA. Most socal tracks are $20 for...
I'm driving through the mountains so i can't type good.

I won't mention track names but i'm not in CA.

Most socal tracks are $20 for all day practice and they are packed! REM is a great deal but a lot of times i just wanna ride...sorry jody!

I don't have any idea what it takes to run a track but i know when i'm not getting the sewrvice i paid for. Also, the last 2 ttracks i've been to are great tracks that ive ridden many times in the past, but since then they have raised the price, radically reduced track time, and don't prep (or shorten the course to the likes of a backyard track.)

I just wanna get what i pay for. No prep and 1/2 day practices should be $15. Full day and prepped is worth $25 to $30 in my opinion.
I totally agree.
jib-tmb
Posts
835
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8/8/2008
Location
Meadville, PA, USA
7/18/2009 11:48am Edited Date/Time 7/18/2009 12:43pm
jib-tmb wrote:
We have a decent place here to ride. You pay $200.00 a year. Can ride every day from 9:00 till dark. Really the only downside is...
We have a decent place here to ride. You pay $200.00 a year. Can ride every day from 9:00 till dark. Really the only downside is no watering so it can get pretty dusty if more than 6 riders are out on the track. Not bad though if you space yourselves out. We take turns discing and mowing too. No flaggers here either. Membership is down this year though due to the economy I suppose
jtiger12 wrote:
hmm.. where would this be? I was told by the guy who runs the local track here, it takes 22 people a day to break even...
hmm.. where would this be?

I was told by the guy who runs the local track here, it takes 22 people a day to break even. saturday and sunday are the only days they actually MAKE money other than races.
It's a few miles north of me in Seagertown Pa. The guys that run it lease the land off a guy that owns a KTM Dealership on the same property. They don't do it to make a profit. They just try to make enough money to pay the lease and maintain the track. Not sure who's footing the bill for the insurance. They don't run races but they they do have an occasional "egg hunt" or "poker run". It's mainly just a riding club. Decent track though. About 1.5 miles of mx track.
jib-tmb
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835
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Meadville, PA, USA
7/18/2009 5:51pm Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 12:58am



Kinetic1
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Gun Lake, MI, USA
7/18/2009 6:02pm Edited Date/Time 7/18/2009 6:03pm
jib-tmb wrote:



That's definetly PA dirt. Look at all the rocks. Looks like fun though.

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