I lasted less than half an hour before I walked out. ************************************************ I could have forgiven the fact that it started late. I could have forgiven the fact that the screen was so low down that only the first few rows could see it. I could have forgiven the fact that the guy with the microphone didn't know how to use a microphone. I could have forgiven the fact that they were so ill prepared and amateurish that it was embarrassing. I could have forgiven the fact that in the 30 minutes I stayed all I learned was that the Marie-blanque is really fucking hard. All this I could have forgiven if the people working in the shop/cafe weren't so up their own arse that....grrrrrrr....on the floor above the presentation room they played loud music, chatted and then clod hoppered down the stairs to get to a storeroom keys jangling on the hip every few minutes.
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Dear me it sounds like your day out with Rapha was a load of pish Andrew. Not surprised really sad to say, they could have done far better.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest the Rapha Cafe would to me be full of elitist bike snobs with more money than sense who are in it for the image rather than cycling. A brand like Rapha attracts these types sadly.
No offence to Rapha I have a Rapha top and love the whole 90 quid of it. However they could have done way better, they let themself's down here.
Good grief...... Not the best advert for the company.
ReplyDeleteThis sadly reminds me of a few sentences in Tim Moore's book, French Revolutions where he says something like.....
" There are plenty people whose dull lives are lit up by opportunities to patronise and humiliate people they encounter in their professional capacity. Most of these such people work in Paris or in the Police force although a fair few have made their homes behind the counters of bicycle retailers".
I wrote the post in anger and actually thought that I might have regretted what I said in the cold light of day. However I still feel the same this morning! My central point (which I could have made more succintly and politely) is that if they had had more regard for the 70 people who bought tickets then they would have taken more care over the presentation. It was truly awful but I accept that I didn't last the distance due to wanting to chew my own elbows.
ReplyDeleteOh and Alec - Rapha kit is beautiful (I'd still buy it!), the Rapha Condor Sharp team is terrific so I'm not knocking the whole brand here but you would have hated last night.
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteI was the bumbling presenter at the event last night. Really sorry it wasn't up to your (or probably anyone's) expectations and you had to leave. It was tough for me as I have never done a talk like that before and someone put faith in me to deliver a decent account and I f**ked up, so I don't feel great about it either...
The evening did get better, as soon as I passed over to my colleague Simon and then Cyclefit. We'll have plenty of info online today and next week at Rapha.cc
Good luck with the Etape.
Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteFurther to my comment, Simon Mottram (Rapha Chief Executive) is offering you a one-to-one discussion of the route when it's convenient for you. I apologise on his behalf and again offer my apologies for a rather poor start to proceedings. It honestly did get better!
Please email or call me to arrange this. Thanks
Joe
joe.hall@rapha.cc
0207 482 9176
Nice that Andrew gets a one-to-one, but a total shambles of an evening is an understatement (and yes, I too wasted my time and money). And Joe, it wasn't your fault at all. You should have rehearsed, but no one should have left you out there dying. You tried, and I appreciate that. The Cyclefit guys were good, but the whole evening taught me nothing that about 45 seconds web research wouldn't have...
ReplyDeleteAndrew I too was there, but unwisely chose to sit in the front row, although this gave me the luxury of seeing the whole screen the downside was that I felt too conspicuous to walk out in the first half hour, so i had to suffer the entire awkward, unprofessional presentation.
ReplyDeleteI echo Francis Jago's points above, it was a tough call on Joe, but he shouldn't have been placed in that situation in front of a paying audience who were hungry for information, not pearls of delirious wisdom from some faceless bloke called Charlie.
The whole experiential side of Rapha that evening was far, far below the standard that I would expect from the brand and the price paid for admission.
I learnt one thing, to take an old water bottle to the pen to throw away. Great, thanks. £15 and a long evenign that i won't get back. An evening on the Turbo would have been better preparation for etape.
Sure it is good for you to comment Joe. I agree with what Francis Jago is saying you should have not been thrown in like that with folk paying hard earned money/time for a service.
ReplyDeleteTo me personally 15 quid is a lot of money more so in todays climate and what I do for a living and I like Andrew would be upset.
However to admit that you came short of the mark says a lot about your honesty and Raphas work ethics.