What happened to Richmond Park??

mattsimmonds12

I went to Richmond Park last night to discover they had spread so much gravel on the road that it was extremely difficult to ride and even harder to stop or corner... Does anyone know when they did this and the reason behind it??

Berns12

Resurfacing work by the contractor who made a mess of it last year turning RP into a puncture fest for a few weeks.

Our club liason with the Royal Parks said the contractor is doing it out of their own pocket to make amends and the new surface is supposed to be a lot better and should not result in so much residual gravel kicking around for weeks like it did last year although we should expect some.

I was in Spain last weekend for a sportive. We did a recce drive a couple of days before and the workers there were busy resurfacing a large section of the downhill. By Saturday the surface was ready for the sportive and it was as smooth as a baby's bottom.

No idea why a country which gets a bad rep for being slow and laid back can lay a surface quicker and better than here

mattsimmonds12

Thanks Bern. I guess that's good news but last night there was a considerable amount of gravel on there, most of which was ridged (possible by roadworks vehicles with a large tread) and was almost unrideable and certasinly very dangerous... Hopefully it will clear soon... Not fun..

FransJacques

Cuz this country sucks goats that's why. Every side of a contract is on the take and costs add up. If you want something done, you have many stakeholders:

- council as a customer (the whole lifecycle from request for tender to quality control)
- council as a planner
- council as a works permit granter and fine collector should work-overrun
- traffic police
- contractor(s)
- health and safety
- insurance on all sides
- lawyers
- unions?

Once everyone gets paid the costs add up, so where the plan might have been to resurface a large part of a road badly affected by the harsh wiinter, say, the final budget will only allow for some pot-hole filling here and there, making for a pock-marked moon-scape like so many of the roads I cycle on.

Casbar

I ride a lot around Chipstead...the council there has been ripped off by a resurfacing contractor

Roads that used to be reasonably smooth with a few pot holes , have been turned into super rough ( wrist braking ) roads ..with the same pot holes just slightly filled in. They have done a terrible job

Absolutely rediculous !!!

TheRock!

It was fine on Saturday but came Monday, the resurfacing has already started just after passing Ham Gate (Ham Dip) right upto Kingston Gate.

That didn8t stop some riders with road bikes charging through the flyin' gravel! :shock: There was no way my little filly was going through that crap :evil: so ended up exploring other areas of the park not previously ventured before which was a bonus.

Alone behold the next day, the resurfacing has started from Sheen Gate mini-round about going up Sawyers Hill but not sure how far up that direction.

The notice now reads 2weeks. Don8t mind so long as they do it properly and smooth it all out like a baby's bottom!

:?: Does anyone know if the entire road in and around the whole park or just some sections are being resurfaced?

thebongolian

FransJacques - the Royal Parks aren't the council but otherwise very right.

I notice a similar surface has been put down on the bike path through Hyde Park, presumably to slow cyclists down

JonEdwards

Rode it this morning. There's 2 "ok" tracks per lane that the cars have made. The rest of the road is covered in between half and one inch of gravel. Very, very dusty. Tasted like I'd been sucking Gandhi's flipflop by the time I got to the top

The "work" (I use the term loosely) goes from Sheen gate island all the way up to Richmond Gate.

tomb8555

This afternoon I saw that the gravel now starts from the little roundabout at the base of broomfield (the first roundabout you meet going clockwise from roehampton gate). Didn't venture through it to find out how far it went. Seems odd, that stretch of road was fine..

cjcp

It re-starts at the top of Broomfield and runs to the rouandabout at Kingston Gate. Careful down Dark Hill.

bikergirl17

bottom line, is the park usable (exercising caution of course)?

kurako

Is it a cunning ploy to stop cyclists from enjoying themselvea and possibly going at more than (gulp) 20mph?

Petromyzon

I haven't been since Tuesday but if you are talking about a road bike with skinnyish tires and you want to go at a reasonable pace I would wait until the first sweep happens. If you have a 'crosser or MTB and don't mind it getting very dusty then get involved!!

Last time the aggregate they put down didn't stick to the asphalt that is sprayed on before it. In addition it was too sharp and was causing a lot of punctures. AFAIK they swept weekly until the problem had abated. This time the aggregate is less sharp apparently and they hope it will stick properly as well.

I think they do this to improve the surface at a fraction of the cost of re-laying the road entirely.

TheRock!

bikergirl17 wrote:

bottom line, is the park usable (exercising caution of course)?

MTB's and hybrids with fatboy tires should be ok all the way round. But, limited runway left as of today for roadies with skinny tires :arrow: between Roehampton Gate all the way to Robin Hood Gate and back, AND Ham Dip to Richmond Gate and back.

Am sure they won8t touch the smooth surface from Sheen Gate entrance down to the little mini roundabout. But all gravel turning right to go up Sawyers Hill to Richmond Gate and turning left towards Roehampton Gate. RobinHood Gate up Broomfield was all fine on Tuesday but today saw the gravel. My filly refuses to go anywhere but buttery smooth so have no idea whether the gravel has now reached from Broomfield all the way to Kingston Gate. :roll:

Ham Gate (Ham Dip) is fine until you go up and over the little slope heading to Kingston Gate is all gravel. Ham Gate (Ham Dip) to Richmond Gate is no problemo. But as soon as you hit Richmond Gate heading down Sawyers Hill is all gravel.

Hope this helps. Am told they will not lay tarmac in order to save costs.
So fingers x'ed the loose gravel gets bedded in and smoothed out soon.

STORMSY

I live a ten minute ride from it and there's no hesitation when I say Richmond Park is a crap place to ride, made into more and more of a hassle in recent years. Have avoided it since 2007. 20mph, cars and more cars, re-surfacing again and again... the list goes on.

Petromyzon

I disagree! We are incredibly lucky to have a 7 mile circuit of continuous road in the middle of the most populous city in the UK. Traffic can be a problem, but to compensate all the major corners are well-sighted and so if you pick a quiet time to ride it is perfectly possible to do an entire lap and touch the brakes once or twice. You can therefore get some incredible training done.

As for the resurfacing, a bit of patience is required. The surface in RP is really good compared to the Surrey roads I have been riding on recently, which are at times like riding on the surface of the moon- hard to keep a rhythm when going hard. The last time they did it the process failed, for whatever reason, which is why we have another disruption now.

I'm lucky enough to live on the Surrey side of the park and have the choice as to where to ride. I know that for people who live more centrally the park is absolutely essential for their training- they don't always have the time to spend 30 min dodging traffic before they hit the lanes.

I would like it very much if there were fewer cars- but that applies to the whole world, not just the park. Unfortunately the park traps a large amount of residential housing up against the river- I don't think it is practical at the moment to expect it to close to traffic.

cjcp

Petromyzon wrote:

I'm lucky enough to live on the Surrey side of the park and have the choice as to where to ride. I know that for people who live more centrally the park is absolutely essential for their training- they don't always have the time to spend 30 min dodging traffic before they hit the lanes.

+1. Kingston Gate is a three minute ride away. Having kids and so a very limited window to train means that it's nothing but a huge plus having the Park on my doorstep. It takes me 45 mins-odd just to get to the start of the Surrey lanes.

marcusjb

Another voice to say how lucky we are to have this amazing place on our doorstep (I am in Chiswick, so 15 mins away). Sure, it can get crowded (with both cars AND cyclists), but the beauty of living so close is I can use it at times where, sometimes, I'll not see another soul, even in summer!

There's enough variation and interest on the trip around to make it somewhere I do not get bored of. It's easy to forget one is only a few miles from central London (ignoring the planes!).

If you've not ridden there since 2007, I'd suggest getting up early one morning and doing a few laps before the heat and the traffic build up. It's a beautiful park and we are so very lucky it is there. (I'd wait a week or so to let the gravel get swept a bit more).

That said, I passed through yesterday on way back from Box Hill direction, and the gravel is getting a lot better on the Kingston - Richmond section.

Retch

marcusjb wrote:

Another voice to say how lucky we are to have this amazing place on our doorstep (I am in Chiswick, so 15 mins away). Sure, it can get crowded (with both cars AND cyclists), but the beauty of living so close is I can use it at times where, sometimes, I'll not see another soul, even in summer!

There's enough variation and interest on the trip around to make it somewhere I do not get bored of. It's easy to forget one is only a few miles from central London (ignoring the planes!).

If you've not ridden there since 2007, I'd suggest getting up early one morning and doing a few laps before the heat and the traffic build up. It's a beautiful park and we are so very lucky it is there. (I'd wait a week or so to let the gravel get swept a bit more).

That said, I passed through yesterday on way back from Box Hill direction, and the gravel is getting a lot better on the Kingston - Richmond section.

Amen to that.

Went down this morning and whilst the initial stretch clockwise is fine, the bit after sawyers hill is definitely not. Passing cars turn it into a Lawrence of Arabia stylee dust storm, and dark hill even at 15 mph max is "interesting". Saves the parks police getting their speed gun out mind as anything quick has your front wheel twitching more than Bill Oddie.

Still a lush place for a Sunday spin, and we're lucky to have it.

canoas

I came back from an Italian Sportive a week ago, all I can say is, the roads in Italy were brilliant, smooth and fantastic, well they seem that way coming from the UK. A few days of riding around before the big day certainly was a pleasure. I honestly have to say the tarmac in the UK is the worst in Europe, it is simply shi....tttt

I ride in RP as much as possible and Surrey Hills, the roads are pizzas. Dangerous and a joke. I've ridden in Spain, France, Italy in Switzerland in the last 18 months and I'm just ashamed when I come back to London. Yeah RP is a fantastic luxury, would be better if they can do just a basic job, I say get the Spanish or Italians over here, let them take over RP and build a fantastic tarmac.

I'll avoid RP for the next 3 weeks.

TheRock!

+1 for previous posts about having RP on our doorstep with 7 miles stretch for cycling.

Did my 4hour Sunday training despite tons of charity riders up Sawyer's Hill, surface which felt like treacle! Before the resurfacing, it was tarmac like which was smoother and faster rolling but now unless my fitness has hit rock bottom, had to get out of the saddle to get the speed going. Will avoid the resurfacing to bed-in properly until you can bomb down Broomfield at full pelt. In the mean time, the stretch between Roehampton Gate cafe to RobinHood Gate is nice n' smooth.

The best roads I've ever ridden Canada and Denmark. Buttery smooth, clean, no litter, no potholes, and most important of all :arrow: consideration by those behind wheels to cyclists. Another thing, where are the traffic cops in RP when you want them to catch impatient drivers overtaking as usual when it's not safe to do so. I must have yelled pretty hard for one car to take notice. I'm all for banning cars in RP. Hire a bike, bring your own and if you can8t ride just walk, stroll, or run. Cars don8t belong in a nature reserve and their numbers entering RP should be restricted for safety and pollution! What's the point of having a nature reserve only to pump gas fumes :evil: Max speed limit of 10mph for cars but 30mph for cyclists

And here's another reason to visit RP (nice of them to let me get close)

snakehips

Holy crapolee !
This morning was my first time in there for a few weeks or more. On my last visit the road was melting !
Today I did four laps anti. On two of my Broomfield descents I met a contractors lorry coming up the other way , stirring up the stones and spewing out a shower of small particles and dust all over the carriageway at about my head height.
On one descent there was a wet strip on the road on my side, presumably caused by a failed attempt to minimise the dust clouds. I stuck my front wheel on that and followed it. Unfortunately at the bottom of Broomfield on the way to the roundabout I went in to shadow under a tree and hit a section where the gravel was still about half an inch deep. Not a pleasant experience at 20 mph (or thereabouts).
My final lap was relatively pleasant.
Having had my moan I have to say that large sections of the road now seem to be finished and are much better that the last time. Sawyers e.g. is now good IMHO.

Snake

My Library

birdy247

Can anyone else confirm sawyers hill is good to ride on a road bike at pace?

tomb8555

The whole park is fine to ride now in both directions. The car tyre-tracks are completely free from loose gravel, with hardly any gravel on the rest of the road. Just be careful going down broomfield incase there are a few loose stones, but it was fine to go down at speed this evening.

The only problem is the dust. I haven't been able to stop coughing since I got back an hour ago and I'm wheezing pretty badly.

I also probably wouldn't risk your expensive tubulars (if you've got some). Training wheels/tyres all the way.

marcusjb

Definitely pretty good now. There's still a bit of loose gravel on Dark Hill - but as long as you stay in the tracks going down you're fine. Did a couple of loops this evening - one anti and one CW - there is still quite a lot of dust, but nothing like it has been. If we could just have another big shower or two like this morning (help my garden along as well!) then it will only get better. Certainly open for play, but just be a little cautious to stay in the tyre tracks on the downhill sections.

TheRock!

Hmmm not sure iLike loads of loose gravel all over the place when "bombing" down Broomfield as there's only two car tyre tracks to stick to all the way down at full pelt (if you don8t get it right or hit the brakes, chance of sliding through the gravels) so one fast descent was enough for my filly today. The remaining hour was spent riding on the smoother sections elsewhere in RP which was nice.

Not sure how i managed to storm up Dark Hill !!!awesome!!! but totally struggled going up Sawyers Hill :roll: iUsed to be able to shoot up that whole stretch starting from SheenGate mini-roundabout but now the surface feels like my tyres are in stuck in treacle! Surface has no loose gravels but lots of rolling resistance :roll: how is that possible? Time taken going up Sawyers was definitely faster before this new resurfacing. This is so very annoying. :evil: Other than that it's fine except will wait for the loose gravel to be mopped up completely down Broomfield.

amnezia

went for a single lap this evening for a quick evaluation.

Apart from being a little bit dusty its seems to be ok. The only sketchy bit is heading down Broomfield were theres still some lose gravel.

thebongolian

canoas wrote:

I came back from an Italian Sportive a week ago, all I can say is, the roads in Italy were brilliant, smooth and fantastic, well they seem that way coming from the UK. A few days of riding around before the big day certainly was a pleasure. I honestly have to say the tarmac in the UK is the worst in Europe, it is simply shi....tttt

I ride in RP as much as possible and Surrey Hills, the roads are pizzas. Dangerous and a joke. I've ridden in Spain, France, Italy in Switzerland in the last 18 months and I'm just ashamed when I come back to London. Yeah RP is a fantastic luxury, would be better if they can do just a basic job, I say get the Spanish or Italians over here, let them take over RP and build a fantastic tarmac.

I'll avoid RP for the next 3 weeks.

If only it were that simple... we could have their tarmac but we'd have to pay for it. Our roads see a lot more traffic so are built to a tougher spec. Plus they're more exposed to winter damage so again need to be tougher.

Zav

I did 3 laps with Mr T Bongolian last night and was pleasantly surprised by the surface.

Schobiedoo

I just did a couple of laps tonight and I couldn't work out why they've resurfaced it as it felt as rough in some places as it did before. I was hoping that they might have sorted out the ridges between the Ham gate junction and the Kingston gate. At least there's no gravel.

Toks

Hmm i think trying to get PB's in 3 lap challenges just got a little tougher. The resurfaced stuff is a little rough and you wouldn't wanna take too many risks on the descent (anti clockwise) given the surface. Neverthess a lovely mornings ride - 5 laps :shock: