Olympic road race warmup this weekend

xcmad

Where are we watching it?

I'm taking a couple of mates down from High Wycombe, need to be back by 1pm. Looks like will head down to Woking area. Are you going? Where are you heading? Are you going to run buy by the side of the riders? Other questions like that

usedtobefast

Not bothering as the best place to watch Boxhill is closed off to all but a few invited guests. I'm hoping it'll be televised but haven't looked yet as to choice, hoping for ITV4 but I suspect it'll be on Eurosport.

Olympic road race course = farse for spectators.

dilemna

Just like premiership football. The fans are excluded in favour of corporate/commercial interests. It's a great pity the authorities have chosen to prevent people from spectating especially on Box Hill, but don't forget this is Britain - cycling hating country that it is. If the Olympics were being held in France, Spain, Belgium, Holland, anywhere else in fact, it would be a real source of pride to allow cycling fans to spectate. But no this is Britain.

roberts8

I agree, this shows the attitude of a lot of people including the NT towards cyclists, ironic when you think of the money we put into their cafe at the top. Just been for a spin on Boxhill. The barriers are well concealed in the trees so the cameras do not see them. The impression that it will create is that we are as a nation not interested in cycling. I assume the security firms and the watchtowers will be in tomorrow. How sad.

xcmad

Box Hill situation a bit dull, agreed, but its a 145m course - plenty of spots to catch the boys roll past. I'm going to embrace the fact Olympics is here rather than shun.

Looking at the map, I reckon we can easily catch them in two seperate locations - Weybridge and then Esher. Just not sure how road closures will effect us getting there to watch

ms_tree

I was thinking of going up to London maybe to Knightsbridge or Brompton Rd but as the race is only going out and then coming back then I would have to hang around for 3 hrs - so won't bother now.

roypsb

It's my birthday so I'll be popping round my Mum's in the morning. She lives the Shepperton side of Walton Bridge so I'll take a stroll over the bridge with my lad and watch them whizz by as they head down Oatlinds Drive towards Weybridge.

Not a decent spot but we're both big Cav fans so hoping to catch a glimpse of him.

SLX01

usedtobefast wrote:

Not bothering as the best place to watch Boxhill is closed off to all but a few invited guests. I'm hoping it'll be televised but haven't looked yet as to choice, hoping for ITV4 but I suspect it'll be on Eurosport.

Olympic road race course = farse for spectators.

Its not on any TV live but BBC are meant to be showing it next week sometime which is a bit bizarre but just about sums up the entire event.

xcmad

RoyPSB wrote:

It's my birthday so I'll be popping round my Mum's in the morning. She lives the Shepperton side of Walton Bridge so I'll take a stroll over the bridge with my lad and watch them whizz by as they head down Oatlinds Drive towards Weybridge..

Was looking at Oatlands, but will probably head down to Woking way instead. Have a great birthday, hope you get a glimpse of the missile!

Le Commentateur

It's being shown as part of a longer programme about Olympic sports and the build up to next year's Games, called Olympic Countdown, presented by Claire Balding. Road race highlights will total about 20 minutes apparently, running from 1.55-2.15pm, followed by coverage of the BMX test event.

pease

ill be heading to either the west byfleet section, where it turns off the old woking road opposite sheerwater road, or in Ripley willage. Cant decide which yet, possibly the latter as its a longer ride to get to.

SLX01

pease wrote:

ill be heading to either the west byfleet section, where it turns off the old woking road opposite sheerwater road, or in Ripley willage. Cant decide which yet, possibly the latter as its a longer ride to get to.

There is a bridge over the river between Byfleet and Ripley that is really narrow and would seem a good place as its bound to slow them a little bit.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=byfleet ... 2,180,,0,0

Mark Bom

I contacted Surrey police about whether I could ride to The Pyrford area and keep bike with me.

They replied that it depends on how big the crowds are, but also pointed out that road closures are for bikes as well as cars.

Therefore, I'm not taking the chance of having to leave my bike unattended and find road closures for bikes ridiculous, so I'm going to forget it.

Really sad as this was in my diary as a must do ages ago, but the restrictions make it too complicated.

pease

ah yes newark lane! forgot about that, it was part of the woking bikeathon this year iirc.

roypsb

xcmad wrote:

RoyPSB wrote:

It's my birthday so I'll be popping round my Mum's in the morning. She lives the Shepperton side of Walton Bridge so I'll take a stroll over the bridge with my lad and watch them whizz by as they head down Oatlinds Drive towards Weybridge..

Was looking at Oatlands, but will probably head down to Woking way instead. Have a great birthday, hope you get a glimpse of the missile!

Thanks

rick_chasey

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12794109

We're way ahead of you :P

dave_1

hope some of the domestic riders make an impact in this event. Would show how the premier calendar level riders have come up in level from the Star Trophy days when the gap between the two levels-continent vs British domestic racing was a gulf

LeicesterLad

Le Commentateur wrote:

It's being shown as part of a longer programme about Olympic sports and the build up to next year's Games, called Olympic Countdown, presented by Claire Balding. Road race highlights will total about 20 minutes apparently, running from 1.55-2.15pm, followed by coverage of the BMX test event.

That sum's up the state of British Cyling and the Attitude of the BBC and Olympic Road Race Organisers. 20 minutes coverage with fatty horse woman. Great.

cougie

Nice attitude mate. What do you expect ? 4 hours live ? It all costs money and frankly the audience for it isn't worth it. It's hardly the tour.

As to the NT well it's a nature preserve. They don't want it ruined by thousands of spectators and I respect that. It's not their fault - the organisers should have chosen a different route.

NWLondoner

cougie wrote:

Nice attitude mate. What do you expect ? 4 hours live ? It all costs money and frankly the audience for it isn't worth it. It's hardly the tour.

As to the NT well it's a nature preserve. They don't want it ruined by thousands of spectators and I respect that. It's not their fault - the organisers should have chosen a different route.

Well they showed the London triathlon live last Sunday and at the risk of upsetting the Tri crowd I'd suspect that has even smaller viewing figures than for road cycling.

If the NT were so worried they should have refused permission. Have they taken any money from locog for the privilege???

Have the organisers never watched a TdF race?? It is all about the mountain stages and this is where you will have the majority of the crowds

Why wasn't a loop out to ditching beacon chosen???

cougie

Footy season hadnt started the other week - and the London Tri has been on TV for years - its got history. Its probably easier to cover too than the longer loop road cycling.

SLX01

cougie wrote:

Nice attitude mate. What do you expect ? 4 hours live ? It all costs money and frankly the audience for it isn't worth it. It's hardly the tour.

Its not even on the bbc red button service they have moto GP qualifying, qualifying FFS its not even a real race!! This is an international cycling race, with our best cyclist for years competing on home soil fresh from the TdF. I would at least expect proper highlights on the day not a few clips shoved in another programme next week. Most of SW London is going to be inconvenienced for the day and won't even be able to watch the reason why on TV, except for a clip on the six o clock news to find out who won.

carl_p

SLX01 wrote:

Its not even on the bbc red button service they have moto GP qualifying, qualifying FFS its not even a real race!! This is an international cycling race, with our best cyclist for years competing on home soil fresh from the TdF.

A real race?? Come on I think your bigging this up a bit. It's a "warm up" after all, a chance for some riders to recce the course and for the organisers to plan for next year. Nothing more unfortunately. If you've been watching the Eneco Tour this week you will have realised that largely flat courses, with the majority of the action happening in the last 5 mins hardly make for exciting viewing over 4-5 hours.

SLX01

Carl_P wrote:

SLX01 wrote:

Its not even on the bbc red button service they have moto GP qualifying, qualifying FFS its not even a real race!! This is an international cycling race, with our best cyclist for years competing on home soil fresh from the TdF.

A real race?? Come on I think your bigging this up a bit. It's a "warm up" after all, a chance for some riders to recce the course and for the organisers to plan for next year. Nothing more unfortunately. If you've been watching the Eneco Tour this week you will have realised that largely flat courses, with the majority of the action happening in the last 5 mins hardly make for exciting viewing over 4-5 hours.

Maybe you should start a campaign to remove all cycling from the TV unless it includes a mountain then? The majority of road races only get 'exciting; in the last 1km maybe they should cut down the coverage of all the big tours and just show the sprints then? Golf seems to get plenty of coverage on te TV are you telling me watching a couple of blokes walking around a park followed y a few shots of the sky is exciting tv?

ianlash

dilemna wrote:

Just like premiership football. The fans are excluded in favour of corporate/commercial interests. It's a great pity the authorities have chosen to prevent people from spectating especially on Box Hill

Tickets for Box Hill and The Mall were given to members of British Cycling, free of charge. I do agree the restrictions sound ridiculous, but I think the National Trust have imposed the restrictions for Box Hill as it is NT land.

usedtobefast

The root cause of the problem is lack of consultation between LOGOC, NT, Surrey CC etc over the route and issues around spectator access. LOGOC got caught with it's metophoric pants down and it won't admit there's a problem and they got it wrong by changing the course. Political face saving at the expense of fans and supporters of the sport.

Regarding the SSI area of Box Hill apparently it's in international law that SSI's must be protected from damage by the land owner, which leaves the NT's hands tied.

SLX01

If you have been up there and seen the the amount of metal fencing placed all over the hill I doubt very much has been done in the way of saving the wildlife its probably done more damage most of the fans would have done less damage just standing at the roadside.
I was very pleased to see the 3 people in their lovely 2012 prepares T shirts in the queue in front of me asking for receipts for their tea and cake up the hill today so they could claim it as expenses. I thought to myself at least my Council tax is not going to waste its paying for some overpaid idiot to stuff their face with cake whilst planning more ways to get the public even more annoyed off with the Olympics fiasco.

gattocattivo

I would have watched it if the attitude of the organizers hadn't been to make it virtually impossible for anyone to watch it

SLX01

gattocattivo wrote:

I would have watched it if the attitude of the organizers hadn't been to make it virtually impossible for anyone to watch it

I find it rather curious that when the Sky ride was on and the Tour prologue came to London Tfl advertised it widely to get people out on the streets and involved. With this event most of their publicity seems to be aimed at warning people to stay at home 'cos all the roads are shut.

RichN95.

SLX01 wrote:

gattocattivo wrote:

I would have watched it if the attitude of the organizers hadn't been to make it virtually impossible for anyone to watch it

I find it rather curious that when the Sky ride was on and the Tour prologue came to London Tfl advertised it widely to get people out on the streets and involved. With this event most of their publicity seems to be aimed at warning people to stay at home 'cos all the roads are shut.

It's the equivalent of a dress rehearsal. The purpose of the event is to make sure all the logistics run smoothly in 2012 - nothing more. It's not meant to be a spectator event. They really don't want the likes of us complicating things too much.

Tomorrow is not about spectators - it never has been. And people shouldn't be upset that that is how it is.

SLX01

RichN95 wrote:

SLX01 wrote:

gattocattivo wrote:

I would have watched it if the attitude of the organizers hadn't been to make it virtually impossible for anyone to watch it

I find it rather curious that when the Sky ride was on and the Tour prologue came to London Tfl advertised it widely to get people out on the streets and involved. With this event most of their publicity seems to be aimed at warning people to stay at home 'cos all the roads are shut.

It's the equivalent of a dress rehearsal. The purpose of the event is to make sure all the logistics run smoothly in 2012 - nothing more. It's not meant to be a spectator event. They really don't want the likes of us complicating things too much.

Tomorrow is not about spectators - it never has been. And people shouldn't be upset that that is how it is.

That didn't seem to stop them flogging tickets for the other events though did it?? I would have thought the whole point of a dry run is to see how the whole thing goes including marshalling spectators, security and transport? Its not even being shown on tv so the press side isn't being tried out fully either? What are they actually having a dry run for, just to see if Cav and Co can get around the course without getting lost?