Olympic RR/TT/TRACK Cycling.. (may contain spoilers)

tailwindhome

I believe some of you fine folks live in that there London.

Any thoughts/insights on the route?

Anyone ridden the route?

tailwindhome

No interest in the race?

rick_chasey

Should be interesting.

Best bit will be the run into box hill.

Really wide road heading in - box hill itself is pretty narrow - 4-5 riders abreast at best.

So expect run-into-Koppenberg style fighting on the way in.

Similarly, crashes on the hill could put half the field out of contention. As it did on the test event too.

thefilbertfox

I set a time on the TT route on Sunday, although I have been on most of it before apart from the stretch from the A3 to Esher which I now know is undulating but the majority of the course is fairly flat. Still love the stretch from Esher to the Scilly Isles, fast and smooth.
It was nice to ride the route with banners and bunting out and the handy route markers for the sections i was unsure of.

Not sure where to watch any of the races. Will probably head close to my work in Thames Ditton for the TT.

rick_chasey

No radios either I believe.

The run in is also not particularly straight - you won't be getting glimpses of riders 2 minutes up ahead.

dhope

You misspelt spoliers

spasypaddy

got tickets for both box hill and hampton court! should be two great days out

bigmat

Rick Chasey wrote:

Should be interesting.

Best bit will be the run into box hill.

Really wide road heading in - box hill itself is pretty narrow - 4-5 riders abreast at best.

So expect run-into-Koppenberg style fighting on the way in.

Similarly, crashes on the hill could put half the field out of contention. As it did on the test event too.

After the first ascent of Box Hill, they approach the zig zag climb with a very sharp, tight left hand turn. A flying peloton josling to be at the front approaching that corner is a recipe for disaster! Expect plenty of crashes like Rick says - probably not sufficient to cause injuries, but will result in splits, panic and some very hacked off riders. Team GB will be working very hard to keep Cav at the front for the first 2 or 3 laps and I think we may see a largish group go clear with splits behind - if Cav and one or two teammates get into that group it could turn out well for GB.

Any idea where is best to watch the TT? I'm thinking of heading to Esher, pub lunch in town then watch them all go by. Any better ideas?

rick_chasey

Yeah, that run in is going to be costly if you start dropping off the back.


Also, no radios .

Cubic

Does anyone else think that the descent down Coombe Bottom Lane has the potential to be crash black-spot? It must be around an 18% downhill with a 90 degree bend on a tight, single-lane road. I always tense up going down there solo, so it would be pretty hair-raising racing down in the peloton.

rick_chasey

Cubic wrote:

Does anyone else think that the descent down Coombe Bottom Lane has the potential to be crash black-spot? It must be around an 18% downhill with a 90 degree bend on a tight, single-lane road. I always tense up going down there solo, so it would be pretty hair-raising racing down in the peloton.

For sure.

It's not as easy a course as people are making out.

bigmat

The more I look at it, the more I think Box Hill will be the straightforward bit. The run in will be difficult for a break to stay away on though - big wide roads towards the end, could be an exciting chase down.

rick_chasey

BigMat wrote:

The more I look at it, the more I think Box Hill will be the straightforward bit. The run in will be difficult for a break to stay away on though - big wide roads towards the end, could be an exciting chase down.

A lot of it is going to be down to motives post box-hill.

Who is where, and who is motivated to ride/chase.

pangolin

Quite a good article on the road race route here

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/racing/article/preview-london-2012-olympic-road-race-course-34715/

il_principe

Has anyone got a link to a decent map of the TT route?

pangolin

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/2012-olympic-tt-course-men#

http://www.london2012.com/documents/venue-documents/cycling-time-trial-route.pdf

cyclingprop

Thoughts on the best spots to go out and watch for those of us without tickets?

il_principe

pangolin wrote:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/2012-olympic-tt-course-men#

http://www.london2012.com/documents/venue-documents/cycling-time-trial-route.pdf

Cheers!

il_principe

cyclingprop wrote:

Thoughts on the best spots to go out and watch for those of us without tickets?

+1 Thinking of riding out but tough to know how easy it'll be to access good viewing spots with a bike in tow.

rick_chasey

cyclingprop wrote:

Thoughts on the best spots to go out and watch for those of us without tickets?

In a pub showing the race that sits on the route....

rjsterry

Il Principe wrote:

cyclingprop wrote:

Thoughts on the best spots to go out and watch for those of us without tickets?

+1 Thinking of riding out but tough to know how easy it'll be to access good viewing spots with a bike in tow.

Am planning to head to Headley Heath as MTB-Idle did for the test event. Still on the BH circuit, so multiple passes of the race, but not ticketed.

cyclingprop

Rick Chasey wrote:

cyclingprop wrote:

Thoughts on the best spots to go out and watch for those of us without tickets?

In a pub showing the race that sits on the route....

Where?!

rick_chasey

cyclingprop wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

cyclingprop wrote:

Thoughts on the best spots to go out and watch for those of us without tickets?

In a pub showing the race that sits on the route....

Where?!

I've been pointing everyone on pro-race to the temperance which is on the corner from Fulham high street to Putney bridge. I believe a guy from pro-race has booked a table there.

S'where I'd have gone if I hadn't got tickets, and it's near Putney bridge Tube station.

cyclingprop

Hmmm... anyone else likely to be around? Billy might be a bit odd at 10am

rick_chasey

cyclingprop wrote:

Hmmm... anyone else likely to be around? Billy might be a bit odd at 10am

Watch it in the morning on the kings road, do some shopping, have a nice coffee somewhere, maybe an early lunch.

Around 12-1ish head down to the Temperance, watch it there.

S'not like you'll be missing much from 10am to 1pm.

roger_merriman

rjsterry wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

cyclingprop wrote:

Thoughts on the best spots to go out and watch for those of us without tickets?

+1 Thinking of riding out but tough to know how easy it'll be to access good viewing spots with a bike in tow.

Am planning to head to Headley Heath as MTB-Idle did for the test event. Still on the BH circuit, so multiple passes of the race, but not ticketed.

Be warned when I took my guys to Headley Heath, noticed some of the bridleways/footpaths had closure signs.

welkman

On a slightly different note does anyone have details of the bikes to be ridden by team GB? The shots I have seen look really strange.

Gizmo_

welkman wrote:

On a slightly different note does anyone have details of the bikes to be ridden by team GB? The shots I have seen look really strange.

Pinarello Dogma I think? Standard Team Sky issue.

rick_chasey

Gizmo_ wrote:

welkman wrote:

On a slightly different note does anyone have details of the bikes to be ridden by team GB? The shots I have seen look really strange.

Pinarello Dogma I think? Standard Team Sky issue.

Nope.

It's a bike designed by British cycling.

spasypaddy

surely the riders are contracted to ride their team bikes like they did in the worlds maybe with a team gb paint job but still pinarellos and a cervelo for Millar.


welkman can you provide the shots?

rick_chasey

spasypaddy wrote:

surely the riders are contracted to ride their team bikes like they did in the worlds maybe with a team gb paint job but still pinarellos and a cervelo for Millar.

Given the team management for sky and BC are interchangeable, I'd say the sky riders are more flexible with that kind of thing.