Drum Roll, Boris said...............

d87francis

My gripe is not really with the problem of closing the roads, and I understand the costs involved in policing and ambulances although it has to be said that a lot of sportives are going the 'charity' route as police forces will often give discounts for road closures for 'charity' events. Although I'm still at odds with the notion of private hire of public services which have been created via public funds, would you not let people use a hospital for a day because someone wanted to privately hire it, even if that body was a registered charity. Oh wait that's a poor example as that already happens.

My issue is really with the use of charity in this event. Public discourse around 'charity' is such that any form of criticism over it is deemed as negative, and that any event that is involved with charity is inherently, without question, good. Putting the debate over pragmatism vs charity enabling the perpetuation of inequalities through free market capitalism aside; how can an event be about raising money for private business and charity at the same time? An awful lot of people are profiting off the back of this being for charity, from the sponsors to the hotels and businesses with contracts in this to the organisers who sell places to charities to sell on. Why should it be ok for some to profit out of this (generally big business owners) whilst others give towards it? This is all really an exercise in getting poorer people to fund charities whilst allowing big business to look good for being involved in charitable events.

And my other question still goes un-answered, what happens if you are say £200 short of the £600 you have to raise?

On a side note if anyone is interested in how charity perpetuates the need for charity, Slavoj Zizek goes someway to start to explain it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAMbpQ8J7g

Gazspurs

TakeTurns - reduced me to tears mate! I think I better leave Twitter alone this evening! In a foul mood, had an argument with the Mrs & am generally fuming!

To all those saying its just sour grapes, yes your right it is! Some of the people I've seen that have a place over me is just laughable!

I will be returning my losers jersey along with a strongly worded letter on Monday, I know it wont get me anywhere but it will make me feel better!

the 6 guys from my club that all applied did not get in, the 3 woman that did ALL have! I cant help thinking had I put on my application Chinese, transsexual & over 65 I'd have got a place!

You can not tell me this was a straight out the hat ballot, there was defiantly some quota filling going on!

Anyway, for a brief period I have fallen out of love with my bike!

I'm off to the pub to find the smallest bloke in there & have a fight with him! (a line from Only Fools & Horses before anyone starts saying why beat up small people etc)

Fuming!

Dess1e

Gazspurs wrote:

TakeTurns - reduced me to tears mate! I think I better leave Twitter alone this evening! In a foul mood, had an argument with the Mrs & am generally fuming!

To all those saying its just sour grapes, yes your right it is! Some of the people I've seen that have a place over me is just laughable!

I will be returning my losers jersey along with a strongly worded letter on Monday, I know it wont get me anywhere but it will make me feel better!

the 6 guys from my club that all applied did not get in, the 3 woman that did ALL have! I cant help thinking had I put on my application Chinese, transsexual & over 65 I'd have got a place!

You can not tell me this was a straight out the hat ballot, there was defiantly some quota filling going on!

Anyway, for a brief period I have fallen out of love with my bike!

I'm off to the pub to find the smallest bloke in there & have a fight with him! (a line from Only Fools & Horses before anyone starts saying why beat up small people etc)

Fuming!

Feel the same Gaz (can't bring myself to type the other part of your name ) No tickets at last years Olympics through the ballot system, now this. If they want volunteers on the day they can whistle.

joe.90

i got a place, i made the optionable donation to great ormand street charity...i got a free jersey too! ha ha

i dont really want to do it though. is there anyway of transferring my entry to someone on here??

Gazspurs

Dess - it's OK buddy, I can forgive that you don't like Spurs haha!!

I think the organises should be very careful as it appears they have missed out a lot of genuine cyclists! I hope all of these "oh I'm in I better go buy a bike" brigade fall flat on there arse because I don't think a lot of them I've seen on twitter realise just how hard it will be to do 100 miles in 8/9 hours!

I'd love to get a breakdown post event of all the swept up finishers & thank them personally for wasting a place a proper cyclist could have had!

As for the volunteers, exactly right! They can stick it where the sun don't shine!

freebs

From the Ride London FAQ's
How was the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 ballot drawn?
"The ballot was drawn randomly utilising the answers provided by registrants on their entry forms. It was weighted for Health and Safety purposes to help the maximum number of people get safely around the route within the nine-hour time limit."

mbthegreat

I am reliably informed by a friend on the inside that the ballot is weighted by sex and location. Hence you probably had a better chance of getting in if you are female and from Surrey.

Erebus

Didn't get in, and I just bought a new bike (+1). What a country....

Anonymous

Anyone know what info the charities send you if you go down that route?
I have signed up with BHF, anyone got their pack through from them?

I am guessing there is a lot of info in the magazine that the ballot winners received, but the 'commiserations' one has nothing.

e17blade

E17Blade wrote:

Pants. I'm not in either.

To charity or not to charity......

..... I got a charity spot in the end. I have six months to raise £600 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I raised that much in a few weeks for Movember so my thinking is that it shouldn't be a problem - fingers crossed!

Dess1e

Raising money for charity is fine, but to ask people to sponsor me to do my hobby, rather than a a proper challenge is not something I could do. I would rather they donate directly to the charity so all the funds end up there rather than dispersed in the various ride London stakeholders.

Anonymous

Dess1e wrote:

Raising money for charity is fine, but to ask people to sponsor me to do my hobby, rather than a a proper challenge is not something I could do. I would rather they donate directly to the charity so all the funds end up there rather than dispersed in the various ride London stakeholders.

Completely agree with you.
Its just basically going to end up being an expensive entry fee for me :oops:
As its a charity event I will raise some sponsorship (as I would have done if I had got in on the so called 'Ballot'') but I'll have to make up the difference.
I have stopped drinking though (day 8 now) so that might be worth sponsorship in its own right!

100 miles in the time I want to do it in is quite a challenge for me.
I will likely never do anything more challenging (that I could ask for money for), but I still cannot ask people for money to fund something that I want to do.

e17blade

Dess1e wrote:

Raising money for charity is fine, but to ask people to sponsor me to do my hobby, rather than a a proper challenge is not something I could do. I would rather they donate directly to the charity so all the funds end up there rather than dispersed in the various ride London stakeholders.

All the money I raise for my charity gets paid directly to the charity - nobody else sees a penny.

charlie_potatoes

E17Blade wrote:

Dess1e wrote:

Raising money for charity is fine, but to ask people to sponsor me to do my hobby, rather than a a proper challenge is not something I could do. I would rather they donate directly to the charity so all the funds end up there rather than dispersed in the various ride London stakeholders.

All the money I raise for my charity gets paid directly to the charity - nobody else sees a penny.

Yes but the charities have to pay to enter each rider.
I seem to remember reading that it was a lot more than £48/rider?

Anonymous

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

Yes but the charities have to pay to enter each rider.
I seem to remember reading that it was a lot more than £48/rider?

Well I think the whole concept is pretty fcuked up, but I want to ride the route and hopefully sprint down the Mall.
I had no option but to buy a charity place after the twitter (pronounced twi-eer I believe) generation seem to have nabbed all the ballot places, and I just hope some of the money gets put to good use.

e17blade

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

E17Blade wrote:

Dess1e wrote:

Raising money for charity is fine, but to ask people to sponsor me to do my hobby, rather than a a proper challenge is not something I could do. I would rather they donate directly to the charity so all the funds end up there rather than dispersed in the various ride London stakeholders.

All the money I raise for my charity gets paid directly to the charity - nobody else sees a penny.

Yes but the charities have to pay to enter each rider.
I seem to remember reading that it was a lot more than £48/rider?

I paid the entry fee, not the charity. They get 100% of my sponsorship + gift aid.

I get in the event, the charity gets a load of money, everyone's a winner.

Aren't they?

Anonymous

E17Blade wrote:

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

E17Blade wrote:

Dess1e wrote:

Raising money for charity is fine, but to ask people to sponsor me to do my hobby, rather than a a proper challenge is not something I could do. I would rather they donate directly to the charity so all the funds end up there rather than dispersed in the various ride London stakeholders.

All the money I raise for my charity gets paid directly to the charity - nobody else sees a penny.

Yes but the charities have to pay to enter each rider.
I seem to remember reading that it was a lot more than £48/rider?

I paid the entry fee, not the charity. They get 100% of my sponsorship + gift aid.

I get in the event, the charity gets a load of money, everyone's a winner.

Aren't they?

The charity buys the places, which comes out of your sponsorship.
It's still better than not being involved for them though.

The two issues here are:

1/ The fact that only a (small?) percentage of funds actually go to doing any good.
2/ People are asking their friends to fund them to do something that they want to do.

brindlescoops

This all smacks a little of sour grapes and usual Roadie elitism. Just because you have a bmi of 9, why does that entitle you to a place over someone with a bmi of 20? This is supposed to be an Olympic legacy event, to get people involved in sport, not to stroke the ego's of the already six pack equipped. If you are doing 100 mile + per week then you arent the primary target audience for this reason, but the guys who have got in that arent six pack equipped, will need to train for this and will therefore improve their fitness and get out on their bike more than they would have otherwise, therefore making the concept a success. If you didn't get in (neither did I by the way) get a charity place (as I am) and instead of spending the extra time training that you wont need to do as you are already at that fitness level, spend the time raising money for a good cause. Simples.

Anonymous

There are basically 3 groups of riders:

1/ Fast eager amateurs with low BMI's and really nice bikes
2/ Poor to Average amateurs with low to high BMI'S and budget to really nice bikes.
3/ People who may have never ridden before, probably never will again, have no interest in cycling, may not even train, may not finish in 9 hours and riding a completely unsuitable bike.

Personally I feel a 100 mile sportive is not for group 3 and I am unsure if watching these people will inspire anybody.

sunburntknees

BrindleScoops wrote:

This all smacks a little of sour grapes and usual Roadie elitism. Just because you have a bmi of 9, why does that entitle you to a place over someone with a bmi of 20? This is supposed to be an Olympic legacy event, to get people involved in sport, not to stroke the ego's of the already six pack equipped. If you are doing 100 mile + per week then you arent the primary target audience for this reason, but the guys who have got in that arent six pack equipped, will need to train for this and will therefore improve their fitness and get out on their bike more than they would have otherwise, therefore making the concept a success. If you didn't get in (neither did I by the way) get a charity place (as I am) and instead of spending the extra time training that you wont need to do as you are already at that fitness level, spend the time raising money for a good cause. Simples.

Thought the whole point of completing the lengthy questionnaire was so that they could ensure those who entered were of sufficient ability? If the places were just allocated randomly, why was the questionnaire neccesary?

Anonymous

Well, lets hope so.
Am looking forward to finding out to be honest. Just hope its not carnage!
I was told by a rep at the cycle show that everyone would have to enter a sportive to get a ranking. Sounded a bit odd but was actually a load of b0ll0cks.
I think she was confused by the fast tour of britain riders that have been fast tracked in for the cameras and to offset all the muppets.

drlodge

I see a few people mentioned mentioned the "challenge" of going up Box Hill. Well Box Hill will be easy compared to Leith Hill.

The course isn't quite the same as the Olympic Road Race, no going up Staple Lane this time, instead you carry on the A246 and turn left along the wider A25 past Newlands Corner. Then at Abinger its a right to head south on a loop that takes you east then north up leith Hill back to the A25 towards Dorking. The ascent to Leith Hill is where alot of people will be getting off and walking I fear. Neither this road nor the zig zag are particularly wide so I hope I get an early start to avoid the muppets (my target time 6:15)


http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/Course. ... rse=501546

chrisaonabike

drlodge wrote:

I see a few people mentioned mentioned the "challenge" of going up Box Hill. Well Box Hill will be easy compared to Leith Hill.
http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/Course. ... rse=501546

Top man for putting the BRT route together! I started doing that last night but messed it up and then gave up

Question re the Leith Hill part of the route:

I notice it doesn't go via Coldharbour lane - what's the rest of that loop like? Which are the steep bits, the bit that goes through Holmbury St Mary as well, or only the Leith Hill Road bit?

I found the Box Hill zigzags fairly manageable, how much worse is Leith Hill?

If the weather is Ok, I might go down and have a look at the weekend.

Anonymous

Anyone know what's Leith Hill's like compared with Ditchling Beacon.
I hope there are signs or something to tell people to keep to left if they are going to walk.
They should be made to walk single file!

diy

Neither hill is any comparison to the beacon. The zig-zag may be a strain for beginners, but most locals post times well under 9 minutes and a reasonable rider should be able to do it in 8 or less.

does anyone know if they will rip the speed bumps out?

Also the road closure notices are prohibiting motorised traffic so not sure how they will keep tagers on off?

If I see anyone walking I will personally throw cans at them

chrisaonabike

diy wrote:

The zig-zag may be a strain for beginners, but most locals post times well under 9 minutes and a reasonable rider should be able to do it in 8 or less.

:oops: :oops:

Is that from the bottom of ZZH to the cafe? My best time up that is 11:00 - based on that am I going to be walking up Leith Hill without some serious training?

diy

Yes.

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=39554
viewtopic.php?p=16571767#p16571767
http://www.strava.com/segments/box-hill ... -rd-627910

not wanting to post doubt on the above, but anything under 6 mins is pretty blimin amazing.

If I had a sex change I could get in the top 20.

Chrisonabike - walking might indeed be faster for you. though to be fair the top few times were at the time of the olympics when the bumps had gone. I'm not entirely sure I could get down in 4 mins.

AchillesLeftKnee

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

what's the rest of that loop like?

Leith Hill from the south is about a mile, varying from 5%(ish) at the bottom to 10%-15% towards the top. If you think you're seriously going to struggle, don't rush the bottom part. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfDgkPb2L38 shows the climb in question.

The climb to Newlands Corner has a half mile of not-quite-10% in the middle of it, but is very wide so plenty of room for everyone. I suspect the descent (gently twisting A road with a good surface) on closed roads will either be brilliant fun or absolute carnage.

The climb from Abinger Hammer to Holmbury St. Mary isn't one to worry about. It's kinda "up a bit, false flat, up a bit, false flat, ride through the perma-puddle of run-off from Holmbury Hill, get to top". It's then mostly downhill to Walliswood.

The Forest Green -> Walliswood -> Okewood Hill -> Ockley bit is of no concern unless you're after a pint, in which case The Parrot in Forest Green's quite nice. It's mostly downhill to Walliswood, then mostly uphill to the base of Leith Hill, but only vaguely so.

diy

The whole ride is probably 1.5 x the London to Brighton, in terms of effort.

tbh those hills are best enjoyed on an mtb.

drlodge

AchillesLeftKnee wrote:

Leith Hill from the south is about a mile, varying from 5%(ish) at the bottom to 10%-15% towards the top. If you think you're seriously going to struggle, don't rush the bottom part. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfDgkPb2L38 shows the climb in question.

The climb to Newlands Corner has a half mile of not-quite-10% in the middle of it, but is very wide so plenty of room for everyone. I suspect the descent (gently twisting A road with a good surface) on closed roads will either be brilliant fun or absolute carnage.

The climb from Abinger Hammer to Holmbury St. Mary isn't one to worry about. It's kinda "up a bit, false flat, up a bit, false flat, ride through the perma-puddle of run-off from Holmbury Hill, get to top". It's then mostly downhill to Walliswood.

The Forest Green -> Walliswood -> Okewood Hill -> Ockley bit is of no concern unless you're after a pint, in which case The Parrot in Forest Green's quite nice. It's mostly downhill to Walliswood, then mostly uphill to the base of Leith Hill, but only vaguely so.

That's about right. My best Strava time for "Box Hill (Zig Zag Rd)" is 8:45. The north ascent to Leith Hill is certainly more challenging but last time I think I did it sitting down albeit in bottom gear at times (34/28). Its no where near as steep as Barhatch or Whitedown where I have to get out of the saddle in places, I would guess max 15% towards the top.

My strategy will be to take the first 60 miles not too quickly so I have something left in my legs for these two hills. Then if I have something left after Box Hill I can always speed up a bit on the return leg (hopefully being blown back by a prevailling SW wind).

I think the biggest issue will be the heat and dehydration.