Ride London 2014
Comments
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Carbonator wrote:Was a long shot.
Hope you and the bike recover in time?
Best thing is to start early and miss the muppets.
Think i'll give it a miss next year, I always seem to get a late start and quick people at the back and slow at the front causes these issues.
It's a nice route so may just ride it with friends another weekend instead.0 -
Yellow, wave B, 5:30 load for 6:30 start.0
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Leith Hill Road was closed at the weekend. There was a big hole in it.0
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Closed for resurfacing, you can't get onto the hill from the quick look I had last night. Think it is closed until the start of August.0
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You can get on to Leith Hill Road , its Ockley Road that is shut. You have to take a 2 or 3 mile detour. we found this out after lifting all our bikes over the first barrier and creeping down the side at which point the police turned up and told us to turn back or get a £60 fine, we did wonder whether that was a £60 fine between the 8 of us or each but we thought better of asking :-)Slo Mo Jones wrote:Leith Hill Road was closed at the weekend. There was a big hole in it.0 -
Grantmk wrote:
You can get on to Leith Hill Road , its Ockley Road that is shut. You have to take a 2 or 3 mile detour. we found this out after...Slo Mo Jones wrote:Leith Hill Road was closed at the weekend. There was a big hole in it.
Fair enough.
You could have gone up Tanhurst and taken a zero mile detour.0 -
Grantmk wrote:
You can get on to Leith Hill Road , its Ockley Road that is shut. You have to take a 2 or 3 mile detour. we found this out after lifting all our bikes over the first barrier and creeping down the side at which point the police turned up and told us to turn back or get a £60 fine, we did wonder whether that was a £60 fine between the 8 of us or each but we thought better of asking :-)Slo Mo Jones wrote:Leith Hill Road was closed at the weekend. There was a big hole in it.
Ahh cool, might head back over then!0 -
Slo Mo Jones wrote:Grantmk wrote:
You can get on to Leith Hill Road , its Ockley Road that is shut. You have to take a 2 or 3 mile detour. we found this out after...Slo Mo Jones wrote:Leith Hill Road was closed at the weekend. There was a big hole in it.
Fair enough.
You could have gone up Tanhurst and taken a zero mile detour.
I wish we'd known that at the time!0 -
Final instruction magazine and registration form came this morning.
Remember not to sign the registration form until you are at the Exel
I booked the transport for bike back from The Mall to QEOP.
Plan is to get shot of bike and enjoy the 'atmosphere' (cockney rhyming slang for 'beer'
).
Did anyone use the service last year. Should I expect a damaged bike waiting for me?
Calendar month to go now. Hope everyone's training and preparation is going well.
Next four weeks will fly by.0 -
After having to give up my place last year due to having a knee op I've now been scheduled for a vasectomy less than two weeks before this years ride.....might tape a cushion to my seat0
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No worries mate. Hopefully the numbness will have not worn off and you won't suffer from saddle sore.cyclingsheep wrote:After having to give up my place last year due to having a knee op I've now been scheduled for a vasectomy less than two weeks before this years ride.....might tape a cushion to my seat
My memories of the op are more to do with the itch from hair regrowth. The actually lop pain was gone on days. Perhaps it is time to do the full bald eagle thing, at least for a few weeks.0 -
Really indecisive at the moment about what gearing to have on for the day. I've always just had a 12-28 with my compact but with most of the route being so flat I'm tempted to a 12-25.
I can normally climb Nick o' Pendle (not that I get to ride it often be so far from my motherland!) without dropping onto my 28t (though my most recent visit was marred by stones getting trapped between tyres and calipers) and I'm comfortably in the top 20% on Strava for the segment.
Think I'll be fine with 12-25 on Leith and Box Hill?2012 Cube Agree GTC0 -
birdie23 wrote:Really indecisive at the moment about what gearing to have on for the day. I've always just had a 12-28 with my compact but with most of the route being so flat I'm tempted to a 12-25.
I can normally climb Nick o' Pendle (not that I get to ride it often be so far from my motherland!) without dropping onto my 28t (though my most recent visit was marred by stones getting trapped between tyres and calipers) and I'm comfortably in the top 20% on Strava for the segment.
Think I'll be fine with 12-25 on Leith and Box Hill?
You certainly won't have any problems with the 12-25 up Box Hill, Leith may be different but it's only one hill. Saying that I don't see that there's much point swapping as it doesn't change your top gear. May as well keep the easier setting in case you're having a bad day0 -
cyclingsheep wrote:You certainly won't have any problems with the 12-25 up Box Hill, Leith may be different but it's only one hill. Saying that I don't see that there's much point swapping as it doesn't change your top gear. May as well keep the easier setting in case you're having a bad day
True, just like the idea of trying out slightly closer ratios.2012 Cube Agree GTC0 -
birdie23 wrote:Think I'll be fine with 12-25 on Leith and Box Hill?
Should be okay. I'm going 11-23 this year. I have been up Leith quite a few times and it's not overly steep.
Bear in mind, though, that you may have to slow right down on there due to cyclists taking the walk of shame.
I used my 28 last year as it was easier when weaving about to avoid others but, like you, this year I'm thinking that the closer ratios will be of greater benefit overall."You really think you can burn off sugar with exercise?" downhill paul0 -
If you can climb Nic o' Pendle without the 28, then you will have no bother with anything on this ride! (Assuming we are talking about the hard side).
Box hill, you can romp up that without getting your big sprockets dirty. Leith is more of a challenge, but it's not anywhere near as steep overall as Nic o' Pendle.
Edited with a couple of stats:
Leith - 2.1km average 6%
Nic o' Pendle - 1.2km average 11%
Not in the same league.0 -
Charlie Potatoes wrote:birdie23 wrote:Think I'll be fine with 12-25 on Leith and Box Hill?
Should be okay. I'm going 11-23 this year. I have been up Leith quite a few times and it's not overly steep.
Bear in mind, though, that you may have to slow right down on there due to cyclists taking the walk of shame.
I used my 28 last year as it was easier when weaving about to avoid others but, like you, this year I'm thinking that the closer ratios will be of greater benefit overall.
This is what annoyed me a bit last year, for an event like this there shouldn't be anyone walking unless they have a mechanical. I'm by far the strongest rider around but I make it round the whole course without having to walk. I an understand walking on London to Brighton but on this event it should be people who can do the route without any issues0 -
sherer wrote:This is what annoyed me a bit last year, for an event like this there shouldn't be anyone walking unless they have a mechanical. I'm by far the strongest rider around but I make it round the whole course without having to walk. I an understand walking on London to Brighton but on this event it should be people who can do the route without any issues
Why should that be so?
It's a ride that many people will use as their first ever century, a challenge ride to raise money. They may need to push their bike up the bigger hills and that is all fine by me, (there were people pushing their bikes up Sawyer's Hill in Richmond Park last year).
(oh I am assume you are wanting to say you are far from the strongest rider around rather than you are, by far, the strongest rider around, as that is a very bold claim!) 0 -
marcusjb wrote:sherer wrote:This is what annoyed me a bit last year, for an event like this there shouldn't be anyone walking unless they have a mechanical. I'm by far the strongest rider around but I make it round the whole course without having to walk. I an understand walking on London to Brighton but on this event it should be people who can do the route without any issues
Why should that be so?
It's a ride that many people will use as their first ever century, a challenge ride to raise money. They may need to push their bike up the bigger hills and that is all fine by me, (there were people pushing their bikes up Sawyer's Hill in Richmond Park last year).
(oh I am assume you are wanting to say you are far from the strongest rider around rather than you are, by far, the strongest rider around, as that is a very bold claim!)
Lol, always struggled with grammar at school
Guess maybe I had a different expectation of this ride and just wasn't expecting to see people walking. Never riden Richmond Park before, worse thing there was the side wind rather than the hill0 -
As with most things, it all gets a little eclipsed with the willy waving and talk of 4 hour rides. That's all great, but is only a small part of the ride.
For a large number of the riders I saw last year (I was a spectator not a rider), it was a challenge. You don't have to be that fast to get around within cut-off (9 hours?), and you may need to walk a hill or two. As long as they enjoy the day, and some of them will raise a lot of money, then that is all great. More bums on saddles - that's key.
My stoker isn't particularly time/speed motivated, so we certainly won't be out to set a good time, we will be out to have a good time. Looking forward to it.
We shouldn't need to walk any hills though - tandem has a 18.8" bottom gear (equivalent to a 24 - 34 derailleur setup!)0 -
Leith Hill beginning to end will take you somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes. IIRC it goes up in steps. Last year I used a 41x25 as my lowest and was out of the saddle on the steep bits to manage the effort.
This segment, http://www.strava.com/segments/768470?filter=overall appears to cover the important bits. It took me 6.29 at an average of 304W, average cadence 64. So bumping around the edge of the envelope. For 6 minutes out of 300. You may be able to scale from there to get a personal idea.
I'd choose the same gearing again. This is really a full-size-big-ring-ride with a bit of a bump in the middle (sorry Marcus...).
Paul0 -
paul2718 wrote:I'd choose the same gearing again. This is really a full-size-big-ring-ride with a bit of a bump in the middle (sorry Marcus...).
Paul
I doubt we'll be touching that bottom gear on this ride (it's only ever used when touring with panniers), and have a full range of tandem warp-factor gears to choose from! However, we still won't go up the hills very fast (tandems can not) - down them however is a different matter altogether. Though we may have to temper things slightly as there will clearly be solos around us.0 -
Anybody else in wave H, with a start time of 08:00?0
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marcusjb wrote:If you can climb Nic o' Pendle without the 28, then you will have no bother with anything on this ride! (Assuming we are talking about the hard side).
Box hill, you can romp up that without getting your big sprockets dirty. Leith is more of a challenge, but it's not anywhere near as steep overall as Nic o' Pendle.
Edited with a couple of stats:
Leith - 2.1km average 6%
Nic o' Pendle - 1.2km average 11%
Not in the same league.
Otherside of the Nick which is about 2.7km and 7%2012 Cube Agree GTC0 -
marcusjb wrote:As with most things, it all gets a little eclipsed with the willy waving and talk of 4 hour rides. That's all great, but is only a small part of the ride.
For a large number of the riders I saw last year (I was a spectator not a rider), it was a challenge. You don't have to be that fast to get around within cut-off (9 hours?), and you may need to walk a hill or two. As long as they enjoy the day, and some of them will raise a lot of money, then that is all great. More bums on saddles - that's key.
I agree.
Just to clarify, my use of the term 'walk of shame' was not meant to be derogatory.
"You really think you can burn off sugar with exercise?" downhill paul0 -
I'm Yellow H 8am start.Savagestorm wrote:Anybody else in wave H, with a start time of 08:00?0 -
Am going for closer ratios this year too.
Normally have 12/25 but put 11/28 on last year thinking hills may be tough/tough after fast 50/60 miles, but never used the 28 so did them on 24.
Going to put 12/23 on as fancy trying ratios as close as they can be.0 -
sherer wrote:I'm by far the strongest rider around but I make it round the whole course without having to walk. I an understand walking on London to Brighton but on this event it should be people who can do the route without any issues
Modest too
Wife is in a late wave (7.45) so hope there is not too much congestion
Two big problems with walkers is that they encourage others to walk and they should have to stay to the left.
I don't think this event should be walker free, but do think people should train properly to get up the small hills in it and have the decency not to spoil the day for others.
Single file walking should be implemented if you cannot ride up the hills IMO.0 -
Carbonator wrote:sherer wrote:I'm by far the strongest rider around but I make it round the whole course without having to walk. I an understand walking on London to Brighton but on this event it should be people who can do the route without any issues
Modest too
Wife is in a late wave (7.45) so hope there is not too much congestion
Two big problems with walkers is that they encourage others to walk and they should have to stay to the left.
I don't think this event should be walker free, but do think people should train properly to get up the small hills in it and have the decency not to spoil the day for others.
Single file walking should be implemented if you cannot ride up the hills IMO.
Agree with that. Don't worry I am slow I did it in 06:33 moving time last year and would just like to knock three mins off my time this year.
I've stopped doing London to Brighton as all the walkers stop it being a proper ride0 -
Walking in this event should be strongly deprecated. There is no excuse. Particularly with tens of thousands of disappointed potential riders who wouldn't need to walk. Entrants who are walking up a modest hill half way around should be ashamed of their failure to take the event seriously enough to either train a bit or sort out their equipment.
If I were the organiser it would all be different....
IMO, etc. etc.
Paul0
