Ride London 2014

SR7492

I see some charities still have places for this being told by cycling buddies.

To be honest, like some have mentioned, it's a lot of money to raise a something people consider as fun.

I questioned that popped up, what is stopping any random cyclist turning up on the day and riding the route? I mean, it can't be that hard not to do this - turn up near the start, jump on road and away you go?

If I was a local, I'd defo consider doing it lol

Anonymous

SR7492 wrote:

I questioned that popped up, what is stopping any random cyclist turning up on the day and riding the route? I mean, it can't be that hard not to do this - turn up near the start, jump on road and away you go?

If I was a local, I'd defo consider doing it lol

Er, morals ideally.

Should be police marksmen, and/or other riders (who have paid for/earned a place) being allowed to kick you into a tree, but unfortunately our legal system is a bit sh1t like that.

What other things do you consider taking that you have not paid for?
You should try sneaking into the undercarriage of a jumbo for a free flight abroad.

Just take a charity place and don't pay them. You get a number that way
Make a wish foundation (the charity that gives dying children a last treat) have a few places I think.

desweller

SR7492 wrote:

I see some charities still have places for this being told by cycling buddies.

To be honest, like some have mentioned, it's a lot of money to raise a something people consider as fun.

I questioned that popped up, what is stopping any random cyclist turning up on the day and riding the route? I mean, it can't be that hard not to do this - turn up near the start, jump on road and away you go?

If I was a local, I'd defo consider doing it lol

Well, the roads are closed and presumably in London the closures will be staffed.

cat_with_no_tail

Well, just completed the Lighthouses Challenge here on the Isle of Man. Windy day and missed out on the faster groups I wanted to get in at the start meant that it was just me and my mate battling it all the way round.

http://www.strava.com/activities/165390374

6hrs is the time needed to get the "Gold" award, and I missed out on that by 11 minutes.

On one hand I'm pretty disappointed. But on the other hand we both worked DAMNED hard and 6:11 is still a strong finish all things considered.

Pretty confident a sub 5hr time is well within my reach for RL now. Really looking forward to it!

Anonymous

Did you do it last year? How far outside 5 hours were you if you did? You should smash it if you didn't as its probably a faster course than you imagine

Just outside 5 hours last year with a stop and slight mechanical issue, so sub 5 is the goal for me too.
Am a stone lighter and training rides this year are faster, so if weather is similar and I get another clean ride it should be a good time.

Grantmk

Grantmk wrote:

Slo Mo Jones wrote:

Grantmk wrote:

Slo Mo Jones wrote:

Leith Hill Road was closed at the weekend. There was a big hole in it.

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...

Fair enough.

You could have gone up Tanhurst and taken a zero mile detour.

I wish we'd known that at the time!

So I headed up Tanhurst this weekend thinking it was a flat route to the beginning of Leith Hill :roll: My apologies to the couple who I led to Tanhurst after finding them a little lost. They were recce'ing for August 10th. Given that he was on a shopping bike I doubt they would have made it up.

SR7492

Carbonator wrote:

Er, morals ideally.

Should be police marksmen, and/or other riders (who have paid for/earned a place) being allowed to kick you into a tree, but unfortunately our legal system is a bit sh1t like that.

What other things do you consider taking that you have not paid for?
You should try sneaking into the undercarriage of a jumbo for a free flight abroad.

Just take a charity place and don't pay them. You get a number that way
Make a wish foundation (the charity that gives dying children a last treat) have a few places I think.

Easy tiger :-) don't shoot the messenger, I was just asking a question that was raised by a couple of guys at work and it got me thinking!

I have no intention of doing this, to be fair I would be too embarrassed to even consider it.

Anonymous

SR7492 wrote:

Easy tiger :-) don't shoot the messenger, I was just asking a question that was raised by a couple of guys at work and it got me thinking!

I have no intention of doing this, to be fair I would be too embarrassed to even consider it.

Really? I thought you said.........

SR7492 wrote:

If I was a local, I'd defo consider doing it lol

But yes, my reply was a bit harsh, although a pretty fair/accurate comment/opinion for anyone thinking of doing it to read, be they you or your friends.

surrey_commuter

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).

It should be open to a wide variety of abilities but if you have to walk up Sawyers then you should be removed from the course for yours and everybody else's benefit

drlodge

I personally don't have an issue if people need to walk up the hills, as long as they don't get in the bl**dy way of cyclists who are riding up the hill behind them.

surrey_commuter

I guess my point is that if you enter a 100 mile bike ride and you can't get up Sawyers then you almost certainly lack any roadcraft and will be getting in other people's way.

drlodge

Surrey Commuter wrote:

I guess my point is that if you enter a 100 mile bike ride and you can't get up Sawyers then you almost certainly lack any roadcraft and will be getting in other people's way.

I'd agree with that. Sawyers isn't really a hill in my view, Dark Hill is quite steep on the other hand and may require some real effort.

veronese68

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

How about one of these?

What start time did you get? Are there any wooden bridges on the route? I just want to know if I should look out for anything dangerous.

Mikey23

Forgive me for another stoopid question that has probably been asked before...
I presume that a lot of people will be riding from the finish back to the start area. I would think this is relatively straightforward and it will just be a case of following the crowd.

Or do i need to make other arrangements?

Anonymous

I booked the £5 bike transport (back to QEOP) this year as want to be free of bike and enjoy the area around the finish while I wait for/meet people.
Then we can all get the tube or whatever back to the start.

Hopefully they will not trash my bike too much :shock:

surrey_commuter

Mikey23 wrote:

Forgive me for another stoopid question that has probably been asked before...
I presume that a lot of people will be riding from the finish back to the start area. I would think this is relatively straightforward and it will just be a case of following the crowd.

Or do i need to make other arrangements?

Not sure many will be going back to the start area (why would they?) with closed roads I think you would need good local knowledge to get there

drlodge

I cycled back from the finish line to Stratford, no problem other than my legs were shot to pieces.

buzzlightyear1

drlodge wrote:

I cycled back from the finish line to Stratford, no problem other than my legs were shot to pieces.

+1

Good way to warm down - I quite enjoyed it. Made it back before my wife who went on the tube.

Leesykoi

Last year I got the boat transfer back to Docklands and rode the 2miles or so back to Exel where I was staying.

This year I'm going to ride along the Thames to the Tower Gateway DLR station (nice warmdown ride I reckon) and catch the DLR back to my hotel - must remember to have my oyster card with me !!!

option_click

A long shot but does anyone know of any spare places, either charity or personal (in return for a charitable donation)?

surrey_commuter

I believe it is all shut but Bliss is the charity of the year so if anybody has one it would be them.

cyclingsheep

Veronese68 wrote:

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

How about one of these?

What start time did you get? Are there any wooden bridges on the route? I just want to know if I should look out for anything dangerous.

That looks like it'd do the trick. I'll investigate and wait for you at the first bridge I find mate How are the fingers by the way?

veronese68

cyclingsheep wrote:

That looks like it'd do the trick. I'll investigate and wait for you at the first bridge I find mate How are the fingers by the way?

A lot better now thanks, but stupidly painful for a couple of days. Completely disproportionate level of pain to size of injury, most odd. Could be that I'm just a big girl though.
But at least I'm not having my knackers tied in a knot. :shock:

ContrelaMontre

Looking into transport options from Hertfordshire. The parking still available are NCP around the City for £15. This seems a bit pointless to me when I could park on the street in London on a Sunday in a bay or on a single yellow line for free. I have done this before on Bank Holidays with no problem, but not sure if people have found the on street parking very busy or an issue because of the road closures. Anyone got any thoughts on doing this?

chrisaonabike

paul2718 wrote:

Walking in this event should be strongly deprecated. There is no excuse.

Well there's no excuse for inadequate training, except lack of intelligence, but there's plenty of that about wherever you look.

What really p1ssed me off last year was two guys walking their bikes two abreast up Leith chatting away, taking up half the road and causing a load of havoc behind as people tried to get past. Complete cnuts, and deserved a good slap. Sadly, Captain Lip was nowhere to be seen.

I yelled at them, they singled out. Do the same, people, you know it makes sense.

sherer

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

paul2718 wrote:

Walking in this event should be strongly deprecated. There is no excuse.

Well there's no excuse for inadequate training, except lack of intelligence, but there's plenty of that about wherever you look.

What really p1ssed me off last year was two guys walking their bikes two abreast up Leith chatting away, taking up half the road and causing a load of havoc behind as people tried to get past. Complete cnuts, and deserved a good slap. Sadly, Captain Lip was nowhere to be seen.

I yelled at them, they singled out. Do the same, people, you know it makes sense.

get this on L2B all the time with whole families riding three to four abreast or walking doing the same thing with no idea they are taking up the whole road.

My training has been wrecked by broken arm but still plan to ride the whole thing even if I am slow

rich_e

If people have to walk, they have to walk, and as a non-professional mass event that has a heavy focus on charity, its to be expected.

When I did it last year, there were a number of walkers on Sawyer's Hill, but given that its quite wide, this didn't cause too many issues, even though the road was heavily congested at that early stage.

Leith is different though, because of the fact that its a narrow road. I'm no climber, but even I found that I had to try and get around walkers, which makes keeping your cadence to spin up the hill a little troublesome. The other aspect that I encountered was that when the route gets out to Surrey and the hills, the number of accidents goes up. While I was making my ascent, an ambulance and two other vehicles responding were also trying to make their way up which resulted in people having to stop all together because they can't move to the left with all the walkers.

I didn't make it in this year, but I did say after last year that it would be good if the magazine, which has lots of info about how to ride in a group, should also just have a little piece on that if you have to walk, stick to the left and go single file.

chrisaonabike

Rich_E wrote:

it would be good if the magazine, which has lots of info about how to ride in a group, should also just have a little piece on that if you have to walk, stick to the left and go single file.

It would, but if people are too thick and/or inconsiderate to figure it out themselves, a little paragraph in the mag is going to make sod all difference.

Just like the way the mag said (and says again this year) not to drop litter, the road was completely covered with gel wrappers.

Basically, a lot of people don't give a damn.

paul2718

If people have to walk, they have to walk, and as a non-professional mass event that has a heavy focus on charity, its to be expected.

Really, it's not to be expected. It's disrespectful to the event to be so unprepared. The climbs are not hard in any absolute way, and not hard to practice for (or even on). It's inexcusable. On Sawyers beyond belief.

Paul

chrisaonabike

paul2718 wrote:

Really, it's not to be expected. It's disrespectful to the event to be so unprepared. The climbs are not hard in any absolute way, and not hard to practice for (or even on). It's inexcusable. On Sawyers beyond belief.

Very much agree.

I find Leith quite hard, especially after 40-50 miles. Which is why I've slogged up it many times. Ok, I'm lucky to live where I can easily ride out to Surrey, so my standard 60 mile loop takes in Newlands, Leith, Whitedown and Box, but there can't be many places where something equivalent is too hard to get to.