RideLondon...missed out on the ballot...what are the options
Comments
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markhewitt1978 wrote:Isn't that the point of Ride London? To take somewhere which is generally terrible for cycling and make it bareable, perhaps even enjoyable, for one day a year?
The point I made earlier is that even taking out traffic, is still pretty bad. If I lived in Cobham, I could proable fit a 3 hours ride in nicer areas, but living in Richmond, out of a 3 hours ride, 2 and a half are in congested areas.
The RL 100 is run for 80% in built up areas... from Richmond park to Leith hill there is virtually nothing worth moving your eyeballs away from the Garminleft the forum March 20230 -
ugo.santalucia wrote:littledove44 wrote:Life is too short. Perhaps you could both summarize your positions.
Good point... We think cycling in London & Surrey is crap and not worth spending money for, even considering closed roads, big pelotons and cheering crowds
That's it, done
Do you think it isn't worth it at the point where it costs hundreds (via a charity place) or at the point of a normal entry (£40 or something wasn't it?)?
I'd say that it is worth the £40, but not the £100s.Red bikes are the fastest.0 -
DiscoBoy wrote:ugo.santalucia wrote:littledove44 wrote:Life is too short. Perhaps you could both summarize your positions.
Good point... We think cycling in London & Surrey is crap and not worth spending money for, even considering closed roads, big pelotons and cheering crowds
That's it, done
Do you think it isn't worth it at the point where it costs hundreds (via a charity place) or at the point of a normal entry (£40 or something wasn't it?)?
I'd say that it is worth the £40, but not the £100s.
Round and round in circles we go ....
Some ppl won't want to ride the route - fine - go and do something else
Some ppl won't want to pay £50 to ride it - fine - go and do something else
Some ppl will only ride if they get a £50 place - fine - go and do something else if you didn't get in
Some ppl will be happy to pay £000's to a charity to ride it - fine - go and do it then
Luckily we don't all like the same thing - otherwise our favourite places would be full of everyone else doing exactly the same as us - as much as we may like a bit of conformity - most of us like our individuality too....0 -
Slowbike wrote:DiscoBoy wrote:ugo.santalucia wrote:littledove44 wrote:Life is too short. Perhaps you could both summarize your positions.
Good point... We think cycling in London & Surrey is crap and not worth spending money for, even considering closed roads, big pelotons and cheering crowds
That's it, done
Do you think it isn't worth it at the point where it costs hundreds (via a charity place) or at the point of a normal entry (£40 or something wasn't it?)?
I'd say that it is worth the £40, but not the £100s.
Some ppl won't want to ride the route - fine - go and do something else
Some ppl won't want to pay £50 to ride it - fine - go and do something else
Some ppl will only ride if they get a £50 place - fine - go and do something else if you didn't get in
Some ppl will be happy to pay £000's to a charity to ride it - fine - go and do it then
Obviously, I'm interested in what ugo thinks.Red bikes are the fastest.0 -
DiscoBoy wrote:ugo.santalucia wrote:littledove44 wrote:Life is too short. Perhaps you could both summarize your positions.
Good point... We think cycling in London & Surrey is crap and not worth spending money for, even considering closed roads, big pelotons and cheering crowds
That's it, done
Do you think it isn't worth it at the point where it costs hundreds (via a charity place) or at the point of a normal entry (£40 or something wasn't it?)?
I'd say that it is worth the £40, but not the £100s.
The thing with London is that nothing costs 40 quid. If you are local and can ride to Stratford, then fine... but in that case I question why bother to enter an event on the roads you always ride. I, for one, have no interest whatsoever.
If you are not, the 40 become 400, once you factor in transport/hotel/meals... I suppose for some a weekend in London is a treat... but logistically with a bicycle it is a right PITA, given our network is not equipped to deal with thousands of bicycles on trains.
While you can probably travel to the Wales on a budget (we paid 30 quid for a room in Wrexham), you can't travel to London on a budget, as even the worst hotel will cost you 100 quid a night minimum...left the forum March 20230 -
I have friends doing the Ride London who have paid £69 for a twin room at Stratford Travel lodge, less than £35 each. Ugos opinions are just that and certainly not the facts that he states them as!0
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The route is pretty average, the hills are crap, Box and Leith are really nothing special. Yet for some reason I wanted to do this. I got the patronising pamphlet from the organisers, and it’s a real turn off to be honest.
I think if a team space pops up I’ll do it, but otherwise there are better roads (when not flooded) out west…
will be up in Durham soon and will be near weardale, can't wait for a change of scenery....0 -
philbar72 wrote:The route is pretty average, the hills are crap, Box and Leith are really nothing special. Yet for some reason I wanted to do this.
tbh I would quite like to do it, if it didn't mean having to go to London and all that entails!will be up in Durham soon and will be near weardale, can't wait for a change of scenery....
Pretty hairy up Weardale yesterday! But some of the best cycling in the country when the weather is cooperating.0 -
Brakeless wrote:I have friends doing the Ride London who have paid £69 for a twin room at Stratford Travel lodge, less than £35 each. Ugos opinions are just that and certainly not the facts that he states them as!
Absolutely... but I have not even started with the M 25 traffic if you are driving to Stratford
Whichever way you want to see it... it's either goin to be a major logistical stress or a lot of money... or both... in a 10 million city it's inevitableleft the forum March 20230 -
On a 100 mile ride they could have started it outside London and did a loop through the middle!0
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markhewitt1978 wrote:On a 100 mile ride they could have started it outside London and did a loop through the middle!
20,000 people staying in Dorking? You need capacityleft the forum March 20230 -
Personally, it's not a route I'd want to do any other time, it's too flat to be interesting and I generally find London to be a positively loathsome place which I normally go to great lengths to avoid.
That said, I AM looking forward to this event. It offers a chance (for most of us) to do something we'd otherwise never be able to do. Through the centre of London on closed roads past some of the iconic landmarks etc. Yes, I appreciate the closed roads will also be clogged with many, many other riders, but I plan on being ahead of most of them anyway
It simply offers something a bit different to other rides of this nature. I'll be doing the IOM Lighthouses challenge the month before, and I have no doubt that it will be the "nicer" ride. RL *should* be the more memorable experience though.
This will most likely be the polar opposite opinion of someone who lives in/around London though.0 -
Cat With No Tail wrote:Personally, it's not a route I'd want to do any other time, it's too flat to be interesting and I generally find London to be a positively loathsome place which I normally go to great lengths to avoid.
That said, I AM looking forward to this event. It offers a chance (for most of us) to do something we'd otherwise never be able to do. Through the centre of London on closed roads past some of the iconic landmarks etc. Yes, I appreciate the closed roads will also be clogged with many, many other riders, but I plan on being ahead of most of them anyway
It simply offers something a bit different to other rides of this nature. I'll be doing the IOM Lighthouses challenge the month before, and I have no doubt that it will be the "nicer" ride. RL *should* be the more memorable experience though.
This will most likely be the polar opposite opinion of someone who lives in/around London though.
Apart from a couple of hundred metres on Leith Hill the roads were never remotely clogged last year.0 -
I did not hear many reports of clogged roads either apart from a bit of traffic around Leith hill.
My mate left late'ish, took 7.5 hours to Finish and he said the roads were clear.
I think that situation might change as the event has more riders and perhaps faster riders get bored with doing it.0 -
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I live in central London, cycled to the start and loved every minute of the event. Different strokes for different folks and all that.
Yes the route is, for a lot of locals the same roads, but until you've done it, it's hard to describe the feeling, I was like this the whole way round.
If the bar ain't bending, you're just pretending0 -
Can't believe I'm agreeing with ugo.santalucia ... I feel dirty
Ya know, like I've been riding in London and I'm now covered in pollution dirty 0 -
Carbonator wrote:I did not hear many reports of clogged roads either apart from a bit of traffic around Leith hill.
My mate left late'ish, took 7.5 hours to Finish and he said the roads were clear.
I think that situation might change as the event has more riders and perhaps faster riders get bored with doing it.
My mate got stuck for 5 hours in a traffic Jam because of RL...his own stupid fault for not reading the advanced warning signs but there was traffic.0 -
Driving down Friday morning and driving home Monday afternoon.
Will hopefully have an early start time Sunday so should be a traffic free weekend :-)0 -
Weighing everything up, it would appear that Ugo is right, damn it.
Call the cops and have the event cancelled. What on earth was everyone thinking?0 -
Ugo is right about a lot of things but his anti RL argument is not equal to the sum of its parts IMO.0
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I don't need to be right, there is no right and there is no wrong.
However, it seems a few people have got obsessed about this event and they would be prepared to spend a lot of money to enter it. The message is: open your eyes, there are far far better events, even on closed roads... if you didn't get in the RL 100, try the Etape Caledonia or the Etape Cymru or one of the other events run on closed roads. If you like the crowds, enter the Tour of Flanders, try the Liege Bastogne Liege or the Maratona dle Dolomites... or get yourself a place in one of the many organised Raid Pyreneen trips for similar money.
there are some corkers out there, with a real history, heritage, that go through stunning places and will leave you with lasting memories and inspire you... don't limit yourself to a day out on a crap course that has nothing to offer, other than the chance to say I was there on Facebook...
The reason I insist is because I have cycled all around Europe and nowhere is worse than London and Surrey...left the forum March 20230 -
ugo.santalucia wrote:I don't need to be right, there is no right and there is no wrong.
However, it seems a few people have got obsessed about this event and they would be prepared to spend a lot of money to enter it. The message is: open your eyes, there are far far better events, even on closed roads... if you didn't get in the RL 100, try the Etape Caledonia or the Etape Cymru or one of the other events run on closed roads. If you like the crowds, enter the Tour of Flanders, try the Liege Bastogne Liege or the Maratona dle Dolomites... or get yourself a place in one of the many organised Raid Pyreneen trips for similar money.
there are some corkers out there, with a real history, heritage, that go through stunning places and will leave you with lasting memories and inspire you... don't limit yourself to a day out on a crap course that has nothing to offer, other than the chance to say I was there on Facebook...
The reason I insist is because I have cycled all around Europe and nowhere is worse than London and Surrey...
Oh dear, so I guess you didn't get in again, then? 0 -
Jonny_Trousers wrote:Oh dear, so I guess you didn't get in again, then?
ha ha... never tried...
Events I would like to do
1) Fred Whitton Challenge... every year I think about it and then think of my poor knees and decide against
2) the Eroica: I have done it three times, I could do it another ten... it's getting very expensive the all trip and stay... too expensive
3) Maratona dle Dolomites... again, very expensive trip
4) Quebrantahuesos: must be a great event and probably more reasonably priced to stay there than the dolomites
5) Paris-Roubaix cyclo... done it once, will do it again in June... super cheap event and a superb hard core day on the bicycleleft the forum March 20230 -
Those events have been around for years and yet its RL that has caught peoples attention and has them fighting to get into.
I think people are more likely to do some of those events because of RL.
To compare RL to putting your bike in a case and getting on a plane is silly.
Knocking RL to this degree is like saying any one of a thousand video games is better than Flappy Bird lol0 -
ugo.santalucia wrote:Jonny_Trousers wrote:Oh dear, so I guess you didn't get in again, then?
ha ha... never tried...
Events I would like to do
1) Fred Whitton Challenge... every year I think about it and then think of my poor knees and decide against
2) the Eroica: I have done it three times, I could do it another ten... it's getting very expensive the all trip and stay... too expensive
3) Maratona dle Dolomites... again, very expensive trip
4) Quebrantahuesos: must be a great event and probably more reasonably priced to stay there than the dolomites
5) Paris-Roubaix cyclo... done it once, will do it again in June... super cheap event and a superb hard core day on the bicycle
The Maratona is pricey, especially if you go via an automatic route such as Cycling Weekly, but it's a fantastic event. What's more, it's in a part of the world that is littered with incredible rides, whether it's the Fedaia or the Erbe. I've done it twice now, and fantastic though the event undoubtedly is, the week of riding beforehand was even better.0 -
Carbonator wrote:Those events have been around for years and yet its RL that has caught peoples attention and has them fighting to get into.
Your answer shows that you are not very aware of what's out there and maybe you should explore other events...
People fight to get in the FWC, in the Eroica and the Maratona... they all have a ballot to enter... the Paris-Roubaix cyclo is not as popular as it's not one for the mamils, it's not timed and it's ran as an audax. The Quebrantahuesos... no idea, but I expect it to be very popularleft the forum March 20230 -
What, in their first year???
Even so, sounds like another event is all the more needed lol.
I am not putting RL in front of any of those events.
The two would be very different for me and I would do both, not one or the other.
RL just has stuff the others do not and people want to ride it. A lot more people than places.
Its as simple as that.
What people do to get what they want is their business.
Giving money to charity and getting some excercise seems a lot better than sitting in a football stadium stand eating pies and giving cash to a yobbo footballer to buy a fast car.0 -
Carbonator wrote:What, in their first year???
Even so, sounds like another event is all the more needed lol.
Of course not... they didn't have an Olympic advertising machine behind... the Eroica started with 10 people taking on a ride on a sunday... this is how the Legend was created... the RL 100 is just a huge money burning corporate machine that turns over 7 figures and can spend tens of thousands of pounds in advertising itself... it is also promoted by the major of London, which of course opens a few doors...
How can you compare a genuine bike ride which became a big event for its own merit to a piece of corporate business that has only partially to do with cycling?
It's River Cottage versus Tesco...left the forum March 20230 -
I'm off to Tesco to get something from their 'Finest' range (sound of door shutting) ;-)0
