Ride London 2015
Comments
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Dombo6 wrote:Depends how far away you are. There is parking I believe at the O2 so maybe stay at a hotel outside London and drive or ride in, or drive up early in the morning. Start is East London in the QE Olympic Park and finish is on the Mall so hotels in between will be quite expensive.
Thanks, I suspect the revised pick-up plan will be my wife will park and meet me at Paddington Station, it's only three miles away. Assuming the road closures and increased traffic let her get that far.0 -
Chunky101 wrote:Dombo6 wrote:Depends how far away you are. There is parking I believe at the O2 so maybe stay at a hotel outside London and drive or ride in, or drive up early in the morning. Start is East London in the QE Olympic Park and finish is on the Mall so hotels in between will be quite expensive.
Thanks, I suspect the revised pick-up plan will be my wife will park and meet me at Paddington Station, it's only three miles away. Assuming the road closures and increased traffic let her get that far.
Two years ago I got a black cab home with my bike from just outside St James' Park. No hassle, quick and easy. £35 very well spent.0 -
E17Blade wrote:Chunky101 wrote:Dombo6 wrote:Depends how far away you are. There is parking I believe at the O2 so maybe stay at a hotel outside London and drive or ride in, or drive up early in the morning. Start is East London in the QE Olympic Park and finish is on the Mall so hotels in between will be quite expensive.
Thanks, I suspect the revised pick-up plan will be my wife will park and meet me at Paddington Station, it's only three miles away. Assuming the road closures and increased traffic let her get that far.
Two years ago I got a black cab home with my bike from just outside St James' Park. No hassle, quick and easy. £35 very well spent.
I rode back home - was a bit of a faff with roads and traffic but got me more kudos than doing the 100 miles.0 -
Chunky101 wrote:Dombo6 wrote:Depends how far away you are. There is parking I believe at the O2 so maybe stay at a hotel outside London and drive or ride in, or drive up early in the morning. Start is East London in the QE Olympic Park and finish is on the Mall so hotels in between will be quite expensive.
Thanks, I suspect the revised pick-up plan will be my wife will park and meet me at Paddington Station, it's only three miles away. Assuming the road closures and increased traffic let her get that far.
If she is coming up the M3 it might be easier for you to head West and get picked up near Richmond (circa 10 miles) or get the train from Waterloo, though I would try and check how busy that was last year.0 -
Got in for Charidee (see below) and also in the ballot!! Beginner's luck?
Will park at London Bridge in work car park :twisted: and stay overnight there the night before
What's all this about bringing plastic bags and rucsacs with you? And how mental is the start - do you stand around or is it well organised?
It's just a hill. Get over it.0 -
SecretSam wrote:Got in for Charidee (see below) and also in the ballot!! Beginner's luck?
Will park at London Bridge in work car park :twisted: and stay overnight there the night before
What's all this about bringing plastic bags and rucsacs with you? And how mental is the start - do you stand around or is it well organised?
Bag is to put stuff in for after the ride. Lets you take various clothing options, food, maps etc which you then don't have to take the whole way round with you. You leave it in a special plastic bag which they give you when you register. What people are saying (which I agree with) is to take a small backpack which is easier to ride with, you can then just put backpack in plastic bag and leave it at the start. They then transfer it to the finish where it will be waiting for you (or, if like last year, you get to stand around freezing your tits off waiting for them to turn up). Can be nice to have some warm dry clothes, weather depending.
Re the start, it is very well organised standing around. I can't remember exactly how long you are supposed to arrive before your start but possibly as much as an hour. Even on a nice day it can be cold early in the morning (I set off at 6 so arrived at the Olympic Park for around 5am) so worth taking something warm to stand around in. You can leave clothes in the bag drop off (see above) but it can be worth taking something to wear in the holding pens before you start - even a binliner, although if it looks like being wet / cold, an old woolly jumper that you don't mind leaving at the start is always a good bet.
The actual start tends to be very fast by the way, big wide open roads with no traffic and lots of people chomping at the bit after a bit of waiting around. Depending on your objectives, might be worth finding a bunch to sit in and just take the first few miles to acclimatise, there will be plenty of opportunities further on to put the hurt on!0 -
@BigMat - thanks - always carry a wettie so that might be the solution to the early morning freeze (and mebbe some arm warmers).
Got a colleague at work who's done the London Marathon, organised by same people - will ask her for tips!
How were the feed stations?
It's just a hill. Get over it.0 -
SecretSam wrote:@BigMat - thanks - always carry a wettie so that might be the solution to the early morning freeze (and mebbe some arm warmers).
Got a colleague at work who's done the London Marathon, organised by same people - will ask her for tips!
How were the feed stations?
The what?! Don't know, didn't stop!0 -
JohnW52 wrote:
I thought they were fairly busy but perfectly manageable. The one at Hampton Court was very quiet but that might have been because of the blockage in Richmond Park meaning riders were being filtered through.SecretSam wrote:How were the feed stations?
I imagine Hampton Court was quiet because it is only 20 dead flat miles from the start. Feed stations are every 20 miles so don't worry about it this far out.0 -
Feed stations were all very well organised and very quick to get you through.
One of the later ones in 2014 looked a bit like a war zone with lots of bedraggled people and a huge queue at the mechanics station. They were also running low on inner tubes (they'd brought something like 600!) - luckily we got one from them as we had a slow in our second spare.0 -
I have taken a charity place but haven't received anything yet from anyone in the way of confirmation. I assume at some point I will need to complete something advising expected finish time etc. Any idea when I should expect to receive something from the organisers or should I have this by now?0
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Yost wrote:I have taken a charity place but haven't received anything yet from anyone in the way of confirmation. I assume at some point I will need to complete something advising expected finish time etc. Any idea when I should expect to receive something from the organisers or should I have this by now?
I think you should have received some email from the charity welcoming you to the team and advising of their fund raising initiatives. For the first time this year I managed to gain entry via the ballot however, I contacted the charity I intended to represent last year (injury prevented me taking part) and I have since received a version of their welcome to the team email. I'd suggest you get in touch with them next week to confirm if you are in/ if there has been an error.
Peter0 -
Anyone know how they justify charging an extra £27 to overseas entrants? The Etape du Tour, for example, charges the same, whatever your nationality. I would have thought organisers of a sports event in Britain would be totally above board when it comes to avoiding discrimination. Perhaps they are going to send me a jumbo parcel that costs £27 more in postage than it would to someone in the UK?0
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You don't go through the ballot? EduT is, I think, equal opportunity, you just buy a place when it opens. RL100 is a bit ballot, a bit overseas, a bit celeb and a lot charity. If you want a charity place then it's going to be more than £600 and I think the charities are buying the places for more than the cost to a ballot winner.
Paul0 -
Yes overseas riders do have to go through a ballot. I don't know if the chance of success is higher than UK riders. Still I read here that women have a better chance in the ballot and they certainly don't have to pay a higher entry fee.paul2718 wrote:You don't go through the ballot?0 -
Sports Tours International send me emails offering guaranteed RL100 places, but only for those coming from overseas. So I was working from there.
Paul0 -
JS14 wrote:Anyone know how they justify charging an extra £27 to overseas entrants? The Etape du Tour, for example, charges the same, whatever your nationality. I would have thought organisers of a sports event in Britain would be totally above board when it comes to avoiding discrimination. Perhaps they are going to send me a jumbo parcel that costs £27 more in postage than it would to someone in the UK?JS14 wrote:
Yes overseas riders do have to go through a ballot. I don't know if the chance of success is higher than UK riders. Still I read here that women have a better chance in the ballot and they certainly don't have to pay a higher entry fee.paul2718 wrote:You don't go through the ballot?
One ill considered post should be ignored but two in quick succession??0 -
Make that three Simple...
Reply from the organisers :
"The rationale behind the price disparity, is that now we have organised the event twice, we understand the true cost of putting on the ride, which is £85.
"We charge UK riders £58 as an incentive to participate as one of our remits from the Mayor of London is to increase cycling participation in London.
"We do believe that the event still offers exceptional value."
My comment: Fair enough if you have a lower entry fee for London or Surrey residents whose councils are paying part of the event's costs. But it seems like you can make a good case for racial discrimination if the organisers charge johnny foreigner more than they charge a UK resident from the Outer Hebrides or some equally remote part of the realm.
I am reliably informed that there are a lot of cycling lawyers amongst our ranks. Would one of them like to give an expert view?0 -
I wonder why not just charge £85, first come first served?
Paul0 -
JS14 wrote:Make that three Simple...
Reply from the organisers :
"The rationale behind the price disparity, is that now we have organised the event twice, we understand the true cost of putting on the ride, which is £85.
"We charge UK riders £58 as an incentive to participate as one of our remits from the Mayor of London is to increase cycling participation in London.
"We do believe that the event still offers exceptional value."
My comment: Fair enough if you have a lower entry fee for London or Surrey residents whose councils are paying part of the event's costs. But it seems like you can make a good case for racial discrimination if the organisers charge johnny foreigner more than they charge a UK resident from the Outer Hebrides or some equally remote part of the realm.
I am reliably informed that there are a lot of cycling lawyers amongst our ranks. Would one of them like to give an expert view?
They can not discriminate against other EU residents so I would fight on that.0 -
I was one of the first people to raise this point about overseas entrants. I am yet to receive a response to my questions to them.
My invoice clearly stated £58, so I refused to pay more. I called their telephone operators and they said two incorrect things: 1) Overseas applicants can't enter the ballot 2) Overseas applicants have always paid more. I told them these two statements were wrong and pointed out that they cannot charge more than the invoice states (especially as that even says "overseas"), and that there has never been anything about this higher fee (especially as when you go to pay it calls it an "option"). They weren't very helpful and the supervisor was rather rude as well. The supervisor then said I could wait to pay until I could speak to their manager, but she didn't come back until after the payment deadline, so that really wasn't an option.
In the end I called up again and changed my application to a UK address. But this isn't an acceptable solution.
@JS14 - Where did you get the reasoning behind the higher fee?Brim Cycling Channel - My YouTube Channel
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ActiveBeans - A Veggie Lifestyle Blog0 -
jasonbrim wrote:
@JS14 - Where did you get the reasoning behind the higher fee?
Glad to find I am not the only one complaining.
I emailed the organisers at the address on their contact page helpdesk@ridelondon.co.uk and they replied.
Like you I only discovered that overseas riders /foreigners were charged more when I tried to pay. When I signed up for the ballot, there was no mention of this. I couldn't understand why the payment page was adding an extra £27 for a "donatation" (sic); I thought I must have accidentally ticked a box to give money to somebody. In the end I paid up because the deadline was only an hour away and I had already changed my holiday arrangements to be in London for the weekend and annonced to friends that I would be taking part.0 -
That's a shame that you had to fork out the extra in end, I'd be fighting to get it back if it were me.
Pretty poor show from the organisers to be honest. It'd be almost acceptable if it was clearly stated beforehand, but to just stick an extra £27 is pretty snide.0 -
Hi Guys im doing the ride this year but cant find much info on the logistics of it all. I need to find a hotel to book etc. so can anyone recommend a hotel to stay in. Also how do you get your bikes to the start if your not that close. Can you Use the tubes/trains etc. ME and the family would also like to do the London freeride on the Saturday but again cant seem to find much info on how to get your bikes into town!!!!!> but if you could recommend and bike friendly hotels id really appreciate it. but all info gratefully received as i need to get this sorted before the wife kills me!!0
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Logistics aren't easy and are compounded by the finish being several miles from the start. So, I'd suggest that you find accommodation vaguely between the start and finish in the certain knowledge that you'll have to ride a bit extra at one end of the day; probably both.welshychris wrote:Hi Guys im doing the ride this year but cant find much info on the logistics of it all. I need to find a hotel to book etc. so can anyone recommend a hotel to stay in. Also how do you get your bikes to the start if your not that close. Can you Use the tubes/trains etc. ME and the family would also like to do the London freeride on the Saturday but again cant seem to find much info on how to get your bikes into town!!!!!> but if you could recommend and bike friendly hotels id really appreciate it. but all info gratefully received as i need to get this sorted before the wife kills me!!
The Saturday event can be joined from pretty much anywhere on the circuit, but, if you have young kids, be aware that most access roads to the Saturday event will have live traffic.
If you're coming up to the smoke from the sticks, only park where you are 110% certain it is legal. Mistakes are expensive. Congestion Charge applies Monday to Friday 07.00hrs until 18.00hrs. Don't not pay it even if you were only a minute into the charge window.
It's a lot of faff but your reward will be miles of traffic-free riding in the best city in the world! Enjoy!0 -
to be honest , im more concerned about the freeride because there no way i could carry 3 bikes for that.......0
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WelshyChris, I did it in 2013 and lucky enough to get a place again this year.
I presume you are in Wales (I'm Basingstoke), but I thought given road closures etc it would be easier to get the train up, this is what I did in 2013
Saturday morning train from Basingstoke - London
Did a couple of laps of the freecycle thing
I got the DLR (bikes were allowed) out to Excel and registered there (you could probably cycle if you wanted, around 6 miles from Tower Bridge at a guess/estimate)
I stayed in Ibis Budget London City (5 minute ride from Excel, across the dock), it was cheap, not great, but cheap.
On Sunday morning I packed up all my stuff (deliberately travelled light) into a small rucksack (inc the stuff you get at Expo) and rode up to start (5 miles, lots of cyclists around - was actually quite fun), put my small rucksack in their (large) kit bag and drop it off.
Did the ride and at finish collected my kit bag
Train home
This was pretty easy TBH and I am replicating this year. My advice would be to get a hotel reasonable near start/expo and if using train travel light enough that you can put your overnight bag in the RL100 kit bag so you don't have to go back to hotel afterwards0 -
HI Matt thanks for the info, im looking at hotels near the expo. but will have to take a car as were going to France on our hols on the monday!. My wife and daughter would like to do the freeride but am unsure how we would get the bikes from docklands to town! My daughter is only 7 so its likely that i will have to try and carry 2 bikes. the wife well she can fend for herself..lol . so could be a right pain getting the bikes to central london. Did you find the hotel was ok with you having your bike with you etc0
