Ride London 2016

antonyfromoz

Capt Slog wrote:

Got back around 2pm today, I stayed the night in london because I didn't want to drive baack after the day.

I started around 8:50, after waiting for my son to start. And finished at about 5:15. I walked a LONG way I was stuck at Pyrford for what felt like a couple of hours. I think I just missed the detouir there, they were talking about it, but it hadn't happened as I paased that point, so i was stuck in the shuffling masses and getting very disappointed. It looked as if we weren't going to finish the day, and that would have been a lot of time and effort gone to waste.

I made it up Newlands without a hitch, but by this time we were getting too hungry to carry on without some proper food. We stopped at the hub (forgive me if I'm getting the places mixed up) and bought hotdogs, chips and coffee. We just sat down to eat them when a m/bike pulled in, and the rider shouted "LEAVE NOW OR YOU'RE GOING HOME ON THE TRAIN!"

:shock: :shock:

Handful of chips in the mouth a quick swig of scolding coffee and off on tyhe bike holding a bit of hotdog.

We were now too late to do Leith, diversion was in place, but were in time to ride up Box Hill, which felt like a doddle. The rest of the ride went well. In all, I walked about 5 times due to stoppages, I've never walked so far in cleats before.

The day was fantastic though. The crowds were lovely, made us feel like we were taking part in a race even though it was a bit of fun sportive (high fives with the kids, waving etc. great fun)

I said this was going to be a one-off, but Mrs Slog is already talking about next year (she doesn't ride it!)

I wanted to get around in 7 hours, considering the time I was stationary, I think I didn't do bad. The bike didn't either. I ride a £300 Decathlon B'Twin, and it served the purpose.

I got caught at Pyrford too - with all the walking, I was very happy that i packed my cleat covers...

Anonymous

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

umop3pisdn wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

Its a race

If your number is on your bars, it's not a race.

Is that why the C0ck above did not have a number on his bars

Lots of rides are a race (have you heard of strava?), it just depends on who you are racing and the parameters of the race.

If/when I do it again I will be racing myself, I will do it considerately, and I will win :twisted:

Keep it together Carbonator... you were doing OK before that episode... :roll:

The word 'Race' seems to have significant (deluded) meaning to some cylists.

I prefer the simpler 'race you to the lamp post' (insert other destination) I had as a child.

A race is defined by who is in it, and where they are going.
It is not UCI regulated, and only needs to be considerate to those not involved to be valid

mallorcajeff

Yep echoing much the same as said before. Was about one min behind that crash into the tree so had the whole que and walk saga. Official time was 6.30 but my garmin logged a 4.59 so was happy with that considering all the times we had to stop etc so would have been nearer 4.50 with a clearer road. I was slow on the hills as too heavy but on the flat was holding 24-26 moh into that headwind and rode it alone so still got some legs in there somehwere. All in all a good day, i can descend with the best of them having had seven years of doing it daily in mallorca but i know the time and the place and that is not either on some of those twisty shaded tree roads with so many around who think they know what they are doing when clearly had no idea.

Best bit for me was bein stopped for three mins for pedestrians in chelsea which when we got the clear was a clear road ahead all the way to the line so thought id see what i had left and not a bike nor a group passed me to the line hurt like hell but wanted to see if i could still turn a gear. (I can)

Wont be doing it again though too many bikes and too much bad riding. I only made it round unscathed as ive done too many thousands of miles to expect the unbelievable. Inclding the twunt who when going into a roundabout on the right decides to go across the chevrrons at the last minute to go the other way instead nearly taking out some 15 odd riders. I exited the roundabout and when we met the otherside at exactly the same time i just looked at him and said you sir are a c0ck and to which he had no idea as to why. I rest my case. He romped off with the hump then twenty mins kater were all held up for a crash. Anyone know the jersey who hit the tree? Black with a yellow band and some stupid slogan on the back? Wouldnt supise me.

Anyway ive done it ticked the box full chapeau to the organisers and the crowds on the streets and a big thumbs up the guy wearing the full rapha aero skin suit and aero helmet pushing his £9000 pinarello up the top of leith you made a fat bloke happy as i glided past not even breaking a sweat.

Anonymous

mallorcajeff wrote:

a big thumbs up the guy wearing the full rapha aero skin suit and aero helmet pushing his £9000 pinarello up the top of leith you made a fat bloke happy as i glided past not even breaking a sweat.

I do not believe that happened.

Even if the Rapha Pratt existed you should have pushed harder!

Anyone else corroborate this rider?

Stedman

Carbonator wrote:

mallorcajeff wrote:

a big thumbs up the guy wearing the full rapha aero skin suit and aero helmet pushing his £9000 pinarello up the top of leith you made a fat bloke happy as i glided past not even breaking a sweat.

I do not believe that happened.

Even if the Rapha Pratt existed you should have pushed harder!

Anyone else corroborate this rider?

In our charity team, we had an octogenarian who comfortably rode all the three (big) hills!

Anonymous

Stedman wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

mallorcajeff wrote:

a big thumbs up the guy wearing the full rapha aero skin suit and aero helmet pushing his £9000 pinarello up the top of leith you made a fat bloke happy as i glided past not even breaking a sweat.

I do not believe that happened.

Even if the Rapha Pratt existed you should have pushed harder!

Anyone else corroborate this rider?

In our charity team, we had an octogenarian who comfortably rode all the three (big) hills!

Shall I repeat the question but speak little louder?

grenw

antonyfromoz wrote:

[
I got caught at Pyrford too - with all the walking, I was very happy that i packed my cleat covers...

As did I and I wasn't even doing the ride!

I was heading over to watch the race and had to do 2 miles of the sportive route. As it was 12.30 and the roads were meant to be open i thought that it was a safe option. Had to walk pretty much all the way from Byfleet to Ripley.....around 2 miles.

All the riders I was surrounded by would not be able to do any of the climbs so a bit of a shame.

umop3pisdn

Carbonator wrote:

umop3pisdn wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

Its a race

If your number is on your bars, it's not a race.

I
Lots of rides are a race (have you heard of strava?), it just depends on who you are racing and the parameters of the race.

I don't go on BikeRadar very often, are you a professional troll? Or a bot spouting stereotypical MAMIL bollocks?

ugo.santalucia

Capt Slog wrote:

Got back around 2pm today, I stayed the night in london because I didn't want to drive baack after the day.

I started around 8:50, after waiting for my son to start. And finished at about 5:15. I walked a LONG way I was stuck at Pyrford for what felt like a couple of hours. I think I just missed the detouir there, they were talking about it, but it hadn't happened as I paased that point, so i was stuck in the shuffling masses and getting very disappointed. It looked as if we weren't going to finish the day, and that would have been a lot of time and effort gone to waste.

I made it up Newlands without a hitch, but by this time we were getting too hungry to carry on without some proper food. We stopped at the hub (forgive me if I'm getting the places mixed up) and bought hotdogs, chips and coffee. We just sat down to eat them when a m/bike pulled in, and the rider shouted "LEAVE NOW OR YOU'RE GOING HOME ON THE TRAIN!"

:shock: :shock:

Handful of chips in the mouth a quick swig of scolding coffee and off on tyhe bike holding a bit of hotdog.

We were now too late to do Leith, diversion was in place, but were in time to ride up Box Hill, which felt like a doddle. The rest of the ride went well. In all, I walked about 5 times due to stoppages, I've never walked so far in cleats before.

The day was fantastic though.

The last statement somewhat not in tune with the rest of the story... chapeau for your attitude... I would be mighty pissed off

kingstonian

Interesting flurry of posts............

I did it last year. Was expecting to do it in about 4hr 45mins, but had an injury 3 months before and had very little training. I told the organisers I wasn't likely to hold that speed, so they told me it was absolutely fine to drop into a later start time. I did it for a charity that is close to my heart, raised over a grand, did it in 5hr 30 mins which was fine bearing in mind the lack of training, and really enjoyed it.

Didn't apply in the ballot for this year as I wasn't sure if I would be in the country. Will apply for next year because I did enjoy the closed roads (through London especially) and I want to see what time I can do with the right training. I wouldn't look to do it year after year, once more will be enough.

The Tour of Cambridgeshire is also a good closed roads event, but there seem to be very few in the UK.

prhymeate

This might have been posted already, but for what it's worth you can still donate to Cancer Research via Robin Chard's just giving page. He is the guy who passed away on the ride. It's pretty heart breaking reading his preamble that is written in the present tense. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Robin-Chard

philbar72

the 6 am wave had riders of mixed abilities. so did the 6:04. you could tell that as within the first 2k several from the 6AM wave were down and out after riding like idiots.

i saw several instances of incredibly silly riding, and some really bad road manners from some pumped up nutter from the 6:04 wave. but, outside of that it was a good ride. Most of the people rode well and were courteous decent riders. its a good day out and i reccomend it. will be trying for the TOC next year as well. they are really the only 2 gran fondo esque experiences we have in the UK that i know of.

ajkerr73

philbar72 wrote:

the 6 am wave had riders of mixed abilities. so did the 6:04. you could tell that as within the first 2k several from the 6AM wave were down and out after riding like idiots.

i saw several instances of incredibly silly riding, and some really bad road manners from some pumped up nutter from the 6:04 wave. but, outside of that it was a good ride. Most of the people rode well and were courteous decent riders. its a good day out and i reccomend it. will be trying for the TOC next year as well. they are really the only 2 gran fondo esque experiences we have in the UK that i know of.

The TOC people are trying to get one off the ground in Kilmarnock.

It was mooted for September but I believe is now delayed until May.

StortfordQPR

As a relative newcomer to road cycling the opportunity of doing a closed roads ride around London was just too good to miss, and I was very pleased to get a place on the 46 mile event

So, a few observations from someone who'd never done anything like this before, and who has never been in a club or worried about what others think of me:

- very friendly atmosphere amongst the vast majority of the riders
- seemed to be very well organised (I didn't stop en route bar a short delay in Kingston - sadly) and my bag was waiting for me at the finish
- some sections (esp Richmond Park) were far too crowded and it was frustrating to have to slow down so much
- rider discipline could be better - too many riders strung out across the road riding at a moderate pace so they could chat to each other (nothing wrong with this in my view if there is room for others to pass)
- fantastic support around the course. A small glimpse of what it might be as a pro rider (!)
- really enjoyable drag back into London being hauled along in a mini peleton

I guess that my time was reasonable - 2 hours 11 minutes - but this was of less relevance to me than the overall experience. As an only moderately fit 50 year old there is no way I'm going to be doing a 4 hour 100 mile ride, but this was my own little personal challenge, and one that I hugely enjoyed and would do again next weekend if I could

And this, for me, is why I cycle - because I enjoy it. I'm at the stage of life where I'm beyond feeling that I have to prove anything to anyone. Though it may seem harsh, I do think that there's too much willy waving amongst many road cyclists (I don't get this when I'm mountain biking). In fact its the main reason that I invariably cycle on my own - too many of the weekend road warriors passing me in their club colours in their mini peletons can't be bothered to acknowledge a lone cyclist, and maybe things would be different if I was actually in the club, I don't want to turn into one of those club riders who seem to think themselves superior in some way. Maybe I'm just on the wrong bike or wearing the wrong kit

mroli

drlodge wrote:

Its a closed road event that he has not entered/paid for. Smash his fcuking bike up with baseball bats, job done!

I agree...I get so f***king annoyed with people who say they're gonna ride the RLS100 even though they haven't paid for it, even making counterfeit numbers for their bike so they don't get pulled up.

Stick a broom handle through their front wheel as they're descending Leith Hill.

Just found out a "mate" may have done this. He will be a mate no longer if so.

capt_slog

ugo.santalucia wrote:

The day was fantastic though.

The last statement somewhat not in tune with the rest of the story... chapeau for your attitude... I would be mighty pissed off

You missed out...

The crowds were lovely, made us feel like we were taking part in a race even though it was a bit of fun sportive (high fives with the kids, waving etc. great fun)

I said this was going to be a one-off, but Mrs Slog is already talking about next year (she doesn't ride it!)

The rest of the ride went well.

But I take your point

The thing that got me through the walking bits was the realisation that I was upright and walking, and not lying in the road/ambulance/helicopter. That helped put a perspective on my occasional, bad tempered outbursts at being stopped (again). :oops:

I didn't mention how absolutely bloody brilliant it was to be riding down the centre of roads, riding on the wrong side of roads, going around the 'other side' of roundabouts and mid-carriageway refuges, riding between barriers with a crowd on the other side, riding with so many other bikes, and the general 'wahay' of the whole day. Perhaps I should have.

mroli

ugo.santalucia wrote:

PS: I have nothing against RL100, just struggle to understand why those who know they can ride 100 miles no problem keep insisting doing this thing.

I'll bite on this Ugo. I've ridden these roads with you and had a lovely time, but I have never ridden through Dorking with you with people on the side of the road cheering, seen (and guided) a number of first time 100 milers who wouldn't ride sportives and seen how happy, exhausted and chuffed they are to have been part of it and seen our charity benefit to the sum of £1000s from sponsorship. It is a great thing to do - to shut down the capital for 1 1/2 days a year and dedicate it to cycling and by participating, you are helping it keep going.

bikergirl17

the irony is that if you do the route -- or the surrey hills -- after 2 pm on a sunday it is effectively a closed road course -- i usually see a few cars if i go through shere (check out the ye olde sandwich shop -- great baked goods!) and one or two on box hill (which i usually get to around 7 pm). i can easily say i go more than 65 miles without putting a foot down other than to pick up a peanut and chocolate flap jack (seriously they are awesome).

i personally think it is the stupidest sportive ever -- a pretty unattractive route on poor pavement with too many dangerous cyclists. and if you want the novelty of cycling in london, you are welcome to join me on my daily commute. yet it still attracts 20,000 people - so clearly i am wrong.

and FWIW i wouldn't do the fred as i am not likely getting up those hills on a 34-29 so it really wouldn't be very satisfying to be walking (I just attempted zocolon on that and it was ... not pretty).

quote="Slowbike"]

ugo.santalucia wrote:

BigMat wrote:

For sure Fred's a better ride, but then I can't go to sleep in my usual bed, get up, do the ride and be home in time for brunch. That's one of the big draws with Ride London.

mroli

bikergirl17 wrote:

4 years - 20k-25k riders - that's not even 100 thousand riders who've done it.

I think it was "only" 10,000 riders in the first year. I certainly notice that its a lot busier now.

Cliveyp

A day of rest (read as marching round London sightseeing with the family then driving back home), and here is my mental recollection of it;

A late start (08:52) was never going to lend itself to a record time, and nor was my lack of training due to a knee injury taking me off the bike for a few weeks, so the plan was just to make it round and enjoy the experience. First worry was getting caught up and missing the Hampton Court hub cut off time and getting swept up by the wagon. Luckily we kept ourselves out of trouble and breezed past the hub with just over 30 mins to spare, and all this whilst taKing in the sights and having a chat......and then we stopped! We hit a short stop as an ambulance arrived for a faller by the reservoirs just outside Walton on Thames. We soon filtered through that and rolled on fairly well until the bunch up at Pyrford. We didn't get diverted at this point so wasted quite a lot of time. We took the opportunity to 'offload and reload' at this point, and got back in the shuffle forward. Having lost around 1.5-2hrs here we could tell that the Leith diversion was going to be in place by the time we got there....not helped by then being in a very large bunch of mixed abilities which then turned to a walk again to get through the narrow bridge at Ripley. With that cleared it was fairly plain sailing. Sure enough, we were past the Leith cut off and were forced straight on (with a large number of people seemingly descending from Leith on the wrong road so I guess some must have been turned around somewhere up there?).

I don't recall too much of a hold up by the time we got to Dorking, and before I know it we were starting the Box climb.....and I loved it! Challenging gradient is definitely not the words, but a nice steady rythmic climb on the best Tarmac I have ever ridden! That was a highlight for me, and some sensible riding saw plenty of room for me to pass anyone I needed to on the right yet also leave room for those passing me. Rolled across the top and enjoyed the descent until we hit the sharp rise at Headley which soon stopped across the full width of the road due to those not being able to find a gear! A small gap that a row of us found right against the hedge soon disappeared and we were back to walking. Still better than the guy who ended up in the ditch at the bottom though, but good to see him out and discussing getting his bike back out with some other guys!

After that it was plain sailing. Legs felt amazing so I got some momentum on Wimbledon hill and rattled up without too much of an issue. Took the wheel of a very helpful Chester cycle club member not long after who was clearing a path through the busier sections before being joined by her friends along the Embankment. Managed to stay with them quite well all the way through to the Mall and still had a bit left to give it a bit of welly from the gates onwards. The crowd were such a driver it was brilliant!

Overall, gutted to have missed Leith, but under the circumstances I'm just glad I was able to make it to the end as so many didn't. There was quite a few idiots out I thought, who seemed to think a very loud yell of 'RIGHT!' gave them a given space regardless of if that person in front had nowhere to go. The one guy I saw on a full TT bike in Kingston wasn't the best example either. Other than that, considering the number of people, it was all pretty good. I'll be trying the ballot again just to try Leith too.

philbar72

mroli wrote:

bikergirl17 wrote:

4 years - 20k-25k riders - that's not even 100 thousand riders who've done it.

I think it was "only" 10,000 riders in the first year. I certainly notice that its a lot busier now.

25.7k ish on the 100... This year.

DeVlaeminck

Ajkerr73 wrote:

philbar72 wrote:

the 6 am wave had riders of mixed abilities. so did the 6:04. you could tell that as within the first 2k several from the 6AM wave were down and out after riding like idiots.

i saw several instances of incredibly silly riding, and some really bad road manners from some pumped up nutter from the 6:04 wave. but, outside of that it was a good ride. Most of the people rode well and were courteous decent riders. its a good day out and i reccomend it. will be trying for the TOC next year as well. they are really the only 2 gran fondo esque experiences we have in the UK that i know of.

The TOC people are trying to get one off the ground in Kilmarnock.

It was mooted for September but I believe is now delayed until May.

This was the event advertised on the Sport Communication website as the Marmotte Ecosse? Looked interesting though from memory it was some way short of 100 miles.

mallorcajeff

Carbonator.

Call me a liar if you like fella i know what i saw with my own eyes, clearly a guy who went out way too hard with all his probable bonus money blown on expensive kit to struggle up leith hill. I glided past as i paced myself simple as that. I already pushed hard enough riding back into london from the top of box pretty swiftly as and where it was approriate.

But saying you dont believe it thats fine but i have no reason to lie about something so trivial as to why would i mention it? Still you must know best i suppose because you was there?

defride

To clarify the front of the event is a 'race'. The front pens are populated largely with club teams in RL's 'Club Challenge' timed with a 'winning' team. Not everyone up there is in it to win it, many have there own reason be it charity or whatever.

If the organisers were unhappy with the pace and the race oriented nature of the front groups they'd park their Skoda's in front and hold everyone up. They don't.

I started from the second wave last year and thought the riding was pretty good club level, always going to be an error here and there but obstacles were called and riders generally looked out for each other. That said I remember at least three crashes.

Started in the first wave this time, the ride etiquette was no where near as good, it was treated as a race, turns and middle were called but nothing else and there was no calling to pass. Wits about all the way to Wimbledon Hill where our group seemed to break down to a more manageable 40 or 50. Only the one crash this time, a touch of wheels going up one of the hills affected three or four. From the A12 through to Richmond there were individuals and groups jumping on from the side of the road, funny, the couple of guys I saw tossing gel wrappers didn't have numbers...

Hope those affected by the crashes later recover quickly and condolences to the family and friends of the poor chap who passed away.

Going into the event I was aware there are risks, every time I go out on the bike I realise there is a risk, what you do while riding has much to do with the how 'lucky' you'll be though there's no accounting for something happening outside your control. Fortunately, as terrible as the highlighted crashes were in context they were relatively few. All ours made it around safely though many were held up which was disappointing but understandable.

Dipped under 4 hours myself, yes, for me it was about seeing what I could do in a peleton type environment. Not quiet strong enough to go with the dozen or so that got away on Box Hill, strong enough to finish in the next group. Didn't sprint as didn't feel I'd done enough work and in any case was keen to spot family cheering on along the finish. As much a morning out for them as a ride for me and while I'd debate whether it was worth doing again the family have it pencilled in already.

Sure one could go off and replicate this type of event somewhere else in the world, Tour of Cambs springs to mind, but, that wouldn't be riding through central London and finishing on The Mall.

paul2718

Tour of Cambridgeshire is actually a race, which makes a difference to the feel. A great reduction of inhibition.

RL100 could run the first 20 or 30 minutes as races, gridded by age groups, simultaneous starts from each chute. If you want to go fast you get a licence and declare yourself. But perhaps the really bothersome riders wouldn't want to. I think it would be good for the event, they could properly laud the winners with podiums and stuff.

Paul

Ibaz

Cliveyp wrote:

A day of rest (read as marching round London sightseeing with the family then driving back home), and here is my mental recollection of it;

A late start (08:52) was never going to lend itself to a record time, and nor was my lack of training due to a knee injury taking me off the bike for a few weeks, so the plan was just to make it round and enjoy the experience. First worry was getting caught up and missing the Hampton Court hub cut off time and getting swept up by the wagon. Luckily we kept ourselves out of trouble and breezed past the hub with just over 30 mins to spare, and all this whilst taKing in the sights and having a chat......and then we stopped! We hit a short stop as an ambulance arrived for a faller by the reservoirs just outside Walton on Thames. We soon filtered through that and rolled on fairly well until the bunch up at Pyrford. We didn't get diverted at this point so wasted quite a lot of time. We took the opportunity to 'offload and reload' at this point, and got back in the shuffle forward. Having lost around 1.5-2hrs here we could tell that the Leith diversion was going to be in place by the time we got there....not helped by then being in a very large bunch of mixed abilities which then turned to a walk again to get through the narrow bridge at Ripley. With that cleared it was fairly plain sailing. Sure enough, we were past the Leith cut off and were forced straight on (with a large number of people seemingly descending from Leith on the wrong road so I guess some must have been turned around somewhere up there?).

I don't recall too much of a hold up by the time we got to Dorking, and before I know it we were starting the Box climb.....and I loved it! Challenging gradient is definitely not the words, but a nice steady rythmic climb on the best Tarmac I have ever ridden! That was a highlight for me, and some sensible riding saw plenty of room for me to pass anyone I needed to on the right yet also leave room for those passing me. Rolled across the top and enjoyed the descent until we hit the sharp rise at Headley which soon stopped across the full width of the road due to those not being able to find a gear! A small gap that a row of us found right against the hedge soon disappeared and we were back to walking. Still better than the guy who ended up in the ditch at the bottom though, but good to see him out and discussing getting his bike back out with some other guys!

After that it was plain sailing. Legs felt amazing so I got some momentum on Wimbledon hill and rattled up without too much of an issue. Took the wheel of a very helpful Chester cycle club member not long after who was clearing a path through the busier sections before being joined by her friends along the Embankment. Managed to stay with them quite well all the way through to the Mall and still had a bit left to give it a bit of welly from the gates onwards. The crowd were such a driver it was brilliant!

Overall, gutted to have missed Leith, but under the circumstances I'm just glad I was able to make it to the end as so many didn't. There was quite a few idiots out I thought, who seemed to think a very loud yell of 'RIGHT!' gave them a given space regardless of if that person in front had nowhere to go. The one guy I saw on a full TT bike in Kingston wasn't the best example either. Other than that, considering the number of people, it was all pretty good. I'll be trying the ballot again just to try Leith too.

I started 10 minutes before you and my day pretty much followed the same pattern.
I'll be entering the ballot for next year just to do Leith hill.

Cliveyp

I understand it was an accident, and there was many thousands of people to try and move about, but the one thing that bothered me at Pyrford was the lack of information. There were two 'official vehicles' parked up near the one junction where we could see a few people starting to filter off to the right, but in the grand scheme of things it wasn't many. We pondered about joining them, but thought that the officials in said vehicles should actually have some information on what was happening. Not regarding the accident itself, but if there was an alternative route surely it would have been beneficial for these guys to have been able to announce something? I know at this point my mobile internet was struggling (probably through the amount of people trying to find out what was happening) and having missed the earlier detour being put into place it would have been great for someone to say 'do this, do that'.

defride

paul2718 wrote:

Tour of Cambridgeshire is actually a race, which makes a difference to the feel. A great reduction of inhibition.


Paul

RideLondon Club Challenge is also a race, the front wave was ridden in exactly the same manner as ToC. I'd imagine the front of the first two or three waves were similar.

ToC wasn't much more of a race than RL, they produced a result for the first three in each age group but beyond that it was a sportive. In the sprint for the line you may have beaten the guy next to you for fourth but if he started over the start line a couple of seconds behind you he beat you in the 'official result'.

Anonymous

mallorcajeff wrote:

Carbonator.

Call me a liar if you like fella i know what i saw with my own eyes, clearly a guy who went out way too hard with all his probable bonus money blown on expensive kit to struggle up leith hill. I glided past as i paced myself simple as that. I already pushed hard enough riding back into london from the top of box pretty swiftly as and where it was approriate.

But saying you dont believe it thats fine but i have no reason to lie about something so trivial as to why would i mention it? Still you must know best i suppose because you was there?

Soz mj,

my comment was more the disbelief of the picture you painted, and desire for clarification of the enormity of such a sight than an assault on your credibility.

I did think it was possibly a little embellished though.

Maybe the guy did it for a bet?

I know (and there is nothing wrong with) people have nice bikes but are not great at hills, and may even resort to walking. but was it actually a 9k bike, TT helmet and skin suit etc?

ugo.santalucia

Ibaz wrote:

I'll be entering the ballot for next year just to do Leith hill.

It really is just an insignificant hill with nothing to go for... not worth to bother