Ride London 2016

bearman3784

Cliveyp wrote:

bearman3784 wrote:

Capt Slog wrote:

Listerine8 wrote:

managed to skip the queues with a few others by taking a few side roads and bridle ways.

7 hours start to finish, and very pleased with the result.

I wish I'd known how to do that.

I'm trying to find out what time the diversion from mile 44 took place, does anyone know? It went from mile 44 to mile 70, hence missing out Leith and Box. I feel fortunate to have got past that cut-off.

I'd guess it was around 1pm we got screwed over, after standing/walking around for almost 2 hours. Missed Newlands, Leith and Box :evil: Even then they didnt tell us the route we were on was still an open roads with cars, held up behind a pace car at 20mph. Seems like the diversions either side of us at least got to see 1 hill, shame as there were alot of faster riders in the big diversion who could have easily made the cut off times and got round it all.

Wasn't angry at the time based on the circumstance of the delay but felt shoot about it considering we were doing the ride for charity

What time did you get caught at Pyrford? Looking at my text messages and call logs we hit that about 11:05 and were still in it at 12:39. After that we had the shuffle along for the bridge at Ripley. IIRC the Leith Hill cut off was about 13:15 (?), and I think we got to that point at about 13:45-13:50 or something like, yet will still managed Box.

As you say, based on the circumstances, its hard to be angry, but it is frustrating. The bit I found worse was the diversion that was put in place to avoid Pyrford.....at what point was that put into action, as I thought we should have taken it considering our times, yet we had to sit it out with the many other thousands in front of us - and behind - with the 'official vehicles' parked up just before the drinks stop in the village seemingly knowing nothing....

We must have hit it around that time as well, left at 8.50 ish with a 10 minute loo break inbetween. Cant really tell a time trail as i had no decent signal to use data out there. Went into the feed station for a bit instead of standing around and left around 10/15 minutes after the crowd slowly started shuffling forward, got back on the bikes for a couple of minutes then it all came to a stop again and back to walking. You probably just missed the bigger diversion by minutes as we were some of the first people put onto it as they were moving the cones.

The church at Pyrford was great though, really welcoming letting everyone use their loos and kitchen for water.

Ibaz

drlodge wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

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

Indeed, much nicer ways up Leith. Tanhurst Lane is quite nice now that its been resurfaced. Try the Octopus and do them all!

It's more to have some the whole route rather than the hill it self . I live in Worcestershire so no shortage of good climbs.
The delays I get. Gotta sort the accident out.
But I was disapointed that the only way I got 100 miles on the day was because I included my ride in from the drop off and the ride out to Fulham afterwards.
I would have been mighty frustrated - I guess as many others were, to sign up for their first century and only be allowed to do 92 miles.

therealthing

ugo.santalucia wrote:

therealthing wrote:

Just checked my photos online, and they cost £45 to download! That is absolutely outrageous in my opinion: how can they charge so much merely for the privilege of downloading a picture? Certainly won't be buying them. Would have to charge at least half that to even consider buying.

That wasn't even the cheapest option!

Prices of these things have gone up steeply... I suspect it's because sales are down... people are fed up of photos of them cycling and looking fat/shoot... I don't even look at event photos anymore as you can be sure they will be crap

They weren't bad photos, but nothing that any old bystander couldn't have taken.

ugo.santalucia

therealthing wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

therealthing wrote:

Just checked my photos online, and they cost £45 to download! That is absolutely outrageous in my opinion: how can they charge so much merely for the privilege of downloading a picture? Certainly won't be buying them. Would have to charge at least half that to even consider buying.

That wasn't even the cheapest option!

Prices of these things have gone up steeply... I suspect it's because sales are down... people are fed up of photos of them cycling and looking fat/shoot... I don't even look at event photos anymore as you can be sure they will be crap

They weren't bad photos, but nothing that any old bystander couldn't have taken.

My best cycling photos have been taken by friends with a phone as they were cycling too... go figure...

mudsucker

I had a great day at ride london and finished a couple of mins under 6hrs which was 15 mins better than my last year.

Things i liked:

The course was fun and except Leith and box hill was fairly flat.
Having banter/chats with the mostly friendly other riders.
Support from the crowds in the towns/high fives with them :-)
The weather was spot on
Managing the hills with relative ease.
Seeing my family on the Mall at the end.
Finishing on the Mall was cool.
Feeling fresh at the end

Things i didn't like:

Too many riders this year. I did the ride last year and there were 25,000 riders. This year they bumped the numbers for the 100 to 27K and on the 2nd half there were 3,000 doing the 46 mile route it just got too congested and I got held up/ had to walk for 1hrs 30 or so.

As above people on very expensive bikes pushing up hills in the middle of the road.
Riders on on their Colnago, De Rosa, Cipolini, Pinarello etc in matching clothes trying push you out the way, thinking they are a pro rider and you are just in their way doing 20mph on the flat.

Other than those few thing it was great :-)

daddy0

This was my take on the day:
https://cyclejames.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/prudential-ride-london-2016/

ugo.santalucia

Daddy0 wrote:

This was my take on the day:
https://cyclejames.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/prudential-ride-london-2016/

The long preamble of excuses succeeds in making the rest of the story alomst epic... shame it was just an organised ride in Surrey and not a solo assault to the summit of K2, innit?

wonky donkey

bearman3784 wrote:

Cliveyp wrote:

bearman3784 wrote:

Capt Slog wrote:

Listerine8 wrote:

managed to skip the queues with a few others by taking a few side roads and bridle ways.

7 hours start to finish, and very pleased with the result.

I wish I'd known how to do that.

I'm trying to find out what time the diversion from mile 44 took place, does anyone know? It went from mile 44 to mile 70, hence missing out Leith and Box. I feel fortunate to have got past that cut-off.

I'd guess it was around 1pm we got screwed over, after standing/walking around for almost 2 hours.

What time did you get caught at Pyrford? Looking at my text messages and call logs we hit that about 11:05 and were still in it at 12:39. After that we had the shuffle along for the bridge at Ripley. IIRC the Leith Hill cut off was about 13:15 (?), and I think we got to that point at about 13:45-13:50 or something like, yet will still managed Box.

We must have hit it around that time as well, left at 8.50 ish with a 10 minute loo break inbetween.

Strava says I hit the back of the queue at Pyrford at around 9.55, in front of the drinks station, so the queue was about 1km long by then. I had a pee and refilled water bottles then joined the shuffling masses. Past the remnants of the accident (a cop car and a big silver pickup blocking half the road) on Church Road 1h15m later at around 11.10 and then back on the bike for the rest of the course. There was no queue at the Ripley bridge at that point, I guess when the police fully opened the accident scene the bottleneck just moved to Ripley.

RL announced the diversion on Twitter at 10.59: https://twitter.com/RideLondon/status/759690029786628096 - but it sounds like they didn't actually activate it on the ground until somewhat later. They could have even taken most of the people out of the queue down Pyrford Common Road onto the diversion, but no, make everyone stand around for hours...

At the turn onto the A25 at the bottom of Newlands I saw quite a lot of folks rejoining the official route who looked like they must have come down the A247 past West Clandon, either they got lost on the diversion, or had done some creative rerouting...

Sorry to hear you all got stuck so bad.

WD

[edit - my maths is terrible]

slowbike

sounds like you had a good ride! nice one.

I was scrabbling around for water at the end of the ride - surprised they didn't just have a few tanks at the end of the Mall ...

daddy0

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Daddy0 wrote:

This was my take on the day:
https://cyclejames.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/prudential-ride-london-2016/

The long preamble of excuses succeeds in making the rest of the story alomst epic... shame it was just an organised ride in Surrey and not a solo assault to the summit of K2, innit?

..almost!!! :-)

I'm just fishing for a place on the clubs team next year ;-)

slowbike

I think Strava need to have a special flyby facility for RL where you can put the rider numbers in and see the progress of the different riders selecting them from a seemingly random set of names who may or may not have passed you at some point just doesn't work for this sort of event ...

Cliveyp

wonky donkey wrote:

Strava says I hit the back of the queue at Pyrford at around 9.55, in front of the drinks station, so the queue was about 1km long by then. I had a pee and refilled water bottles then joined the shuffling masses. Past the remnants of the accident (a cop car and a big silver pickup blocking half the road) on Church Road 1h15m later at around 11.10 and then back on the bike for the rest of the course. There was no queue at the Ripley bridge at that point, I guess when the police fully opened the accident scene the bottleneck just moved to Ripley.

RL announced the diversion on Twitter at 10.59: https://twitter.com/RideLondon/status/759690029786628096 - but it sounds like they didn't actually activate it on the ground until somewhat later. They could have even taken most of the people out of the queue down Pyrford Common Road onto the diversion, but no, make everyone stand around for hours...

At the turn onto the A25 at the bottom of Newlands I saw quite a lot of folks rejoining the official route who looked like they must have come down the A247 past West Clandon, either they got lost on the diversion, or had done some creative rerouting...

Sorry to hear you all got stuck so bad.

WD

[edit - my maths is terrible]

We stopped around 400M from the Pyrford drinks station from what I can remember from the sign boards (somewhere by the fork off to the right by a very small green). We shuffled around to the stop squeezing through a few gaps rather than with the masses that were carrying on and found that the gates on the field had been opened to let people in across the grass rather than having to wait to the official road entrance, so we popped in there for a toilet and water stop and got straight back in the queue. Considering we stopped over an hour after you it doesn't sound like we got away with it too badly, all be it still getting on for a couple of hour delay. That said, if you were caught before 10am, I find it amazing that they kept letting traffic build before announcing a redirection over an hour later - and later still before actually putting it into place.

I'm just a bit gutted not to have got the full 100 in when it wasn't even my fault for being too slow.

charlie_potatoes

I won a medal

paul2718

defride wrote:

Can only imagine your Team entered a relatively modest predicted time? I very much doubt that teams that predicted times lower than about 4.30 started in anything other than the front few waves? It was mostly club riders at the front and as they asked for race licence details in the entry I would guess that was a factor in allocating waves.

I recorded 4.33 last year, which you would have thought would count for something...

Whether a team started toward the front or further back the times for the teams are still collated and last year were presented in order of finish time. Presume at some point the clubs will be sent an official result for this year also.

Our fastest rider was knocked off at the top of Sawyers, so no result. Or other two were held up at Pyrford, so slow times. And to add insult one of their bikes disappeared from the secure bike park in Green Park.

I don't think anyone who entered RL with the intention of riding from the first couple of waves expected the event to be ridden in anything other than race like conditions (of course, there was no requirement to 'race' if you chose not to). No prizes of course but no different from any number of other UK sportives.

Exactly. What we want, a chance to go quite fast in a relatively safe environment. Stuff you cannot do on the public road, and which is limited in availability for the less than stellar racers.

The 'gun time' at the ToC only covered the first three finishers, all other times were chip time, just like any other UK sportive. It was sold as a race and raced in that manner but it was only a race to the top three spots.

I think this was partially circumstance with so many starting the wrong race for potential time gain. Or by accident... So they had the three prize winners and everybody else lost. Anyway RL100 might be raced at the front, but this is because that's what people do given the opportunity.

All said, we're really just talking semantics, hope you enjoyed your day Paul

Not as much as last year, I'd wanted to go faster before age made it completely impossible. Perhaps next year another team, under orders to put 4h10 into the box.... But there must have been some mighty bullshitting going on in the earlier waves, judging by who were being overtaken, all the way through the ride.

It is indeed semantics, and it's hard to avoid sounding grumpy.

Paul

paul2718

I've looked at my Strava and we stopped at the Pyrford incident at about 9.20. There were ambulances and police in attendance and the helicopter was circling. The delay was a few minutes before we were let past the scene in single file. If that helps at all with the timing.

The incident on the second part of the Leith descent was similarly handled at about 10.33.

Paul

ajkerr73

It was my first attempt. I put 4.30'on my application, got dumped in a 0709hrs start and did it in 4.36.

I'd guess an earlier start time would give me 10-15 minutes better.

No groups whatsoever with the 0709 start. A few pace lines but mainly with triathletes smashing themselves on the front for as long as they could then dying!...then the next triathlete would smash himself at a different speed then die...etc etc

carbonclem

Slowbike wrote:

sounds like you had a good ride! nice one.

I was scrabbling around for water at the end of the ride - surprised they didn't just have a few tanks at the end of the Mall ...

Bottle of water in the 'goody' bag, no?

capt_slog

Re Photos..

I'm sure when i looked yesterday, there was a possibility of buying individual pics. I thought I saw a price of £17 something which I can't see today.

VmanF3

Overall I had a good day - parked in Park Lane underground car park, so it was pretty quick back home - we were tucking into a hearty pub lunch at 3pm whilst some friends were still out on the circuit!

So, started at 6:30 and finished after 5:30 hours of cycling, had to make a few stops, quite a big hold up in Dorking and a few other places where the pedestrians were crossing. Biggest knobhead was a big dude on a moped who just decided to meander along the outside of the road until he turned right - he wasn't a marshall!

Having done this in 2014 I was glad to have finished it, but I don't think I'll be back. It's quite a dull course. Last mile doesn't make the other 99 worth while in my opinion. View from top of Box Hill is very nice though, it was baking hot when I got there. I didn't notice much litter, the bottles I did see probably bounced out of the cages as the road surface was quite bad in parts (one really bad depressed gridiron somewhere after Wimbledon).

I live in the heart of the Chilterns, and often have hours of riding where I don't see a car, and even if I do, it's usually pretty sedate as we both have to slow down to pass and exchange pleasantries. The hills are often more of a challenge as well.

However, that been said, I had friends that did it for the first time who thought it was the best day they've ever had on a bike, despite it taking nearly 8 hours on the road, hoorah for them, if it encourages more cyclists that's great. Who cares what a load of cynical miserable old sods or frustrated racer boys think.

8/10

(In fact I even heard a guy at the end saying to someone on the outside of the railings, "that was really boring")

Oh, one gripe - people saying they did it in X:XX quoting moving time only; sorry, whether forced or not, you've had a rest!

Dorset_Boy

As a photo cost comparison, I could buy all 8 Etape du tour photos of me, plus another 46 general ones from the event for 30 Euros.
Significantly less than Marathon Photos rip off price, but then that's rip off Britain for you.
I bet if they halved the price, put bigger proofs on their website they'd more than double their sales.....

ugo.santalucia

I think people's expectations are very low... I have heard worse rants for the lack of savoury food in other events! For three consecutive years in 4 editions, the event has failed to deliver a 100 miles ride for the majority (when not the totality) of the entrants. If they were accountable, one would conclude that they haven't learned the lessons from previous years and they simply keep rolling out the same model year after year, which is quite clear does not work, without any attempt to solve the inevitable bottleneck issues.
It staggers me that nobody questions the organisers, there is an acceptance that shoot happens and as a consequence nothing can be done... I disagree, a lot can be done to make thing better. Look at other events of the same size, where accidents don't cause so much havoc... maybe they are just incompetent, maybe they should ask for help from someone from the Cape Argus (35 K entrants) who seem to be able to do their job

optrexeyedrops

I'll throw in my two-pence worth.

I started in Yellow, Wave B at 6.42am. Second time I've done the event, the last time was in the biblical weather of 2014, so any weather would have been better than that year.

My ride went well, but like a lot of others on here, the only two times i had aggro was with so called 'i-think-im-a-pro-cuz-im-in-a-club-ars*holes' going too fast or thinking they could barge anyone else out of the way with speed or shouting.

For me, i did it with a ride time of 5hrs 46mins, with an official time of 6hrs 12mins. My 'proper' time should really have been about 5hrs bang on, but at the last possible minute, my nephew got a charity place and wanted to ride along with me. Bearing in mind I've done a full year of training/Zwifting/local rides for this and he had done 'one 30 minute Wattbike session at the gym in March' I could have been really p*ssed off but I wasn't, its an event, a sportive-not a race. I know what I'm capable of but i was happy to help him round. For me i have other sportives lined up where i can "smash it" if i want to for my own timing pleasure.

We stopped 3 times, mainly for water for my nephew, which was the difference between the ride time and official time and also by the last 30-40 miles he was suffering with cramp etc and i really did have to nurse him through the last third of it, often slowing right down to let him catch up. But here's the rub with the so called 'pro rider wannabes"...

At one point, whilst going up Leith Hill, i naturally moved to the left. Im a big lad, 6ft 2 and weigh about 19 stone, so i know my strengths and weaknesses and naturally, hill-climbing isn't one of them. Don't get me wrong, I've never walked up any hill, I'm good at pacing myself for the effort required and often find I'm going past people, but I'm no Chris Froome either, dancing on the pedals like a lightweight dandy. So on Leith i naturally moved left to let the faster hill climbers go right, and ground my way up, my nephew by my side (who's 4 stone lighter!). Then what do i hear? 'mind out!! on your left'..wtf??!!! what do you mean 'on my left??..im on the bloody left (right next to the grass) when this nobhead in full team kit comes dancing on the pedals up the inside of me with plenty of space on the right, simply because he was racing his other nobhead team mate who had gone the other side of my nephew. Forced me right, into the path of my nephew who hit the brakes nearly offing the bloke behind him. All because this 'Contador Wanabee' wanted to knock 20 seconds off his hill time. Tjt.

Then, further along when my nephew was suffering, i was pulling ahead without knowing it and naturally looking back, so again, i would pull off to the left near the kerb along the flat sections, slow down, look back, when at one point this f*cktard and his 2 mates come whizzing past, no warning and bomb past with about an inch to spare to my right. I hear the guy nearest me say to his mate as he went past 'bloody amateurs weaving all over the road..'. i was fuming. Amateur? Ive been riding since i was 5 sunshine, Ive done numerous sportives across the country and i know the road etiquette of signalling despite never been racing. But this c*cknobber thought he was the dogs bollox because he thought he was more experienced, simply because i was looking back for my nephew. The irony of this is that I'm built like a rugby player, I'm not fat f*ck, I've worked as a doorman and in security with ex-military personnel and if i had caught him I would have left him with his rear derailleur shoved up his arris, little prick.

Apart from those two f*ckwits, the event was great, well organised and generally the riding was good from everyone. You're always going to get the odd n0bjockey like those two, but thats life. But in my experience of the ride it was the 'racers' who were causing a lot of the fear and unease in the rest of the surrounding 'peloton' so to speak.

defride

paul2718 wrote:

defride wrote:

Can only imagine your Team entered a relatively modest predicted time? I very much doubt that teams that predicted times lower than about 4.30 started in anything other than the front few waves? It was mostly club riders at the front and as they asked for race licence details in the entry I would guess that was a factor in allocating waves.

I recorded 4.33 last year, which you would have thought would count for something...

not sure it would have counted for much if the rest of the team added much slower times?

Whether a team started toward the front or further back the times for the teams are still collated and last year were presented in order of finish time. Presume at some point the clubs will be sent an official result for this year also.

Our fastest rider was knocked off at the top of Sawyers, so no result. Or other two were held up at Pyrford, so slow times. And to add insult one of their bikes disappeared from the secure bike park in Green Park.

I don't think anyone who entered RL with the intention of riding from the first couple of waves expected the event to be ridden in anything other than race like conditions (of course, there was no requirement to 'race' if you chose not to). No prizes of course but no different from any number of other UK sportives.

Exactly. What we want, a chance to go quite fast in a relatively safe environment. Stuff you cannot do on the public road, and which is limited in availability for the less than stellar racers.

The 'gun time' at the ToC only covered the first three finishers, all other times were chip time, just like any other UK sportive. It was sold as a race and raced in that manner but it was only a race to the top three spots.

I think this was partially circumstance with so many starting the wrong race for potential time gain. Or by accident... So they had the three prize winners and everybody else lost. Anyway RL100 might be raced at the front, but this is because that's what people do given the opportunity.

All said, we're really just talking semantics, hope you enjoyed your day Paul

Not as much as last year, I'd wanted to go faster before age made it completely impossible. Perhaps next year another team, under orders to put 4h10 into the box.... But there must have been some mighty bullshitting going on in the earlier waves, judging by who were being overtaken, all the way through the ride.

It is indeed semantics, and it's hard to avoid sounding grumpy.

Paul

Understandably grumpy after that experience, hope the chap who lost a bike gets it back or is compensated and the faller wasn't badly injured. Better luck next year if you decide it's worth the hassle!

iPete

defride, are there team results posted somewhere then?
I'm pretty sure I was in your group, Wave A 3:59.

Brakeless

optrexeyedrops wrote:

I'll throw in my two-pence worth.

I hear the guy nearest me say to his mate as he went past 'bloody amateurs weaving all over the road..'. i was fuming. Amateur? Ive been riding since i was 5 sunshine, Ive done numerous sportives across the country and i know the road etiquette of signalling despite never been racing. But this c*cknobber thought he was the dogs bollox because he thought he was more experienced, simply because i was looking back for my nephew. The irony of this is that I'm built like a rugby player, I'm not fat f*ck, I've worked as a doorman and in security with ex-military personnel and if i had caught him I would have left him with his rear derailleur shoved up his arris, little prick.

Apart from those two f*ckwits, the event was great, well organised and generally the riding was good from everyone. You're always going to get the odd n0bjockey like those two, but thats life. But in my experience of the ride it was the 'racers' who were causing a lot of the fear and unease in the rest of the surrounding 'peloton' so to speak.

You were a doorman. Nuff said.

Ben6899

optrexeyedrops wrote:

I'll throw in my two-pence worth.

Welcome to the forum.

itboffin

So this passing or rather squeezing on the left is not just the fucktards on my morning London commute.

I bet these are the same people that stand in door entrances and the top of elevators

Omar Little

Was in wave A again this year and missed all the problems that others experienced. I thought the riding standard at the front this year was high - better than last year and considerably higher than any road race ive done recently (this season has been the worst i can remember in this regard). The start was pretty rapid at over 28 mph for the first 20 miles, so i guess most of those who were still in the group after that would be used to fast paced group riding. I got dropped on Leith Hill, it looked like a group of about 15-20 got away then it was a series of smaller groups trying to chase back...dont know if any of them managed it, i certainly didnt!


Regards club entry and starting wave - it is seeded based on what the slowest rider on the team estimates. So if 3 of you put down for 4 hours and the 4th puts down for 6 hours then 6 is what they use.

alexgeorge

had a great day i would definitely do it again .got up Newlands and box comfortably but struggled on Leith .next time i will be fitter.

ps is ugo a professional antagonist

ugo.santalucia

alexgeorge wrote:

ps is ugo a professional antagonist

Only of this event...