Ride London 2017

milemuncher1

I rode the entire route on Saturday. It was throwing it down, with thunder and lightning, so just about as bad as gets at this time of the year in this country. Quite a few bad sections of the route, out in the sticks, have been resurfaced recently. The descent off of Leith Hill hasn't, and it was pretty hair raising. The section between Leatherhead and Cobham was not passable on a bike in places, so for safety's sake, given it was a group ride, I diverted back to Ripley and Pyrford, before going up to Cobham and Esher. It added about 20 miles to the route, but we all got back safely.

milemuncher1

shazzz wrote:

Hi
Any views on the best time to go to the Excel to avoid the crowds?
I'm thinking Thurs pm, but grateful to hear the voice of experience...
Thanks

Any time on Friday works for me personally, they have a lot of staff, and it's quite a large event, so I've not experienced too much in the way of crowds on the Friday. The Saturday is relatively busy, given it closes at 17:00 on the Saturday, rather than 20:00 on the other days.

okgo

Doing this as part of a team from our club - grim start time for us, I assume this is the very first group :

Start Area: Blue
Wave: A
Wave Load opening time: 04:40
Wave Load closing time: 05:20
Start Time: 05:44

ugo.santalucia

okgo wrote:

Wave Load opening time: 04:40
Wave Load closing time: 05:20
Start Time: 05:44

I've seen something similar at a sheep market near Skipton last spring...

asprilla

okgo wrote:

Doing this as part of a team from our club - grim start time for us, I assume this is the very first group :

Start Area: Blue
Wave: A
Wave Load opening time: 04:40
Wave Load closing time: 05:20
Start Time: 05:44

I'm starting 40 minutes after you, so if you hang around for 10 minutes at the end I'll say hello.

Yup, looks like you are first off for that start area, not sure if you are first off over all. Considering it says cyclists will be departing between 5.45 and 9.15 there is a good chance you'll be first away.

You should explain to them that you'll be at the front and staying there so you should be allowed to ride your RT bike....

ugo.santalucia

Asprilla wrote:

okgo wrote:

Doing this as part of a team from our club - grim start time for us, I assume this is the very first group :

Start Area: Blue
Wave: A
Wave Load opening time: 04:40
Wave Load closing time: 05:20
Start Time: 05:44

I'm starting 40 minutes after you, so if you hang around for a couple of hours at the end I'll say hello.

Fixed that for you

okgo

We are aiming to make it back to the hotel for brekfast by 11.

Should imagine 4 hours ride time.

asprilla

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

okgo wrote:

Doing this as part of a team from our club - grim start time for us, I assume this is the very first group :

Start Area: Blue
Wave: A
Wave Load opening time: 04:40
Wave Load closing time: 05:20
Start Time: 05:44

I'm starting 40 minutes after you, so if you hang around for a couple of hours at the end I'll say hello.

Fixed that for you

Pffft, ye of little faith.

I'm aiming for 5 hours so should be slightly less than 2 hours.

rundzilla

Has anyone ever been late for their wave load time at the RideLondon? What happened?

I'm on the earliest train from Richmond, but am definitely going to be pushing it to arrive at my wave before 6.32, when it supposedly closes. Is it easy enough to slip into the wave behind?

I can't imagine anyone actually gets told to go home if they're a bit late, but my anxious brain is seriously considering cycling the full 15 miles to the start from West London at 4am, rather than take the risk. Which seems insane.

asprilla

rundzilla wrote:

Has anyone ever been late for their wave load time at the RideLondon? What happened?

I'm on the earliest train from Richmond, but am definitely going to be pushing it to arrive at my wave before 6.32, when it supposedly closes. Is it easy enough to slip into the wave behind?

I can't imagine anyone actually gets told to go home if they're a bit late, but my anxious brain is seriously considering cycling the full 15 miles to the start from West London at 4am, rather than take the risk. Which seems insane.

You just join the next wave. I think I missed my wave in 2014 as I was stalking Marianne Vos in the VIP area. From the VIP area we could join any wave we wanted and no-one batted an eyelid.

mrfpb

rundzilla wrote:

Has anyone ever been late for their wave load time at the RideLondon? What happened?

I'm on the earliest train from Richmond, but am definitely going to be pushing it to arrive at my wave before 6.32, when it supposedly closes. Is it easy enough to slip into the wave behind?

I can't imagine anyone actually gets told to go home if they're a bit late, but my anxious brain is seriously considering cycling the full 15 miles to the start from West London at 4am, rather than take the risk. Which seems insane.

They will let you in to the next wave. It's a slow crawl to the start line from the wave areas, and if you are at the front of the group when it starts moving you can wiggle your way forward into the wave in front of you. Gets you away about 5 mins earlier!

capt_slog

rundzilla wrote:

Has anyone ever been late for their wave load time at the RideLondon? What happened?

I'm on the earliest train from Richmond, but am definitely going to be pushing it to arrive at my wave before 6.32, when it supposedly closes. Is it easy enough to slip into the wave behind?

I can't imagine anyone actually gets told to go home if they're a bit late, but my anxious brain is seriously considering cycling the full 15 miles to the start from West London at 4am, rather than take the risk. Which seems insane.

I saw people cut into a wave by climbing/opening the fence, I can't recall anyone being around to stop them. I also saw someone arrive late at the wave gate and was told that his load had gone ages ago, the steward just laughed and let him in. As I've said above though, it just takes one jobsworth....

denkfaul

rundzilla wrote:

Has anyone ever been late for their wave load time at the RideLondon? What happened?

I'm on the earliest train from Richmond, but am definitely going to be pushing it to arrive at my wave before 6.32, when it supposedly closes. Is it easy enough to slip into the wave behind?

I can't imagine anyone actually gets told to go home if they're a bit late, but my anxious brain is seriously considering cycling the full 15 miles to the start from West London at 4am, rather than take the risk. Which seems insane.

I've ridden in from Richmond for the last two years, due to pretty much the same start time and reasons. It's actually quite a nice ride in, roads are empty and the sun is just starting to rise.

asprilla

I really like the ride over there; setting off in the dark and seeing the gradual accretion of cyclists as you head east. I don't bother with a route, just head in the general direction and find someone to follow.

rundzilla

Are you not pretty tired by the time you arrive, given the early start and the extra miles?

kingstongraham

If you finish early enough (before they are getting ready for the professional race to go through), take the opportunity to ride back on the closed roads without 25,000 others. It's lovely.

rich_e

Capt Slog wrote:

I saw people cut into a wave by climbing/opening the fence, I can't recall anyone being around to stop them. I also saw someone arrive late at the wave gate and was told that his load had gone ages ago, the steward just laughed and let him in. As I've said above though, it just takes one jobsworth....

When I did the ride, the marshals were stood next to each pen, basically answering questions and helping people find where to go. I didn't see them checking anyone's numbers and there certainly were a few people in the wrong pens, or had joined friends, so they weren't stopping them.

Like you say though, it does only take one staff member to pull you up and make an issue of it.
Ultimately they have to do waves for a reason and if everyone just turned up and decided to go in whichever they wanted, it would be chaos and they would well be within their rights to stop people starting.

asprilla

rundzilla wrote:

Are you not pretty tired by the time you arrive, given the early start and the extra miles?

There will be a lot of standing around in Stratford so a bit of a warm up will be useful.

bearman3784

sherer wrote:

id assume it's down to the vagaries of budgets. The money probably goes through the organising committee, TFL etc, not sure how much would filter down to Surrey council who would need to repair the road.

Think new roads are an ASO stipulation for hosting the event.

Decent road conditions 'should' be guaranteed...

Will road repairs be undertaken to resolve any issues that might affect the cyclists?

The quality of the road surface does not need to be perfect but must be deemed safe by the London & Surrey Cycling Partnership (LSCP). LSCP is working closely with all highways authorities to ensure that their annual maintenance works are timed to ensure that the route road surface is appropriate for the events.

Highway Authorities’ ongoing highway maintenance activities will ensure the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey routes are repaired to the required standard, with the event promoter funding any repairs which are required over and above the usual Highway Authority standard of repairs.

Surrey County Council will undertake its regular summer carriageway surface dressing programme across parts of the road network, some of which may coincide with the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 route. This surface dressing usually takes a few days to settle and where any roads on the route have been surface dressed, these will be swept in the lead-up to the event to ensure the route is in a suitable condition, by removing the excess chippings and gravel – especially on corners.

philbar72

okgo wrote:

Doing this as part of a team from our club - grim start time for us, I assume this is the very first group :

Start Area: Blue
Wave: A
Wave Load opening time: 04:40
Wave Load closing time: 05:20
Start Time: 05:44

it is indeed grim. You'll have loads of plebs trying to hang on for the first 30 miles. Or in the case of our more experienced wheelsuckers 80-100 miles.

basically all the "team" entries hit the first 4 slots (5:44/ 48 etc) so if you can get up to speed quickly, hopefully you’ll get rid of the dead wood quite quickly. Usually Pat just tows everyone along for about 50-60 miles. think he's LEL'ing this year.

okgo

Sawyers Hill selection ;-)

rick_chasey

^^ yup. That'll be me.

philbar72

Rick Chasey wrote:

^^ yup. That'll be me.

Hopefully, Newlands for me this year, tempo through the hills then build back after box, and attack on Wimbledon hill like last year.

Chastise1943

Why is part of the Ride London entry, a half-day slog to the back end of nowhere to register and collect - the Excel Centre. Even for Londoners there could hardly be anywhere more inconvenient to get to. And how utterly crushing if you've never had the pleasure of Canning Town. I understand totally they want us to spend cash at the Expo and funnel us through that - but I'd rather pay an extra £10 for Special Delivery of number and bits than this annual, exasperating 3 hour slog. Is that really not possible? I love the event and riding on closed roads in London is surreal. But sometimes it feels that getting to the start at Ride London is harder than reaching the finish. Moan over.

e17blade

Frattonise wrote:

Why is part of the Ride London entry, a half-day slog to the back end of nowhere to register and collect - the Excel Centre. Even for Londoners there could hardly be anywhere more inconvenient to get to. And how utterly crushing if you've never had the pleasure of Canning Town. I understand totally they want us to spend cash at the Expo and funnel us through that - but I'd rather pay an extra £10 for Special Delivery of number and bits than this annual, exasperating 3 hour slog. Is that really not possible? I love the event and riding on closed roads in London is surreal. But sometimes it feels that getting to the start at Ride London is harder than reaching the finish. Moan over.

... and the station at ExCel is closed for refurbishments, so we get the joy of walking around the area too.

kingstongraham

Frattonise wrote:

Why is part of the Ride London entry, a half-day slog to the back end of nowhere to register and collect - the Excel Centre. Even for Londoners there could hardly be anywhere more inconvenient to get to. And how utterly crushing if you've never had the pleasure of Canning Town. I understand totally they want us to spend cash at the Expo and funnel us through that - but I'd rather pay an extra £10 for Special Delivery of number and bits than this annual, exasperating 3 hour slog. Is that really not possible? I love the event and riding on closed roads in London is surreal. But sometimes it feels that getting to the start at Ride London is harder than reaching the finish. Moan over.

Sometimes you are the customer, sometimes you are the product. Your presence has been sold to the expo exhibitors - I don't know how much they take overall from the exhibitors/sponsors, but I would imagine £10 would not come close to covering each person's price.

It is a right pain in the arse though.

phreak

I suppose this level of extreme commercialism is inevitable given the MAMIL demographic, but the whole Excel experience hasn't compared well to that of the Maratona a few weeks ago.

ugo.santalucia

philbar72 wrote:

Usually Pat just tows everyone along for about 50-60 miles. think he's LEL'ing this year.

Is that my former customer Pat? Glad he is doing well and doing LEL...

bigmat

okgo wrote:

Doing this as part of a team from our club - grim start time for us, I assume this is the very first group :

Start Area: Blue
Wave: A
Wave Load opening time: 04:40
Wave Load closing time: 05:20
Start Time: 05:44

Obviously its not a race, but I'm expecting you to win now!

capt_slog

Getting to the Excel is less of a problem for me, it's a couple of tube rides away from where I'm staying in Bethnall Green.

A bigger headache is finding a nice easy ride-in route to the Olympic Park, not easy to ride as such but easy to remember. I want to get to the north end, Arrival Point A.


So, a question for anyone with a good memory or local knowledge...

My route is up the A107, then onto the A106 (Well st.), continues to Cassland Rd, Wick Rd and finally Eastway.
That's where I might hit a snag.
Will I be able to cross Waterden Rd, the exit from the park, (on foot if need be) to carry on along Eastway to get to Temple Mill Lane?

I've had a good look at google maps/streetview, but the view is sometimes blank and at other times it jumps off one road to another, so I can't quite see where I'd need to go. My memory from last time is that the rider went up both sides of Waterden Rd, but I can't recall if there were barriers to stop pedestrians.