Ride London 2017

rich_e

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.

It's an expensive event to put on, so the reality is that they have to be able to make some revenue to help cover the costs. They need to be able to host it at a large exhibition venue, which ideally needs to be close to the Olympic Park area, where many from afar will be staying nearby to. So in that sense, it fits the bill.

One other benefit to the organizers of having no-postal number/chip and registration beforehand is that it likely gives them a better overall picture of how many people are actually going to start.

Finally, I'd argue that while the general idea is that they want you to spend money at the expo, they do tend to put on demos, talks, give out freebies and some of the items on display are good deals. I didn't think it was a bad thing when I went.

okgo

BigMat 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

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

fenix

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.

It's the same thing with the London Marathon. All part of the event. If you don't like it - you don't need to enter.
They'll not send entries out as then people will be entering and selling places on Ebay. At least here you have to show ID to get your place.

If you're in London you can probably get down in the week. If not then you just need to factor it into the weekend.

I like the London Marathon Expo. Nice to have a look at lots of kit. And sometimes treat myself.

mrfpb

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.

I agree totally. It costs me £30 minimum to travel to London, this and car park costs on the day (8 miles from start, 4 miles from finish) and the pain in the backside travel to the start line all are reasons I wouldn't do it again. It is already one of the most expensive entrance fees for a sportive, but they still feel the need to pile on additional hassle for participants.
Small is beautiful for sportives, I think.

capt_slog

Good luck everyone, stay safe.

drlodge

Looking forward to my lie in on Sunday and not having to get up at the crack of dawn. Weather on Sunday looks to be good, so enjoy it those of you doing RLS100.

turbotommy

I'm really looking forward to it now!

First time I've got through the ballot after trying every year. Not a big fan of riding in big groups generally, and cycling with people who potentially don't have much experience of group riding... but riding around the city I've cycled my whole life in, on closed roads. Can't wait! I'm settting off at 6:20 so hopefully I can keep ahead of the majority.

It was a bit of a pain getting to the excel but for such a big event I think it's unavoidable really.

shazzz

I didn't think the Excel thing was too bad. Only took about 90mins round trip from the west end and its inevitable that you have to register in advance for something of this size.
I still can't decide between the 100 and 46 mile routes... I was aiming for 5 hours in the 100 last year but ended up in hospital and having to defer my entry. Have had a pretty bad year since and have barely ridden but was still thinking I'd get around the 100 mile route slowly. Then I got food poisoning on Monday...
Guess I'll see how I feel in the morning.
Good luck everyone, have fun.

WalkDontRun

Spent the last few months being annoyed by a random creaking from my "weekend" bike. It seemed to happen mostly when I put pressure on the left pedal, and over longer distances would become regular. It's so annoying that I was toying with using my banger bike for the ride tomorrow. I've unscrewed the pedals, wheels, bottom bracket etc. and put them back in. I've left it into the shop where I bought it and they spent ages themselves trying to track it down. It is however understandable that you cannot recreate the same conditions in a static bike station as you'd have moving out in the world after four or five miles. Today I was moving my bike out of the way and happened to pick it up by the side of the saddle -- and <creak>. Lo and behold! It was the saddle that was making the noise all along. Weekend bike will get a run out tomorrow after all!

Anonymous

mrfpb wrote:

I agree totally. It costs me £30 minimum to travel to London, this and car park costs on the day (8 miles from start, 4 miles from finish) and the pain in the backside travel to the start line all are reasons I wouldn't do it again. It is already one of the most expensive entrance fees for a sportive, but they still feel the need to pile on additional hassle for participants.
Small is beautiful for sportives, I think.

It's the cheapest UK closed road sportive isn't it?

Am not comparing it to mainland Europe sportives at all, but they are surley way more 'hassle' yet people don't moan about them.

It is what it is and still seems quite popular

alihisgreat

Can anyone shed any light on how the road closures work?

I want to cycle across Vauxhaull bridge to the bike shop (so i can test ride a bike) but the bridge is closed. My assumption is that this means closed to cars, but not pedestrians or bikes?

cougie

Pavement is open. You may have to go a longer way round to get to a crossing point but you can get around. Riding on the road is trickier depending on which way you're going and when you're riding.

alihisgreat

cougie wrote:

Pavement is open. You may have to go a longer way round to get to a crossing point but you can get around. Riding on the road is trickier depending on which way you're going and when you're riding.

Thanks, hopefully can get across on the segregated bike path.

sherer

amazed no one has posted post ride. Had a nightmare day. Puncture on way to the start, another one after 5 miles and a third one after 40 miles. Last time I changed the tyre too. I'm a 6:30 mile at best and with no training due to work I was even slower. Was doing the ride together which ended up being the ride apart as our team disintegrated after 10 miles. A painful day but so glad I did it. the free beers and pizza laid on my Amstel were most welcome. My legs are really hurting today though

WalkDontRun

Ouch. Sometimes the world just has it in for you!

I couldn't believe how many punctures there were. It seemed like every few miles there was a bike being attended to, and sometimes groups of bikes. I even saw three punctures being fixed during my start wave.

neal1984

I know it's a long shot but I managed to loose my Edge 1000 in Green Park yesterday. Such a rubbish end to the ride. If anyone happened to find one I'd be very grateful if you could get in touch.

My only saving grace is that I uploaded the ride first so it did happen

slowbike

Interesting day ...

Was riding with Family - and as expected, we were in different waves ... timed getting to the start to miss the rain - although that cleared sooner than expected - just rode along and popped into a wave - no issues - so we started together.

Good first 40 miles - a bit slower than I'd've liked - one of my brothers was a bit slower than I'd anticipated - but probably not a bad thing. We left him after Newlands Corner (he's quite capable of pacing himself) - then on I set numerous PBs - although not up Leith (full) or Boxhill (any of them) - but I was just riding within myself so I could try and catch my little brother who is quicker up the hills than me.
Hadn't noticed - but he'd stopped between Leith and Dorking - waiting for me - but by the time he'd worked out where I was I was a mile up the road.
He caught me after Boxhill and we rode most of the rest of it together - I dropped him with just over 6 miles to go when I decided it was time to "Empty the tank" - thinking he was on my wheel - I started a chain and drilled it on the front for 3 miles - in the end I finished just a minute ahead of him - found out then that he'd got cramp so couldn't up the pace ... Oh well - he enjoyed it anyway - as did I ...

rick_chasey

So 5.08 for me, which was disappointing; was really gunning for sub 5hrs.

Pace was good till mile 60-80 where my pace really collapsed; picked it up after that and had a strong finish.

Did manage to puncture 800m before the finish which was a bummer.

phreak

I think the event underlines the nice thing about cycling in that it's a sport for all shapes and sizes. I'm around 57kg at the moment and so do most of my training for the mountains rather than flat courses like yesterday. There were a number of guys that must have at least 30kg on me powering along nice and easily and I was turned inside out Still, managed 5.01so, pretty happy with that.

Whilst the route itself was not at all memorable, the event was a nice one, and it was lovely to see so many people out cheering you on. The weather came out nicely as the day progressed as well, which was super.

rick_chasey

phreak wrote:

I think the event underlines the nice thing about cycling in that it's a sport for all shapes and sizes. I'm around 57kg..... There were a number of guys that must have at least 30kg on me powering along nice and easily and I was turned inside out

I know whatcha mean!

okgo

lol.

Some seriously choppy riding in the front group. Was quite fun riding in from Box as a 2 up though managing to keep the useless ex rower types at bay

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

turbotommy

I had a good day all in all. I pushed too hard with around twenty miles to go. I was in a nice group for the first time all morning and I think we all smelt the finishing line as the pace quickened noticeably. I put in a decent stint at the front but got spat out of the back soon afterwards... at which point my legs called it a day. 4:50 final time but I was hoping for slightly better. Lessons learned and unfinished business definitely!

joenobody

No major crashes or hold ups this year then?

slowbike

Thanks for the spreadsheet - although that's men only isn't it?

Happy(ish) with my result - a bit slower overall than last year - but then no training and waiting for brother helped with that.
I'd like to break the 5hr mark - but I either need to ride solo or with a faster partner who is prepared to wait for me - and no stopping at feed stations!

Der Kaiser

okgo wrote:

lol.

Some seriously choppy riding in the front group. Was quite fun riding in from Box as a 2 up though managing to keep the useless ex rower types at bay

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

People treating it like a time trial pi$$ed me off in 2016 so I chose not to do the event again because of this.

I don't enter Road Races and Time Trials and ride them like a sportive so please don't enter sportives and ride them like a road race chopper!

pollys_bott

Chapeau for that okgo, seriously rapid.

I went off at 0624, had to wait ten minutes for my two mates from work to start and once we joined up it was just mental: on the rivet straight away, I can remember wondering when I'd go past Hampton Court then the next thing I knew I was at the 40 mile marker. I'd dropped off our group exiting Richmond Park as being at near-threshold so early wasn't sustainable, hopped from group to group to get back on and then Pat punctured. Was glad of the rest . Stayed together over Newlands but they went off again on the last couple of miles to the bottom of Leith and I found them waiting at the top. Stopped at Westcott to top up drinks and a bit of grub and found my legs again: Rich & I flew up Box (approx 260th out of 12500 on the day!) and then it was hammer down again. Formed a few good little groups over the last 20 miles or so and we were absolutely flying: I went into a poor man's Tony Martin TT mode from about Kingston & did the six mile segment from Putney to the finish at a smidge under 25mph which was pretty pleasing to say the least. Sweetspot sessions on TR & 50 mg of caffeine in the Clif mocha gel a good combination . Our aim was sub 5 hrs so was really chuffed to finish in 4:46, especially as I thought I'd shot my bolt with the furious pace early on. The ride back to the Premier Inn at Waltham Abbey was leisurely to say the least. Best of all we've raised over £1600 for our local hospice 8)

Only trouble now is that my mates want to go back next year and aim for 4:30...

okgo

Der Kaiser wrote:

okgo wrote:

lol.

Some seriously choppy riding in the front group. Was quite fun riding in from Box as a 2 up though managing to keep the useless ex rower types at bay

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

People treating it like a time trial pi$$ed me off in 2016 so I chose not to do the event again because of this.

I don't enter Road Races and Time Trials and ride them like a sportive so please don't enter sportives and ride them like a road race chopper!

lol, get over yourself.

If you want to ride round slowly then ride round slowly, nobody is forcing you to ride with the very first group of people on the road.

We rode up box hill hard and the upshot was that there were 3 people left, then two, then we were back in London. A fairly solid but enjoyable ride was had on my home roads sans cars.

sherer

JoeNobody wrote:

No major crashes or hold ups this year then?

yeah there was a crash and ambulance not far after Newlands. Was another ambulance on the descent of Newlands. Hope everyone is ok but first one looked very nasty

ryan_w-2

I missed out the first 14.5 miles / 24km due to starting at Barons Court...

With copious amounts of faffing / 4 punctures / 27 wee stops / heavy traffic, we covered the remaining 137km in 4:04, was a fantastic experience and will be entering next years event and aiming for a sub 4:20.

As for crashes, saw two very nasty ones in Fulham. One by Munster Road junction where the green screens were up (fatality?), and then an air ambulance at Eel Brook Common.

Der Kaiser

okgo wrote:

Der Kaiser wrote:

okgo wrote:

lol.

Some seriously choppy riding in the front group. Was quite fun riding in from Box as a 2 up though managing to keep the useless ex rower types at bay

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

People treating it like a time trial pi$$ed me off in 2016 so I chose not to do the event again because of this.

I don't enter Road Races and Time Trials and ride them like a sportive so please don't enter sportives and ride them like a road race chopper!

lol, get over yourself.

If you want to ride round slowly then ride round slowly, nobody is forcing you to ride with the very first group of people on the road.

We rode up box hill hard and the upshot was that there were 3 people left, then two, then we were back in London. A fairly solid but enjoyable ride was had on my home roads sans cars.

Happy to ride at my own pace but when you teams of 4 flashing past 10 miles in weaving in and out of riders takes a lot of the fun out of events such as this.

I appreciate that there are riders in early waves who are at liberty to ride it harder but it's the "All the gear with no idea" that start later with the slower riders like me.

There are a significant number of riders who need to learn how to ride with other people before they take on an event like this.