Ride London 2019 anyone?

sherer

registered yesterday... Excel really is a rip off. Had to pay £20 for parking as they only do a 24 hour ticket !! I was only in there 20 mins ! Show is a waste of time and seems to be getting worse on a yearly basis

cruff

Registered this morning. Show was shite - less than five minutes worth of stuff to see, once you'd walked through the Evans stand, which seemed to take up half the hall

Chastise1943

The first hour of Ride London from Stratford to Kingston Bridge is just sensational. Hammering through east, central and west London at dawn with not a car in sight and running every red light. It’s surreal. For me the best part of the ride.

ugo.santalucia

I was expecting to read 5 pages of comments about people motoring through in 4 hours and others being stuck in a queue at Leith Hill, the usual... so what happened?

RossoCorso34

Frattonise wrote:

The first hour of Ride London from Stratford to Kingston Bridge is just sensational. Hammering through east, central and west London at dawn with not a car in sight and running every red light. It’s surreal. For me the best part of the ride.

I agree. The first 40 miles were the fastest 40 I've ever done on a bike. Round such a good rhythm and flow

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I was expecting to read 5 pages of comments about people motoring through in 4 hours and others being stuck in a queue at Leith Hill, the usual... so what happened?

Nope. Sorry. Was a really enjoyable ride for me today.

daniel_b

Will write up my day properly later, but for me it was the *best day on a bike I've ever had, perfect weather, pretty well organised 8)


Free ride on Saturday was equally fantastic for other reasons, having to sprint to keep up with my 5 year old hammering along at about 20mph past Chancery lane will stick in my memory for some time





*yet to ride any European mountains.

rick_chasey

Glad to hear you all enjoyed it!

cruff

Front group until Ripley, when gears went tits up. Got them working again, but couldn't get back on, so grovelled up Leith with a mini grupetto and waited for the second group. Then got cramp halfway up Box and ride the last thirty miles in one leg, on and off. Was aiming for 4:05, did 4:18 - c'est la vie

Wasn't as out and out choppy as last time I did it three years ago, but what chop there was, was brutal due to the pace of the front group. Some seriously shit riding, considering most of the riders in that front group were racers

sherer

I only got in for the 46, but enjoyed that. Only really one hill, and as a slow rider I smashed my previous time by 30 mins.

Some serious rubbish riding though, what makes slow people think the middle of the road is a good place to ride at 10mph

Dorset_Boy

Did they actually manage to get the whole field around the 98.5 miles for the first time this year?

jimbohorizontal

Dorset Boy wrote:

Did they actually manage to get the whole field around the 98.5 miles for the first time this year?

No.

amrushton

I had to stop doing these things as 'hell is other people'. I could be doing 18mph then someone and his mates would go past get in front then sit up and have a chat or else go hammering past to the next hill then suddenly go backwards into me. People at the front freewheeling after they have pushed in there instead of keeping the pace up. How about stopping in the middle of the road to put the chain back on or look at a puncture? Just get to the road-side. It's not difficult but common sense seems to be a precious commodity out there

craigus89

Everything I've heard about this makes it sound like an absolute cluster F. Why does anyone bother doing this? So many choppers about and hardly the countries best roads!

thegreatdivide

‘Chopper’ the word used by w@ankers to describe other cyclists who are not up to said w@anker’s elite level of cycling.

menthel

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I was expecting to read 5 pages of comments about people motoring through in 4 hours and others being stuck in a queue at Leith Hill, the usual... so what happened?

I did it for the first time this year, late start as I said it would take me 7 hours. My club mates who had early starts hammered it round and got all the climbs. The later you started the more walking happened and also at various points box and Leith were closed. I didn't get to do Leith as there were 2 crashes and apparently the protagonists in one of them were having a barney. Others were not allowed on to Leith or box. Loads of walking too at pinch points in the road, pyrford was painful walking for about 20 minutes and various other points had 5 minute hold ups.

The quality of riding was also awful. It was as if some people just didn't know how to ride, both fast and slow. People were crashing all over the place, often in the most ridiculous places on the flat. People were squeezing through gaps that were not their and descending like complete knobbers.

I enjoyed it in the end but at a local I see no reason to do it again. The roads fleet safer and emptier with cars on!

elbowloh

I had a fairly early start (6.32), but almost missed my start time as it took me about 45 mins to get from one side of the olympic park to my gate. I managed to get in a group for the first 40 miles or so, but then they decided to slow down to chat to people in the same journey and never found another decent group, so pretty much soloed for 60 miles!

Even with that start time there were people pushing their bikes up Newlands at around 8.45 and many more at Leith Hill. Obviously loads of people lied on their estimated times to get an early start, i was passing people in the low hundreds who were pedalling squares after 50 miles. I came across people on hybrids and bromptons before Newlands, so again, not sure they were honest with their estimated times.

Came across a few crashes, 2 on the descent of Leith alone (the surface their is narrow, dappled sunshine/shade and a really poor surface.

I hadn't done any training, with my commute pretty much my only riding for the last year or so due to the little one's arrival, so happy to have completed in 5.20 on the dot. That was with a stop at Dorking to meet Mrs Elbow and Little Elbow. Thighs cramped up on Box, but pushed on! Most annoying thing was queuing for 30 mins at the end to get a burger. they could do with a few more food stalls.

mtb-idle

I rode it too. Was it you elbowh who said you would be in a Combat stress jersey? pretty much the first person in front of me as i arrived at Olympic park was wearing one of those and I said hello; it wasn't you

I had invited myself to stay over at a mates place in Stepney the night before so had a short hop to Olympic park and was in my pen at 05:22. Unfortunately the start time was 06:24 so there was lots of hanging around.

Finally got off bang on time. I was riding with two other work colleagues in a corporate team but they were too fast for me and had dropped me by the time we got to Canary Wharf i.e. within the first five miles so i settled in to meet my target of just getting around safely.

there was some bad riding, a lot of undertaking where there really wasn't room and some riders in charity tops shouting abuse at others (yes Alzheimers jersey boy, I'm talking about you) for some perceived wrong but on the whole and given the number of people it was generally okay.

Saw people walking up Newlands corner. I mean really, come on, it's not a tough climb and it's been pan-flat all the way to that point.

I didn't see my first person on the deck until I think the Leith Hill/Coldharbour descent; no idea what happened and I couldn't even see his bike.

However some of the bike skills on show were appalling, people cornering with their inside foot down and wondering why they were wobbling and drifting to the outside of the bend.

A few big trains steaming through were generally okay although could give other riders a bit more room.

All in all i was happy with my 05:33 time which included a brief stop to say hello to my son and his GF in Dorking High Street.

Would I do it again? No. I've not bothered even applying before and only rode it this time as i was gifted a place by my employers Cycle Club. There are far easier in terms of planning required and more enjoyable ways of riding 100 miles in my eyes.

Tashman

My day had it's ups and downs. Firstly an unexpected ride from Victoria as the TFL jobsworth decideed that bikes were'nt allowed on the UG until 0630 which would have had me missing my pen time. Started at 08:04 and got rolling nicely until near the O2 when I punctured. 3 tubes later and I was stranded. I really regret turning down the support vehicle that pulled up just after it had happened! All the road captains just carried on their merry way, so I started walking. Eventually an hour later another support crew pulled up and got me going in quick time and gave me a spare tube too, just in case. I was grateful of that at mile 18/19 as it went again! Fortunately this time the repair worked and I got going in amongst all the 46 milers through to Hampton Court.

At this point I was told I had missed the cut-off and I might not be able to complete the distance, but I thought I'd go on anyway loving the Lanterne position I had. Eventually I came across other straglers who's had late starts and mechanicals too. Then the "End of Race (It's not a race)" car and broom wagon pulled alongside at Byfleet and informed me that there was a station up ahead I could train back into London or carry on with the roads possibly opening. Obviously I chose to keep on trucking. At the next hub point the car was parked up and riders were still leaving to carry on. I'd caught the rear of the Peleton!

Good progress continued from then on although there was some seriously ropey riding anfar too many stoppages due to accidents. I couldn't get up Leith as it was shut. I've seen this morning that a tree had come down as well as serious accident. Box hill was slow going due to volume of people and was subsequently closed behind me due to another accident. Much walking and stop starting from then on too and my total time ended up as 8h 00min 47 seconds. Damn those 47 seconds. No idea what my moving time was as my RFLKT went screwy when I had the punctures and I lost the data. To cap it all off they'd run out of medals as a pallet load had ben left behind.

I will do it again at some point with hopefully an earlier start to miss the worst of the congestion. I enjoyed the day and was happy I made it round. There's just far too many people on the course, especially once the 46 & 19 milers merge back in.

monkimark

What do they do when they close off parts of the route for accidents etc?
Do they just send everyone down roads that are open to cars? I guess nobody is really driving inside the loop anyway because they can't get anywhere.

Tashman

monkimark wrote:

What do they do when they close off parts of the route for accidents etc?
Do they just send everyone down roads that are open to cars? I guess nobody is really driving inside the loop anyway because they can't get anywhere.

The diversion routes are also closed roads. People have the option for Leith and Box of taking the climb, or skipping them.

RossoCorso34

monkimark wrote:

What do they do when they close off parts of the route for accidents etc?
Do they just send everyone down roads that are open to cars? I guess nobody is really driving inside the loop anyway because they can't get anywhere.

Leith and Box can be cut out very easily (there are signs that point the way to avoid the hills). Otherwise, I'm not sure.

Reading this: https://twitter.com/BendyBen999/status/ ... 7869132801 My experience was totally different. I had a 7:08am start and was at the back of the wave. Settled into a rhythm early and covered the first 40 miles at 20mph, making use of a lot of the larger roads as lots of people were staying left.

So whilst Leith was busy I was still able to make progress up the hill on the right hand side, and same with Box. I pretty much had a clear path on the right, and was only passed by 2 riders at the very top. So I clearly managed to miss all the horror stories that people are talking about. Having a stab at getting a decent run at the start is maybe the way to go, try and get some space between yourself and those who don't ride too much.

-Dash

Vehicle crossing point after Putney - marshalls like lemons. They held the traffic but gave absolutely no indication which way we should go. Guy in front of me starts going left and then they shout... almost resulted in a crash as everyone swerved back.

Besides that didn't really see any problems. Leith descent needs some pothole fixing. I had a poor start time with 5000+ riders ahead, ideally I'd have been in the front group but managed to come back in a touch over 4 hours. Quite happy with that considering how much of it was solo.

elbowloh

MTB-Idle wrote:

I rode it too. Was it you elbowh who said you would be in a Combat stress jersey? pretty much the first person in front of me as i arrived at Olympic park was wearing one of those and I said hello; it wasn't you

I had invited myself to stay over at a mates place in Stepney the night before so had a short hop to Olympic park and was in my pen at 05:22. Unfortunately the start time was 06:24 so there was lots of hanging around.

Finally got off bang on time. I was riding with two other work colleagues in a corporate team but they were too fast for me and had dropped me by the time we got to Canary Wharf i.e. within the first five miles so i settled in to meet my target of just getting around safely.

there was some bad riding, a lot of undertaking where there really wasn't room and some riders in charity tops shouting abuse at others (yes Alzheimers jersey boy, I'm talking about you) for some perceived wrong but on the whole and given the number of people it was generally okay.

Saw people walking up Newlands corner. I mean really, come on, it's not a tough climb and it's been pan-flat all the way to that point.

I didn't see my first person on the deck until I think the Leith Hill/Coldharbour descent; no idea what happened and I couldn't even see his bike.

However some of the bike skills on show were appalling, people cornering with their inside foot down and wondering why they were wobbling and drifting to the outside of the bend.

A few big trains steaming through were generally okay although could give other riders a bit more room.

All in all i was happy with my 05:33 time which included a brief stop to say hello to my son and his GF in Dorking High Street.

Would I do it again? No. I've not bothered even applying before and only rode it this time as i was gifted a place by my employers Cycle Club. There are far easier in terms of planning required and more enjoyable ways of riding 100 miles in my eyes.

No, wasn't me. I was in a Bliss top. Yeah, i think it's probably the last time for me too.

I quite fancy another bash at L'etape Du Tour though.

cruff

thegreatdivide wrote:

‘Chopper’ the word used by w@ankers to describe other cyclists who are not up to said w@anker’s elite level of cycling.

'w@anker' - the word used by people to describe cyclists who ride slowly in the middle of the road, weaving all over the place and stopping for a little breather without warning with 200 riders behind them. It's an inclusive event, and a sportive. There are always going to be problems with differing levels of ability. That doesn't excuse rank stupidity, any more than it excuses people who have never pinned on a number calling it a 'race'

monkimark

theboyfold wrote:

Leith and Box can be cut out very easily (there are signs that point the way to avoid the hills). Otherwise, I'm not sure.

Ah, so there was already a closed road alternative route to avoid the hills? I guess A24/A25.
I just had visions of thousands of riders being redirected onto roads that they were unexpectedly sharing with cars

jimjames9165

Cruff wrote:

Front group until Ripley, when gears went tits up. Got them working again, but couldn't get back on, so grovelled up Leith with a mini grupetto and waited for the second group. Then got cramp halfway up Box and ride the last thirty miles in one leg, on and off. Was aiming for 4:05, did 4:18 - c'est la vie

Wasn't as out and out choppy as last time I did it three years ago, but what chop there was, was brutal due to the pace of the front group. Some seriously shoot riding, considering most of the riders in that front group were racers

Great ride for me, I didn't have the same experience and I think I sat in the second group. Only bad riding came from a group of club riders wearing ben45 jersey's or something similar (red white and blue), and a continental ride safety captain, who I later saw having a pint with the same group of riders in the Amstel tent....

However really enjoyed it, expected to get 4:30 to 5:00 but did it in 4:11, thank to all the really friendly riders who dispelled the image of ride100 just being for mamil's who want to pretend they are froome, more importantly the rider who worked with me to get back onto the group after I was cut up on Leith hill!

Think I'll have to take up this cycling marlaky properly.

Ben6899

I took a train up north and went riding 'round the hills to the northwest of Barnsley. Bliss.

Glad most people here had a good experience though - Tashman, three flats! Ouch, mate!

Tashman

Ben6899 wrote:

I took a train up north and went riding 'round the hills to the northwest of Barnsley. Bliss.

Glad most people here had a good experience though - Tashman, three flats! Ouch, mate!

yeah, not sure if it was my poor fettling or old tubes, but I wasn't a happy bunny

daniel_b

What a phenomenal weekend - think we were spoiled by the weather though to be honest.

Drove in for 11 on Saturday, my gf dropped me near the excel to collect my pack, no queue at all, and I managed to dodge the security guard so I went straight back out again - literally in and out in 5 minutes.

Onto our car parking space near St Katherines Dock for midday, lug the bikes out, and cycle into the free cycle route.
My nearly 6 year old daughter LOVED it, she was flying along, I had to sprint to keep up with her at times, 18-20mph along the mild descent along Chancery lane way.
Lovely atmosphere all the way round.

Slight disappointment was the 'festival' element, as it was rammed, and food was very pricey - in future would take a picnic, but we were a bit short for time in this instance.

Ended up riding 1.5 times around the free ride route and my daughter must have ridden about 10 miles, so the furthest she has ridden in one hit.
Cycled back to the car park, stashed the bikes in the van, off to a lovely Italian restaurant for a pasta-fueled dinner, and zero alcohol.

Drove to our B&B about 3.5 miles west of Stratford, early night for all - luckily my daughter was suitably knackered due to all of the cycling.
There was at least three other ride Londoners within the B&B, all with bikes in rooms!

Sorted the numbers out for my bike, omitted the optional helmet number, but seat post and handlebar one went on with a bit of modification.

Had already decided to shelve the top tube bag, as it made the Foil look horrendous, and would have needed oodles of helicopter tape to stop it knackering the finish.
Had a large saddlebag, so stashed tubes, pump, mini tool and some high 5 tablets in there.

Did not sleep brilliantly as it happens, but probably bagged 5-6 hours, so not too shabby.
Up at just gone four, couple of coffees & a shower, before getting changed and heading out.

Was pleased to have my tiny stuff jacket, as there was still a nip in the air at 05:30, and kept it on whilst queueing to go.
Not long after leaving, saw a group of four in front, one of their bottles came out, or was dropped, and was then exploded by a following car, not the best start for them.

Had underestimated the quantity of cycle traffic there would be, it was very slow moving, and took a good while to pick your way along to your start point - also saw a small percentage of participants riding on the wrong side of the road\going through red lights etc, and incurring the wrath and horn tooting of upset motorists.

Made it into my wave with a tiny amount of time to spare, although looking around me, I could see that there were people there even later than me, so clearly they are not too strict on it, and saw no one checking number fitment etc.
As luck would have it, a chap I have ridden with before was right behind me in the pen, so that passed the time as I chatted to him, and ate my oat breakfast bars.
We then saw another chap we know coming in, who is very fast, and he joined us after about 7 miles.
The start (07:12) was all fine, no dramas, and things thinned out pretty quickly imho, also quite wide roads, so became clear that the slower ones would generally stick to the left, leaving the right hand side of the road open.

I ended up working with the chap behind me in the pen for about 7 miles, and then the other chap we knew flew past, so we hopped on his wheel, however at about mile 10 I was gapped, and at the speed they were going, I realised there was no way I was going to make it back to them, and safely finish the day, so started surfing wheels a bit, jumping into impromptu trains.

I am pleased to say I vastly overloaded on fueling, so that was a positive.
I am definitely a big fan of the clif blok tropical flavour, and they were so easy to eat.
I stuck six in my rear pocket, and cut the tops off all of them; I could easily reach into the pocket, and squeeze them up and out of the tube one at a time, as and when I needed them.
There are six in a pack, and I ended up consuming 20 blocks over the day, so just over three packs.
I only stopped once for water, at around 65 miles, post hills, and took the opportunity to chug down an energy bar at the same time (from my own supplies) before heading off again.

Bumped into the chap I work with along the way several times, we yo yo'd back and forth a good few times, and I think he finished just a bit after me, as I lost him at the top of the little hill into Wimbledon.
Speaking of hills, all were open and accessible when I reached them.

I was tentative, so took Newlands easyish, Leith was longer, but manageable with my gearing, and I opened up the taps for box hill, just sat in a gear, not bottom iirc, and spun up, only overtaken by one person, but that was only because I didn't realise I was within 10m of the top.
Checked times on Strava, and of the times for the last month, was in the top 10%, so pretty darned chuffed with that.
The superb road surface makes a HUGE difference I would say.

I was pretty constantly calling out 'coming past on your right' followed by 'thankyou!' but that was all fine and uneventful, just had to back off once on box hill, as could see the gap was going to be closed, but not for long.

I descended fast, but did not really take any big risks really, though I did see a couple of accidents that had already happened and some dangerous riding if we are being honest.
One chap missed the hub stop where I was just pulling out of, and came to a dead stop in front of me – he did apologise though.
Didn’t see too many weavers, or chopping going on, though when the shorter routes merged, a lot more caution was required to make progress.

We were stopped by the organisers 4 or 5 times I think, the longest one being about 15 miles out, which I think was to shepherd pedestrians across a road

In the last 5 miles, I was starting to run on vapours, it has to be said, but I still had enough energy left to want to sprint on the mall, but by then there were simply too many people to make it safe to do so.

In hindsight, had I stayed with those 2 guys for a further 20 miles I would likely have gone sub 5 hour (They recorder 4:40 and 4:28 respectively) and also I found I wasn't sitting in groups or trains for anything like long enough really, I would get in the line, or on the wheel, and then get bored, and go past.
I think I did my fair amount of towing during the day, which is fine of course, but I think I would have had a quicker time had I ridden it more intelligently, and sat in the wheels a bit more, I think my problem\lack of inexperience\excitement reared its head with being able to find a group that was the right speed for me to sit in\assist with for a period.
But that's for next year (hopefully!)

My moving time was 4:57 (19.9 average), total time 5:09 - I reckon 3-4 minutes for my water and energy bar stop, and the rest was down to the enforced stops.
I was aiming for sub 6, so very happy with that.

Was my best day out on a bike so far, though I have yet to visit any mountains in Europe

Dorset_Boy

I did it in 2015 & 2016, and would never do it again. Far too many riders, far too wide a range of (in)abilities.
I believe there are around 750 riders per pen, and pens depart at 2 minutes intervals. Then there are no hills for 40 miles to split the riders up into smaller safer groups. It's just too dangerous IMHO, and the organisers don't understand the difference between running the marathon and putting 25-30,000 mixed ability cyclists on the roads.

Compare with the etape where there are 1,000 to a pen, but they go off at 7.5 minute intervals and generally have a climb within the first few kms.

Glad most seem to have had a good day, and there are aspects that are great, like riding through central London on closed roads, but the Leith Hill descent has been too dangerous for many years and always ends up being a crash fest.

I find it shocking that 7 years in and the whole field still hasn't had the opportunity to get around the full course, and that it's promoted as 100 miles when it falls short.