Ride London 2022

johngti

And if you message Capt Slog and miss out, send me a DM as I could be in a position to help you out if you want to do the ride…

MattFalle

capt_slog said:

I know of a place (not mine) that might be up for grabs at cost price if anyone is interested. You'd have to ride under another name of course.

message me please.

secret squirrel stuff. like a drug deal but a mass cycling fun ride.

does whoever buy it have to wear a fake nose, glasses, 'tache set up?

capt_slog

MattFalle said:

capt_slog said:

I know of a place (not mine) that might be up for grabs at cost price if anyone is interested. You'd have to ride under another name of course.

message me please.

secret squirrel stuff. like a drug deal but a mass cycling fun ride.

does whoever buy it have to wear a fake nose, glasses, 'tache set up?

If you want to look like my son, then yes. The silly sod always wears that get-up and we can't talk him out of it.
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johngti said:

And if you message Capt Slog and miss out, send me a DM as I could be in a position to help you out if you want to do the ride…

I'm on the Notts Derby border, I don't know where @johngti is, but it would make sense to go to contact him if he's closer.

daniel_b

Just received my start time - 06:00 > 06:10, happy with that.

Little earlier than last time I think, recall that being maybe 06:30 or thereabouts.
Also found out at least one mate is in the same wave and time as well which is awesome.

Tashman

07:25 start for me. Should get up there in plenty of time for that

dombo6

I cannot make it and my place is up for sale if anybody wants it.
£50 for what should be a great day on the bike if previous Surrey 100 rides are anything to go by.
Fairly early start 0615-0630 but so long as you start by 0910 you'll be fine.
I am in London/Surrey area.
PM me if interested.

capt_slog

I got my start time today, too. I'm pleased to be in the same wave/time as my son, which will make a change from other years where I've had to wait for him on the course.
Wave k, 7:55 to 8:10 start.

The last time i rode it, I was in the start gate for ages, I'm sure it was something like 1.75 hours. That was ridiculous, I was frozen by the time I started.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Those of you in the early departure pens might be upset, they've now announced a 22mph "safety car" you should not pass.

https://road.cc/content/news/ridelondon-will-have-22mph-safety-car-292799

As someone who hasn't ever raced outdoors and only done a handful of rides over the last five years with others, while I'm aware of the theoretical aero drag reduction and consequent higher speeds of group riding it's still hard to picture me averaging 20mph+ over multiple hours. Probably not helped by my solo rides being on an aero brick on fairly hilly routes compared to a typical Ride London route.

daniel_b

That does seem pretty odd, read about it earlier.
I'm assuming the A wave will go from 05:30, which will be when the car goes, so I'll be a full 30 minutes behind it, so I'd be surprised if it affected me.

I can see how the people who have trained really hard for this are entitled to feel a bit disgruntled by it - closed roads, probably getting up at 04:00 to be there in time, and then presumably if you are the first and fastest riders out, you get to draft a car for 100 miles - seems a bit weird.

Like you, I did not think I would be approaching those kinds of averages, but I ended up with 19.9avg, and that was with enforced stops, and not actually riding it that smartly.
My FTP was around 230 at the time, and is the same now, but I know plenty of people who have much higher power outputs than me.
So what I am saying is that if a rider like me with a low ftp can get around in 5 hours, then it shows what the possibilities are for someone with an FTP of around 300W for example.

A couple of friends went significantly faster, 04:30 or there abouts, so yes the mass group of riders, and being able to shelter from the wind makes an absolutely enormous difference.

As noted in the article, this may encourage people in Wave A aiming for a fast time, to delay their start 1 or more waves, thus meaning they will then be carving their way through slower and maybe less experienced riders.

Dorset_Boy

Assuming it is still organised by the same people who organise the London marathon, then you should not be surprised. The haven't a clue about cycling.
The old PRL was one of the worst organised and most dangerous mass participation events as a result of their lack of understanding, mixing fast experienced riders with novices and people who have never ridden in a fast moving group before.
That decision is going to cause problems and probably crashes.

lettingthedaysgoby

That’s mental.

daniel_b

I'm virtually certain it is the same organisers.
I wonder if the local plod have made the pace car a condition of holding the event.
22mps seems low, I would have thought 30mph would be more like it.

The only other time I have ridden it on the old route, 2018 or 17 I forget now, it seemed pretty well organised, though maybe I was lucky.

A few enforced stops, but overall (it seemed to me) a pretty well organised affair.

Yes there was the odd accident, and a few trains flying past at high speed, plus some downhill kamikaze pilots, but that was in the minority.

The only time it genuinely on purpose mixed faster riders with slower ones, was at the point where the routes converged for all of the distances, maybe 20 miles out, and I had to do a double take as I'm in the midst of a load of people meandering along on bikes, but decked out in fancy dress

Dorset_Boy

I rode it in 2015 and 2016 and both times, in early pens which had a mix of charity riders and serious cyclists - that's dangerous. Also waves go off too close together - 90 seconds it was - compare to 8 minutes at the Etape for example with seeded pens.

They have never got close to getting the whole field around the course.
Mechanical help out on the course was non-existant, so lord knows about medical help.

i only did the second time because i won a free place through continental tyres.

Some elements were great - riding through central London and finishing on the Mall.

Registration at Excel was horrendous.
Facilities at the finish were really poor.
They just had too many people riding it and really didn't understand a mass participation cycle event vs putting on a marathon.

Still, I hope those taking part get great weather and really enjoy themselves.

daniel_b

Just checked, and it was 2019 I went, and it must have been a 07:10 start time, so a full hour later that this year.

I got lucky with picking up the registration, no queue, and security were busy with someone, so I managed to sneak back out the front and not have to go through the entire show which was rather handy as my partner was waiting nearby in our van.

Don't recall trying any facilities after the finish, I met up with my family and we cycled off to a cafe in one of the parks for lunch.

Maybe they had refined their organisation 3 years on from when you did it last, as I saw no charity riders in mine, or surrounding pens - hopefully they will keep it up for this year

Oh and yes, please let it be dry

super_davo

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

Those of you in the early departure pens might be upset, they've now announced a 22mph "safety car" you should not pass.

https://road.cc/content/news/ridelondon-will-have-22mph-safety-car-292799

As someone who hasn't ever raced outdoors and only done a handful of rides over the last five years with others, while I'm aware of the theoretical aero drag reduction and consequent higher speeds of group riding it's still hard to picture me averaging 20mph+ over multiple hours. Probably not helped by my solo rides being on an aero brick on fairly hilly routes compared to a typical Ride London route.

As the route is by and large on large A roads, wide, with good surfaces, fairly flat, it will be like the stage 6 giro stage where you can get sucked round at 22mph doing about 100 watts.

Its going to look like a "go slow peloton" with all the riders fanning across the road, except that rather than being 200 riders, it will be tens of thousand, and it will take hours for them all to pass.

I'd be tempted to hang back a bit but I suspect passing is going to be very very difficult with that amount of people.

harry-s

Dorset Boy has pretty much hit the nail on the head as far as I'm concerned.

As for medical assistance, forget it. I went down in a serious crash about 10 mile into the event last time I did it. Paramedics were quick on the scene but weren't allowed to go IV. IIRC I was lying on the road for about 90 minutes before an ambulance arrived. I'd gone off in the first or second wave so the rest of the course was empty, so no excuses about the ambulance having to negotiate a busy course, although they did try that one when I later complained.
Yes, same organisers as the marathon, average e-mail turnaround time when I tried later to have a dialogue, was about 6 weeks.

kingstongraham

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

Those of you in the early departure pens might be upset, they've now announced a 22mph "safety car" you should not pass.

https://road.cc/content/news/ridelondon-will-have-22mph-safety-car-292799

As someone who hasn't ever raced outdoors and only done a handful of rides over the last five years with others, while I'm aware of the theoretical aero drag reduction and consequent higher speeds of group riding it's still hard to picture me averaging 20mph+ over multiple hours. Probably not helped by my solo rides being on an aero brick on fairly hilly routes compared to a typical Ride London route.

If it's a 22mph safety car, it's not a problem of averaging 20mph+ - it's that everyone is limited to starting at less than 22mph.

I was never a particular speedster, and when I did RideLondon Surrey, I was in one of the early waves, and got dragged along to do the first 40km in an hour. That included me dropping out of the big group I was in because it didn't feel entirely safe with people who obviously weren't used to it (me included).

If the front is genuinely limited to 22mph, later groups will be catching the front groups quite quickly and it doesn't sound like a recipe for a safe ride.

dombo6

I have done the Surrey one several times, along with an Etape and many Dragon Rides. It is amazing how quickly the bunch you start with thins out once you encounter the first incline. Anyone worried about the safety car will be hard pushed to catch it after the first hour.

Tashman

Just seen on Facebook

Dorset_Boy

Is Boris organising the safety car speed u-turn?

chapsta7

Hows everyone planning getting to the start . Most train stations near me at south east ,dartford ,belverdear,abby wood dont run trains to 6 30 . My start time is 6 15 .
The last time did ride 100 we did the cable car from 02 wot was open earlier for the event . But this year its diffrent start place .

Tashman

My first train is 0447 getting in at 0600 so that's my plan

Tashman

All shiny and ready to go

johngti

Have fun if you’re doing it. Turns out my entry is going to waste

daniel_b

We went as a family into London Friday morning, I'd booked secure parking for the duration in a residential underground carpark, and accommodation a minutes walk away.

We went to the natural history museum on the friday, and then the science museum on the Saturday, and found a great little Italian restaurant for dinner on the Friday.

I had agreed to meet my mate at trafalgar square as we were in the exact same wave, we had pencilled in for 05:00.

I attempted to sleep in the lounge part of the accommodation that night, so as not to wake my partner and daughter by getting up at horrible o'clock, but frustratingly I only managed to get about 90 minutes sleep

My mate, on the other hand, had slept well, and made it to TS by 4:45, before I had left!

I met him there and we rode the shortish distance to the start - we were in the very first wave, and it was exmplerary, very little waiting, well organised, and we went through the start line at 06:01.

I have latterly seen a lot of complaints about the starting areas, stating people could seemingly just wonder into a pen from a later group, which in theory they could not do - I didn't see any of that in ours though.

As we were right near the front, I made the mistake of trying to hang with the fast guys, and draft - this worked to a fair degree, but still required a lot of watts.
I think at one point we were averaging 23.5mph, but it is a pretty fast course.

Sadly by mile 60, I was starting to cramp up quite a lot, despite eating and drinking plenty and consistently from only 30 minutes in.

We stopped at Ongar I think it was, and I was on the point of throwing the towel in, my legs were feeling horrendous - my mate took me over to the medics, who gave me a check over, and during this time I started to feel better, and upon leaving my mate gave me 2 gels to down, which I duly did, and had kindly had my water bottle refilled with electrolytes as well - true gent.

We left with 30 miles to go, and I realised my legs were not all that, so told my mate to push on, I then survived the last 30 miles mostly solo, had a few small groups I stayed in briefly before being spat out, and periodically my legs came back to me, and happily they mostly came back for the last 8 miles, and I was even able to attempt a sprint finish of sorts.

Despite my legs being toast for those 30 miles, and me not being a watt monster, my average, if the timings are to be believed, for that final part, was a shade under 25mph.

I also can't get my head around the timings shown on the app and the website, as it definitely states that any time spent in the last 2 main feed stops is excluded from your 'official' time, but then it seems to include them when you add them up, it's a bit odd.

So technically I think my proper complete time is around 05:02, but on the app it states it as 04:44, my mate finished about 7 minutes ahead of me - when he zoomed off I thought it would be a far bigger gap, so all in all pretty chuffed with that.

We saw a couple of accidents, but being out early meant we didn't have any stoppages at all, where as I know some of those further back were stopped for as much as an hour, on an air ambulance related incident.

All in all, I think I probably preferred the 2019 edition, but mostly because I measured my effort better I think, but this course I found really good, if you like fast wide roads in the main, overall very good road surfaces - I think I hit a couple of reasonable holes on the entire course, but being out early meant it was also not too congested.

Quality of riding that I saw was in the main good, a few people diving up the outside, chopping across, and or going for gaps that weren't really there, but on the whole, pretty reasonable.

Definitely up for doing it again next year if I can, and will be looking to train more smartly, and try and boost my overall fitness, strength and endurance.

Tashman

daniel_b said:

We went as a family into London Friday morning, I'd booked secure parking for the duration in a residential underground carpark, and accommodation a minutes walk away.

We went to the natural history museum on the friday, and then the science museum on the Saturday, and found a great little Italian restaurant for dinner on the Friday.

I had agreed to meet my mate at trafalgar square as we were in the exact same wave, we had pencilled in for 05:00.

I attempted to sleep in the lounge part of the accommodation that night, so as not to wake my partner and daughter by getting up at horrible o'clock, but frustratingly I only managed to get about 90 minutes sleep

My mate, on the other hand, had slept well, and made it to TS by 4:45, before I had left!

I met him there and we rode the shortish distance to the start - we were in the very first wave, and it was exmplerary, very little waiting, well organised, and we went through the start line at 06:01.

I have latterly seen a lot of complaints about the starting areas, stating people could seemingly just wonder into a pen from a later group, which in theory they could not do - I didn't see any of that in ours though.

As we were right near the front, I made the mistake of trying to hang with the fast guys, and draft - this worked to a fair degree, but still required a lot of watts.
I think at one point we were averaging 23.5mph, but it is a pretty fast course.

Sadly by mile 60, I was starting to cramp up quite a lot, despite eating and drinking plenty and consistently from only 30 minutes in.

We stopped at Ongar I think it was, and I was on the point of throwing the towel in, my legs were feeling horrendous - my mate took me over to the medics, who gave me a check over, and during this time I started to feel better, and upon leaving my mate gave me 2 gels to down, which I duly did, and had kindly had my water bottle refilled with electrolytes as well - true gent.

We left with 30 miles to go, and I realised my legs were not all that, so told my mate to push on, I then survived the last 30 miles mostly solo, had a few small groups I stayed in briefly before being spat out, and periodically my legs came back to me, and happily they mostly came back for the last 8 miles, and I was even able to attempt a sprint finish of sorts.

Despite my legs being toast for those 30 miles, and me not being a watt monster, my average, if the timings are to be believed, for that final part, was a shade under 25mph.

I also can't get my head around the timings shown on the app and the website, as it definitely states that any time spent in the last 2 main feed stops is excluded from your 'official' time, but then it seems to include them when you add them up, it's a bit odd.

So technically I think my proper complete time is around 05:02, but on the app it states it as 04:44, my mate finished about 7 minutes ahead of me - when he zoomed off I thought it would be a far bigger gap, so all in all pretty chuffed with that.

We saw a couple of accidents, but being out early meant we didn't have any stoppages at all, where as I know some of those further back were stopped for as much as an hour, on an air ambulance related incident.

All in all, I think I probably preferred the 2019 edition, but mostly because I measured my effort better I think, but this course I found really good, if you like fast wide roads in the main, overall very good road surfaces - I think I hit a couple of reasonable holes on the entire course, but being out early meant it was also not too congested.

Quality of riding that I saw was in the main good, a few people diving up the outside, chopping across, and or going for gaps that weren't really there, but on the whole, pretty reasonable.

Definitely up for doing it again next year if I can, and will be looking to train more smartly, and try and boost my overall fitness, strength and endurance.

Interesting to see how it was up early. My ride buddy and I arrived at Victoria at 0600 and made our way to the start area. He was in an early group than me so planned to drop back and start with me at 0725. We joined the back of the group in Whitehall and crept forward with the group. There was no sign of any attempt to put people into their allocated start groups so we carried on and ended up starting at 0647 according to Strava. Roads were wide and with decent surfaces but at 97kg I was never going to challenge the speed merchants.

We got caught in the major accident hold up for the air ambulance, glad to say the last report I saw the rider was in stable condition. Had to wait at around 42 miles quite a distance behind the accident. I assume they did this deliberately to maintain some road spacing. Total wait was around 30 minutes I think.

No specific climbing that really stood out at all but a constant rolling course added up across the distance and at 60miles I was definitely grateful for a 5 minute breather at the Welfare stop to top up the bottles and get some food down.

Agree that the final section was fast. I was blowing out of my arse towards the end as I was giving it the beans to try and keep up. Climbing back up out of the final tunnel was a killer and all the fly overs on the A12 were leg sappers by that point.

It's a shame that there are very few landmarks on the way back in to give the finish a bit more of a sense of occasion but I enjoyed the ride. Finished in 5h57 which I was chuffed with as really wanted to break the 6hr mark.

Quality of riding in the main was pretty good, although some of the chains screaming past at warp speed could easily have given the "mainstream" riders more space. on more than 1 occasion i could easily have been in a nasty prang had I veered 6 inches to the right and caught a bar. There was an entirely empty lane to the right!

Didn't notice any obvious dissenting voices on the course (unless you count the guy playing bagpipes) although did see 1 transit breakthrough the marshal post onto the course and head up the road.

No mechanicals for me this time after a run of punctures and my GPS not playing nicely in 2019 so no direct time comparison but it felt faster and I felt I could work harder.

May well go again but would love to have a bag drop in future just to stow a fleece and some trainers for after. A gilet and arm warmers are fine for the bike but don't offer the same warmth off of it.

super_davo

Mine was... eventful.

I got to the start about 15 minutes after my slot (wave C) largely due to being unable to find an open toilet in Westfield where I parked and joining a group riding over to the start... that didn't actually know where they were going.

So started about half an hour later than I should have done, but not a major problem as got in a reasonably fast group and made good progress for 10 miles or so.

Then I got a plastic bag stuck in my rear mech - which tripped my Di2 into crash mode and stuck in top gear. Luckily I remembered the Rigoberto Uran stage win in the tour so knew what the problem was and could reset it using the e-tube app on my phone... took about 15 minutes to sort.

So by this point I was about 45 minutes behind where I should have been and rather than being the one latching onto fast groups I was the one being latched onto... But absolutely no problem passing people at any point.

Was making fairly good progress until the road closure in Stebbing, which delayed me about 40 minutes according to my Strava. That helped me quite a bit because I was able to shuffle up the pack a fair bit and when things resumed found/formed a decent group. Roads through Felsted & down to Writtle I know really well & could drive the group on in bits and sit back in others.

All went fine until about 85 miles I was totally out of water and needed a refill, but stopped off super fast and resumed and cruised in. So 4 hours 30 moving time, a shade under 5 hours 30 elapsed.

Not sure if I'd do it again, but if I do I would state a much faster expected time to get in that all important A wave - and get there super early.

daddy0

Here's my write up
https://holdyourline.net/2022/05/30/ride-its-not-a-race-london-essex-2022/

darrell1967

I’m doing it this year and looking forward to it.

daniel_b

It's a good fast course - what time estimate did you put in?
If you can get an early start time, all the better.