What did you think?

It was quieter than I expected. I saw the riders at Burford Bridge, rode to Mickleham bends, saw them again once and rode to Young Str RAB and saw them for a third time.

Each time I got space at the barriers no problem.

I no way did it seem to represent how busy the Olympic RR will be. Although hopefully Cav will win in a year too.

Good orgnaisation too.

What were they testing out of interest? surely not the ability to handle numbers.

I watched from the spectator area on Boxhill and got a good spot close to the road; managed to spot Cav on both climbs. I used the bike storage area which was only at about 10% capacity when I collected my bike I reckon. Lots of space in the spectator area too though people were obviously squeezing to the front.

We watched it over Richmond Bridge, then went out through Oxshott to catch it on the way back in.
Seemed to go ok, although the post race fallout from motorists in Kingston, Richmond and Twickenham will be enormous I reckon.

We went out for a ride and got to ride short sections of the course and saw the race pass on its way out of London.

It seemed a real shame that they went to all the effort of closing all of the roads and yet stopped cyclists from making use of it after the race had passed. I think it was an opportunity missed to allow folk to cycle on traffic-free roads.

At the Olympics the course will remain completely locked down whilst the race is underway, this was a practice event so the same rules apply.

Just got back from the start/finish on the Mall, good atmosphere great organisation but you would have had a better view at the side of the road anywhere.
Good to see Cav light the touchpaper at 200m and take the win.

So who was Cavendish riding for?

I’m assuming there was no HTC team there so he was riding for British Cycling or as a privateer?

Not Sky surly, just a “happy coincidence” that their logo was the biggest on his jersey (as BC sponsors)!

As far as I’m aware he was riding for Great Britain

To answer my own question:-

The event mixes national teams with British trade line-ups but the top athletes will all be competing for their countries.

Cavendish, who learned on Thursday that his HTC-Highroad team will fold at the end of the season, will line up in GB colours alongside several riders from Team Sky, the outfit he is being tipped to join next year.

I was in the spectators’ enclosure 2/3rds the way up the Zig Zag. The view wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t brilliant unless you got there early enough to sit right on the verge by the road. And although the road was up hill, they still didn’t take long to go past. Perhaps it will be better in the real event when the effect of the first half dozen laps begins to have an impact.

The enclosure wasn’t full – when we got there the man counting had let in 867, and by the time of the race I would be surprised if it had doubled. He told me the max capacity was 4000, so it was probably less than half full. When we went into Box Hill at the bottom of the Zig Zag there was somebody giving out spare green bands – all of which is a bit of a farce in view of how scarce they have been!

Rode out from Guildford and watched it at Staples Lane nr Clandon – one of the few climbs other than Box Hill. Was amazed at the number of police bikes/outriders/security and felt sorry for the poor copper who seemed to be riding the same few miles making sure the route was clear long before the race came through. The best bit was seeing all the team cars grind to a halt trying to get up the hill in convoy. Someone who was there and seemed to know about these things said there were almost as many police bikes out as there were riders in the race. Dread to imagine the cost – but a fun way to spend a Sunday morning.

I went along and it was pretty good fun, got a green band for the box hill area and it was nice enough

couple of points though:
fistly why make it so difficult to ride there, the info pack said you had to ride to the bike park from the pebble hill side not the zigzag which is a much more novice friendly climb. Also as we rode through box hill village a police motorbike stopped us and asked us to walk the rest of the way to the bike park. whats the point in a bike park if you cant ride there, do they not get that road shoes are not walkable in for a couple of miles without trashing them? (obv not)

secondly, they had a ‘commentator’ on a PA system who was the most annoying person in the universe. spent the whole time blabering on about picking up litter and not to fall over on the un even ground it really reduced my enjoyment of the race. the guy standing behind us actually tried to take a broken bottle to her speaker cable but couldnt get through it. We NEED someone who knows cycling and has race radio to ‘commentate’ not just blaber irritating warnings

I did manage to have a good time though 🙂 and saw cav and his cronies 🙂

Watched at the hairpin on combe lane near shere. No incidents but a good smell of brakes.

fistly why make it so difficult to ride there

I was told previously by someone involved that the zig zag would be open to ride up before 9am but that proved to be wrong though I did see some people riding up. Lots of cyclists rode or walked up the ‘footpath’ alongside the zig zag which no-one minded – though I gave up on the steeper bits with my 46/16 SS.

they had a ‘commentator’ on a PA system who was the most annoying person in the universe

Didn’t you learn a lot about grasshoppers and beetles though?

BTW, for those thinking they could sneak in, the entire area seemed to be fenced off with 2 metre high fences and lots of marshals.

Saw it go out through Richmond park. Was astounded at the security, and also how slow the peloton were going.

Cavendish (second from right) on his way through Leatherhead.

I went to the corner at the top of Pebble hil, which was packed full of people, and a good atmosphere. Amazed at the number of police on the course though! Enjoyed what I saw, but it was over pretty quick!

I just saw the sprint finish pictures on the news. There was hardly anyone in the Mall. What was going on there?? Over zealous ticketing? Very weird.

Saw it at West Byfleet. Even with the 4-man lead group, then 1-man, then the peleton, it was all over very quickly. No-one seemed to be going particularly quickly. (I’m sure they were going faster than I would normally ride, but it still seemed pretty slow from a spectator’s point of view).

So spectating a road race is a nice diversion from a morning’s pootle on the bikes, but not particularly exciting.

It was great to be able to ride the closed course afterwards, though. The main road through West Byfleet is normally pretty busy, so it was lovely to have it all to ourselves.

Yes, they were going really slowly – but I didn’t see you racing…

They were going “slowly” for 250km. Why weren’t they sprinting all the time? I’m outraged.

Pedant

They were going “slowly” for 250km

pedant

140k 🙂

“Even” The Mall in London had to be cordoned off to allow the cyclists through

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2025981/London-2012-Olympics-Road-race-chaos-drivers-forced-abandon-cars.html#ixzz1V5Gs2F88

A good lesson in how to turn a highly succesful event into an anti cycling tirade. I wonder how many “furious motorists” there are stuck in traffic every time Man U or Chelsea are at home? Still the Wail has been itching to get some ant Olympics stories out for yonks. Must be very frustrating for them that it’s all been going so well.

They were going pretty fast through Gomshall, plenty of folks turned out there- maybe its cos the pub was open!

They came past my door at 9:30, then I went back inside to finish my brekkie and coffee..

Some little kid next to me said ‘is that it?’, Daddy said, ‘err yeah’..

Compare and contrast
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/aug/14/mark-cavendish-2012

I was up at the top – was pretty decent. The ‘commentator’ was spectacularly annoying and the updates on race progress were nill. They need someone who can talk about beetles AND cycling next year!
The only race update we got was from the lead car as it went past on the first lap and the last lap. We also shouted for the lead bike to show the timings between the leaders and the main pack. Otherwise it was a nice morning sit on Box Hill.

The event seemed pretty well managed to me – the event staff were polite and appeared to know what they were doing.

A colleague managed to cycle all the way back to London on the closed roads and only failed at the Mall – that was completely shut off.

To those outraged by my snubbing of the cyclists for going so slowly, it was just a comment on how it seemed from a spectator’s point of view. I know they’re fast, and have a fair distance to travel.

As an illustration of how fast they were going compared to me, I left my house at about 9 am in order to pootle 3 miles along the tow-path to watch them ride by. That took me about 30 minutes. The racers also started at 9, but in the same time they had come all the way from London.