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It's awesome to ride, especially compared to so many roads in UK, especially after a cold winter.
One of the guys in my club I was out with today said it was a super tech surface put in for the Olympics and that it's going to be taken up and replaced with a standard surface and speed bumps! Anyone else heard that?
It was a MAMIL zoo today 😉
Correct. We're getting speedhumps and a course surface again soon.
I very much doubt that the Council would rip up a newly laid surface as it cost about £15plus a square meter to resuface roads. The surface laid will be to highways specification and not to olympic spec due the skid resistance etc.
Sorry. It's been in the local news. Apparently the super smooth surface won't stand up to our winter. It's going. Hence I'll be doing lots of Boxhill loops before it does.
If they put in a special surface for the Olympics then why the hell did they not either avoid putting in until afterwards or burn off for the event the white paint. At least one competitor went down when she was unwise enough to let her front wheel get on to a wet triangle whilst leant over.
The MAMILs were out in force on Boxhill yesterday too (I know, I was one of them 8) )
The road surface is super smooth and seemed nice and grippy too, pity thats going as well as the speed humps returning too. Ah well, best enjoy it while we can 😉
The surface laid will be to highways specification and not to olympic spec due the skid resistance etc.
Have you ridden it?
No way it's a standard road surface. Never ridden anything that smooth in the UK anywhere...
Some very very smooth road surfaces by me have been down for ten years or so with little wear. Not much of it, sadly, but it does exist.
Dunno why they wouldn't have used that.
presumably it works out cheaper to lay a nice smooth one season surface, rip it up, and replace with something that withstand a winter, than to lay something nice and smooth that will last all year round.
so is it tarmac or what? Any pictures?
seems to be tarmac. Just way smoother than anything else you've ridden in the UK. Much easier to focus on the effort, which is nice 🙂
Why didn't they just resurface with new tarmac which wouldn't require been torn up so soon after the event?
Do they use this "special surface" on any stages of the TDF?
they will resurface it using the rocks they remove from the XC course to make it safe
Last tweet I read from the box hill national trust twitter said that the surface was staying as It cost them a fortune but speed bumps will be going back
why bother with speed bumps? why not just wait for a few MAMIL pileups and cement them in.
Why resurface it in the first place, it is a 'Road' race after all.
Never ridden it but it sounded like it was in a shoddy state pre-resurfacing so glad they did but I struggle to believe they did so with only a temporary surface. Unless they need to sort out the road foundations as well (subsidence etc.) then there's no way it can be cheaper to lay it twice than to have done it properly the first time.
there's no way it can be cheaper to lay it twice than to have done it properly the first time.
That doesn't normally seem to stop them doing a shoddy job with resurfacing.
Seems to be a lot more MAWILs these days, the road wasn't that bad pre-surface, removing the speed humps would of caused a lot of damage, shame there going back in.
removing the speed humps would [s]of[/s] have caused a lot of damage, shame [s]there [/s] they're going back in.
Sorry to be pedantic, but they are two of the most heinous crimes in grammar.
Makes sense for them to put the speed bumps back on the smooth surface, is it the same surface on the A24 as well? Surely that's not going to be temporary?
Either way, have to get over there soon!
With some roller skates or one of those street luge things perhaps?
There were only a couple of places where the old road surface was bad. The rest wasn't great but wasn't a problem compared to a lot of the other roads in Surrey or even off the back of the hill. They'll put the bumps back in because idiots in cars and on bikes will go way too fast down it otherwise.
😀 I'm a graphic designer, need I say more?Sorry to be pedantic, but they are two of the most heinous crimes in grammar.
Funnily I was coming down BoxHill just after they finished the super smooth Tarmac and passed two guys coming down on long boards. It would be exellent for a street luge too.
They'll put the bumps back in because idiots in cars and on bikes will go way too fast down it otherwise.
They don't slow you down in the least on bikes, there's a good descent in Guildford that's littered with speed bumps, far quicker on a bike!
Agree on the cars though.
So the powers in charge are making the road route rougher, and the off-road route smoother.
hmm. I'm not sure they understand cycling. (yes, i know, its not just for us .etc)
[quotethey will resurface it using the rocks they remove from the XC course to make it safe
😆
The white paints doodle art is a bit pants imo and a bit bumpy to ride over.
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
It's a good laugh at 2am in a sports car, shame about the bumps going back..
Forgive my utter lack of awareness but what is the white stuff for, or is that a 2am 'laugh' whilst rattling on 'phets'??
seems to be tarmac. Just way smoother than anything else you've ridden in the UK. Much easier to focus on the effort, which is nice
Ahem. A few points if I may.... 🙂
"Tarmac" is a brand name. The actual product is called "asphalt"
(sorry. I work for Hanson Aggregates. We produce the stuff too!)
I've not seen the exact surface on that precise road but it looks like a simple porous asphalt mix of some kind. We all have our own brand of it. It's quite common.
Have you ever been driving along in heavy rain and all of a sudden the spray virtually vanishes? That's porus asphalt.
However it is rather ficke stuff and if not laid properly has a tendancy to fall apart as anyone who's regularly used the A331 in recent years will know. The northern section from the M3 to North Camp is standard 14mm HRA wearing course with 20mm pre coated chippings rolled into it for surface texture. From North Camp down to Aldershot it's porous asphalt, badly laid, and has been steadily falling apart since it was laid
As it happens I tested most of the northern section surface, but only the concrete on the centre section. ::smugness::
🙂
I was up there before 9am on Sunday and it was heaving - perhaps 60 or more riders at the top god knows what is must have been like an hour or two later. But yes I hear it is going PDQ.
ah PeterPoddy - sounds like I have a friend doing testing on Tarmac (you know, the proper stuff 😈 ) down here. I'm sure she would say the same stuff.
Rachel
A question for PP perhaps - but isn't our (UK) asphalt rougher because it needs bigger bits in it to help it survive the freeze/thaw process through the winter? I've ridden some amazing asphalt on normal roads around the San Francisco peninsular and always thought they can use much finer asphalt because it doesn't get hammered by the weather like it does here...
A question for PP perhaps - but isn't our (UK) asphalt rougher because it needs bigger bits in it to help it survive the freeze/thaw process through the winter
Possibly but mainly it's due to cost and availability. The smoother porous stuff isn't cheap and IIRC it needs renewing more often. The problems come when you actually LAY the stuff. Get that wrong and it falls apart.
Rach - it's a VERY long time since I was a technician. 🙂
@PP - I love the internet, so much useful information !
@PP - I was living in Camberley and working in Aldershot in the mid 90's and I remember when the Blackwater Valley Relief Road opened.
From memory the Northern section between the M3 and North Camp opened a year or so before the Southern section. When the Southern section opened and as you described, the road asphalt (I must remember not to call it tarmac anymore) was quiet, smooth and sprayless. You would drive from one surface onto another and the road noise would almost disappear. I thought the differences in the surfaces were due to different contractors and that some day all road surfaces would go that way.
Now I have read your post, I realise why all road surfaces haven't gone that way!
Shots - yeah I worked on both sections. That middle bit started falling apart very quickly indeed. They've recently relaid a lot of it too, despite it being a good 2 years newer than the northern section. It wouldn't surprise me if there's a warranty claim of some sort going off somewhere. The northern section is showing wear now but it'll be a long time before it needs replacing.
Just remembered that the stuff we make is called Tuffgrip Quiet, IIRC.
PP, what is the process that seems to be very common at the moment ie, resurface road but leave loose chippings in place? To the layman it looks as if rather than rolling (finishing?) the surface, they are using cars to do the compacting and then painting it once it settles down. Is that correct? Is it cheaper that way?
Why are roundabouts in our part of the world all rutted and falling apart? Its bad enough in a car, but horrible on a road bike with an impatient car driver behind.
Taken by a mate on box hill this morning
Think the speed humps might be a good idea!