[Closed] Ride London/Essex 100..only a few weeks away..

Hope you're not in a hurry to get round?
https://road.cc/content/news/ridelondon-will-have-22mph-safety-car-292799

This is going down about as well as you would expect...

I am entered, but sadly won;t be able to ride this year. I doubt I could keep 22mph up all the way round, but my later start wave is going to be full of faster riders from the earlier waves giving themselves more of a gap from the "Safety car"

You can ride around Essex as fast as you like for free at all other times of the year....

singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ride-london-essex-100-only-a-few-weeks-away/#post-12384663

But not on closed roads.

That’s very poor from the organisers to have buried that info away. Definitely should have been made very clear at registration. As a bang average cyclist I can’t see it effecting me. I’m heading out in Wave E from 06:40 and was hoping to average 17-18 mph. If they’ve got any sense they won’t have it right from the start. A lot of folks will easily be above 22mph in those first few miles.

As a bang average cyclist I can’t see it effecting me.

You might be very surprised. I know people who I normally ride with and are of a similar pace and (*cough*) construction to me, who comfortably managed 22mph+ because of the relatively flat terrain and huge numbers of large, fast groups on the road. Unless you're going to try to ride it completely solo, you may find that you'll surprise yourself...and then catch up with the car!

I'm in, group J so a relatively late 7:40 start. Not done much riding this year so put down a fairly relaxed expected time

I wish I had your confidence in my average speed daern. 😂

The closed roads and group riding (plus the relatively flat terrain) mean that averages are WAY above what you'd expect.

I've done the previous RideLondon (which was hillier) in 4hrs and I was far from the first one home.

People are amazed at how quick they are compared to their regular average speeds. Slowing for junctions, lights, traffic etc then getting going again knocks a huge chunk off your average but without all of that it's easily possible to sit in a group doing 25mph.

ooh, just seen that!
I think 22mph in a group, on the flat, is rather easily acheivable..

In reality i'm not 'worried' about it as i'm not going to try racing at all, but would hapily cruise round with a group at about 18-20mph if possible... Will see if there's hold ups at any point due to the car, but unlikely for me...

DrP

Ha, I live on the route and you should see the dismay on the local Facebook page. You would swear it was the end of the world.

The only good thing they can see about it is at least some of the potholes will be repaired. 🙂

how is someone going to win it now? 😉

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but it's not 'a few weeks away' it is less than two weeks. Bang goes the training program!

22mph, that's crazy talk. If they do that on a downhill, it'll cause absolute chaos!

22mph, that’s crazy talk. If they do that on a downhill, it’ll cause absolute chaos!

That's about the standard speed for leading out a road race convoy and, having done that many many times, I know exactly the sort of driving and riding that is required. It's a real skill - proper high level road racers know the drill and (generally) are reasonably competent about it provided you have a Commissaire leaning out the window holding the Neutral Zone flag. You need to be on your toes at the Race Start location though - flag comes in and it's foot down and bugger off out the way sharpish as you know the race behind will go mental in seconds.

The drivers that do this have race radios, a Commissaire on board and a bloody good idea of the course, the protocols and so on. Having someone out there told "do 22mph and no more" is not going to be a fun day out for driver or the thousands of "amateur" riders up the back bumper of the car.

Ride London now saying the 22mph speed of the safety car is an error and the car will travel at "a pace that is determined by the conditions and what is happening on the road".

And will set off well in advance of the first wave

Read the first few posts and was about to also say how stupid, but see now that it has been 'corrected' (yeh, right)

That said, some riders don't help themselves in these situations. I did RL a couple of years ago (maybe 4 now thinking of Covid) when it was biblically wet, and also the rider had a heart attack and died on Leith Hill. A number of support cars had all stopped to assist or just been held up by the incident, and were moving back through the field afterwards. Coming down Leith Hill, through to the A25 and into Dorking the RSC's were doing a good job with whistles and shouts to get everyone over to the LHS so the cars could get through, but a steady stream of wannabe pro peloton f***wits were using the opportunity to hop into the gaps and draft the cars through the field instead of just riding steady while the situation unwound. Just like they see in the races...... except it isn't a race, the drivers are not experienced DS's and you're just pissing off everyone else that's accepted their fate.

I'd be all in favour of assigning them a team car to draft at a nice steady speed so they can piss off and play at racing away from the rest of us. Maybe on another day, and in another location.

Yes London Dynamo, I am looking at you.