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Kind of: I've got all my gear, bike serviced, food sorted. I've just got to arrange what time my brother is picking me up tomorrow.
How crowded are the dropoff points? I'm going to the Royal Albert Dock one.
I assume the route to the start is well sign posted? How long do I need to allow when I get to the park? I should just need to drop off my bag and get to the start.
I'll probably go for a light spin on the bike later, just to stay loose.
Yep
Bike all ready , me not so much.
Staying near the Tate Modern tonight in LSE halls then out at 0600 for at 0735 start time .
Looking for sub 6hr , but have done no training.
Getting train up and back and am expecting grief on way home as there wont be any spaces in the designated carriages .
Busy "carb loading" mmmm!
How crowded are the dropoff points? I'm going to the Royal Albert Dock one.I assume the route to the start is well sign posted? How long do I need to allow when I get to the park? I should just need to drop off my bag and get to the start.
Don't know about the drop off points but the route is well signed and there will be thousands riding up there. Last time it reminded me a bi of the Pied Piper - at every junction and side road there'd be more riders appearing, all with their RL bags, all joining the steady stream of people heading to Stratford.
There's a fair bit of hanging around but there's toilets, places to buy food and coffee. You'll find yourself standing somewhere for about 10 minutes then a steady shuffle forwards 200m, repeat until eventually you'll be in the big start pen having a final rider brief via PA system.
After my dodgy shoulder reared its head last week, I managed an hour yesterday and returned in a lot of pain. Just had one of three planned sports massages (Mrs K is a sports masseur) to work on a knot half the size of a fist but I am wondering if a 3am alarm (6.07 start) followed by a 4.5hr ride is going to really hurt.
Or I could withdraw and get a place next year. Don't want to though.
Well K, I'm hungover to hell, stuffing a massive fried breakfast onto my face in Exeter. Knackered my shoulder 7 weeks ago. Mate's stag this weekend which I would have had to cut short for the R100. They're all off clay pigeon shooting, I had a lie in.
Withdrew earlier this week from Sunday's ride. Even if the shoulder was OK to ride on now, I've done pretty much nothing for 2 months and I'm fat and weak!
Have an amazing time tomorrow everyone !
Thanks crazy. The blurb says get there at least 1 hour before start time, so I'll use that as a guide.
I've just been for a 15 mile chilled ride, which felt really good; especially after mainly walking for the last few days.
Recommended routes to the start from the drop off points:
These are all fully signposted and once you get nearer to Stratford it starts splitting you off into the various coloured start areas.
Just got the bike sorted - I've borrowed some deep section wheels for the true 5th Cat Sportive racer experience 😉 so went for a quick ride to check everything was OK.
And I've just arranged the 4am meeting time with a mate to ride up there. 😯
I've done the sensible thing and withdrawn. Feeling mortified.
Have a good one everybody, stay safe!
06:00 blue wave. No pressure.
Look for the white Giant Propel, yellow helmet and Winston's Wish jersey.
Staying at Docklands but will ride home afterwards.
Small rucksack into town, fits inside the bag for the ride.
Sounds hateful 30000 on a sportive !!
All registered and checked-in for an early start tomorrow.
Just got to put the bike back together - wheels and bars - and affix various numbers, tags etc.
Have a great ride everyone.
You too Ted. I did my numbers earlier. I just have the helmet one to do, but I need to wait for it to dry, first (I washed the straps as they'd become crusty with salt lol)
I've just got to work out how to send myself to sleep at a reasonable time for my 4am wake-up call. I usually find it difficult to sleep if I go to bed before 11ish.
All registered, minor parking panic at hotel but sorted now, off to a nearby Italian for food later then early night.
Sounds hateful 30000 on a sportive !!
That 30000 people would want to do it would rather suggest it was anything but, no?
Up in 4.5hrs for the 90 mile drive.... Wide awake.
Can't wait until I'm rolling though!
I bloody wish 30000 people had turned up! We were picking up my girlfriend's number at ~4.30pm, and leaving around 5pm (when the expo closes) there were still a ton of numbers waiting to be collected and people running to pick their numbers up.
I understand people have circumstances which change, and maybe they can't make the event or get their race packs... I just wish there was a "well, these packs haven't been claimed so if you chuck £20 to charity you can have one" queue. Rode all the way there, all the way back, no chance of riding tomorrow unless I jump the barriers (I'm not going to mind!).
Grrr.... maybe next year! Hope everyone out tomorrow has a good ride 😀
Back at our hotel after an agonising issue with my foot (fortunately it only started when I dismounted from the bike just after the finish line!) and ready to eat and drink my own body weight...
Based on the fact I have done literally no training and done only two rides over 50 miles this year so far, have been suffering with a ton of stress for both work and personal reasons, and I'm a stone overweight, I thought I'd be doing well to get in somewhere around 5:20-5:30 this year after my 4h59 last year...
4h37! BOOM. That'll do nicely thank you very much... In a whole world of pain right now but the sense of achievement is outweighing it somewhat! 😀
Did 4:44 which was a 16 minute improvement on last year.
Crossed putney bridge heading back into town and just lost it - got dropped off the back of chains, was in a whole world of pain, and had nothing left in my legs. Managed a sprint finish on the line though 🙂
That 30000 people would want to do it would rather suggest it was anything but, no?
A friend posted this, stuck behind an accident. Looks fun!
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I was stuck in that for well over an hour. If you take that out of the equation, I did 4:45.
I had an OK ride actually - 4.17 riding time, 4.21 actual although i'd been hoping for not much more than 4.
The riding was surprisingly good in the front wave, everyone calling road furniture, turns, slowing etc, no issues at all that I saw. There was a LOT of really nice kit in that front group, lots of bikes up at the £6000+ price mark.
The speed was insane the first 15 miles or so we averaged 27mph although it dropped a bit as we went through the suburbs. I didn't feel too bad but then around Leith Hill I just felt really tired (not blown but just like I wanted to curl up and sleep at the side of the road) so dropped off the group, made it over Box Hill on my own and then stopped at the top briefly to refill bottles and have a toilet stop. I hadn't been planning on a stop at all but I'd run out of water by then. I got going again and picked up a second wind before having to stop again to tighten an ever-loosening bottle cage. Thanks to the random family by the side of the road who happened to have allen keys to hand and a banana for me!
Got in with another group then suddenly that final climb out of Wimbledon with 9 miles to go scuppered me, I got swept up by the group behind and we absolutely caned it into London. Very safe though, everyone was really well behaved. No littering either, everyone was really good about putting gel wrappers back in their pockets.
Bag collection at the end was super easy and quick too.
Met TiRed briefly in that front group, he left me as I dropped back on Leith Hill.
Crashes sound nasty! https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/31/ridelondon-accident-cyclists-surrey-london-course-diverted-pyrford-ripley
crazy-legs - Member
[b]No littering either[/b], everyone was really good about putting gel wrappers back in their pockets.
Really!?!? I wasn't involved in the event but I forgot it was on, I walked along a 250m stretch of road after with my bike to get back into Bushy park and counted 7 empty gel sachets...
Managed 4:11. Was proud that the club dragged us out of london so fast. Tried hard to hold on up Leith hill as crazy says. In fact I over did it and blew up at the top! That and some serious stomach cramps meant I was recovering as I rode up Box Hill where crazy caught me again.
Ride back into London was fine (including the hill up onto Wimbledon Common) and the peloton I finished in was huge. Riding standard was typical of a 123 road race. Felt safe all the way round.
Rode a quarter of the course home via Weybridge at a slower pace! It was nice to see so many rider out, including children.
G-man dishing out the pain ! he is flying !!
If anyone is interested, here's an Excel version of the results http://www.filedropper.com/rl20162
Was a fun scripting challenge 🙂
PS - I'm absolutely cooked after a 4:12. Bonked hard in the final 25km or so...
PPS - Inclined to agree about the littering. I saw several people just chucking gel sachets. Real pet peeve.
David and Geraint sitting in a tree k.i... a bromance in the making 🙂
Ian Stannard looks really awkward trying to ride slow enough at the back of the chasers ! 🙂
Gels: people see the pros throwing them so just do the same.
To be fair, I rode back from Green Park to Weybridge along the route, and whilst there were gel wrappers discarded, it was nothing like the detritus I was expecting. Saw a few water bottles too. Now that is very pro;-) .
I would have stopped and picked those bottles (the camelback ones at least) were my pockets not already rammed with all those free cliff bars.
Just found out one of my customers did a 3:58!!! 😯
I thought some of the times on here were impressive so far!
Chapeau to all, especially those faster times.
Hopefully the two injured riders are ok. I always feel a twinge when I ride or drive past Newlands corner after the fatality there.
6 1/2hrs for me .
sub 2hrs to the crash site and 20.6av on my computer , then over an hour of shufflw /stop /shuffle /stop. Poor guy overcooked the bend went off the raod and connected with a substantial tree.
My 1st RideLondon and was impressed by the high level of organisation , everything though through from the clever staggered starts to the bag drops and reclaims
Took off like a nutcase with no chance of maintaining the ridiculous speeds I was able to maintain through london and out to Richmond park.
slowed down once out past the M25 but the damage was done . Then got held up in the queue, everyone really well behaved and no nonsense.
Once through that had stiff cold legs that didnt really want to work as well as they did before the halt.
Did OK over Newlands , then Leith but struggled over Box with stomach ache and any extended efforts very quickly left me wanting to puke .
Probably not enough water, and hit a gel waay to early when I still had real food on board. 17.9av at the end and judging by evryone elses times I am not a very good rider.
What single track said but I did manage to get on a good group just before Wimbledon giving me 5:11 excluding the accident wait.
Re that corner btw, I'm not familiar with the route but if there was going to be an accident anywhere you could predict that corner.
Quite pleased with my just under six hours riding time, about seven forty five including stops (mostly for that crash) - it was quite social in the hold-up, everyone knew the cause (if not the details), no complaining or grumbling.
Litter wasn't too bad, but why people can't put a gel wrapper back in the pocket they've just taken it from I'll never know, mumble grumble.
Early on a couple of the pace lines where a little over eager shouting "coming through" and expecting everyone to "doff caps" to their supperior speed was a tad arrogant at best - it isn't a race!
Overall, really enjoyed it, especially taking over an hour of by best century riding time. 🙂
Well done to all who did it.
I was feeling quite smug about the time I've just put in round my local 30 mile route, but having seen what even the slower guys up there ^^ achieved, I'm reassessing my position.
Early on a couple of the pace lines where a little over eager shouting "coming through" and expecting everyone to "doff caps" to their supperior speed was a tad arrogant at best - it isn't a race!
Overall, really enjoyed it, especially taking over an hour of by best century riding time.
Oh the irony.....
Fairly content with my 6hrs 37mins moving time considering how much stop/start there was at the back end of the ride.
I got my nutrition bit wrong around the Surrey Hills and the lights started to go out, but perked up after a couple of gels and really enjoyed the end of the ride.
tad arrogant at best - it isn't a race!
Overall, really enjoyed it, especially taking over an hour of by best century riding time.
😆
Just found out one of my customers did a 3:58!!!
He'll have been one of the first few across the line, then. 3:57:something was the fastest time.
5:40ish riding time here, but was stuck in the hold up for about an hour. Probably could have gone a bit quicker but met my Mrs at the drink stop at mile 65ish so rode the last bit with her. She's a bit slower than me (just a bit though), but we did finish hand in hand up the Mall which has earned many brownie points 🙂
Great event again, probably done after doing it twice though. Time to look for something else (he says, eyeing the Etape)
3:57:something was the fastest time.
I'm surprised it's not a fair bit quicker than that really given the number of riders.
I'm surprised it's not a fair bit quicker than that really given the number of riders.
To go from a 5hr time to a 4hr time, taking the average speed from 20 to 25mph, the extra power required is huge as drag goes up with the square of the speed! These are amateur athletes, though I'm sure many are knocking on the door of being professional, a time of much below 4hrs would be troubling professional riders!
Riding time of about 5 1/2 hrs, but car to car was 12.5
Not helped by my waiting for an hour for my mate, and then three hours hold up for the accident.
All in all, a good ride except a bit gutted to have to have missed Leith Hill as we missed the cut off.
But I can recommend having diarrhoea for the last 60 miles of a bike ride for a combined weight loss of 6lb in one day.