So, who's got their Ride London start time then?

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.

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!

I guess the terrain is rolling too, but you are spending much of the time sat behind someone out of the wind. And no doubt some very strong cat 1 and cat 2 riders turn up to these things. I just thought it seemed a bit slow given that at most amatuer 100 mile TT events a fair proportion of the field will be well under 4hrs and usually closer to 3:30 for the front runners (appreciate there’s usually no hills to tackle, and they are more aero, but then they do take the wind 100% of the time.)

a time of much below 4hrs would be troubling professional riders!

Mmm not really. Just looking at Stage 11 of this years Tour (picked as that was almost spot on a 100 miles at 162km and they finished almost as a bunch). Winning time was 3:26. Quite a fast stage but just one stage of a three week race.

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!

It was faster than last year (although I was not). Of our club, Twickenham CC, 5 of 50 went under four hours. All are experienced 2/3 Cat club racers. I lost seven minutes after blowing up trying to stay with them up Leith Hill. My time last year would have moved me from 83rd to 152nd this year – there really were a lot more faster riders at the pointy end this year!

Officially, you have to be 2nd Cat or below to enter. One rider I happen to know (and race with) is a bit better than this, and actually would meet the above criteria 😉

Wasnt there a northerly yesterday too, felt like it. (adds to excise list)

My time last year would have moved me from 83rd to 152nd this year – there really were a lot more faster riders at the pointy end this year!

good job no-one was racing then and it was only a sportive 😉

Mmm not really. Just looking at Stage 11 of this years Tour (picked as that was almost spot on a 100 miles at 162km and they finished almost as a bunch). Winning time was 3:26.

To be fair, the pros would have been no faster yesterday, because unlike in the Tour, the lead car does not set the pace of the ride 😉 . That said, we averaged 28.5 mph to the Mile 17 timing point out of London, which is the same pace. Felt great 😀

Saw a few water bottles too. Now that is very pro;-)

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 grumbl

We rode out to Surrey on the semi-closed/closed roads after the sportive but ahead of the pro race (and very nice it was too). Given 30k riders had come through I didn’t think the litter was too bad. Obviously there are some **** about but I’m guessing a fair bit of the food (and nearly all the waterbottles) were accidental. There were a lot of flattened uneaten bars, a packet of jelly babies (which were tasty) and it’s quite easy to dump rubbish when getting something else out of your pocket. With the numbers on the Sportive I’m guessing if you did drop something trying to retrieve it wouldn’t have been clever.

I managed 4:35, knocking exactly 1 minute off my previous time! I’ve been struggling with a knee problem that meant I didn’t climb as fast as I would have liked and I’m a bit disappointed not to go below 4:30…

I have to say, the standard of riding I saw was atrocious… FKWs on Sky Team Issue Pin Dogs all over the place and shouting and screaming all sorts of unintelligible nonsense whilst waving their arms about in flamboyant and ambiguous gestures…

They seemed to be chucking themselves off their bikes for fun in the first 10 miles – saw 4 or 5 bad looking crashes before we even got out of the city…

Maybe they just want to look really ‘pro’ by writhing round on the tarmac clutching their collar bones!

Cyclingweakly, was it these jokers? Bloody FKWs!

Haha, the scene was similar, but the body fat percentage was probably in the mid thirties!

Whilst standing around in the start pen, I almost lost my temper with 2 portly middle-aged half-wits who droned on for 40 minutes about their FTP! It was quite clear that neither had the faintest idea what it meant and they kept plucking random numbers out of thin air and bragging about how it had ‘gone through the roof after I climbed Mt Teide’ but was now back down to 285… Bellends!

😆

I thought the riding skills were mixed: There was a comedy crash on the rise up to the start of Box Hill and someone nearly took me out when they decided to turn into a feed station without looking.

Fortunately, most people decided to keep to the left lane, leaving the right one clear and that’s where I rode most of the way after Leith Hill to keep out of trouble.

Sadly – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-36940216

^^33 people taken to hospital, 7 stayed in overnight and 3 of those seriously injured.

Not good. I feel pretty relieved to have made it round in one piece.

What’s a FKW?

Yeah, my impression of the riding skills was generally pretty good, but then I was solidly in the ‘regular recreational cyclists’ bit of the pack, with the try-hards a fair way up in front and the newbies/novices a fair way behind. The Mrs thought the same, and apparently the only person who came close to causing her a problem was me. Sorry dear 🙂

I had a friend who was a lot further back who was dong it as her first ever cycling challenge, and she was taken out by the woman in front of her who attempted to high-five some children at the side of the road and quickly discovered she had neither the balance or skills to do so. That was at mile 25, she went down pretty hard, smashed her bike up a bit and couldn’t really use her left hand for the rest of the route. Needless to say, high-fivey woman was fine.

One of my highlights were being overtaken by a chap on a Brompton up Leith Hill (he was flying), and chapeau to the lad I saw at about mile 70, riding one of those £200 monster heavy full-suss BSOs most often seen being wheelied past kebab shops.

Full Kit ****?

First hit for FKW is the urban dictionary which should tell you all you need to know.

Ah. I see now.

This is my main memory of my trip to London this year…

Flippin everywhere. And no socks.

why people can’t put a gel wrapper back in the pocket they’ve just taken it from

I put mine under my short leg grippers when done. Can fit plenty under there, given my chicken thighs.

The news of a fatality and serious injuries is not good 🙁

^^33 people taken to hospital, 7 stayed in overnight and 3 of those seriously injured.

I’d assumed the cardiac arrest occurred where the main blockage was: I didn’t realise it happened on Kingston Bridge.

On the other hand, I could see how a mass pile-up could happen on that corner just after Ripley, I think it was.

RIP Robin Chard, 48, Bicester.

Not far from here and i recognise the name 🙁

His JustGiving fundraising page is here Robin Chard

33 people taken to hospital, 7 stayed in overnight and 3 of those seriously injured.

Given some 30,000 riders, that’s actually pretty good.

Sad news about Robin Chard, thoughts with his family.

Managed 6.10 ride time, with another two hours of waiting and walking. Did the ride with Mrs SMA who had a new hip in February and had used the ride as a challenge to get fit. Scored huge brownie points by staying with her for the ride. Meant a few stops as I was quicker up and down hills. Fortunately managed to miss the divisions.

Sad news though about the crashes.

The issue on Leith Hill was a pile up on the climb, we were told by stewards while we were waiting. Its been quite a while since road event but I was surprised by the behaviour of some people. Gel wrappers, tubes and even bottles all over the road.
Some guys taking it very seriously were quite dangerous, speeding by almost barging through people at high speeds through narrow gaps – you would think it was the tour de france. I felt I had to ride slower alot of the time as it wasnt safe to ride at my normal speed (which isnt that fast!).
The other big issue is that there are too many people really, the crowds dont really break up and spread out

I didn’t do this year, because, well I can never seem to get a place, however friends did/do. A couple of points that keep getting raised is around the entrance criteria and the types of riders.

I’m aware certain entries are earmarked for tourism, so are allocated to non-UK “pots”, however how is it that if you are in a club you are almost guaranteed a place? Something which was more than evident the time I did do it and from the comments from this year, were that the “club” riders were overly aggressive treating it as a race. The Ride 100 is supposed to be a charity event for all levels of people and to encourage cycling, not a mass un-official road race for the STRAAVVVAA kings (and Queens) to bully their way round.

The issue on Leith Hill was a pile up on the climb, we were told by stewards while we were waiting.

There was a nasty crash on the descent – the guy looked in a bad way.

Anyway, my previous best for a century was 5.40 but I had an official time of 4.54 yesterday. Man, that is a fast route!

Sad to hear about a death again this year 😥

Sad to hear about a death again this year

Obviously it’s a tragedy for his friends and family, but some perspective is required for the rest of us: nearly 30,000 people completed a relatively strenuous sporting activity, of which one died from a heart attack. I don’t have any stats to hand, but I doubt those odds are much different to any other Sunday.

Whilst the news of the death is very sad, is it not just a function of the numbers involved, rather than the event itself? By which I mean to say, if you took any fairly random group of 25000 people, is there not a reasonable chance that on any give day one of them will have a heart attack?

I’ll have to ask the Mrs, she’s an actuary…