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

By which I mean to say, if you took any fairly random [predominantly 35-60 year old] group of 25000 people [with many of them not used to this level/length of strenuous exercise] , is there not a reasonable [high] chance that on any give day one of them will have a heart attack?

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.

Yep, we witnessed a fair bit of this.. club groups shouting at slower riders etc.
Whilst I think it is fine to ‘push on’ when riding on wider roads, doing it on tight lanes around Surrey was downright stupid.
I guess it is the combination of Energy gels/lack of sleep/excitement?

if you are in a club you are almost guaranteed a place?

Not true. There is a British Cycling Team challenge, in which teams of four rides are allocated to BC clubs. I coordinate ours and we had 16 places for over 200 riders. The numbers of team places has fallen as the event has become more popular. Big clubs from London such as Kingston, Dulwich, Dynamos and ourselves try and fill up the small charity spaces that go “unsold” so these organisations don’t lose out.

I can’t imagine anyone in our club shouting at anyone. In fact our “Strava Queens” (ladies team) rode smoothly together and finished in a few minutes over six hours and were all delighted with that time.

If you want to go fast, have the confidence to propose a fast time and start in the first wave (nobody in A wave was talking FTP at 06:00 😆 ). Otherwise, enjoy the ride for what it is.

And thank you to everyone that sponsored Winston’s Wish, I raised far more than I could have expected.

Kind regards,

Daren

I didn’t see much untoward behaviour: there were lots of “on your right/left” etc but that’s fair enough.

If you think it is purely a charity event then you’re fooling yourself: firstly, there is nothing wrong with trying to do your best around a set course; secondly, if it’s only a charity event, why publish times for it?

There is nothing wrong with overtaking slower riders, as long as it is done safely and non aggressively.

From my point of view: I had to back off a bit on parts of Box Hill because there was nowhere to go, but went for gaps when it was safe to do so.

I’d say 95% of the people I saw were reasonable and about as polite as you can be when blowing out your a**. That’s pretty good going as far as I’m concerned. Certainly better than walking down most high streets.

I’d say 95% of the people I saw were reasonable and about as polite as you can be when blowing out your a**.

I’d agree. I was next to a fella on the hill before Leith Hill (Holmbury?) and we were going up it at a reasonable pace.

He said “is this Leith Hill?” and I laughed and said, “No, it’s not, you’ll know when you’re on Leith Hill. In fact you’ll know because you won’t have the breath to ask” 🙂

why publish times for it?

Is a good question that 🙂

He said “is this Leith Hill?” and I laughed and said, “No, it’s not, you’ll know when you’re on Leith Hill. In fact you’ll know because you won’t have the breath to ask”

Was he in blue club team kit and riding a Cervelo?

I didn’t see much untoward behaviour: there were lots of “on your right/left” etc but that’s fair enough.

Yes, and much better to call out than rely on hand signals which would be unfamiliar to those who don’t ride regularly with a club.

If you want to get a time for a 100 miles you could always enter a time trial for a tenner .One man against the clock and no drafting to a fast time

Was he in blue club team kit and riding a Cervelo?

Possibly, couldn’t be sure. I was in a blue NSPCC top riding a Ritchey, so if you saw me, maybe we both saw him 🙂

If you want to get a time for a 100 miles you could always enter a time trial for a tenner .One man against the clock and no drafting to a fast time

Sounds hateful 😉

😀

Possibly, couldn’t be sure. I was in a blue NSPCC top riding a Ritchey, so if you saw me, maybe we both saw him

Ah, must have been someone else… I had almost the same conversation with a guy in red/white club kit on a red Spesh…

One man against the clock and no drafting to a ride up and down a flat dual carriageway sucked along by lorries for a fast time

FTFY. At least the start times are the same 😉

He said “is this Leith Hill?” and I laughed and said, “No, it’s not, you’ll know when you’re on Leith Hill. In fact you’ll know because you won’t have the breath to ask”

I’m sure I heard someone say that as well (I was on a white and black Kuota Kharma with a purple QEF (charity) top on).

I found the standard of cycling (in terms of not causing an accident or being a knob) was very good. I think having an early start time helps filter out the worse offenders. It did get a bit more sketchy once we joined up with the 46 milers in Surbiton, who just spread themselves over the road. But by the time we got to Kingston they must have learnt the error of their ways.

Got to say, I started at 6.11, and there were loads of club riders and people attempting a fast time.

Didn’t experience any shouting, or bad behaviour. In fact it was the safest I’ve felt in a mass ride.

Got to say, I started at 6.11, and there were loads of club riders and people attempting a fast time.

Didn’t experience any shouting, or bad behaviour. In fact it was the safest I’ve felt in a mass ride.

Same with me & TiRed in the first wave. Very safe, considerate riding by everyone.

Re the death – without wishing to sound disrespectful, it’s virtually a statistical certainty that you’ll get at least one. Same in the London Marathon.

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.

I’ve never managed to get into RideLondon, but I’m not convinced it’s club riders being aggressive. I’d think it’s more the fact that, especially nearer the back, you’re likely to have riders who don’t know how to ride safely in a group.

Granted, just slowing down and taking it easy would work just fine… But at the same time, there will be people out there who want to put in a hard effort for their 100 miles. Shouting to warn other riders is *much* safer than saying nothing and whizzing through a gap, especially when you’re in a mass of riders who don’t realise that staying left unless overtaking is a good ides; that checking your shoulder before you pull out might be a good move; and who don’t realise that standing on the brakes and pulling over to an aid station might end up in a crash.

Saying that: not that any of the above excuses any “elbows out” behaviour or intimidating people off the road. Better safe (lift off a bit, give people room) than sorry 🙂

I think you are right – it gets progressively more dangerous the further back you are. I started 10 minutes later last year (6.20) and although it was still fast, I learned quite quickly that taking a race line on corners for instance, required checking over the shoulder as a lot of riders around would be heading for your back wheel. Yesterday, everyone seemed to quite happily take the most efficient lines while warning each other about hazards etc.

Saw around 10 bad crashes last year. None this year.

What I was more aware of than dangerous riding was people hanging on my back wheel for a while. At 4:45, I’m not fast, but I still found people hitching along for a while.

It didn’t bother me, just something I noticed.

Yep, same here and it was a pleasure to help whenever I could and get it back on other occasions.

Anyone else’s photos not loading properly on the official site?

Yep, same here and it was a pleasure to help whenever I could and get it back on other occasions.

Yep, coming down Embankment towards the finish, the guy behind me thanked me for the tow as his legs had gone.

Anyone else’s photos not loading properly on the official site?

Yep, same here. It looks like they have 4 of me so far, but I can only view one of them.

Yep, same here and it was a pleasure to help whenever I could and get it back on other occasions.

Done both and had wheel suckers, part of riding in a group really. If you’ve got one of the latter and know the roads it’s not too hard to drop them unless they are some stupidly strong rider taking the mick.

Wonder if that was me, did you have a white jersey on?

I did do my fair share of pulls from mile 60 onwards and was dying around 90.

Some great work put in by many members of Dulwich, heard quite a few people thanking them at the end.

I did hang on the back of a huge bloke in a Wales rugby jersey over the last 10 miles, he was going like a train and I was frazzled.

What I was more aware of than dangerous riding was people hanging on my back wheel for a while.

The general unwritten rule for this type of event is to find a big lad with a strong work ethic and glue yourself to his back wheel.

After around 40 miles, I realised that I was that big lad! 🙄

let the donkey do the work as they say in road riding.

I loved it! I mean, really loved every second of it! I started in the front row of the last wave so had plenty of traffic in front. The atmosphere was awesome and the course really good I thought.

I had only managed about 400 miles training in the last three months despite getting 2000 in earlier in the year so had plans to pace conservatively.

37 miles later, average HR was close to 170 😀

It was a shame about the traffic but attending to injured people has to take priority.

I managed 5h13 so 19mph on my CX bike but without the hold up I would have been very close to 5h and would have ridden non-stop. I still did it on 9 gels, 4 mule bars and 2l of water with no stops other than the big hold up.

It is ridiculously fast- which makes it so much fun. If you have an ounce of spacial awareness, it’s easy to keep your eyes up and pick good lines in the busiest traffic (unless I was ‘that’ guy 😀 ) as there is loads of road and not many people use the right hand lanes around traffic islands etc.

I’m going to bung an entry in next year and let fate decide if I go back 🙂

Nice ride crosshairs, didn’t see that one pop up on strava otherwise you’d have got some kudos 🙂

It’s there 🙂 Proved your ‘Ride London time is no basis for solo time’ comment as correct, that’s for sure 😀