I want to Ride London 2017

[AlanD]

I was thoroughly entranced by the broadcasting coverage of the Ride London events and have decided that I want to enter the ballot for the 100 in 2017. I have done 100km before, although a bit unfit at the moment. My last long event was last years Dunwich Dynamo. Has anyone done the ride London 100 and can they offer any advice? I'd also like to take part in the Saturday free ride and am thinking of turning it into a w/e in London, Taking the train in and spending the night on a friends floor.
Thanks

Alan

[ChrisF]

I did it in 2014 and enjoyed it despite the continuous rain and the closing of Box Hill & Leith Hill. It's pretty flat compared with some areas so if you can do a hilly 100k you're probably OK with this 100 miler. And it's always easier riding in a big group.
Book up your trains as soon as possible, as many others will be doing the same! And if your friend's house is more than a couple of miles from the start, factor this into your total distance for the day.

[RickH]

And it's always easier riding in a big group.

Yes it can be easier in terms of effort, but not easy if you have no experience of riding an a large group. It is also easy to get caught up in the moment and ride far too hard in the early miles and suffer for it later.

Book up your trains as soon as possible, as many others will be doing the same!

I'm not sure you can book trains more than 12 weeks in advance, certainly not cheaper fares.

Rick.

[mjr]

Has anyone done the ride London 100 and can they offer any advice? I'd also like to take part in the Saturday free ride and am thinking of turning it into a w/e in London, Taking the train in and spending the night on a friends floor.

I haven't but I accompanied my wife who did. Here are some of the most important things that I think they don't tell you in the official instructions, or don't make clear enough:

• CS3 and then National Route 13 after Westferry make a fairly-easy-to-follow 40-minute link between the free ride loop and the registration point at Excel. If registering on Saturday, I'd aim to register about lunchtime. That's when parts of the central loop slowed to a standstill last year (not heard about this year yet) but before registration gets busy with last-minuters and the route to registration was busy but not congested. Follow National 13 (not CS3 and not the signs for Excel) and turn left under the dual-carriageway - the signs telling you to turn left at a roundabout send you in along a busy and cycling-hostile road. The ramp on the water side of the Excel entrance steps is much the easier of the two, but still has a blind bend near the bottom.
• The signed routes to the start "arrival points" are on the maps for people who are driving in and use the car parks. They don't tell people who are staying locally or cycling in, which is bonkers and I saw some people scrambling to the start along routes IMO unsuitable for road bikes. CS2 is good but very busy (cyclists and motorists) so if you're using that to reach the start, don't plan on exceeding 6mph average with all the lights and traffic.
• The kit bags are easily big enough for a 15 litre rucksack and the transport seemed very slick.
• There will be various official motor vehicles and some team buses overtaking you, especially between the start and Trafalgar Square, which is even more reason to look behind and signal before changing your line.
• Two-stage crossings means that riders will be sent one side of the central island and then the other and then back again and so on... - watch out for marshals in the road at junctions directing traffic. I don't feel this crossing type was explained well in the magazine and instructions and I saw a few riders fail to spot (or ignore?) the marshals and squeeze through people crossing. No crash that I saw.
• Most of the big crashes reported this year were on the 100-miler-only section of the course.
• The finish-line goodie bags contain food and water so you can start recovery without queuing for the food stands.

Let me know if there's anything else!

[AlanD]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I shall be registering as soon as it opens and then just have to wait and see. Family connection is buying a house in London soon, so I'm hoping to blag a space on their floor for the night, although don't fancy coming into town carrying a sleeping bag . Even if I don't get on the 100km'er, it will still be good to do the free ride round London.

[Redvee]

https://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/ ... 0/entries/

[AndyBSG]

I did it in 2014 and have to say that it's not an experience I really want to repeat.

It is just dangerously oversubscribed, much like the London to Brighton for British Heart Foundation, and the number of accidents this year are an example.

There are much more enjoyable charity rides out there that don't suffer from the same wheel to wheel five mile an hour crawl that huge parts of Ride London are.

http://www.bike-events.co.uk/ and http://www.doitforcharity.com/cycling.aspx hold much more enjoyable, smaller scale charity rides.

[mjr]

There are much more enjoyable charity rides out there that don't suffer from the same wheel to wheel five mile an hour crawl that huge parts of Ride London are.

http://www.bike-events.co.uk/ and http://www.doitforcharity.com/cycling.aspx hold much more enjoyable, smaller scale charity rides.

But they're not on closed roads and IMO far more dangerous than riding with CUK or CycleNation groups or on your own. Do It For Charity also lie that helmets must be worn at all times when cycling (not only their events) so I wouldn't trust them at all.

[AM7]

I did it in 2014 and have to say that it's not an experience I really want to repeat.

It is just dangerously oversubscribed, much like the London to Brighton for British Heart Foundation, and the number of accidents this year are an example.

There are much more enjoyable charity rides out there that don't suffer from the same wheel to wheel five mile an hour crawl that huge parts of Ride London are.

http://www.bike-events.co.uk/ and http://www.doitforcharity.com/cycling.aspx hold much more enjoyable, smaller scale charity rides.

I rode the RideLondon 100 this year, and I have to say, this doesn't tally up with my experience at all. I've ridden London to Brighton and various other BIke Events rides in the past,and the general standard of riding on them was pretty appalliing. With around 30,000 riders on the 46 and 100 mile routes, I was expecting it to be even worse on the RL100 but I was very pleasantly suprised. The majority of riders I encountered rode in a competant and corteuous manner.

Yes, there are some hold ups, and I did get stuck for the best part of a couple of hours when the event was held while one of the accidents was cleared and as a result only got to ride a truncated (around 80 miles) route. Even including the delays, my overall average speed was on a par with what I'd expect on any other ride of a similar distance. My moving average was consideraby faster than usual, thanks to the closed roads I guess.

IMO the organisation of the event was pretty slick and the atmosphere was absolutely amazing out on the route. I'd highly recomenend it to any rider. I've put my name in the ballot again for next year.

BTW while you can do the RideLondon for charity, it isn't compulsory. Plenty of riders, like myself, do it just for fun