Ride London

[TrevA]

Did anyone do it?

Sounds like it wasn’t incident free - tacks on the course, minor crashes and a major incident which stopped the ride for an hour and required the attendance of the Air Ambulance.

It doesn’t appeal to me. I get that people want to ride fast on closed roads in an Etape du Tour Stylee, but I wonder how much animosity is caused in the local communities along the route.

[rareposter]

Well, it was about 30 mins or so stoppage for some riders, not all by any means. And to be fair, that's happened several times in the previous editions for similar reasons. You get 20,000 people together doing exercise that many of them won't be entirely used to or trained for and statistically, you're probably almost certain to have a heart attack or two and a few minor crashes.

It doesn’t appeal to me. I get that people want to ride fast on closed roads in an Etape du Tour Stylee, but I wonder how much animosity is caused in the local communities along the route.

Probably a lot less than you'd imagine. The vast majority of people are fine with it, the same as they're fine with the London Marathon, parades, sports events, or whatever else goes on in a crowded little island. There's invariably a very very shouty minority and really these people need to be told to **** off quite loudly cos ultimately you'll never appease them.

I didn't do this one but I did the original RL route several times including the torrential storm one where the course got shortened due to the horrendous weather. They were good - a very rare opportunity to ride fast and in almost total safety through a major city and to feel like you were in a pro road race with the amount of roadside support and cheering. It wasn't unlike the London Marathon. The people at the front get to feel like they're in the Olympics, the people at the back get shedloads of support and enthusiasm and the vast majority of people at the roadside have a great time enjoying something a bit different from the usual traffic jams.

[ANTONISH]

Mass events don't appeal to me - most of the riders are competent but there will inevitably be a few who can cause chaos.
The nearest I've come to it was on the Semaine Federale - there can be very large groups so you can be at the mercy of someone else's riding ability.

[Paradiddle]

I did yesterday's RideLondon 100 as my first century ride. Did better than I expected although I had a puncture right in the mid point of the ride.

The course was OK and you can see a lot of effort was put into managing the road closures. I only got stopped a handful of times including at a junction 1 mile before the finish. Good atmosphere throughout, especially with a lot of the Essex residents sitting by the road and cheering us on.

The start was a mess as with previous years. Way too many people and all sorts of abilities. The uphill around Woodford and Epping did a decent job at separating people into similar ability groups. After the turning point at 30 miles, it became more pleasant as the only ones left were the 100 mile crowd.

It was good to see all sorts of bikes being used for the event. I saw a bike from the 70's, touring bikes, quite a few handcycles, Bromptons, hybrids, and MTB's. Equally it was amazing to see how many people did not prepare their bikes for the event. Long queues at the mechanics for issues from before the day. At one point I thought I heard someone riding with a cowbell, only to find out it was someone's small chainring completely unbolted and dangling on the crankset. Thankfully I personally did not see any accident during my ride.

[simonhill]

Hopefully I'll be back later if I survive the dentist with comments from locals on the route, but here is something I posted about rubbish discarded by the riders.


viewtopic.php?t=151326

[toontra]

I did the 100. My first RideLondon and first closed-road event. I did it as a chance to experience roads without traffic and because I know the area well as that's where I do most of my riding. Overall it was fantastic - it really is amazing to not have to worry about motorised vehicles and be able to take the racing line into corners and generally have the run of things.

Every town and village had families out cheering the riders on. In sure there are a few miserable sods who will complain about the relatively minor inconvenience but I suspect they are habitual moaners anyway and are (hopefully) outnumbered by those who are supportive or at least have a more balanced view. I did see a section of road cordoned off and people brushing vigorously - probably tacks

The only downside were certain teams who passed far too close (i.e. brushing your shoulder) even when there was a whole outside lane empty. Would-be's pretending to be pro's no doubt. I suspect these are also the ones discarding old clothing at the start and gel wrappers along the route. Still, with any group of 25,000 individuals there are going to be a percentage of morons, and the vast amount of litter at roadside is chucked from car windows 365 days of the year, so a little balance please.

Other than that I felt safe the rest of the time. The roads are wide enough early on that you can avoid potential problems with bunching and inexperienced riders until things had thinned out. This was my biggest worry before the event - people were posting all manner of scare stories about inevitable crashes in these events, but in reality that wasn't actually an issue if you rode sensibly and kept your wits about you. Overall it was just fun!

[Paradiddle]

The only downside were certain teams who passed far too close (i.e. brushing your shoulder) even when there was a whole outside lane empty. Would-be's pretending to be pro's no doubt. I suspect these are also the ones discarding old clothing at the start and gel wrappers along the route. Still, with any group of 25,000 individually there are going to be a percentage of morons, and the vast amount of litter at roadside is chucked from car windows 365 days of the year, so a little balance please.

Agreed. While there were morons who littered, the vast majority kept their litter until they got to the bins. At the rest stops I saw people emptying their pockets off food and gel wrappers. Of course there were still a lot of gel packs left on the roads but some of these also looked accidental with barely or half eaten packs.

RideLondon definitely could've put more effort with the clean up after but it's always going to be difficult with an event of this scale. In the info pack, they said there would be facilities to recycle gel wrappers but I only saw one after the finish line.

[toontra]

Of course there were still a lot of gel packs left on the roads but some of these also looked accidental with barely or half eaten packs.

I think that accounts for a lot of it. Put empty gel wrappers in your pocket ( so being responsible) and next time you go to pull something out while you're riding they fall out accidentally without you knowing. I saw precisely this happen a couple of times but wasn't in a position to say anything or stop without getting in riders' way.

I actually dedicate a specific pocket for empty wrappers to avoid this

[millimole]

I wonder how much animosity is caused in the local communities along the route.

Not my thing - but I was at a family gathering in Bishops Stortford (nowhere near the route) and was told stories of people who were apparently 'trapped' in their houses for 'days on end'.
Heaven forbid that Doris might have to go a different way to bingo, while around 100k people enjoy themselves (and many of them raise money for good causes).

Unfortunately, this type of rhetoric has a tendency to amplify and gain a life of its own. It needs stamping on at the first hint of breeding.

I'm partly convinced that, had it been a non-cycling event (marathon, motor-sport?) that the gammons wouldn't have been so angry.

[simonhill]

As I said, I was camping on the route, near Felsted. This is an area I know well and regularly camp there, so know a few locals. There were definitely a few rumbles of discontent in the lead up, but no more than you usually get for anything different.

The biggest 'problem' I heard about was the need for a carer to call at 7 am to tend to an elderly lady of 104. Originally they were worried because it was in the closure period, but when I chatted after that time, there was no mention, so I presume it went OK. There was also talk of a local garden centre that lost all of its Sunday trade. The roads actually opened up nearly an hour early.

The school in Felsted was a feeding station, for which they were presumably reimbursed. However there was none of the razamataz you got when the TdF passed that way, with pubs and cafes, etc cashing in.

Generally most people enjoyed the spectacle and also the race on Saturday and plenty were grateful for the potholes that got repaired.

As I pointed out to a few people, the 2 closures were less than 1% of the year. I thought this put it into perspective.

[Tiggertoo]

It is good to read the mostly positive comments about the event.

I was camping on the route, near Felsted

You are going to have to buy a house one of these days, Simon, before the prices get completely out of reach.