Olympic road race & box hill

[Steve Kish]

I was going to wander out there but managed to find a few faces that I knew in a Hounslow & District Wheelers run.  We saw the race at West Horsley and Leatherhead.

However, the organisers next year MUST get it together with marshalling .... they hadn't a clue.  Refused to allow us to cross the un-barriered road 15 minutes before the first car came through, FFS!   

Also refused to allow us through a barrier a good 10 minutes after the broom wagon and final paramedics had finally passed ...... very sloppy!

What with that and the obvious Box Hill fiasco predicted, I'm gonna polish the TV screen, get some tins and cakes in and move the sofa closer to the screen!

[Kathy]

Here's the feedback I've sent the organisers:

Good morning,

I was lucky enough to win some tickets to see the Cycle Classic from Box Hill, and thought I would give you some feedback about things which were good, and things which could possibly be improved.

• Cycling down from Leatherhead to Box Hill on the closed A24 was a lot of fun, and it was lovely to see entire families on bikes playing on the dual carriageway after the race.
• The information sent out with the tickets said that there would be cycle parking at the top of Box Hill, but it did not explain how to get to the cycle parking when all the roads would be closed before the race (it would not have been possible to push a road tandem up the steep footpath without a lot of effort and inconveniencing all the other pedestrians). We ended up having to lock our bikes up at Ryka's Café because the marshals wouldn't let us take our bikes any further - not a problem, but a little frustrating when we knew there was "official" cycle parking at the top. I later learned that some cyclists had been able to access the cycle park by coming through Headley and pleading with marshals, but again, this was not explained in any information anywhere. For the Olympics, either do away with the cycle parking at the top of the hill, or allow cyclists to access it.
• The atmosphere of the crowd on top of Box Hill was fantastic - lots of people who were really enthusiastic about cycling.
• The woman on the tannoy system on top of Box Hill was appalling: she knew nothing about cycling, spoke to the crowd like they were a group of five-year-olds at a kiddies' party, and seemed mainly concerned with exhorting everyone to "stay safe" on the uneven ground before occasionally telling us that "there is [sic] some cyclists approaching." There was no information about who was in the breakaway group, or who had dropped whom, who was riding well, who was struggling, or indeed anything of interest to cycle fans. The entire crowd resorted to Twitter to know what was going on (and the coverage using the #CycleClassic hashtag was actually very good). For the Olympics can I suggest a commentator who knows about cycling, and some live coverage of the race - either on a TV screen, or simply over a speaker system. Failing that, a WiFi hotspot might be beneficial for people using their smart phones to work out what's happening.
• Cycling through Richmond Park the night before the race, I saw a startled deer knock over a section of fencing (just to let you know it was the deer, and not disaffected youth vandalising things).

In general, it was a very enjoyable day out, but a couple of minor points could be improved.

[spindrift]

Not everyone's happy:

@EamonnHolmes.tailbacks on A3+approaches to M25+in other direction to Wimbledon.Due to flamin Olympic bikes.Keep sport in a stadium.

[David Martin]

- they are caused by the cars, noThere are always tailbacks on the A3 - they are caused by the cars, not the cyclists

[onb]

Wrong I know but made me smile can you spot the mistake






Double take or what.

[Biggsy]

Should the guy on the right of the picture not be there?

[onb]

Should the guy on the right of the picture not be there?

Indeed.No one in the peleton wears Assos it so last year dahling.

[Biggsy]

At first I was confused by the one on the second-left of the picture appearing to have one blue shoe and one white shoe.  Took me a while to realise that, no, his overshoe had not ridden up his leg. 

[Fi]

But he's wearing  a very peculiarly shaped helmet.


 

[Tim]

The highlights didn't appear to be available on iPlayer when I went to look, was I looking in the wrong place or have I now missed the boat for this?