Ride London 2023

[Jethro]

Entries opened for this event today (28/9).  There are 10,000 entries up for grabs before going to a ballot.  Price is £99

[LittleWheelsandBig]

It looks like I am piloting a lady stoker round this on Sunday, at fairly short notice. Is there anything that the old hands think that I should know?

[robgul]

It looks like I am piloting a lady stoker round this on Sunday, at fairly short notice. Is there anything that the old hands think that I should know?

I'm not a past rider but my daughter has ridden a couple of times - her verdict is that you need to be patient, given the volume and variable abilities of riders.

[drossall]

I can't say I'm an old hand, but I did it last year when a local charity was looking for riders to fill the spaces they had bought, and asked me for help.

There's a Facebook group full of people worrying about it. With your experience, just go with the flow. Planning to get there on time was the hardest bit - I live out of town and the trains didn't start early enough. I was lucky though and was assigned a fairly late start, and got a lift to join the first train into the Big Smoke.

Expect to spend a fair while queueing, on foot, to get to the start line. Never seen so many bikes in one place. Obviously then, once you're off, riding standards will vary. Watch out for all the usual stuff, plus fast groups coming by at enormous speeds. The stops were well organised with free bars, bananas and so on.

[toontra]

Yes - expect to be waiting at the start for quite a while.  The forecast for Sunday is 10c at 7am and 21c early afternoon so quite a variation.  A lot of the "racers" take a sacrificial top and dump it at the start so they don't get cold when waiting around.  Or go down the audax route and carry a spare layer 

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I think I will put on the handlebar bag then. No need for more luggage capacity I think.

I will be riding to the start at stupid o'clock (line up 05:45?) and possibly back home. I think the Overground from Euston would be ok with a tandem on the way back.

[felstedrider]

Sorry LWaB.  Only just saw this but I was hanging around at the midway feed for a while.   A was handing out nanas to rides at the tent.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Done, and I was falling asleep on the Overground heading home. A cold picked up a few days ago meant the ride was a little tougher and slower than originally planned. Riding big roads without cars was fun but I don’t think I need to do this ride again.

[felstedrider]

I rode a few miles on the route a couple of times and it seemed like fun.  I cut across to Leaden Roding and followed the closed roads up through Dinmow after all the riders had gone through.  I’m not sure I’d fancy trekking into town to pass my front door at the half way point.

General complaints from riders were the lack of food.  It was just bananas and energy gels.  There were several coffee vans but the queues were quite long.  A few enterprising villagers had set up their own stalls.  I suspect a large chunk of the entry fee covers the road closures and the marshalling.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Sorry I missed you. Bananas weren’t a big draw for me (without ice cream!) and the long lines for coffee meant I quickly ditched that idea too. Something savoury would have been nice.

I suspect I would have enjoyed the ride more with Steve or the Wee McTaggert stoking (recommend both to any prospective captains!) or solo. Yesterday was a bit too ploddy to compensate for a fairly boring route.

[JellyLegs]

General complaints from riders were the lack of food.  It was just bananas and energy gels.  There were several coffee vans but the queues were quite long.  A few enterprising villagers had set up their own stalls.  I suspect a large chunk of the entry fee covers the road closures and the marshalling.

Leaden village hall was an official stop and had bacon sarnies by the tonne on offer, not sure on the queues though. The smell from across the village was tempting, even to a near veggie like me.  After doing the event last year and saying I wouldn’t do it again, I have to say I missed being part of it yesterday.  Sitting outside the fire station watching the riders go by wasn’t quite the same.

[felstedrider]

Sorry I missed you. Bananas weren’t a big draw for me and the long lines for coffee meant I quickly ditched that idea too. Something savoury would have been nice.

I suspect I would have enjoyed the ride more with Steve or the Wee McTaggert stoking (recommend both to any prospective captains!) or solo. Yesterday was a bit too ploddy to compensate for a fairly boring route.

My house is 200m off route, passed about 1k before the feed.  If we’re about next year I can arrange food and coffee.  That said, J expressed a minor interest in riding some time which is an unusual turn.