Ride London 2013 100 mile challenge

[mattc]

LadyC reports her experience as "fucking amazing" (yes I know, not the most ladylike language  )

She also reported massive (car) gridlock in both directions 


Meanwhile, on this morning's club-run I had the usual quota of 'interactions' with selfish motorists - nothing serious, but it reminded me that this closed-road business probably has its benefits.

[Andrew Br]

I'd agree with Lady Cav. It was jolly good.
The (high) standard of riding rather surprised me.
A grand day out.

BoJo is a dickhead (not breaking news, I know); he was leaving the 1st "hub" as I arrived. He was going out through the in door.......
Cock.

[red marley]

Much as it pains me to say it, I thought he came across rather well on the telly, wearing a t-shirt and baggy shorts rather than the usual MAMIL outfit. When asked by the BBC how much of a "challenge" the ride was, he said that actually, he, as a rather unfit specimen managed it in 8 hours and so this kind of ride was within the reach of normal people and encouraged them to get out on their bikes. I dislike his politics and privilege intensely, but I thought he did well as an advocate of normal fun cycling today.

[David Martin]

BoJo may be a dickhead but he still rode the 100 miles so chapeau.

One of our club members[1] got an entry and rode. 5.02 or thereabouts according to his GPS. Very favourable feedback but was a bit bemused at the lack of hills after all the build up

[1] He got into cycling about 5 years ago when his son was planning to do the bealach. His attitude was that if he was going to drive all the way up there then he may as well get fit enough to ride it.

[jane]

I ride the Surrey Hills frequently and if you just do Box Hill and Leith Hill, you are doing the easiest climbs in the area.  I used to do a ride out of London and back, taking in those two plus 50 or so miles more you could do in the area.  Coldharbour, Pitch, Holmbury, White Down plus lots of shorter, steep climbs.  However, you couldn't include those in a big road race, really.  Too narrow in many cases and the cost of improving the dreadful road surfaces on most of them, too great I suspect.  Surrey Council's favoured method of massive amounts of top dressing wouldn't really cut it for twenty thousand riders in a mass ride.  I now find that ride a bit too tough, and after the last big descent off Ranmore Common, I tend to find the lure of Box Hill and Westhumble station too tempting for my ageing legs, despite the fact that from there it's only twenty downhill miles or so back home.  Maybe I should set myself a summer holiday challenge and see if I can still manage the whole route without collapsing (possibly without the two ascents of Box Hill we used to do, though).

[LEE]

Despite loathing Boris I thought he came across very well.

I still can't believe Londoners voted him into a position of power though.

[Lady Cavendish]

I really enjoyed the day. I thought I'd hate it, I really did, I'm not a big crowd person but I can't say anything bad about it.

And I agree, I think Boris actually came across really well. And full credit to him for riding the whole thing.

Crowds in the towns were great, I loved the closed roads, atmosphere was brilliant and I loved the course too.

jane- I think most people realise they aren't the hard climbs, Box Hill especially which is really shallow, but I think they wanted to choose a route that people who didn't cycle all that much were able to do, but also had some 'challenging' bits in. And of course they are the most well known hills, and everyone wants to ride the olympic route blablabla. I know absolutely loads of people who rode yesterday who didn't cycle until they applied for the ride, and all got round ok yesterday. Even as it was, there were actually quite a few people walking up Leith Hill, and I started in a fairly early wave. I think they got it about right in that respect, knowing a lot of new cyclists would be doing it, and also, a lot of the tougher climbs are indeed much narrower. I'm not sure it was 'built-up' to be a hilly ride?! They were pretty clear about the 3 big climbs but the rest of the route was advertised as pretty much flat- so I'm not sure what there was to be bemused by in that respect? It was exactly how they have been describing it the entire time.

I saw a few accidents (one guy was knocked out after only a couple of miles), saw a suspected broken collarbone, a nasty crash on Newlands Corner and heard about a couple of others so hope everyone is ok today. Everyone I've spoken to who finished had a great day out, and I think the event has done great things for cycling, I really do, despite the general negativity on this website towards sportives.

I'm not bothered by times/paces in these non race events, but for the record, I did 5.17. I think I expected to just ride in a big crowd the whole time and be worried about taking everyone out around me (!) but it was actually a nice mix of sometimes in my own space, and other times tagging along with a bit of a group for a few miles. Exactly how I would have chosen it really. Not sure about other places in the field though, that might have been different.

[mattc]

Everyone I've spoken to who finished had a great day out, and I think the event has done great things for cycling, I really do, despite the general negativity on this website towards sportives.

As you've brought this up, don't be surprised if gets a response:
There is no negativity on this thread, about this event or others.
And it was you that described sportives as "too full of wankers" as I recall.

Let's not dig up old arguments unless you want the full version ( youtube.com/watch?v=hnTmBjk-M0c )

[jane]

I hope you don't feel I was being negative.  I didn't intend my post to be. I just wanted to big the Surrey Hills up as having a few good hills to people who might not have known the area!  And to say why you couldn't put the best of it into a mass rider race route.  I thought it was great that loads of people from all over the country entered, even though it,  is  not something I am ever likely to want to enter. Ride what you want, as much or as little as you want, but make sure you ride!  That resembles a quote from someone, sometime I think and it sums my feelings up really.  One thing that did cross my mind though.  Given that this was billed as part of a London festival of cycling,  perhaps, in  terms of raising the profile of cycling in London, this particular race isn't really the kind of thing that's needed.  More media coverage of fit, sporty looking types racing round hills in Lycra is not going to inspire or facilitate those who we need to inspire on to bikes in London.  That kind of individual is already out there, riding to work, riding at weekends.  Cycling as sport is enjoying quite a boom already, and didn't really need this massive media boost.  Much as I dislike Boris, it was a good idea of his to have him and his wife riding it looking like an ordinary couple out for a pootle.  But sadly, a lot of ordinary couples who might like to pootle around London are still driving to the shops, and taking their kids to school in their cars.  Ride London 100, great fun for many that it was, isn't going to change that, despite Bojo's personal image. I am happy for rides like this to take place, and Boris has hinted it may become a regular thing.  But I am uneasy that it might exacerbate the perception that many still have, that cycling is not for them because it's a tough sport for which you need special clothes, equipment, training and fitness levels.

[Notsototalnewbie]

I'm going to see if I can get a place in next year's, I reckon. I find the idea of the closed roads very appealing and everyone who's done it spoke of a good atmosphere. I've not done 100 miles before so I might even see if I could do it for one of the charities, as I know it would challenge me enough that it would feel justified. I haven't asked anyone for sponsorship since I was at school so hopefully my friends/family/colleagues' goodwill could manage to raise the enough. And it would encourage me to do a bit more than my commute/pootling around London.

(I reckon I already do enough for encouraging ordinary cycling pootling to site visits/meetings on my Brompton in my work clothes  )

[jane]

Not for me.  Like I said, left me feeling a bit uneasy about just what the public message being broadcast to non cycling Londoners is.  30 years ago, I would probably have been talking about it like this guy
https://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/cm-london/2013-08/msg00001.html
I have calmed down a bit in my old age, but, if you strip out the exaggeration and hyperbole, there are a few good points rattling around in that piece, IMO. 

[mattc]

Jane, your link doesn't work for me - looks like you may need to be logged in?

(Just post it here - in Spoiler tags to avoid any offence  )

[Karla]

It didn't work for me either but then I moved to another computer and got this

Can anyone say that the PrudentialLifeCyclocom wasn't the spiritual, political
and social opposite of CM? Can anyone say that Prucycle was a vicious monster
shitting on the life of the people? Can we not all be proud to be part of
free, autonomous and progressive cycling which renounces all the evil ways of
events like the CorporoCycle? I rub my belly in satisfaction at our own
goodness, and at their sin...

As a Riverine Inner London, in the neighbourhood, I watched a little old lady
in her Sunday best, just out of church, kicked off the bus asking how she was
possibly supposed to get home north of the river? All buses cancelled - all
day. All roads closed. 12 hours. parents with youngers in pushchairs,
stranded. That's how our communities were affected, folks unable to go home
for Sunday lunch, locked down. Pinned in by high-viz-bibbed securitaaar
volunteers from Guildford. Cheers.

Why? Because a big life insurer and a bunch of alleged nepotistic crooks
sought to make a little mint with a £50 ticket event for middle-aged-men-in-
lyrca to come in from the Home Counties and hold London hostage. A couple of
these lycraclots buzzing by every minute. Yeah. Close the whole road, that's
necessary. For. Twelve. Hours.

How did they do this? Isn't this a 'serious threat to the life of the
commmunity? The right to family life, to freedom of religion?

What consultation was there? In what way did out overlords seek to spin that
they are not tyrants? In what way did they care for our freedom of movement?
Sweet Fanny Adams. Or - as they put it:

"TfL has been working closely with the London boroughs, Surrey County Council
and the emergency services to ensure this year’s event is a success and that
we minimise disruption for local residents and businesses as much as possible.
The route for the event taking place on Sunday 4 August was initially proposed
in September 2012 to the relevant local and highways authorities including the
London Boroughs of Richmond and Kingston upon Thames, and following close
consultation, was agreed in principle in January 2013. We will continue to
work closely with our partners up to and during the events to ensure the route
is safe for participants and spectators alike."

Or as BoJo the Magnificent puts it;

"I apologise again for the inconvenience that we caused by temporarily
reserving some roads and bridges for cyclists. But I could not help myself as
I texted back. “On your bike”, I said.

Tool.

He doesn't care about inner london communities, he doesn't care about
improving local cycling infrastructure, he doesn't care about the environment.
We know this. It's all about a nice tourist jolly for the creamy classes.
Cruising down the embankment. Whoop-de-doo.

This single event will make more people in London hate cyclists than anything
else. Suffering the impotent frustration against the tyranny of an impune
overlord, how many more drivers will have their revenge on bikes on the road?

I've never been honked at and swiped at as much as trying to get passed the
traffic jams of people stranded for hours. Fools! Do they not listen to the
traffic reports! Ha Ha! It's their own fault! That's right dumb nurses - less
time saving people - more time listening to traffic reports! pffp.

I will never, ever listen to someone criticizing five minutes of corking.
Critical Mass shows, by a comparison, the smooth logic of libertarianism/
anarchism. We move safely, comfortably, reasonably, at minimal cost and with
minimal disruption to the public. Critical Mass encourages free thinking
liberated autonomy. We are a free space of ideas and equality. They are in
mechanical ranking of places. With supercilious baubles attached to their
breasts

We are traffic. The Pru was a big fat bloodclot of the traffic.

Tell me that's wrong

It sounds to me like he's too puritan to let anyone have any fun tbh.

[Notsototalnewbie]

I'm not going to drag it all up again as it's been done to death on other threads, but his holding Critical Mass up as some kind of ideal is a bit rich. The London one, at least, is something I no longer want to be associated with.

[mattc]

Hmmm. Jane's analysis isn't far off. I'd add that noone is going to listen to someone ranting that incoherently - I wouldn't have got past the first paragraph if i'd just found that out in the field.

[Toady]

My cycling mate did it.  He had a fantastic time and really enjoyed it.  He also did it about one hour quicker than expected.  I'm taking a bit of credit for that in my Mr Motivator role ensuring he got up to go out riding on nasty mornings earlier in the year.

[Wascally Weasel]

Entries for the Ride London 100 mile event for next year opened yesterday.  If you are interested in riding it next year get your entry in sharpish as I have been advised they won’t be open for long.

http://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/The_Events/Prudential_RideLondon-Surrey_100/Entries/Ballot.htm

It’s a London Marathon style ballot entry where you apply and then find out some time later if you have been successful (February!)  You can also get a place through one of the guaranteed charity entries, again just like the Marathon.

I've probably asked all that I could ever expect from anyone from charity donation so I'm going for the ballot.

[Wascally Weasel]

Update: 

50,000 have already registered for the ballot – apparently it closes when it hits 80,000 so if you do want to register an interest do so soonish!

[Notsototalnewbie]

I've entered the ballot but am also interested in doing it for charity given that I do think I'd find it tough. I was a bit dismayed to learn that we have to wait until Feb to find out!

[Wascally Weasel]

I agree.  While I would prefer a system that would allow me to nip in quick and guarantee a place (if I succeeded), I think that the ballot concept is a fair one for an event that is oversubscribed (and 50,000 entries in a day or so is pretty impressive – my anecdata from interest at work is that they aren’t all Mamil either).

I don’t especially see why it has to be confirmed six months from now though.

I really did enjoy it this year, even if I was riding under a different name.  Best roadside support that I have ever seen in the UK for a public cycling event, was fabulous.

[Rhys W]

I really did enjoy it this year, even if I was riding under a different name.  Best roadside support that I have ever seen in the UK for a public cycling event, was fabulous.

I hate to break it to you, but the crowds weren't there to see you... 

[Wascally Weasel]

They were not dissimilar to archetypal London Marathon crowds, some random background spectators but many there mainly to support friends and family I would imagine (I think they were out a bit early if just there for the pro riders) and their support was fantastic and encouraging, if not aimed at me personally. 

The pirate jersey generally gets me a few shouts every now and then from spectators.  Apart from that guy on Alpe d’Huez one time who I’m pretty sure said “You’re no Pantani”.

[Gareth Rees]

Apart from that guy on Alpe d’Huez one time who I’m pretty sure said “You’re no Pantani”.

Presumably he meant, "you, unlike Pantani, are climbing the Alpe without drug assistance."

[Notsototalnewbie]

I think they were out a bit early if just there for the pro riders.

Definitely. We wandered up to the Houses of Parliament about half an hour before the pros came by and the barriers were almost empty.

I think I may have just secured a spot to ride for Guide Dogs for the Blind, which I'd be very happy with. I used to work with someone with a guide dog and it's a fantastic cause.

I'll have to get myself out to the Surrey hills! (I know some here say Leith hill etc aren't that bad, but it's been a while since I've done anything approaching a hill, unless you count the very short sharp kick over Rotherhithe tunnel!)

[teethgrinder]

I think they were out a bit early if just there for the pro riders.

Definitely. We wandered up to the Houses of Parliament about half an hour before the pros came by and the barriers were almost empty.

I think I may have just secured a spot to ride for Guide Dogs for the Blind, which I'd be very happy with. I used to work with someone with a guide dog and it's a fantastic cause.

I'll have to get myself out to the Surrey hills! (I know some here say Leith hill etc aren't that bad, but it's been a while since I've done anything approaching a hill, unless you count the very short sharp kick over Rotherhithe tunnel!)

Best of luck to you NSTN.

Never mind what other people say about Leith Hill or any other hill. It's what it is to you that matters. If it is a tough climb, then don't worry, just keep plugging away and in time it'll be easier or maybe even easy.