Ride London Accident

[snorri]

A man sitting on a bench gazing out to sea is - actuarily speaking - at even less risk still.

Inactivity?
It's a killer.

 

[srw]

I just guessed to my wife that the male:female ratio was 5:1. She didn't believe me. So we counted the next fifty or so riders ... Maybe only 4:1 in that stretch.

In my near vicinity both times I've done it the ratio has been 1:1...

The RideLondon 100 is basically three rides in one. There's a ride for experienced and fast cyclists who are testing themselves against a time. There's a ride for inexperienced men (and the odd woman) in lycra who'd love to race, and are over-optimistic about their own ability to handle a bike, and who take too many risks. And there's a long ride for people, more evenly mixed between men and women, who just want to finish, and who are there for the atmosphere or to raise money for charity. Some of them are very experienced but not fast, some of them are very inexperienced. Any problems happen when the second group clash with the first or the third groups. I'd guess that at 14:17 the third group would be beginning to predominate, especially after two hold-ups.

 

[swansonj]

...I'd guess that at 14:17 the third group would be beginning to predominate, especially after two hold-ups.

The hold ups meant everything was more mixed up this year. A lot of fitter and fresher looking riders coming through later, presumably earlier starters catching up after the delays.

 

[srw]

Each year in this ride there have been a couple of nasty incidents. And, rightly, the emergency services take an injury sustained on a bike seriously - and when you try and pack 27,000 riders into narrow roads, with a tough time limit because of a pro race happening later, any blockage to the flow will look like very serious disruption.

Actuarially speaking (it helps if you spell it right), 2.7 million rider miles on a tough course will result in some injuries. Just like 2.7 million driver miles on a motorway.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I feel very ambivalent about events like this one. They don't seem to me to be a celebration of cycling so much as a chance for TDF wannabees to experience riding in a make-believe peleton, but without the skills. You start out with little Sky Rides and the Freecycle, and the 100 is marketed as something to aspire to, like joining the big boys - or "serious cyclists" as some would have it. The ride gets packed out, people get impatient, and accidents happen, which just feeds the widespread idea that cycling is dangerous.

I feel no ambivalence. I loathe them.

 

[benb]

Yeah, there were some people cycling in a decidedly nobbish manner.

Particular shout out to the idiot with TT bars (which are specifically prohibited BTW) who came past me close enough to brush my elbow without a single "on your right"

Having said that, it was only a small minority who were behaving like that. Most people were completely fine.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Oh it does and, in my category of old bloke on ludicrously heavy Dutch bike, I am possibly a champion in my own mind.

I've seen a hundred thousand Danish women who would whip your ass, traffic lights wise. It would be over a million if the rest would just change gear when they stop.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Yeah, there were some people cycling in a decidedly nobbish manner.

Particular shout out to the idiot with TT bars (which are specifically prohibited BTW) who came past me close enough to brush my elbow without a single "on your right"

Having said that, it was only a small minority who were behaving like that. Most people were completely fine.

TT bars on a group ride = utter twit.

 

[srw]

I feel no ambivalence. I loathe them.

I feel no ambivalence either. Despite the handful of nobbers, the attempt to pack too many riders into too short a time, and the over-engineered rules, I love them. There is something magical about riding on closed roads.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I feel no ambivalence either. Despite the handful of nobbers, the attempt to pack too many riders into too short a time, and the over-engineered rules, I love them. There is something magical about riding on closed roads.

You lost me at despite. There is no despite. And even the roads of West Sussex are as good as closed at 05:00 on a Sunday.

(or the occasional driver around at that time represents a lesser impediment to my enjoyment than your extensive list of down sides... )

 

[Andrew_P]

Not my idea of fun, watching the Pro's barrel down some of those hills would fill me fear in a bunch of mixed ability riders fired up on adrenalin. As above though the numbers of miles covered the number of riders and different types and styles of riders it is amazing that not more happens. Kudos to those who took part. The only real appeal is closed roads for me.

 

[philk56]

Just putting my tin hat on as I contribute to this thread. It is very easy to generalise about these rides and sound very superior. All of the people I spoke to, and there were many while we were shuffling along behind the accident, appeared to be genuinely there for experience, either in the cause of raising money for charity or to enjoy the ride with a multitude of cyclists on closed roads. Of course there are always going to be some idiots on rides like this, as there are plenty of idiot cyclists who I see every day riding the streets of London. My main concern about today's event was that there were too many riders, and this was made worse when we all joined up again after the diversion around Leith Hill. Adding the extra riders on the start of the course this year with the introduction of the 46 mile route made for very crowded roads at times. Having said that I didn't see any instances of dangerous riding.

 

[Tin Pot]

Has anyone got anything to say about the crash this thread is about?

 

[swansonj]

I feel no ambivalence. I loathe them.

I feel no ambivalence either. Despite the handful of nobbers, the attempt to pack too many riders into too short a time, and the over-engineered rules, I love them. There is something magical about riding on closed roads.

I feel about "them" something of what I feel about Sustrans cycle paths. It's good the see people out on bikes enjoying themselves. It's good to see people doing so in ways they might not otherwise do or taking on challenges they might not otherwise. Anything that raises the profile of cycling or normalises it has got to be at least partly a Good Thing. All that is good and I'm not churlish enough to deny it.

But neither promotes the cycling experience as I value it. Cycling is about freedom. It's about spontaneity. It's about self sufficiency. It's about exploring. It's about connecting, with the land and the landscape. It's about being normal, as normal as walking, wearing the same clothes, using and sharing the same collective networks developed by generations for society to do just that. It's about stepping out of my front door, getting on a bike, and just cycling. And it's not about sport.

Neither Sustrans nor the Prudential exactly promote cycling as I love it, except as a stepping stone. Which is why I get sad when they become the mainstream of cycling, or at least of the public presentation of cycling.

(And I haven't even started on the ethics of sponsorship )

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I feel about "them" something of what I feel about Sustrans cycle paths. It's good the see people out on bikes enjoying themselves. It's good to see people doing so in ways they might not otherwise do or taking on challenges they might not otherwise. Anything that raises the profile of cycling or normalises it has got to be at least partly a Good Thing. All that is good and I'm not churlish enough to deny it.

But neither promotes the cycling experience as I value it. Cycling is about freedom. It's about spontaneity. It's about self sufficiency. It's about exploring. It's about connecting, with the land and the landscape. It's about being normal, as normal as walking, wearing the same clothes, using and sharing the same collective networks developed by generations for society to do just that. It's about stepping out of my front door, getting on a bike, and just cycling. And it's not about sport.

Neither Sustrans nor the Prudential exactly promote cycling as I love it, except as a stepping stone. Which is why I get sad when they become the mainstream of cycling, or at least of the public presentation of cycling.

(And I haven't even started on the ethics of sponsorship )

Sportives don't normalise the sort of cycling that needs to be normalised. Neither do sustrans leisure routes.

Sorry, but that is just how it is. Between cycling as sport and cycling as a family leisure activity is where the sweet spot of cycling as normal is. Slap bang.