mustang1
Legendary Member
- Location
- London, UK
Big shorts, base layer, jersey for me. Taking rain/wind lightweight jacket with me.
Edit: mmmh actually i better take a gilet with me too and perhaps leg warmers.
RideLondon-Essex 100 (2022) Anyone?
- Thread starter Dogtrousers
- Start date
-
- Tags
- london
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Big shorts, base layer, jersey for me. Taking rain/wind lightweight jacket with me.
Edit: mmmh actually i better take a gilet with me too and perhaps leg warmers.
OP
OP
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Why have they put the transponder in a daft flag thing that goes on the seatpost, not on the handlebars? There's not room for both it and my wedge bag. Oh well I've shoved it on and squashed the transponder thingy. Maybe the transponder will still work. Maybe not. Ho hum.
- Location
- Essex
Probably an extra base layer as well.Shorts,base layer and short sleeve jersey........we're hard down south
Got no room for a rain jacket so if it rains......
lazybloke
Ginger biscuits and cheddar
- Location
- Leafy Surrey
Weetabix time.
Good luck to all!
Update1 - bumped into Fridays Jenny at the start, her Brompton getting a fair bit of attention.
Update 2 - chaos out here. One guy on a stretcher and neck brace who only got as far as Docklands. Various other people with medics along the route. Am now about half way - route is closed by a serious accident. Air ambulance in attendance. Be careful out there.
Good luck to all!
Update1 - bumped into Fridays Jenny at the start, her Brompton getting a fair bit of attention.
Update 2 - chaos out here. One guy on a stretcher and neck brace who only got as far as Docklands. Various other people with medics along the route. Am now about half way - route is closed by a serious accident. Air ambulance in attendance. Be careful out there.
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PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
Well I got 5:09 which is OK but I had 2:31 at the 50 mile mark and thought I might get sub five hours. Nice flat route.
lazybloke
Ginger biscuits and cheddar
- Location
- Leafy Surrey
There were some nice trees in Epping Forest, a few fields out in rural Essex, a very rare thatched cottage; but that's not enough to make it an interesting route. It was as dull as ditchwater.
What I assumed to be a bad crash near half-way might have have been something else; other riders saw CPR being administered... maybe a heart attack? Wouldn't be the first in a RideLondon event. Hopefully he/she pulled through.
Anyway, the road was closed for a massive half hour before I got bored and backtracked and detoured via some rural lanes for a mile or two; delightful compared to the official route.
Several others had also detoured - so we formed a spontaneous group once back onto the now-completely empty route; holy hell they put the hammer down; blimey that speed is addictive!
But i'm not a group rider so wasn't comfortable; probably left too big a gap, and used up too much energy.
So by 90 miles I was knackered. Could just about keep going on the flat, but hills were a nightmare. Had nothing left in the tank through docklands. At the last hairpin, some poor bloke hit a traffic island and went down hard; poor soul.
Crossed the finish line with an official time of 5 hrs 48 mins. Fab!
What I assumed to be a bad crash near half-way might have have been something else; other riders saw CPR being administered... maybe a heart attack? Wouldn't be the first in a RideLondon event. Hopefully he/she pulled through.
Anyway, the road was closed for a massive half hour before I got bored and backtracked and detoured via some rural lanes for a mile or two; delightful compared to the official route.
Several others had also detoured - so we formed a spontaneous group once back onto the now-completely empty route; holy hell they put the hammer down; blimey that speed is addictive!
But i'm not a group rider so wasn't comfortable; probably left too big a gap, and used up too much energy.
So by 90 miles I was knackered. Could just about keep going on the flat, but hills were a nightmare. Had nothing left in the tank through docklands. At the last hairpin, some poor bloke hit a traffic island and went down hard; poor soul.
Crossed the finish line with an official time of 5 hrs 48 mins. Fab!
OP
OP
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Well, that was fun.
There was a lot of talk above about random tight groups forming mini pelotons - all very serious and race-face. Not in wave N there wasn't. Wave N was the chilled out laughing group of people who had put 8hr (the maximum on the form) as estimated time. Just people riding along, small groups of friends, often all in the same charity jersey, chatting. No chain gangs or anything like that. But just riding in a stream of riders gave a significant drafting effect and combined with the effect of the roads being closed gave a real speed boost. I found it hard to break the habit of stopping pedalling and touching the brakes when I saw a red light up ahead.
Quite a variety of bike types too. Obviously mostly vanilla Al or carbon road bikes, which to be fair would be the best tool for the job, but also quite a few Brommies, at least one Airnimal (maybe a couple, or I saw the same one twice) A pair of Santander hire bikes, a guy carrying a stuffed rhino in a child seat, some flat bar bikes (mountain bike or hybrid? I didn't really look) and a smattering of retro steel.
All in all it was just a nice ride. As noted above the countryside was pleasant but not spectacular. And I'd ridden the route already so I knew what to expect.
My target was to firstly beat the cut-off (which I did with several hours to spare) and to beat my fastest ever ton (which I did with about 40 mins to spare).
Saw no sign of the closure that @lazybloke reported.
I ride a lot of centuries - solo, slowly. So this was nice to do something different for a change. Would I do it again? Yes, I think so. If they'll let me back in.
There was a lot of talk above about random tight groups forming mini pelotons - all very serious and race-face. Not in wave N there wasn't. Wave N was the chilled out laughing group of people who had put 8hr (the maximum on the form) as estimated time. Just people riding along, small groups of friends, often all in the same charity jersey, chatting. No chain gangs or anything like that. But just riding in a stream of riders gave a significant drafting effect and combined with the effect of the roads being closed gave a real speed boost. I found it hard to break the habit of stopping pedalling and touching the brakes when I saw a red light up ahead.
Quite a variety of bike types too. Obviously mostly vanilla Al or carbon road bikes, which to be fair would be the best tool for the job, but also quite a few Brommies, at least one Airnimal (maybe a couple, or I saw the same one twice) A pair of Santander hire bikes, a guy carrying a stuffed rhino in a child seat, some flat bar bikes (mountain bike or hybrid? I didn't really look) and a smattering of retro steel.
All in all it was just a nice ride. As noted above the countryside was pleasant but not spectacular. And I'd ridden the route already so I knew what to expect.
My target was to firstly beat the cut-off (which I did with several hours to spare) and to beat my fastest ever ton (which I did with about 40 mins to spare).
Saw no sign of the closure that @lazybloke reported.
I ride a lot of centuries - solo, slowly. So this was nice to do something different for a change. Would I do it again? Yes, I think so. If they'll let me back in.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Het Graun report. Yes, the air ambulance was for a heart attack rather than a crash. RideLondon: thousands take part in mass cycling event after two-year absence | Cycling | The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...-in-mass-cycling-event-after-two-year-absence
bladesman73
Über Member
Saw some bloke laid prone on the road at the bottom of a long downhill on the way back. Hope he is ok.
- Location
- Essex
When i got there i just walked along the big queue to the start.No one was asking what wave you was in so i started a bit earlier.
I enjoyed the route going through some of the places i ride regularly although a bit disappointed that they didn't put any hills to speak of in there.
It was nice to see the good people of essex getting out and cheering us on as well.
After about forty miles my right knee started giving me some gyp and at the end it was killing me.Finished in 6.5 hours average15.7mph which was quicker than i expected so happy with that.
Overall though a great day and i enjoyed the finish at tower bridge
I enjoyed the route going through some of the places i ride regularly although a bit disappointed that they didn't put any hills to speak of in there.
It was nice to see the good people of essex getting out and cheering us on as well.
After about forty miles my right knee started giving me some gyp and at the end it was killing me.Finished in 6.5 hours average15.7mph which was quicker than i expected so happy with that.
Overall though a great day and i enjoyed the finish at tower bridge
OP
OP
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
I noticed this too. I turned up at about 0810, roughly in the middle of my allotted time range of 0800-0820 or something like that. I just joined the shuffling queue which consisted of a mix of my wave (N) plus lots of Ls and Ms and also riders on the shorter routes. I suppose if you can trust people not to take the piss and arrive at roughly the right time you don't need to expend effort on sorting groups. Also there's not a lot of space there.
My mate told me there was a lot of corralling and kettling at the Olympic Park, where there's more space.
mustang1
Legendary Member
- Location
- London, UK
I had a 0855 start but got into the area around 0730 (was excited, my first mass event). Saw the signs that I should not enter the queue until 0815 so hung around until 0814 but could not bare the excitement any more so joined the queue 
Started on time. My bike is exceptionally fast downhill (fantastic rider, too many pork pies) so in the tunnel I didnt want to let go lf the momentum.
A short while later, i saw my first casualty.
Epping New Road has the worst road surface for a road bike. What do they call that, chip seal? Its really grinding on the tyres.
Those hills in essex are usually killer fkr me but this time i did not seem to feel them (we will come back to that!).
Im not an expert at group riding so spent a lot of time looking around me, ensuring i did not get in anyones way, keeping an eye on the road ahead. Like someone else mentioned, ehenever insaw a red traffic light, my inclination was to stop but i had to fight that urge.
Then, with just a few miles till the end, i just had to stop coz i had gone too hard on the hills (remember from a few paragraphs up?)
I. just. Had. To. Stop.
Then i strugggled the last xouple of miles in agony (and on the way home). I was on the Ride 60 (sorry to hijack this 100 thread) but rode 101 miles altogether (including travel) and i have not ridden a century for ages.
The following day (today), rested, slept, a tub bath, and im almost back to normal. And while the last few miles were agony, Im really glad I rode it and will be back next year.
Well done everyone. It was a pleasure.
Edit: and a special mention to the wonderful supporters along the route and the NHS crew.
Started on time. My bike is exceptionally fast downhill (fantastic rider, too many pork pies) so in the tunnel I didnt want to let go lf the momentum.
A short while later, i saw my first casualty.
Epping New Road has the worst road surface for a road bike. What do they call that, chip seal? Its really grinding on the tyres.
Those hills in essex are usually killer fkr me but this time i did not seem to feel them (we will come back to that!).
Im not an expert at group riding so spent a lot of time looking around me, ensuring i did not get in anyones way, keeping an eye on the road ahead. Like someone else mentioned, ehenever insaw a red traffic light, my inclination was to stop but i had to fight that urge.
Then, with just a few miles till the end, i just had to stop coz i had gone too hard on the hills (remember from a few paragraphs up?)
I. just. Had. To. Stop.
Then i strugggled the last xouple of miles in agony (and on the way home). I was on the Ride 60 (sorry to hijack this 100 thread
) but rode 101 miles altogether (including travel) and i have not ridden a century for ages. The following day (today), rested, slept, a tub bath, and im almost back to normal. And while the last few miles were agony, Im really glad I rode it and will be back next year.
Well done everyone. It was a pleasure.
Edit: and a special mention to the wonderful supporters along the route and the NHS crew.
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OP
OP
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Here's a picture of the queue. It's the only picture I have, as my phone was packed safely away in my wedge bag most of the time.
lazybloke
Ginger biscuits and cheddar
- Location
- Leafy Surrey
Here's mine, a different approach via the Houses of Parliament and Parliament Square.
Have done a lot of London cycling recently so wasn't as captivated by the views. Nice to see the Pringle again though.
