RideLondon-Surrey 100 (2014!!!) Anyone?

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michaelcycle

michaelcycle

Senior Member
Location
London
What a great day!

I was a bit gutted that they shortened the route but it was the right decision. In a way the weather made it a unique experience. I am sure there were will plenty more Ride Londons where the weather is within the norm of what is to be expected. Will there be another Ride London any time soon where you tough it out (Rule 5 innit?) through the remnants of a tropical storm with gusting winds, sheet rain, hailstones and a bit of sun as well? Not likely. I felt like Bodhi at the end of Point Break as he rides out into the 50 year storm... Totally zen bro ;)

Punctures abounded on the day. I didn't see any crashes thankfully but found myself in the group which got held at Richmond Park. Saw a torn and crumpled red jacket at the side of the road and feared for the worst. The flooding was epic. It was more like a triathlon in parts...

Organisation was brilliant and the support at the roadsides with people cheering and shouts of "still looking good" or "not far to go" or "you can do it" was really unexpected but touching. Dorking and Kingston stand out in this regard and those cheerleaders as you came out of Kingston were a welcome site...Lot of acts of kindness from members of the public and other riders it seemed for people who had suffered mechanicals. Restores my faith in humanity. The littering thing was a bit irritating.

I finished in just over 6.5 hours with a riding time of a little under 5.5 hours. I think I was too conservative with my effort as I had plenty in the legs at the finish but that is a lesson for next time.

Same time next year then?
 
EltonFrog

EltonFrog

Legendary Member
Here's a couple of very short phone of I vids of the two floods


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esnTsnxN9tU&feature=youtube_gdata_player




View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcvHYm6GtHg&feature=youtube_gdata_player
 
B

Bike_Me

Active Member
An absolute stunning day, regardless of the bad weather - if anything, I think it made it more enjoyable and even more interesting!

Completely agree with you Michael, the public support was indeed touching, and made the whole experience even better.

Disappointed that Box Hill and Leith Hill were closed off, although it just means I'll have to come back and do it again next year!

One word to sum yesterdays event: SUPERB!

Official time was 4:22:45 with an average speed of 31km/hr - completely stunned with the results! ^_^
 
sleaver

sleaver

Veteran
Well, I said I'd do a bigger write up so here it is.

I stayed in the Premier Inn at Stratford and my room had a dooe to the adjoining room and I could here them talking. I wasn't worried as long as I could go to sleep because I was getting up at 5am and what goes around comes around. Some riders the night before had said it took 20 minutes to get out of the hotel last year so I wanted to make sure I was on time. Left the front door and about 60 seconds later I was at the baggage drop.

At the start, I had two wardrobe changes. First I put my gillet and arm warmers on (I get cold quite easily) but then when it started to rain, took the gillet off and put on the jacket and overshoes. All of that while moving towards the start before finally setting off just a few minutes late.

Due to living in London, I'm not really used to long stretches of flat roads so was going quicker than normal but it felt comfortable although I was conscious of going out to fast so took it easy on the places were the road started going up. Then going over one of the bridges, it pelted it down for the first time and I had wet everything and someone said "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" to a woman next to me.

My first stop was at Pryford for a comfort break and a bottle re-fill. The queue for the toilets was long but someone said there was more in the hall. After some of us went off and couldn't find them, men just did what men shouldn't really do and improvised. There were two men there who were just wearing jerseys and shorts shivering and I can't imagine they would have warmed up quickly. From here I took it more easy as I'm not great at rolling roads, and not having done Newlands before, I wanted to save something for it.

Descending Newlands was interesting to say the least with my glasses being wet on the outside and misty on the inside as well as my brakes being pretty useless when someone in front decided to slow down. Got to the turn for Leigh Hill and it was actually sunny but I still wouldn't have fancied descending that in the conditions we had and although disappointed, it was the right decision. I dread to think how many rivers, burst drains or floods that we all went past.

Then from Dorking, I got my speed back as my legs were feeling good again but the roads were still a bit rolling, well, for me anyway. Stopped at the hub in Leatherhead for my last stop before a bit later coming to that flooded bridge near Kingston. I wasn't sure if I should walk or go for it but after I heard someone say behind me "Well my foot are soaked anyway", I just went through it. I have a feeling my feet my have been immersed a couple of times yesterday in different floods.

Although I was expecting it, Wimbledon Hill was interesting but going down into Putney more than made up for it and then when I saw the Houses of Parliament, I knew I had done it.

Although this happened in Kingston, Putney or Wimbledon as well, one of the highlights as I mentioned before was going down Whitehall on my own with people cheering and banging the boards. I looked around and noticed I was on my own and the realised it must have been for me, I gave it all the beans I had left, took the racing line through Trafalgar Square on onto The Mall before having that pretty much to myself as well with people again cheering.

All of us probably have a lot more stories to tell than we can type but although we had the rain, it was still enjoyable. My only gripe would be that bags were left out in the rain but the whole weekend, especially Sunday, makes up for that.

As for my first ride post RideLondon, I think that is going to be dictated my how long it takes my shoes to dry out :smile:
 
benb

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
Beebo

Beebo

Firm and Fruity
Location
Hexleybeef
CarlP said:
Here's a couple of very short phone of I vids of the two floods


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esnTsnxN9tU&feature=youtube_gdata_player




View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcvHYm6GtHg&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Click to expand...

The video doesnt really show it, but when I went through the water under that railway bridge was up to my bottom bracket.
 
Beebo

Beebo

Firm and Fruity
Location
Hexleybeef
pens.jpg

At the start in the holding pens, we were Orange G. The start is about 500m away.
drowned rat.jpg

Looking like a drowned rat at the end.
 
G

Ginger

Regular
Only wore a cycling jersey (bought at the show Dhb £12) was cursing myself at the start line as had forgotten to take out my bin bags and overshoes from the bag at start area but the overshoes wouldn't have helped!

Would be interested to see Stephen Roche's time (not shown on results)
 
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