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

[EltonFrog]

Go out and do the full run at 5am on a Sunday morning again I am not sure the 24,000 others make it easier, just the lack of cars and traffic lights

Good idea , wanna organise that for early next year?

 

[EltonFrog]

Abinger Hammer? It still looked very wet there when the pros went through.





I bought a squeezy gel flask last year and agree - made it much easier and no wrappers to deal with.

Which gel flask did you get?

 

[w00hoo_kent]

It was fun as the ride split, TDF style, both sides of roundabouts

I deliberately rode on the wrong side of the road as much as possible, favoured a foot or so right of the white line which seemed to work and did the wrong way around most roundabouts. I paid for 100 miles, I was taking the long way round everything :-)

Had a BMW appear at cones looking aggrieved that they weren't going to be allowed to cross and nearer the centre a fair number of confused people stood at pedestrian crossings.

There was a guy coming back in to Kingston in a white shirt stood next to a traffic island in the middle of the road, I think trying to convince his partner and pram to chance crossing, got an 'on your right' as I passed him. Not sure what he did in the end. You would think people would walk to marshal points to work out what to do, maybe it was an 'only bikes' attitude.

 

[sleaver]

...and nearer the centre a fair number of confused people stood at pedestrian crossings.

I forget where, but there was one crossing where the marshals had mistimed it or the pedestrians were ignoring them as the marshals were looking a bit stressed getting everyone out of the way of a bunch of riders who were trying to guess if it would be clear in time or if they needed to slow down.

 

[PK99]

That's a pet peeve of mine on night rides actually - people who just have to potter along in the middle of the road when there's no need. If everyone moved left once it was safe to do so, bottlenecks wouldn't happen so often and no one would need or be able to resort to undertaking.

Yes! the idea of course is progressively quicker laminar flow of riders across the road!

 

[Ginger]

The club cyclists moving fast in a line were annoying on some of the hills-shouting at slower riders to move. The roads were narrow so naturally people spread out.

Conversely also a pain were the groups/mates chatting in a line 3 or 4 abreast of the road sitting up - one such group on the Highway almost causing an accident

 

[w00hoo_kent]

That's a pet peeve of mine on night rides actually - people who just have to potter along in the middle of the road when there's no need. If everyone moved left once it was safe to do so, bottlenecks wouldn't happen so often and no one would need or be able to resort to undertaking.

To be fair, it was much more common for me to be meeting a slower rider and having to plan going right in to an even faster stream than for me to be riding with clear space on my left. In those situations I weighed up the benefits of moving left and keeping line. Often it was best not to risk cutting across someone by listing lazily left, depended on how clear a view I could get behind me.

Agreed, slow groups taking up most of the lane was annoying.

 

[laurence]

i had a couple of tourists on hire bikes appear in front of me somewhere near Lambeth Bridge. there was also a guy on a moped atop wimbledon hill to Putney, i think the marshalls were bored by that time and several weren't paying any attention to the side roads, shame really. there were a group somewhere near vauxhall bridge who were cheering and clapping though, top blokes.

i think i jumped when i rode into Dorking. i'd managed to find myself riding alone and saw a group ahead, so pushed to try and catch them and suddenly there was a wall of noise. looked up and the barriers were lined with people.

the 'monaco' tunnel in Kingston was deafening.

the incident in Richmond Park was compounded by the hailstorm - the road was awash and it cut down the width, meaning when the riders started up after the accident there was a huge tailback. i was frozen when i got going and never warmed up again - i did dry out only to get soaked in a thunderstorm later.

one of my favourite shouts from the public - everyone was single file through a very deep puddle near west molesey when a girl shouted "welcome to the molesey triathlon, this is the swim section"

 

[philinmerthyr]

Ah you will own it Phil, just like last year.

Don't let whatever the weather brings you get you down, enjoy it.

Be careful on those descents, we had a bad accident at the bottom of Leith Hill last year and it was dry. Just be sensible, especially with so many people of varying abilities riding near you all.

Look forward to some cool stories.

In a way the weather made the day. It was challenging even without Leith and Box Hills. My ride time was 6:25 (7:10 elapsed time). I broke a spoke and had a puncture but enjoyed it as much as last year.

 

[srw]

Oh yes, the spectators. All the big charities had cheerleaders out in force, which was lovely. There were also plenty of locals - Dorking and Kingston particularly, as already mentioned, but also sporadically elsewhere. I did enjoy the soggy people shouting "welcome to Weybridge". Several witty signs, too; I wish I could remember the pun on Bertha. Being, err, special, we got particularly loud cheers - "Go tandem" - and I had my own personal waver-in-chief on my back so that I could focus on riding safely.

But I wish that cyclists had more imagination. We had 18 calls which were a variation on "she's not pedalling". And yes, we did count. If one of them was you, please donate to charity to make up for your spectacular unoriginality!

 

[laurence]

a downside of the whole event passing so close to my home is that the climb of Coombe Hill has now been tackled by the likes of Vos, she has set the QoM time up there. Oliphant and a few other pros have also stava'd it now.

a plus point is that she has visited New Malden.

 

[RussellZero]

That tunnel was like riding through a swimming pool!

Ive got some footage from on the bike Ill post up later, I didnt enjoy the longer of the two, you could just about see the white lines and the cats eyes, but they were tricky to ride close to (highest point of the road) without riding on them

 

[sleaver]

Really random, but did anyone else find the timing strips across the road rather interesting to go over? On one occasion I must have hit it at a funny angle as it felt I was going to come a cropper.

Mind you, at the end of the Classic race, one of the pro's went over a similar one after he had finished and did come a cropper.

 

[laurence]

Really random, but did anyone else find the timing strips across the road rather interesting to go over? On one occasion I must have hit it at a funny angle as it felt I was going to come a cropper.

Mind you, at the end of the Classic race, one of the pro's went over a similar one after he had finished and did come a cropper.

yup, after i hit the first ones i tried to ensure i hit the rest straight on.

the tracking doodad was handy, within minutes of finishing i had two friends text and congratulate me.

 

[EltonFrog]

I saw a lot of Samaritan supporters along the route in different places. every time I went passed a group of them I shouted " I tried to call you but you were engaged" Oh how they laughed.