RideLondon-Surrey 100 (2017) Anyone?

[mjr]

I was rather later than @PaulSB I think and there were still loads of people punctured along the route to the start. Lots of people were puncturing in the Limehouse link tunnels too. I think it was just the deluge last night washed loads of shoot onto the roads. The chap who I gave a patch to had been deflated by a flint.

 

[bikingdad90]

My moving time was 5hr 59m, so pretty happy with that for my first Ride London.

 

[sleaver]

........Box Hill is easy and what a great surface.

Talking to other riders it was interesting those who are from other parts of the country felt the same about the climbs.

Due to living near the Surrey hills, I have ridden Leith Hill and Box Hill multiple times and Leith Hill in my view is the harder of the two.

As they said during the commentary of the pro race, Box Hill has got its reputation due to being included in the Olympic road race and due to that, people think it must be hard.

However, when your used to the area, Box Hill is probably one of the easiest of the Surrey Hills. There is even harder than Leith Hill. Take Whitedown Lane as an example:

http://veloviewer.com/segment/626946/Whitedown+Lane,+Surrey+Hills

 

[srw]

Target one: get to the start. Achieved.
Target two: get to Hampton Court in time to make our own decision: Achieved.

We had a serious conversation about timing - having arrived at Hampton Court pushing quite hard at about 10:45 (110 minutes to do 27 miles is decent going into a headwind) we had 7 hours to do 60-odd miles (Leith and Box having been abandoned some weeks ago). That sounded achievable.

Then @rvw pointed out that when I wasn't concentrating I was completely vacant and we'd probably have more fun enjoying a shorter ride on closed roads than trying to chase a cutoff time. So we turned for home adn 46 miles, and, do you know what? She was right. We had a reasonably gentle potter from Hampton Court to the end, stopping several times to inhale water and power bars and letting the field pass us. The support we, and all the riders got, in that section, was very welcome. Being an odd bike we got more directed vocal support than most. I believe we did see @mjr twice (each time counting double, as it were) - on the exit from the Limehouse tunnel and on Putney Bridge. On the other hand I was slightly confused - he apparently had a Dahon on Putney Bridge whereas I'm sure I'd seen him much earlier on a Brompton on the Bow Road as were groping our way towards the start line.

I can't (obviously) speak for the set-piece hills, but both the rise out of Kingston town centre and the hill out of Wimbledon did for some people. We even managed to overtake a soloist in Wimbledon. He was stomping very hard and very slowly at the bottom of his sexy racing double. We were winching ourselves gently up in the lowest 28 x 30 gear of our immensely practical, if not sexy, touring triple.

In general I thought the riding was pretty decent, even if one person was a little optimistic in trying to squeeze through our inside as we went to the left on one of the rises on the Hammersmith flyover. He got an earful and was, I think, chastened. On the other hand some of the pedestrians were dozy. I don't ever particularly ever again want to shout "Stop, Stop" at a crocodile of several dozen schoolchildren (at a guess, first language not English) while hauling on the brakes knowing that we were all at risk of being run over by several hundred cyclists chock full of adrenaline and only just warmed up. (That happened on the first run-in to Trafalgar Square). And, very sadly, we passed the aftermath of an incident in Chelsea where an elderly local woman walking her dog had apparently been knocked over by a cyclist who, not unreasonably, expected the closed road to be closed - even to locals and their dogs.

Apparently the back half of the tandem managed to cross the line after 46 miles in 3:36:39, a full 20 seconds before the front half (3:37:06), who (even more oddly) had no timing chips in his name. But we weren't after a time.

 

[smutchin]

I witnessed some pretty dismal riding, including one twat trying to barge his way through on a crowded climb and nearly causing a pile-up. Also witnessed the aftermath of a few nasty looking offs. Managed to avoid incidents myself largely by keeping my wits about me and not taking risks.

It was a pretty good ride for me. Got swept along with the speed demons at the start and knocked off the first 45 miles in not much over two hours, but was running on fumes by the time we hit the first climb and almost ground to a halt...

Stopped at Newlands Corner for much needed food, topped up the bottles and was in and out in five minutes (the Newlands Corner hub did not live up to its billing). Took my time on Leith Hill, no point burning myself out on it, took Box Hill at a brisker pace, then made fast progress all the way to the finish, apart from a couple of hold-ups for traffic crossings and accidents. Took a tad over 5.5hrs in total, which is about what I predicted.

Also managed to avoid all but a few spots of rain.

 

[rugby bloke]

6 hours and 9 minutes this year - I had been hoping to break 6 hours but just missed out. I blame the wind and an inability to cycle the first 30 miles without 2 comfort breaks. Had a good run around without any hold ups, although there did seem to be more crashes than usual.

Leith Hill was frustrating - people walking on the bottom quarter, leading to a ripple effect of other people slowing down and stopping. When you are preparing for the day you know that you will need to be able to ride a mile at 6 to 8% after 60 odd miles, so you need to prepare and train for it. By the day day you will know if you have it in your legs or if you will need to take the diversion.

There seemed to be a much wider range of bikes this year, lots of hybrids and mtbs. One mtb with fat tyres, 2 Bromptons, quite a few touring bikes and at the top of Box Hill - a Boris Bike ! Chapeau to the gentleman who piloted that around the course.

 

[smutchin]

Box Hill has got its reputation due to being included in the Olympic road race and due to that, people think it must be hard

It probably is quite hard when you're doing it nine times at pro racing speed.

When you're doing it at my speed, you get to enjoy the views and it's quite fun. Leith Hill doesn't really have views, and the final kick up is much steeper than any part of Box Hill.

I've done the Tour of the Surrey Hills a few times. That's a considerably harder ride than the RideLondon, even though it is a mere 115km.

 

[mjr]

Who else saw the guy in the gorilla suit? That must have been warm and taken on some water in the shower!

 

[smutchin]

2 Bromptons,

I saw 3 Bromptons and a Moulton

 

[Nomadski]

There was a bloke who wiped out on the straight at newlands corner about 11;30. He took out the sign and was muddy as! He was sat up but didn't get a look at the bike as I was busy swerving the sign.

A gorl in the tunnel slipped on the cateyes cue scream and then the crash of a bike, didn't see if she brought anyone else down with her as it was behind me and I wasn't looking back.

One at Kingston which looked bad and another at Wimbledon which looked minor

I didn't see the incident coming downhill from Newlands Corner but @themosquitoking who was a bit behind me did. He was on the left, and a guy passed him on his right, and he moved to the right just as a third guy tried to squeeze in a gap on the right. He ended up getting knocked and went flying into a road sign.

Good to hear he was probably ok if he was sitting up.

I only saw one major looking incident, strangely on the flat section coming through Putney. Paramedics were attending a fella lying prostrate in the ground on his back. Hope he's ok.

Who else saw the guy in the gorilla suit? That must have been warm and taken on some water in the shower!

Passed Mr Gorilla between Leatherhead and Esher. Impressive for the effort, if not the quality of the ape suit!

Had a great day but for the second time in a row my Garmin only recorded 99.6 miles for a 100 mile ride. Grr.

 

[srw]

I saw 3 Bromptons and a Moulton

There were loads of Brompton riders riding 46 miles wearing Brompton kit, and we also passed Fridays Mark "the van" on his Moulton.

 

[dickyknees]

Had a great day but for the second time in a row my Garmin only recorded 99.6 miles for a 100 mile ride. Grr.[/QUOTE

My Garmin did this as well!

 

[rugby bloke]

With the ride to and from the car park I managed to rack up 110 !

 

[Simontm]

Early start to the day and a cold wait at the line. But the sun eventually came out. Discipline was OK but there were a few on the right that weren't moving in meaning a few undertakers and told off one overeager eejit at Dorking who was slaloming his way through the bikes down the left turn onto London Road but he apologised. Saw 3 Brompton and 2 Boris bikes, one of which had adopted what I could only describe as an aero position to crack on!
Got a cramp half way up Leith Hill so walked it off (sorry @rugby bloke ) only for it to return at Coombe Lane but the legs generally were good.
Saw a few accidents, mainly bike clashes including one that could have been horrible on Box Hill where a bloke ended up in the trees of the drop but he, and his bike, got fished out. One woman was down at Abinger, out cold by the looks of it, hope nothing serious.
Disappointed not to break 6 hours but glad I stopped to say hi to my daughter at Thames Ditton.

 

[smutchin]

I just discovered that the big chap with the hair who I was riding alongside for part of the way yesterday was Welsh rugby legend Colin Charvis.