RideLondon - Surrey 100 anyone?

[Peddling pixie]

Recovering at home after a well needed physio session!
I am still on a high after yesterday and just watching all the footage - mainly the professionals though so it would have been nice to have seen some additional coverage of us mere mortals on the ride.
The highs were the residents along the way who cheered us all on and thankfully no sign of all the idiots that were posting on various sites about throwing tacks on the road as we had apparently inconvenienced them so much... Also there was a town somewhere in Surrey that was absolutely packed with people and they provided such a great atmosphere. The marshalls were great and the start and end zones seemed really efficient considering the logistics involved. Staying at the Premier Inn near the start was a great move so I'd definitely recommend that in future.
Only a few lows or niggles. The main one was the amount of litter people were discarding - if you've got enough space to put a full gel packet then you can surely fit an empty one there! The water station after box hill was a bit shambolic and I wasted a lot of time there just trying to get some water. The 'food' on offer was a bit bizarre - bananas were great but think I also saw some digestives and crisps. I know I'm relatively new to this but I'm not sure either of these would effectively fuel us! Luckily I took nakd bars and some home made flapjacks which did the job.
Still laughing about the scratches on my arms that I acquired after toppling into a hedge up Leith Hill - slight wobble + cleats = never going to end well

Funny on all counts, agree re food on offer, picnic anyone!! Not funny litter, but funny again re wobble, saw a few who managed to fall into the high verge on the left on leith hill, cleats!!!!!

 

[Nomadski]

@Speedball - I'm glad you found the info I provided of use. How was your own personal experiences of the hills etc versus my own?

Its funny reading a few comments about Box Hill. I said very early in this thread I felt it was very undeserving of its celebrity hill status for its difficulty (you know the response..."oooh, your doing Box Hill!") but its obvious why it has it (used by Olympics), and its a worthy hill in terms of its beauty, its the best looking climb out of all of them, going up AND at the top once you round that bend, although if you had taken a look at Newlands, that's pretty nice too.

Its taking an age to go through the posts and videos and pictures from everyone here, am slowly getting through it.

Im having a right headache at the moment as my garmin decided to drop at Kingston feeding station, so I switched to my strava phone. I have now got 2 GPX files which I thought I managed to merge, but Strava was telling me I had a max speed of 45 mph (my max looking at graphs was 38mph) and Garmin says 105mph! Need to fix.

Lesson learned, after night ride switch the damn brightness down, and properly charge the garmin before an event Ive waited a year for!!

My photo on The Mall - http://www2.marathon-photos.com/scr...RideLondon-Surrey 100&photo=RLCQ4892&bib=2714

@Longshot - Sorry to hear about your mate, hope he recovers quick, such a shame so near the end. He come on the downward section of Coombe? Would have been going at some distance.

@procel - If that was the same guy I saw, it was pretty horrific. Right at the bottom of the fast swervy descent section of Leith, just as you rounded the last right hander? The guy had a few riders round him, he was on the floor, and was saying things but none of it made any sense, like he was in massive shock, or had some really serious head injury. Made you realise you have to take extra care when so many around you.

Have got loads of photos I need to collate, will try popping a few on here later.

 

[procel]

My mate rode with Boris for 5 minutes, then he got a puncture!! Can you believe he rode 100 in chino shorts? Does he know something you chaps don't!!!

I suspect, like everything else about Boris, they were carefully chosen for image management purposes while pretending not to be. I wouldn't be surprised to hear he was wearing 'proper' padding underneath.

Did anyone else pass the man near Kingston Hospital shouting 'Boris passed here two minutes ago - you can't let him beat you!' I suppose that was an exaggeration, but the motivational effect worked on me

 

[procel]

My photo on The Mall - http://www2.marathon-photos.com/scripts/photo.py?template=MPX2&event=Sports/CPUK/2013/Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100&photo=RLCQ4892&bib=2714

http://www2.marathon-photos.com/scr...RideLondon-Surrey 100&photo=RLCQ4892&bib=2714

Good to see those photos, isn't it, to realise it wasn't a dream?! The Richmond Park ones already seem like an age ago.

@procel

- If that was the same guy I saw, it was pretty horrific. Right at the bottom of the fast swervy descent section of Leith, just as you rounded the last right hander? The guy had a few riders round him, he was on the floor, and was saying things but none of it made any sense, like he was in massive shock, or had some really serious head injury. Made you realise you have to take extra care when so many around you.

http://www2.marathon-photos.com/scr...RideLondon-Surrey 100&photo=RLCQ4892&bib=2714

Y, that was the fellow. Fingers crossed for a quick and full recovery. Didn't see much of it, the paramedics were trying to move riders on quickly: rubbernecking not helpful. That descent was always going to be tricky - I warned a couple of people of it, who I got chatting to on the way up through Holmbury who said they hadn't done Leith Hill before. I don't know what the organisers could have done to make it safer though, there were quite a few 'Caution' signs up.

 

[Peddling pixie]

@Speedball - I'm glad you found the info I provided of use. How was your own personal experiences of the hills etc versus my own?

Its funny reading a few comments about Box Hill. I said very early in this thread I felt it was very undeserving of its celebrity hill status for its difficulty (you know the response..."oooh, your doing Box Hill!") but its obvious why it has it (used by Olympics), and its a worthy hill in terms of its beauty, its the best looking climb out of all of them, going up AND at the top once you round that bend, although if you had taken a look at Newlands, that's pretty nice too.

Its taking an age to go through the posts and videos and pictures from everyone here, am slowly getting through it.

Im having a right headache at the moment as my garmin decided to drop at Kingston feeding station, so I switched to my strava phone. I have now got 2 GPX files which I thought I managed to merge, but Strava was telling me I had a max speed of 45 mph (my max looking at graphs was 38mph) and Garmin says 105mph! Need to fix.

Lesson learned, after night ride switch the damn brightness down, and properly charge the garmin before an event Ive waited a year for!!

My photo on The Mall - http://www2.marathon-photos.com/scr...RideLondon-Surrey 100&photo=RLCQ4892&bib=2714

@Longshot - Sorry to hear about your mate, hope he recovers quick, such a shame so near the end. He come on the downward section of Coombe? Would have been going at some distance.

@procel - If that was the same guy I saw, it was pretty horrific. Right at the bottom of the fast swervy descent section of Leith, just as you rounded the last right hander? The guy had a few riders round him, he was on the floor, and was saying things but none of it made any sense, like he was in massive shock, or had some really serious head injury. Made you realise you have to take extra care when so many around you.

Have got loads of photos I need to collate, will try popping a few on here later.

Hey, late joining your group, But some fab local info pre ride, really helped my mind on the day
Btw thoughts to the guys involved In incidents, it happens, happened to me last year, thankfully wearing helmet, still cycling!
Your mall photo great as is mine!!!
So thoughts on ride 100
AWESOME EXPERIENCE.
Seriously well organised, fantastic public support, my experience unlike some were constantly courteous cyclists, I never felt unsafe which given my history of wheel clip = KO I had reservations.
Route was fab, living in the Cotswolds I have never cycled more than 5 miles without some kind of climb, the first 40 miles on the flat was the best fun I have had on a bike!!!
Surrey hills challenging, but box hill my kind of hill, I like long and gradual
And well, the cycle thru Kingston with spectator overload, fab, the woman on Wimbledon hill telling us Boris had gone thru and we had to beat him!!!
THE MALL !!!!!! Nuff said tear in my eye!!!
So in front of PC aug 12, want to do it again!!!
And your guide re route and how much flat and marks out of ten for the hills and inclines helped get my head sorted, thanks

 

[Nomadski]

@Peddling pixie - great stuff, sounds like you had an amazing day like I did. Glad the info was useful!

 

[Woo22]

Was everyone told that Boris was 5 mins in front of them by that lady?? Wondered how he managed to do pretty much the same time as me, having started about 30 mins earlier but was only just in front of me.

Very cheeky but it might have worked as I definitely tried to speed up a bit to catch him!

 

[Spally]

Passed boris and don't think he saw the funny side when I asked why he wasn't on a boris bike great event great time had by me and smashed the time I had set myself. I got a few comments from other riders about my bike/clothing lol

http://www2.marathon-photos.com/scr...ideLondon-Surrey 100&photo=RLBB3171&bib=15235

 

[ianrauk]

Passed boris and don't think he saw the funny side when I asked why he wasn't on a boris bike great event great time had by me and smashed the time I had set myself. I got a few comments from other riders about my bike/clothing lol

http://www2.marathon-photos.com/scripts/photo.py?template=MPX2&event=Sports/CPUK/2013/Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100&photo=RLBB3171&bib=15235

Probably heard it about a thousand times......

 

[Spally]

Or we were half way up new lands hill and he looked cream crackered lol

Forgot to say Crowds around the route were fantastic and am sure they helped me up the pace once or twice

 

[Speedball]

@Speedball - I'm glad you found the info I provided of use. How was your own personal experiences of the hills etc versus my own?

Its funny reading a few comments about Box Hill. I said very early in this thread I felt it was very undeserving of its celebrity hill status for its difficulty (you know the response..."oooh, your doing Box Hill!") but its obvious why it has it (used by Olympics), and its a worthy hill in terms of its beauty, its the best looking climb out of all of them, going up AND at the top once you round that bend, although if you had taken a look at Newlands, that's pretty nice too.

Found it really useful and would agree with your hill ratings. From Strava and your RL time, we seem to be about the same level so what you said related a lot to me so thanks you again.

Most useful thing for me was the knowledge of the hill at Wimbledon, that would have been a nasty surprise.

 

[Nomadski]

Found it really useful and would agree with your hill ratings. From Strava and your RL time, we seem to be about the same level so what you said related a lot to me so thanks you again.

Most useful thing for me was the knowledge of the hill at Wimbledon, that would have been a nasty surprise.

Heh, really sly one snuck in at the end just when people were thinking the heavy work was behind them... Good thing there were a lot of people shouting encouragement from the sides. I had wobbly wheel on the hills syndrome at that point!

 

[Andrew_P]

Anyways Peter Sagan had a DNF he took a walk up Box....

 

[Nomadski]

Anyways Peter Sagan had a DNF he took a walk up Box....

Huh? I havent watched the Pro race coverage yet, whats that all about?

 

[Andrew_P]

Huh? I havent watched the Pro race coverage yet, whats that all about?

Only picked it up from Twitter, someone said he was looking a bit rough on Leith, and box finished him https://twitter.com/lukemellor