RideLondon2020

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steverob

steverob

Guru
Location
Buckinghamshire
lazybloke said:
Don't rely on it being in August - am 95% certain it has sometimes been in late July.
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Previously it's been either the first weekend in August or the last weekend in July - basically it started as the former, then obviously got one day earlier in each subsequent year (or two in a leap year) and so eventually ended up in the latter.

The only reason it is two weeks later this year is to avoid a clash with the Olympics for the pro races - I'd expect it to be back to its usual schedule for 2021, which would probably mean 1st or 8th August.
 
vickster

vickster

Legendary Member
The Rover said:
Weddings in Lancashire, these things happen. all joking apart I wouldn’t miss the wedding.
You can withdraw from sometime in March and I think pay for next year to get in so I’ll possibly do that.
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You do have to pay twice but probably cheaper than hiring a private jet to get you back from the wedding in time :laugh:
 
Dogtrousers

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
I've been glancing at the angry men on Twitter claiming "It's so unfair! it's biased! I'm a victim!"

It's quite the marketing miracle that the organisers have pulled off: Ours is the only event. If you can't do ours, you may as well not bother.

A friend of mine is a dedicated runner. Rain or shine, all year round, he's out pounding the streets. He does parkruns, 10ks, and occasional half marathons. He says he'd love to do the London Marathon, but ballot places are impossible and the sponsorship targets are huge. I suggested the New Forest Marathon, which I did bitd. But no, he doesn't want to do a marathon, only London.

With cycling it's even less understandable because a 100 mile ride is - from my experience at least - not in the same league as a marathon in terms of physical challenge. It's a piece of piss by comparison.
 
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mjr

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Location
mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Dogtrousers said:
With cycling it's even less understandable because a 100 mile ride is - from my experience at least - not in the same league as a marathon in terms of physical challenge. It's a piece of piss by comparison.
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1. RideLondon's time limit does make it a bit of a challenge for most people.
2. There is something attractive about closed roads (although I've only done much shorter rides on them) and not so many opportunities for that and even less for closed roads past so many landmarks. Also the wow factor for others. Many non-Londoners are in awe that anyone cycles in London, plus our 111-mile King's Cross to King's Lynn ride seemed to impress more than any previous 100-mile ride, probably because King's Cross is a landmark which people have more idea where it is and feel it's far away.
 
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Dogtrousers

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
mjr said:
1. RideLondon's time limit does make it a bit of a challenge for most people.
2. There is something attractive about closed roads (although I've only done much shorter rides on them) and not so many opportunities for that and even less for closed roads past so many landmarks. Also the wow factor for others. Many non-Londoners are in awe that anyone cycles in London, plus our 111-mile King's Cross to King's Lynn ride seemed to impress more than any previous 100-mile ride, probably because King's Cross is a landmark which people have more idea where it is and feel it's far away.
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The time limit bit is true. I think it's 8 hours ish, depending on start time. If I were ever to get a place I might be a bit concerned - depending what my start time was. Quickest I've ever done a ton in (elapsed) is 7.5 hours with a tailwind and very short lunch stop. Normally takes me 9 or more. So for a first timer, yes, it could be a challenge, but still nothing compared with running a marathon (from my experience).

I can see the cachet of London landmarks, even if as a Londoner I'm a bit jaded. And closed roads are the only thing that would put riding in Zone 1 in any kind of positive light for me.

I still think it would be interesting to try - that's why I keep entering. But to actually get angry if you don't win the lottery? Meh. Life's too short.
 
The Central Scrutinizer

The Central Scrutinizer

Guru
Location
Essex
This is my post from 06/02/2019
"Nope.
I did it once for charity in 2016 but have never been successful in the ballot.
I say this every year when i am bitter and twisted but i am sure they work to a criteria and probably being too old is one of them".
Ooops :whistle:
 
steverob

steverob

Guru
Location
Buckinghamshire
Dogtrousers said:
With cycling it's even less understandable because a 100 mile ride is - from my experience at least - not in the same league as a marathon in terms of physical challenge. It's a piece of piss by comparison.
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A little off topic for the RideLondon thread, but this has always been something I've wondered - what in people's opinion IS the cycling equivalent to a marathon?

I've never been a keen runner, but did it from time to time; mainly a something to do to keep fit when I couldn't ride, or when I'd foolishly entered myself in an event that I needed to train for; and was capable of running 5K without needing planning and could do a 10K in comfortably under an hour if I gave myself 4-5 weeks to prepare. I've since quit for various reasons, but while I was still running I figured that one day I'd build my fitness up and eventually try a marathon, but that I'd give myself at least 12 months to get to that stage by slowly going up through the distances. And I know plenty of people who were much less fit than me who have done similar, in fact some of them started from zero - e.g. couch to 5K.

Now for cycling, while many on this forum might look at 100 miles as being nothing special, I'll admit that even though I consider myself a keen cyclist, I've only done a century twice and both of those were in "events" - RideLondon 2018 and Tour of Cambridgeshire 2019 (did RL 2015 but only got to do 93 miles, though would have been able to manage the full 100 had the full route been open).

So given the couch to 5K comparision for runners, do you think a member of the general public could build themselves up to a century in less than a year if all they were currently capable of doing currently was a pootle down the shops? Or maybe a fairer question would be to ask someone who was already quite fit, but didn't do any cycling, how far do you think they could manage given 6 months (the time between the ballot draw and the event) to concentrate just on the bike - 100 miles, 120, 150, 200?

Other ways of looking at it - given that a century ride is 3.814 times the marathon distance, do we feel that running is almost four times harder than cycling on the body? If not, what should the multiplier be? e.g. if you think it's five times harder, then the cycling equivalent would be about 130 miles, but only three times harder would mean just under 80 miles.

To be clear, I have no answer to this question myself, I'm just interested in other's opinions.

Mod note: This part of the discussion has now been moved to a dedicated thread here: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/the-cycling-equivalent-of-a-marathon.257534/ Please head over there to continue and keep this thread for Ride London. Thanks
 
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Racing roadkill

Racing roadkill

Guru
I’m still waiting to hear about the ballot place, but I’m in anyway, on the club 200 entry. I wonder what happens if I get in on the ballot as well, I guess it’s a case of deferred entry for next time.
 
Dogtrousers

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
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