Well did the RideLondonSurrey today, meant to be 100 miles but ended up being cut to 86 miles due to the appalling weather. I was a bit disappointed about that, as I fancied the full route with the climbs of Leith and Box Hills which I have never done. However it was not to be this time and I can kind of see why it was done as the weather was atrocious and the forecast if anything was worse.
So I tried to hide my disappointment and headed of at 06.35 into the very odd experience of riding through the centre of London on closed roads. It was certainly fast, I was averaging nearly 20mph over the first 10 miles and still they were flying past! Luckily the roads were wide and the start was impeccably organised so there was room for that to happen. Luckily the start was dry as it would have been much more challenging if we had been standing around in the rain for best part of an hour before heading off. I even took off my waterproof before heading out. It did not stay off for long though!
Once the rain started it did not really stop, it was either torrential or biblical. There were also areas of flooding with water up to my axle more than once. It was not cold though and plenty rode through it without any rain gear at all. It became more of an issue out in the surrey hills with some slightly hairy descents, not helped at times by some poorish riding. Most of the culprits of this were the cycling clubs who were trying to keep together and ride a pace line and at times did some pretty dodgy overtaking/undertaking to achieve that. You definitely needed your wits about you but fortunately all I saw were a couple of minor spills and no one hurt. I had my own squeaky bum moment when I hit a cats eye on a fast descent, that I only saw at the very last moment and almost lost my front wheel. Fortunately I managed to stay upright and it reminded me to take more care.
I did not really know what kind of time I could do on a closed road circuit. Faster than usual I was hoping and I was keen to give it a lash and see. I was hoping to get under 6 hours and my 4.38 for the 86 miles would have meant that I would have comfortably achieved that. All in all I was pretty pleased. I finished with plenty left in the tank and enough energy in me to enjoy the moment, which I know from running marathons in the past, when you completely empty yourself, the moment can certainly pass you by.
I can't fault the organisation, the start and the marshalling was impeccable, sharp corners and floods were all well telegraphed and safely negotiated. In years to come this event will come to rival the London Marathon, I am watching the TV coverage and even that is so much better this year. But above all, it is just a fantastic experience to be able to ride through a car free London, particularly as I live here and regularly ride these roads whilst sharing them with traffic. Because of the route truncation, I have clearly got some unfinished business as well. I intend to be back again.
