Freewheel this Sunday- bibless riders may be banned

[stephenb]

London Freewheel

For what it may be worth I've emailed Ken:

Dear Mr Livingstone

Along with about 30,000+ others (mostly Londoners, presumably) members of my family and I signed up for the London Freewheel on 23 September. As you will see from the attached link to a cycling discussion forum (http://www.cycle-cafe.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3454), as of today there appear to be a number of potentially quite serious administrative problems - bibs have either not been delivered or delivered in the wrong quantities. I have received nothing at all, despite registering early. The somewhat unhelpful and unrealistic answers to the FAQs on the Freewheel website (which can be summed up as "don't worry it'll be OK but if it isn't you can't ride"), coupled with the complete lack of certainty that the bibs will arrive either at all or in the right quantities, seems to lead to the inevitable conclusion that many participants may be turned away "at the door" (in a manner of speaking).

I know you can't guarantee that all of the bibs will be delivered on time. I also know the event must be marshalled. But I do ask that you give urgent and serious consideration to instructing organisers that other proofs of entry are to be accepted - in particular, the emailed acknowledgment received from the Freewheel site at the time of registration.

I appreciate your attention to this".

 

[spindrift]

Anyone meeting in Vicky Park? I'll be at the bandstand midday with a few others.

 

[gazzaputt]

Registered weeks back and nothing

 

[Road Fiddler]

it actually says

I HAVEN'T REGISTERED - CAN I TURN UP ANYWAY? Its a public highway so people can turn up but we are asking people to bear in mind that if thousands extra turn up they will directly effect the experience of the people who did register this year.

 

[stephenb]

Roadfiddler - who's "we"? Are you writing in an official capacity? That's not an unfriendly question, it would just be good if someone from Freewheel akckowledged the problem and said how they're going to deal with bibless bona fide registrants instead of repeating the "don't worry they'll turn up" mantra which frankly I don't believe.

 

[Archie]

I'm travelling up from Pompey with my family for this and the closed registrations worried me enough to ask someone I know who is involved with local (i.e. London) politics to check. He got in touch with someone else and this is their reply.

What has happened is that more than 30,000 people have already registered for
the freewheel and this exceed what the organisers had planned for and there for
for 'helath and safety' reason they had to remove the registration page from
their website.

As far as I know they will not be able to check who has registerd and who has
not.

These are public roads and anybody with a bicycle or on foot will be able to
enter.

i think your friend does not need to worry.

So, not exactly official, but some reassurance.

Archie

 

[Road Fiddler]

Roadfiddler - who's "we"? Are you writing in an official capacity? That's not an unfriendly question, it would just be good if someone from Freewheel akckowledged the problem and said how they're going to deal with bibless bona fide registrants instead of repeating the "don't worry they'll turn up" mantra which frankly I don't believe.

Click on the blue highlighted link and you will see it is the official freewheel FAQ page.

Archie, i might see you on the train