RideLondon-Essex 100 (2024) Anyone?

[Dogtrousers]

I would have done the Surrey version. Applied for each and every ballot but never got a place.

I've done this a couple of times and it's a lot of fun and a big change from my usual riding in that (a) there is no traffic and (b) there are lots of cyclists. Whether this difference is sufficient to maintain my interest - and continue to draw on my wallet - remains to be seen. I know quite a few of the roads from riding round there but that also may be at an end (RIP Gravesend-Tilbury ferry)

 

[ColinJ]

I think this may be my last participation. I've lost the bloody mindedness to ride longer distances these days. I've not entered any audaxes this year either.

Sounds like me! I stopped riding audaxes a few years ago and have pretty much stuck to metric centuries for my longer rides since then. (I do occasionally still ride imperial centuries, such as the Humber Bridge forum ride from York, but not many of them.)

It is years since I rode my last Sportive. I don't think I will bother doing many more.

 

[lazybloke]

Judging by the email I rcvd over the weekend saying "last chance to register for a place", the days of it being heavily oversubscribed are history.
So if anyone is interested in a sportive... on yer bike!

 

[Dogtrousers]

Got my entry pack. 8:30 to 9:15 start. So I guess I need to rock up at 8-ish. Not too bad.

 

[steverob]

My pack arrived this morning!

I honestly can't remember - did we have to put down a predicted time when entering? If I did, I would have set something quite conservative, say around 6½-7 hours, yet I've somehow managed to get in to one of the earlier waves.

Pink A - arrival point opens at 6am, closes at 7:20; start between 7:00 and 7:45.

 

[Dogtrousers]

My pack arrived this morning!

I honestly can't remember - did we have to put down a predicted time when entering? If I did, I would have set something quite conservative, say around 6½-7 hours, yet I've somehow managed to get in to one of the earlier waves.

Pink A - arrival point opens at 6am, closes at 7:20; start between 7:00 and 7:45.

We did. I think I put the maximum (8 hr?) I think it took me 7:30 last time, including a fairly long holdup by marshals for some reason or other and a reasonably civilised refreshment stop.

So I get a lie in

 

[steverob]

This is probably obvious, but if you are riding and coming down to London on the Saturday, please double-check your train times. I've just had an alert that there's going to be track maintenance on my obvious route into the capital, which rules that out (bus replacement services don't take bikes).

While I do have an alternative route I can take, that goes via Wembley Stadium station and on Saturday it's the FA Cup final and on Sunday it's the playoff finals, which means the trains will be rammed and there's no way I'll be able to get on them with my bike. Will have to wait on both days until after the matches have kicked off before I can travel.

 

[R_nger]

At the risk of repeating lots of previous content on this thread… never got a place in the ballot and rarely ridden closed roads, so it was a no-brainier to enter this year. Pink wave B, means around 8:30 start. I’m 50k from the start, which is just a tad too much on top of the ride. Recced as far as Wembley last week, but will probably drive part of the way in the absence of trains.

 

[steverob]

Given you've got a slightly later start, most of the Underground should be running by then and you are allowed to take bikes on the sub-surface lines and the parts of other lines that are above ground. If you can get to Wembley Park, or indeed any of the stations before that on the Metropolitan line, I'd use that to get to Baker Street then cycle the last mile or so to Hyde Park Corner (there won't be much if any traffic) where you'll join the pens.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Pink wave B, means around 8:30 start.

This is the chilled wave. Lots of charity riders and slow old trundlers like me.

I've heard tell of of dangerous riding but I think that's probably all happening on the earlier starts with people aiming for "a time". You'll be in the company of cool cats in this wave.

A bit of bladder-related advice. If you find yourself needing a wee as you enter Epping at about 40km/25mi don't stop at the "Welfare Stop" - it's likely to be very crowded, with long queues. Press on through the welfare stop and immediately afterwards there's a small green (called "The Green") with toilets and no queues (or shorter queues)

 

[steverob]

It was the same on the old Surrey version. The big advertised stops (I think they were called Rider Hubs back then) always had crazy queues, especially the one at halfway which also happened to be at the top of one of the climbs, so everyone was looking to stop there. But there were a number of other smaller stops which still had portaloos and somewhere to refill a bottle and were far less crowded.

 

[steverob]

Event guides are out at https://www.ridelondon.co.uk/our-rides/ridelondon-essex-100, with separate versions depending on what start areas you've been allocated. Interestingly all three have separate entrances and unlike in previous years there's only 5 waves in total - Yellow, Blue A, Pink A, Blue B and Pink B (departing in that order). Already had to slightly amend my planned route to the start, although not by much.

 

[steverob]

With four days to go, weather forecast looks good for the fast finishers, maybe not quite so good for the rest of us.

Looks like about 12-13°C in the pens first thing in the morning, with a high of around 19-20°C later on. However there is rain predicted in central London from about 13:00 onwards and in Essex from 14:00 - I've used Chipping Ongar's forecast for this, which is the crossroads in the middle of the course that you pass through at 32 and 73 miles. Not much in the way of wind though and most of it from the south.

 

[mjr]

I've heard tell of of dangerous riding but I think that's probably all happening on the earlier starts with people aiming for "a time". You'll be in the company of cool cats in this wave.

From what I've seen cheering people on in past years, the most likely way for the late waves to encounter dangerous riders is if some of the early waves get held up by an overcrowded "hub" stop or an incident. So pretty unusual.

Interesting routes to the start this year. Looks like the pink start funnel could be summarised as Hyde Park to Constitution Hill then down the Mall, yellow is NCN 4 on the south bank and then turn over Westminster Bridge, and blue is roughly Victoria to Buckingham Palace Road then Birdcage Walk. I'm not sure their maps with arrows all over are the easiest way to describe those!

Sorry I can't be there to do the Freecycle, cheer the 100 and watch the pro race this year. Good luck all!

 

[PeteXXX]

I was in the A10 ~ Buntingford area last week and there were road closure warning signs for Ride London this Friday 24th 10:30 - 12:00 (I think)
No chance of sign pics as I was driving.