RideLondon-Surrey 100 (2017) Anyone?

[derrick]

I did give one dick head a mouthful for trying to ride me onto a flooded bit of road.he was totally oblivious to anyone else on the road.he had at least 6 foot on his right a complete moron.

 

[smutchin]

you're suddenly in the middle of the lane with apparently no-one on your left and you don't want to look left just then because it's busy ahead

Exactly why it's important to hold your line. Be as predictable as possible and only deviate from your line if you know it is safe to do so.

If the road is busy ahead you should be slowing down anyway.

Really? There were signs saying "slower riders keep left" on the exit from the Limehouse tunnels

I was going way too fast at that point to notice them.

Actually, if I remember rightly, the road was very congested at the exit of the tunnel so I was concentrating on not being knocked off by the idiots trying to weave through the traffic.

 

[bikingdad90]

I got boxed in twice with nowhere to go, slower riders in front, left and right of me, was irritating for a few seconds as my rhythm got disrupted.

Had to laugh on Leith hill with riders on the right trying to spin up shouting "keep left" and the riders on the left shouting "what does it look like we are doing, ya farking bobber, There's no room". I got about 3/4 way up then pulled my foot out the cleat as i came to a stop due to the congestion so ended up walking.

Highlight of my day was a rider shouting "first bike of the day I have seen with guards, can I take your wheel?" Duly obliged we powered along for a few miles.

My garmin said 99 miles, I think it was because the GPS lost signal for a few hundred yards about mile 78.

 

[HorTs]

Something I found surprising was the amount of punctures I saw. In places it seemed like they were every 100m. Luckily I escaped

 

[Tin Pot]

Something I found surprising was the amount of punctures I saw. In places it seemed like they were every 100m. Luckily I escaped

Some poor fecker was changing a tyre about 500m from the start line, not to mention the two I saw on the way to the start line!

With tens of thousands of riders I think it was more simple numbers than road conditions.

 

[smutchin]

Sad news - the organisers have announced a fatality on yesterday's ride.

The rider was Maris Ozols, 67. It happened on Cromwell Road, around the 13 mile point. Cause of death was given as cardiac arrest but there is no information about the circumstances. The official statement says: 'No further details will be released and the family has asked for privacy.'

 

[Tin Pot]

Sad news - the organisers have announced a fatality on yesterday's ride.

The rider was Maris Ozols, 67. It happened on Cromwell Road, around the 13 mile point. Cause of death was given as cardiac arrest but there is no information about the circumstances. The official statement says: 'No further details will be released and the family has asked for privacy.'

That's terrible news.

RIP

 

[jefmcg]

That's terrible news.

RIP

Yes. Sad news.

But I did the maths last year, and I think you'd expect about one fatality a year from non-collision causes on that ride.

It's seems that no one was fatally injured this year, so that's good news.

 

[mjr]

With tens of thousands of riders I think it was more simple numbers than road conditions.

Nah, it wasn't like that last year AFAICT. I think with the heavy rain stopping maybe hours at most before the first starts, there was stuff washed onto the course between final sweepings (Tower Hamlets road sweepers were out Saturday evening, for example) and the event.

 

[rugby bloke]

The puncture count was certainly very high. I stopped to help a guy on the Whitechapel Road on the way to the start. He had a spare inner tube - good but no pump ... not so good. I like to think the good deed kept me puncture free for the rest of the day ... One bloke who rode for the same charity had 3 punctures !

Interesting what you say about the sweepers - is the whole course swept ? Also is it swept between the 100 and the Classic ? There was a fair amount of debris building up when I went through - dropped water bottles, spare inner tubes etc,

 

[mjr]

No idea on extent of sweeping but in addition to seeing TH's sweepers out at what I thought was a remarkable time, the inner London bits I saw on my travels looked pretty clean. There's no time to sweep between the 100 and the Classic - TV said that the last few 100 riders were held at the side of the route for a fast-finishing Classic, which seems like a new thing this year. Marshals were doing their best to recover any dropped bottles or other debris (mostly dropped bottles that I saw) in any gaps between riders and I guess the 100's Sweep team or the Classic's Route Security car or motos might remove anything that's obviously going to be a hazard.

 

[Tin Pot]

+1

As an ex London commuter I thought the road surfaces were as poor as ever, but rain or no rain there was very little debris.

I was off at 06:36, my buddy was off at 09:48...I'd imagine he saw a lot more punctures than I did, with ten thousand riders out before him.

 

[mjr]

I was off at 06:36, my buddy was off at 09:48...I'd imagine he saw a lot more punctures than I did, with ten thousand riders out before him.

https://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/events/100/timetable/ said last riders 0915 (and the 46 was 0945) - typo? Not that it really matters. I'm just curious whether they do let any start after the official times. Everyone who could still move seemed to be through mile 7 by 1020.

 

[Tin Pot]

https://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/events/100/timetable/ said last riders 0915 (and the 46 was 0945) - typo? Not that it really matters. I'm just curious whether they do let any start after the official times. Everyone who could still move seemed to be through mile 7 by 1020.

No, he definitely said 09:48...hmm. Strava says otherwise. Hmm.

 

[Nomadski]

Terrible news about Maris Ozols, RIP.

A women in D group had a puncture while waiting for the group to even finish filling up for the march to the start line. Sawe 3 people have a go at getting her tyre off, convinced it was stuck down, before the steward sent her to the official mechanic.

Saw a lot of cyclist debris on the road, lots of stuff that had obviously jumped out of people back pockets like rain jackets & lots of spare inner tubes. More than usual number of bottles lying on the road too, and Bloc could have recupped millions by picking up dropped cubes off the road.

Also saw this dude making life EXTREMELY harder than it should have been going up Box Hill. Please someone explain physics to him if you know him!