RideLondon-Surrey 100 (2017) Anyone?

[sleaver]

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.

You didn't do it in 2014 then when we had the left overs of hurricane Bertha to deal with then. For the first few miles it was carnage puncture wise with one probably no more than 10-50 meters of another. Then there were others around the route as well.

I think I read somewhere that the people they have positioned around the course with spares ran out of inner tubes due to people getting through so many.

 

[jefmcg]

The residents of Manorgate Road in Kingston took full advantage of the road closure.

 

[sleaver]

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.

The pro race is one of the reasons why they have the cut off. I guess the problem though is if you have to many people going over the time limit, you suddenly need bigger and more broom wagons.

Last year they had to stop the pro race because of the unfortunate delay. Now that it has World Tour status, it would look a bit stupid stopping it.

 

[DaveReading]

Fabulous day out, well done to everyone involved in making it possible.

Though I'm suffering a bit today, I had a blast - the last few miles along the King's Road and Chelsea Embankment with that lovely tailwind were awesome, I even had a bit in reserve for a sprint of sorts on the Mall.

Only minor gripe was the crossing marshals in Kingston. I had one who seemed to think that cyclists could stop instantaneously when he stepped out with his lollipop, and another who was standing idly chattng at the side of the road while obliviously holding his up with the Stop side facing oncoming riders.

Compared to last time, I thought that the standard of roadcraft was noticeably better this time around, or maybe I was just lucky in that at no time did I see any riding that could be described as remotely hazardous.

 

[rugby bloke]

Compared to last time, I thought that the standard of roadcraft was noticeably better this time around, or maybe I was just lucky in that at no time did I see any riding that could be described as remotely hazardous.

I would agree When you consider the number of riders you need to interact with, often in pretty close proximity, it is pretty impressive that for the vast majority of the time there are no incidents.

 

[dickyknees]

Only minor gripe was the crossing marshals in Kingston. I had one who seemed to think that cyclists could stop instantaneously when he stepped out with his lollipop, and another who was standing idly chattng at the side of the road while obliviously holding his up with the Stop side facing oncoming riders.

The marshals were very good part from the moment I had coming downhill at close to 30 mph, I think it was in Putney where pedestrians were running across the road and a marshal had just started waving cars across and only stopped when I shouted very loudly to stop. Otherwise my first Ride 100 and first century, a brilliant day!

 

[PaulSB]

Is it possible to find results in a sortable form? I've found the link to the official results but as far as I can see this only allows one to search for a specific individual. I and my club friends would like to be able to view results in two ways:

Our overall position, e.g 56th of 100

Position in age group as above

I realise is it possible to get the data in to Excel by importing from the web page but as far as I know this would need doing for every page and would create one sheet for each import.

 

[DaveReading]

I think it was in Putney where pedestrians were running across the road and a marshal had just started waving cars across and only stopped when I shouted very loudly to stop.

That's interesting. Coming down the hill into Putney was my first experience of a rolling road block headed by a motorbike with hazards flashing. That struck me as a sensible approach to managing the requirement to create a gap for pedestrians to cross safely.

 

[mjr]

Is it possible to find results in a sortable form? I've found the link to the official results but as far as I can see this only allows one to search for a specific individual. I and my club friends would like to be able to view results in two ways:

Our overall position, e.g 56th of 100

Position in age group as above

I realise is it possible to get the data in to Excel by importing from the web page but as far as I know this would need doing for every page and would create one sheet for each import.

I'm told there's an excel spreadsheet in the comments of the guardian article 5 things about Ride London that you can download that makes it easy to find your relative position. If you do, you're very very sad because it's not a race. That's why I'm not going and finding it for you

 

[PK99]

I was watching from outside the Alexandra Pub in Wimbledon, here > https://goo.gl/fqQJgg saw the first group at 9:22 and later in the day, close to the last stragglers.

It was amazing to see the obsession most riders had with staying on the "correct" side of the road. Large pelotons would funnel through keeping tight round the corner but scrubbing off an awful lot of speed leaving the right side of the road empty. The canny few kept their speed and moved to the right lane sweeping along the peloton and keeping their speed.

Very clear difference in rider skills over the day, too. Early groups kept tight formation round the corner, then sweeping wide, all keeping to a good line and not cutting off the rider behind. Not so later in the day, when I was amazed there were not crashes as riders cut the corner forcing riders behind to take avoiding action.

 

[mjr]

That's interesting. Coming down the hill into Putney was my first experience of a rolling road block headed by a motorbike with hazards flashing. That struck me as a sensible approach to managing the requirement to create a gap for pedestrians to cross safely.

That may have been as much to create gaps for the exit-only car crossing from a group of streets isolated by the road closures at the north end of Putney bridge. The abuse the stewards got from motorists wanting to enter across the closure when they were trying to get a car out maybe should have gotten people arrested It's a flaming road closure that means you'll park 200m away and walk the last, then move the car after roads reopen. It's not the bloody Apocalypse!

 

[Tin Pot]

I'm told there's an excel spreadsheet in the comments of the guardian article 5 things about Ride London that you can download that makes it easy to find your relative position. If you do, you're very very sad because it's not a race. That's why I'm not going and finding it for you

+1!

 

[DaveReading]

If you do, you're very very sad because it's not a race. That's why I'm not going and finding it for you

No, it's not a race. But I don't see any problem in treating it as a personal time trial - why else give us all timing chips and have a clock at the finish?

I'll admit to being mildly interested to see how far up (or, in my case, down) my age group I finished. If that makes me sad, so be it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwvG_5N0Y516cFhjUlRKUDZFVk0/view?usp=sharing

 

[PaulSB]

I'm told there's an excel spreadsheet in the comments of the guardian article 5 things about Ride London that you can download that makes it easy to find your relative position. If you do, you're very very sad because it's not a race. That's why I'm not going and finding it for you

I think that's tongue in cheek rather than anything else.

I agree it's not a race and my interest was only ever to challenge myself. I do this in some of my cycling as I like to measure my improvement. For example I have local routes I measure myself against riding solo. At the weekend I go out with the club and enjoy the Sunday run for coffee and cake.

As DaveReading says why else have timing chips when we could all measure our elapsed time with a wrist watch?

So I took it seriously for my time, used all my club skills, etiquette and communication, felt quite good when people jumped on my wheel, shouted the rider in front out when he/she couldn't see behind and thanked every marshal, volunteer or spectator I met.

I'm not trying to justify being interested in my comparative "performance" but hopefully show for me this was just part of wishing to contribute to the overall spectacle.

 

[K Dahou]

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,

This was me I think, had a pump but never used it and though it was no good. Realized yesterday that it was actually compatible presta after all, I panicked in the moment ! Practice makes perfect I guess.

You saved my ride, that I enjoyed very much throughout the end. In essence change my 6 month long training conclusion. Thanks a lot for that

Kay.