RideLondon2020

[Dogtrousers]

" The world’s greatest festival of cycling ..."

Not short of hyperbole, are they!

I edited that out of the stuff I'd pasted because, although I was at pains to make it clear it was a quote, I was afraid that someone might actually think I wrote that

 

[vickster]

£89

 

[Dogtrousers]

£89

Indeed

How much was the old one? About £40 or something like that?

 

[vickster]

Indeed

How much was the old one? About £40 or something like that?

Umm I think £60 or maybe £70 for 2020

 

[lazybloke]

People always took the p*** out of Box Hill for being disappointingly shallow/short; isn't Essex even flatter than Surrey?

@Dogtrousers - I only ever did the last one as a charity rider (I think free of charge), but I'm pretty sure the cost was circa £70 by the end.

£89 does seem very steep, but if the first places are by application rather than ballot, I might be tempted.
I'll have to ensure my old steel bike has full mudguards, toe clips and luggage rack, just to differentiate myself from those who take sportives too seriously.

 

[steverob]

That seems to be the going rate now for closed road events unfortunately. Tour of Cambs is £80, Etape Loch Ness I think is £70 (and that’s only 100km).

Plus then you’ve got to add on your accommodation costs for the night before (presuming it’ll still start at 5am from the Olympic Park).

 

[Dogtrousers]

isn't Essex even flatter than Surrey?

There is a hill in Essex. North Hill, Little Baddow. I've been up it, or should I say I've "conquered" it.

 

[PaulSB]

Excellent news. Thanks @Dogtrousers I would probably have missed this if you hadn't posted. Don't suppose you know what time on the 10th entries open? I couldn't se it on the website.

 

[rivers]

That seems to be the going rate now for closed road events unfortunately. Tour of Cambs is £80, Etape Loch Ness I think is £70 (and that’s only 100km).

Plus then you’ve got to add on your accommodation costs for the night before (presuming it’ll still start at 5am from the Olympic Park).

Ahh but Etape Loch Ness was superbly organised, not overcrowded, I could ride the entire 66 miles (and not spend 2 hours walking/standing around due to bottlenecks). Ride London had far too many people and I didn't think it was worth the money. I gained entry in 2019 as part of a "team",and we were supposed to finish together. Lost everyone on Box Hill and only managed to find one of the 3 I was riding with. Etape Loch Ness,on the other hand, even when we did get separated on the climb, there wasn't so may people that we couldn't re-group at the top. My friends are planning on riding again this year, but as I will have an infant come April, I can't really commit

 

[steverob]

Yes, I totally agree - RideLondon was a victim of its own success in some ways. So many people wanted to enter that each year they kept on increasing the amount of entries even though the course couldn't take it due to the bottlenecks. With Etape (and also Cambs to a lesser extent), numbers are kept low enough that you don't ever feel like you're in a massive crowd and so are free to cycle at your own pace without any stress. I would certainly do ELN again, although not as soon as next year's event - getting to/from Inverness with my bike was the only difficulty I had.

Having said that, I'd still do RL (whether old course or new one) over any other sportive where the roads aren't closed - that is the bare minimum requirement for me entering an event now if I have to pay more than a tenner.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I still think I might go for it, being a Londoner, just so I can tick it off and say "done that". This is despite a large part of me being pretty unenthusiastic about the idea.

My real motivation is so that I can make posts on here saying "Well, when I did Ride London it was rubbish". That's got to be worth £89

 

[T4tomo]

the only "big" sportive I've done was one of the tour to Yorkshire ones, which was excellent, not cheap @ £60ish. It wasn't closed roads, but given the race was following us through and a lot was on country lanes, it was pretty much like being on closed roads and a field size that was sensible. Finishing down the official finish line on Scarborough front with cheering crowds, and a good turnout of support along a lot of the route did make it worth the money.

logistics were relatively easy as could drive to and from easily from where I was staying for the weekend.

I prefer either just riding with mates / OH, or a low key local charity event / sportive.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

People always took the p*** out of Box Hill for being disappointingly shallow/short; isn't Essex even flatter than Surrey?

Box Hill is only 5%, plenty of steeper stuff than that in Essex.

 

[lazybloke]

Box Hill is only 5%, plenty of steeper stuff than that in Essex.

Yeah, Box was always a pathetic yardstick. Leith Hill was always a more difficult challenge.
Am not aware of Essex being known for hills, but I know v little about the county.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Essex is well flat. But there are many attractive villages, and it's a nice place to ride.

Pretty much all of Essex is on this map. The towering North Downs are down the bottom, You can see their snow capped peaks. Box Hill is near Dorking. The Chilterns Massif looms in the NW. The great sweeping open plains of Essex are to the NE of London. There may be some some bumps in the foothills of the Chilterns around Saffron Waldon. The highest point in Essex is somewhere round there, at 147m.