RideLondon2020

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Makes you wonder how many of the 25,000 spots go to charity listings.

It's the same organisation that do the London Marathon, of which it seem 70-80% of spots are charity entries.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
It could, it very well may do. Taking in some of the ‘bergs’ on the way ( Swains lane etc.).

The London Marathon course could be used for the last 26 miles, so the route would need to arrive at Greenwich at about mile 75.

Swain's Lane might be too narrow to be included, but there's plenty of climbing to be had around Hampstead, Highgate, and other parts of north London.

Down south, the likes of Sydenham and Crystal Palace would keep the riders honest.
 
The London Marathon course could be used for the last 26 miles, so the route would need to arrive at Greenwich at about mile 75.

Swain's Lane might be too narrow to be included, but there's plenty of climbing to be had around Hampstead, Highgate, and other parts of north London.

Down south, the likes of Sydenham and Crystal Palace would keep the riders honest.
The having to get 25000+ riders through safely , would cause issues with a lot of the ‘old and ancient’ bits of town. but there are still lots of bits that would work well.
 
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OP
icowden

icowden

Veteran
Location
Surrey
Does anyone know how likely you are to get in through the ballot, and when they release the ballot results?

It is worth noting that if you want to do the event and don't get the ballot, charity places tend to have reasonable fundraising targets. As an example, JDRF target is £500 (see my signature!!) and Diabetes UK is £525. Other charities may vary. Considering charity places for London Marathon are often targeted at the £1000 to £2500 level, it makes it seem a good way to go for a ride :-)
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
The precise reason for my stack of rejections mechanism of the ballot seems to be a matter of speculation but is widely held to be based on groupings by age and gender, and possibly also diversity to make the event more inclusive.
There are lots of theories about how the ballot is weighted and how you can improve your chances. I suspect most, if not all, are rubbish. However, here's my pet rubbish theory based on a laughably small sample size.

I ride regular centuries and know exactly how long it takes me - so I put down an honest estimated time of 8hr (that would be on the brisk side for me, but I figured the closed roads might speed things up a tad). My friends, who rarely ride centuries but do much shorter rides more quickly were more optimistic and put in more ambitious times. One even mistakenly put in his estimated time for 100km. They got places - I didn't. So maybe, if you are a real slow trundler, you should lie about your speed.

Or maybe just trust to luck.
 
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vickster

Legendary Member
Does anyone know how likely you are to get in through the ballot, and when they release the ballot results?
Too many variables but they get around 80000 applications. There are around 24k places for the 100 but a good chunk go to charities, some to clubs and some to corporate/celebs etc
Best odds maybe 1 in 6 but potentially lower if you’re Male aged 20-50 which will be a larger but more oversubscribed bucket.
Results in Feb/March
 

Beebo

Firm and Fruity
Location
Hexleybeef
A start on Blackheath. Straight up shooters hill, then off into Kent. And back to the Mall would be doable as a route. There are some very sharp hills on the North Downs.
 

vickster

Legendary Member
A start on Blackheath. Straight up shooters hill, then off into Kent. And back to the Mall would be doable as a route. There are some very sharp hills on the North Downs.
Not such a good thing for such a large event IMO, especially when you have such a range of experience, ability and capability. Fine for a small sportive
 

steverob

Guru
Location
Buckinghamshire
Well it seems that we only have a week to wait - ballot results to be released on the 13th February. And it looks like they might be doing it by e-mail this time rather than the old magazine in the post - we shall see.

So I thought it was a good time to get in early with some odds/predictions...

Someone on here getting a place despite not being able to recall actually entering the ballot : 7-1
Someone on here to continue their record of eight straight “Commiserations” : 3-1 On
Someone here to get a place but other half didn’t (or vice versa) : 5-1
Someone to ask when the second ballot is despite that question being answered every year (answer: it happens at the same time as the main ballot) : 2-1
Various conspiracy theories involving the Masons, David Icke’s lizard people and the Illuminati being thrown around to try and explain why someone did/didn’t get a place this year : Evens
Me getting a place : odds not offered (too remote a chance!)

Anyone else with any recall of the things that come up on this thread every year want to help out?
 

EltonFrog

Legendary Member
Well it seems that we only have a week to wait - ballot results to be released on the 13th February. And it looks like they might be doing it by e-mail this time rather than the old magazine in the post - we shall see.

So I thought it was a good time to get in early with some odds/predictions...

Someone on here getting a place despite not being able to recall actually entering the ballot : 7-1
Someone on here to continue their record of eight straight “Commiserations” : 3-1 On
Someone here to get a place but other half didn’t (or vice versa) : 5-1
Someone to ask when the second ballot is despite that question being answered every year (answer: it happens at the same time as the main ballot) : 2-1
Various conspiracy theories involving the Masons, David Icke’s lizard people and the Illuminati being thrown around to try and explain why someone did/didn’t get a place this year : Evens
Me getting a place : odds not offered (too remote a chance!)

Anyone else with any recall of the things that come up on this thread every year want to help out?
Folks getting a place but they can’t go.

folks that want to go but won’t wear a helmet.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
People wanting to know car parking, bag transfer, start time, cut off times and road closure times months before they're published.

People asking if they can defer for free.

Someone wanting to ride a TT bike.
 

lazybloke

Considering a new username
Location
Leafy Surrey
I think most of the usual disappointments have been covered, but thanks for digging out the date; my notification only said "early Feb".
 

GM

Legendary Member
After 6 attempts, still no luck :sad:

503984
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
I thought they were doing it by email this year.

Edit: They will be sending emails out on Wednesday :wacko:
 
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