Ride London 2015
Discussion
pablo said:
Increased capacity to 30k riders for 2015 apparently...
Holy crap... hope they also extend the start period- I felt 24K in 2.5hours was a bit tight on the road, especially through Richmond and Surrey lanes.I've done plenty of Sportives with 1.5-3K riders and you can go 10+miles without seeing anyone once everyone's spread out (albeit someone might be 45second in front or behind out of sight)
On RideLondon I was within touching distance of another rider 90% of the time! It was like a Critical Mass protest!
scubadude said:
Holy crap... hope they also extend the start period- I felt 24K in 2.5hours was a bit tight on the road, especially through Richmond and Surrey lanes.
I've done plenty of Sportives with 1.5-3K riders and you can go 10+miles without seeing anyone once everyone's spread out (albeit someone might be 45second in front or behind out of sight)
On RideLondon I was within touching distance of another rider 90% of the time! It was like a Critical Mass protest!
I think this varied depending on your start time - I personally don't think that it ever got too congested on the course, though I started at around 6:30am. Coming back through Kingston (I think?) however, where we were passing those who were just going through and out into surrey from the later starts, you could see it was very congested and slow. I've done plenty of Sportives with 1.5-3K riders and you can go 10+miles without seeing anyone once everyone's spread out (albeit someone might be 45second in front or behind out of sight)
On RideLondon I was within touching distance of another rider 90% of the time! It was like a Critical Mass protest!
Gruffy said:
Should I get a place I'll be looking to start as early as possible. Damage limitation.
Should you get a space you won't have a choice when you start unless you skip the start altogether and jump on the route bandit style :-)FWIW I started at 7:30 and in places we where down to walking pace with the occasional dabbed foot to negotiate the narrow lanes and Richmond park. I believe behind me there where further crashes and some people had to stop, wait and walk to negotiate them, I can't help thinking another 6K will exacerbate the issues unless they start people over 4 or 5hours instead of 2 and a half.
I was lucky enough to ride this year and applied for 2015 on Monday, all went through but they didn't take any money?? From memory they took the £58 straight away pending the ballot and you could give to charity if you didn't get in or get a refund. Or are they using details from 2014? Bank statements don't show any payments? Anyone else ride this year and find themselves in a similar situation?
I applied. Didnt get asked for any payment. But did get asked if I wanted to donate my entrance fee which I found confusing since I hadn't paid anything. In hindsight I guess if I'd ticked yes maybe they'd have taken payment then, but otherwise they'll take payment iff I get a place.
scubadude said:
Should you get a space you won't have a choice when you start unless you skip the start altogether and jump on the route bandit style :-)
FWIW I started at 7:30 and in places we where down to walking pace with the occasional dabbed foot to negotiate the narrow lanes and Richmond park. I believe behind me there where further crashes and some people had to stop, wait and walk to negotiate them, I can't help thinking another 6K will exacerbate the issues unless they start people over 4 or 5hours instead of 2 and a half.
We had to stop at Richmond park, we were stood for around 15 minutes whilst the heavens emptied on us. Not sure whether it was a crash, or just down to the large flood on the bend.FWIW I started at 7:30 and in places we where down to walking pace with the occasional dabbed foot to negotiate the narrow lanes and Richmond park. I believe behind me there where further crashes and some people had to stop, wait and walk to negotiate them, I can't help thinking another 6K will exacerbate the issues unless they start people over 4 or 5hours instead of 2 and a half.
There were a few other areas where we also came to a halt to negotiate more flooding
I entered the first one a few years back, didn't realise it was a ballot, didn't get in even though Id cycled across the Alps for H4H's and done a load of other sportives that year.
They didn't make it clear that you don't get your money back, so basically paid for someone else to ride! If I ever did it, Id just rock up and jump in, they can't stop you and I feel like they owe me it as I've already paid!
They didn't make it clear that you don't get your money back, so basically paid for someone else to ride! If I ever did it, Id just rock up and jump in, they can't stop you and I feel like they owe me it as I've already paid!
TKF said:
Gizmoish said:
convinced you wouldn't get a place from some curious (and almost certainly spurious) idea that the ballot is rigged
I don't understand this either. Does anyone seriously think that the organisers will go through the entries one by one and say "Well he's Cat1 and this other chap isn't a British Cycling member so they won't get a place"?Mr Will said:
The ballot is not a straight ballot. The entries are split in to different groups first and then a certain number of places are drawn from each group. This way they can ensure a mix of new riders and experienced ones, young and old, male and female, etc instead of 19,000 MAMILs and 1000 "Others". If you end up falling in that "Generic MAMIL" pot then your odds of getting in are a lot lower than if you are an outlier.
I agree that is probably how it happens but I disagree that you definitely have lower odds if you are generic MAMIL.They might allocate say 10k spots for MAMILs while 50k apply and then allocate say 2k spots for the ladies and 15k apply. Hence worse odds for the ladies.
We don't know.
okgo said:
You donated to charity, nobody owes you anything, not their fault you didn't read the form correctly. They do not take any money if you tick the right box.
Judging by other peoples posts on here I would say they didn't make it clear enough. However I should have read the small print granted, although being a charity ride you'd think they wouldn't have to make it difficult for its participants! Like I said, if I do it in the future, I won't be paying.Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff