Prudential Ride London 2015
Discussion
Brilliant!!Gruffy said:
That bridging move at the start was funny, looking back. Made the decision to go and then, like idiots, one went left and the other right and we both soloed past the long line of riders. It felt like it was quite a bit faster too. You may have had reserves but that was 175bpm for me 
In our bunch of 200 or so there was a broad mix of abilities and discipline. It was only among the 20 or so that rotated around the front that I felt confident in the standards. If you dropped back behind that it was dicey and then all the more risky trying to move back through them to get forwards again. Aside from that select group I found people slowed way too much for the corners so everything concertina'd up, giving lots of opportunities for things to go wrong but also making for a lot of unnecessary work to speed up again and recover the ground to the front 20 who took the corner properly.
Dizeee, you didn't go nuts up the climbs because I was sand-bagging you. It was clear you had plenty more. I appreciate the sacrifice but I'm fairly sure we were faster for it in the end. It was nice to ride with somebody of a very similar ability rather than too much faster/slower. Added another dimension to the ride.
I do love the buzz of close racing, especially the longer stuff, and I will get around to proper racing more regularly. I'm not sure when though. With hopes of riding the TCR next year I'll have different training goals. Then kids are likely the following year which will probably put racing on hold for a time.
That was an effort (the dual side swipe) but well worth it. Thoroughly enjoyed it - a great start. I don't have a HRM so only go on feel. It felt right, and felt better as we were doing it. In our bunch of 200 or so there was a broad mix of abilities and discipline. It was only among the 20 or so that rotated around the front that I felt confident in the standards. If you dropped back behind that it was dicey and then all the more risky trying to move back through them to get forwards again. Aside from that select group I found people slowed way too much for the corners so everything concertina'd up, giving lots of opportunities for things to go wrong but also making for a lot of unnecessary work to speed up again and recover the ground to the front 20 who took the corner properly.
Dizeee, you didn't go nuts up the climbs because I was sand-bagging you. It was clear you had plenty more. I appreciate the sacrifice but I'm fairly sure we were faster for it in the end. It was nice to ride with somebody of a very similar ability rather than too much faster/slower. Added another dimension to the ride.
I do love the buzz of close racing, especially the longer stuff, and I will get around to proper racing more regularly. I'm not sure when though. With hopes of riding the TCR next year I'll have different training goals. Then kids are likely the following year which will probably put racing on hold for a time.
Re the climbs - don't be too hard on yourself - you were always there. No issues there - your just over thinking it. And besides - you more than make up for it going down. The confidence is inspiring. I am happy going downhill fast, not so much with unknowns. However - you handed me my own arse today going down, and for that - muchos respect.
Gruffy said:
Dizeee, you didn't go nuts up the climbs because I was sand-bagging you. It was clear you had plenty more. I appreciate the sacrifice but I'm fairly sure we were faster for it in the end. It was nice to ride with somebody of a very similar ability rather than too much faster/slower. Added another dimension to the ride.
I do love the buzz of close racing, especially the longer stuff, and I will get around to proper racing more regularly. I'm not sure when though. With hopes of riding the TCR next year I'll have different training goals. Then kids are likely the following year which will probably put racing on hold for a time.
Thx Gruffy and likewise - great to ride with yourself. Strong ride today. I do love the buzz of close racing, especially the longer stuff, and I will get around to proper racing more regularly. I'm not sure when though. With hopes of riding the TCR next year I'll have different training goals. Then kids are likely the following year which will probably put racing on hold for a time.
The incident on Leith Hill turned out to be even more serious than people may have feared. A rider collapsed and died on the lower slopes of the climb.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pru...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pru...
Gruffy said:
The incident on Leith Hill turned out to be even more serious than people may have feared. A rider collapsed and died on the lower slopes of the climb.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pru...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pru...
Kris Cook last year, at the top of Newlands. Now this. Though with 26,000 riding it, statistically there's always going to be a 'hidden medical problem' or two within the participants. A few years ago my next door neighbour went to bed on Christmas Day, and her ex came in to find her dead in bed on Boxing Day morning. She was only in her mid 40s.
Make the most of every ride, because it could be your last? A bit morbid, but true enough.
My experience of the day? Well the man from the Pru wouldn't let me play. So I went out after the riders had gone through and grabbed a piece of the action. I left home at 1600hrs, and headed to Newlands to join the route after the road closures were lifted. By the time I got to Leith Hill there was no sign of anything or anyone to indicate such a serious incident had occured. There was an enterprising chap, out with two kids, walking down the hill picking up discarded kit. Water bottles, unopened gels, one complete saddle carrier with two bottles still in it. There was a lot of stuff dropped out on the course too. Arm warmers, bottles, tubes, some 'quick links'. Along with about a million gel wrappers. I didn't stop to pick any up, because by that time the traffic was back on the roads.
My ride today was a modified/shortened version of the event route, starting at the bottom of Newlands, following the route to Kingston, nipping over to the 'out' route and back to Newlands, plus the ride there and back. 113.1 miles in 7hrs 50 mins, so pretty damned slow by the standards of most on this 'ere thread. But still. What a day to put in my longest ever bike ride!
My ride today was a modified/shortened version of the event route, starting at the bottom of Newlands, following the route to Kingston, nipping over to the 'out' route and back to Newlands, plus the ride there and back. 113.1 miles in 7hrs 50 mins, so pretty damned slow by the standards of most on this 'ere thread. But still. What a day to put in my longest ever bike ride!
Firstly, congratulations to anyone with a time starting with a 4, it’s very impressive but I hate to say it a lot of you do sound rather elitist. You have to ask yourself, “What should ride London be”? Is a race for high end amateurs or an event open to all? If the later then you’re going to have to live with it being busy or stick to the wiggle events up and down the country.
I’m probably in the criteria some of you are moaning about, I’m pretty slow, average (including stops) of 15mph but with only 400 miles under my belt this year I was never going to set any records. I average about 22mph on the flat and descend pretty quickly (probably because I’m so heavy) but am really slow on hills and anything resembling a slope. I do try to stay to the left as much as possible but even I have to overtake sometimes! I do remember one idiot kept shouting “keep left” which was confusing the hell out of people as almost everyone else was shouting “on your right”!
That being said I still enjoyed the challenge and would probably look to do it again next year with more training.
I’m probably in the criteria some of you are moaning about, I’m pretty slow, average (including stops) of 15mph but with only 400 miles under my belt this year I was never going to set any records. I average about 22mph on the flat and descend pretty quickly (probably because I’m so heavy) but am really slow on hills and anything resembling a slope. I do try to stay to the left as much as possible but even I have to overtake sometimes! I do remember one idiot kept shouting “keep left” which was confusing the hell out of people as almost everyone else was shouting “on your right”!
That being said I still enjoyed the challenge and would probably look to do it again next year with more training.
Gruffy said:
The incident on Leith Hill turned out to be even more serious than people may have feared. A rider collapsed and died on the lower slopes of the climb.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pru...
Sadly this is what we feared. When we got to the incident the guy was getting CPR and the air ambulance was trying to land. Very sad news, and the seriousness of the incident very quickly made us forget about the effect the long wait at the bottom of the hill had on our times.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pru...
My overall impression of the day was good. I had an 07:12 start time after being overly pessimistic on my finish time. I then dropped back to 07:48 to ride with an even more pessimistic mate. At that time ability was very mixed, there were very few groups to tack onto, and discipline was pretty bad - a lot of people ignoring the ride on the left rule which made progress tricking and meant there was a lot of weaving.
Really enjoyed the route, and 06:12 wasn't too bad given the 25 min wait at the bottom of Leith, no group riding and 3 min wait at a pedestrian crossing.
With an earlier start time it would have been much quicker and more enjoyable, but I would also like to see marshals riding the course enforcing the keep left rule.
4.28 for me, which isn't too bad, but my 'start slow, finish strong' plan was reversed when I was carried away in a very fast group at the start that only broke up on Leith. Don't know if that helped or hindered my time, but I was feeling rough coming back into London.
Saw one rider in PH Jersey cross the finish at the same time as me... Green socks and bar tape... Yellow Jersey... Any takers?
Saw one rider in PH Jersey cross the finish at the same time as me... Green socks and bar tape... Yellow Jersey... Any takers?
Well done Type R Tom - great job even to get round. I do know what you mean - some of the high enders do seem to forget what mass-participation is all about, but I'm afraid that's cycling for you. It's a snobbish sport from what I can tell.
I passed more people than i was passed by, so I am happy enough. I never found myself to be too badly held up at any point, just got boxed in on a few occasions behind some folk. I only have two real gripes - going up Leith Hill there were some stereotypical MAMILS who obviously took it as an affront to their pride to ride in the left lane, which there was room in for them - so you ended up either riding in the gutter or doing a lot of little accelerations to nip through gaps. Box Hill was much better though, I managed to steam up there pretty happily just hugging the right hand edge of the road despite it being busy.
My other gripe was that every time a little group formed and started working, it seemed that it only lasted for a couple of miles before some silly sod attacked it, and it broke up, so you had to go and find another one!
So my gripe isn't with the slower participants who aren't as fit (in fact - equal respect to the number of pretty over-weight people I saw doing it as to the sub 5 hourers, because frankly for them i expect it was a pretty scary proposition, but they are getting out there and doing something about it).
My gripe is with the people who watch a bit of cycling on the tele without doing it in real life and then try and play the strong man.
I passed more people than i was passed by, so I am happy enough. I never found myself to be too badly held up at any point, just got boxed in on a few occasions behind some folk. I only have two real gripes - going up Leith Hill there were some stereotypical MAMILS who obviously took it as an affront to their pride to ride in the left lane, which there was room in for them - so you ended up either riding in the gutter or doing a lot of little accelerations to nip through gaps. Box Hill was much better though, I managed to steam up there pretty happily just hugging the right hand edge of the road despite it being busy.
My other gripe was that every time a little group formed and started working, it seemed that it only lasted for a couple of miles before some silly sod attacked it, and it broke up, so you had to go and find another one!
So my gripe isn't with the slower participants who aren't as fit (in fact - equal respect to the number of pretty over-weight people I saw doing it as to the sub 5 hourers, because frankly for them i expect it was a pretty scary proposition, but they are getting out there and doing something about it).
My gripe is with the people who watch a bit of cycling on the tele without doing it in real life and then try and play the strong man.
Type R Tom said:
You have to ask yourself, “What should ride London be”? Is a race for high end amateurs or an event open to all? If the later then you’re going to have to live with it being busy or stick to the wiggle events up and down the country.
the problem is not that people are slow, it's that they have obviously never ridden in a pack before and have absolutely no discipline - the MLMs of cycling. I'm not that fast going up hills but even I had to resort to riding in the right hand gutter due to people wobbling all over the road.(I removed my earlier comment about the guy on Leith Hill as I have a feeling it may have been 'that' one. RIP)
Edited by Pachydermus on Monday 3rd August 08:53
Ah, yes, rubbish, appalling as usual. I saw one bloke discard a perfectly good, but empty, bottle along a street near the foot of Wimbledon Hill, utter cock. Others throwing wrappers etc into bushes, probably forever. Disgusting.
As far as mixed abilities, I think they mostly did a good job in wave allocation. I was in Wave C orange (6.15 we got away) and it looks like we mostly kept together, at least for the first 60k at 37kph avg. (Limehouse link tunnel - I think - awesome!) Went past a few A and B stragglers, but not hundreds of them.
A much later time would have been a nightmare from the sound of it.
As far as mixed abilities, I think they mostly did a good job in wave allocation. I was in Wave C orange (6.15 we got away) and it looks like we mostly kept together, at least for the first 60k at 37kph avg. (Limehouse link tunnel - I think - awesome!) Went past a few A and B stragglers, but not hundreds of them.
A much later time would have been a nightmare from the sound of it.
Edited by richardxjr on Monday 3rd August 09:16
richardxjr said:
Ah, yes, rubbish, appalling as usual. I saw one bloke discard a perfectly good, but empty, bottle along a street near the foot of Wimbledon Hill, utter cock.
I think we are getting to the nub of the problem here - 'I saw a pro do it on the tele, so I will do it.*chuck* I feel so bad ass pro right now...'Edited by richardxjr on Monday 3rd August 09:16
You can see that they have tried to limit this by banning people of a certain standard from entering (1st cat and above I think) but perhaps they need to extend it further? FWIW the first people over the line were not bad riders at all, and if you were able to do something and stay in the front (loads of 3rd cats etc I know finished right near the front inc one 1st cat who must have entered before his promotion ha) then you really should try some proper racing, there is no real reason not to is there?
I agree with Tom in that being yelled at to stay left is not really very pleasant, of course the easy way to avoid all of this is to set of purely by ability (do they do this now?) then the 'fast' people would be gone and out of sight before the rest came through.
I agree with Tom in that being yelled at to stay left is not really very pleasant, of course the easy way to avoid all of this is to set of purely by ability (do they do this now?) then the 'fast' people would be gone and out of sight before the rest came through.
richardxjr said:
Ah, yes, rubbish, appalling as usual. I saw one bloke discard a perfectly good, but empty, bottle along a street near the foot of Wimbledon Hill, utter cock. Others throwing wrappers etc into bushes, probably forever. Disgusting.
The amount of crap on the route was crazy. I rode the southern loop from Newlands round Leith Hill back up to the A25 on Friday afternoon. There was the usual odd piece of obviously cycle related litter, but mostly pretty tidy. Then I rode a big chunk of the route 'after hours' yesterday, and it was pretty grim. Do these littering idiots not realise that there is already enough animosity to cyclists from residents in the Surrey Hills/Box Hill area already? All this littering does is cement a negative stereotype of "all you bloody cyclists are the same" and the local authority bill for cleaning it all up could be used to back up future objections to allowing road closures.On my way around the route yesterday/last night (I got home about midnight
) I lost the route at a couple of points, because the strip-out had begun in earnest. It was alright though, because I quickly realised that I was off-course when the almost constant trail of gel wrappers dried up, so I'd nip back to the previous junction and follow the rubbish trail once again.It wasn't just wrappers. There were unopened gels and bars, bottles galore, boxed innertubes, a single arm warmer, chain links on Leith Hill, and one chap out for a walk had picked up a complete 'TT' style rear-of-the-saddle bottle carrier, with both bottles still in it. Seriously? How do you not hear/sense that falling off? Or did whoever lost it not want to stop to collect it for fear of losing 30 seconds of precious 'race' time at the finish line? Maddening for those of us who like to nip out to 'The Hills' when there's a decent climbing challenge on. I checked my kit when I threw it into the washing machine this morning. Both the cereal bar wrappers, and the single gel wrapper I used were present and correct, down to the tear-off portion of the gel packet. Both bottles were in their cages too. Maybe this explains why I took 7 hours to complete 100 miles. All that time wasted trying to stuff rubbish into my pockets must be what cost me all that time, not the fact that the roads were open, and junctions and traffic lights were operating as normal...
Vocal Minority said:
I think we are getting to the nub of the problem here - 'I saw a pro do it on the tele, so I will do it.*chuck* I feel so bad ass pro right now...'
Exactly that!I saw a bloke in front of me do this just prior to Leith, to me it looked like he had chucked a perfectly useable and full water bidon away. But it was the way he did it that made me think "nob" - quick grab, no looking round to see who was around him and bang, a strong hard throw right across the road sending the bidon rocketing away into the undergrowth. So pointless. I am all for the competitive spirit and all but that sort of thing is just overkill imho.
Type R Tom said:
Firstly, congratulations to anyone with a time starting with a 4, it’s very impressive but I hate to say it a lot of you do sound rather elitist. You have to ask yourself, “What should ride London be”? Is a race for high end amateurs or an event open to all? If the later then you’re going to have to live with it being busy or stick to the wiggle events up and down the country.
I’m probably in the criteria some of you are moaning about, I’m pretty slow, average (including stops) of 15mph but with only 400 miles under my belt this year I was never going to set any records. I average about 22mph on the flat and descend pretty quickly (probably because I’m so heavy) but am really slow on hills and anything resembling a slope. I do try to stay to the left as much as possible but even I have to overtake sometimes! I do remember one idiot kept shouting “keep left” which was confusing the hell out of people as almost everyone else was shouting “on your right”!
That being said I still enjoyed the challenge and would probably look to do it again next year with more training.
It's really less about elitism, and more about the practicalities; to turn in fast times, you need to be working hard with a group in close proximity. If you're <6 inches from someone's rear wheel at 20+mph, you need to rely on them behaving in a sane and predictable manner, otherwise folks get hurt. I would assume /hope that that is the root of most of the complaints; people who are fast enough to know better - there were fairly few 'mass paticipation' types in the first couple of waves, and they dropped back very quickly.I’m probably in the criteria some of you are moaning about, I’m pretty slow, average (including stops) of 15mph but with only 400 miles under my belt this year I was never going to set any records. I average about 22mph on the flat and descend pretty quickly (probably because I’m so heavy) but am really slow on hills and anything resembling a slope. I do try to stay to the left as much as possible but even I have to overtake sometimes! I do remember one idiot kept shouting “keep left” which was confusing the hell out of people as almost everyone else was shouting “on your right”!
That being said I still enjoyed the challenge and would probably look to do it again next year with more training.
Ride london is (as far as I know) unique in being pretty much the only event where you have a chance to ride flat out on closed roads over a reasonable distance, so naturally a lot of the 'club' riders want to give their all - personally I'm well aware it's different strokes to different folks.
Frankly I reckon it will to solve its self along the lines of the marathon soon enough - its getting so 'charity' biassed soon the only way in is going to be to ruthlessly badger everyone you know for a ton of charity money, which will eliminate most of the keen riders.
Type R Tom said:
I do try to stay to the left as much as possible but even I have to overtake sometimes! I do remember one idiot kept shouting “keep left” which was confusing the hell out of people as almost everyone else was shouting “on your right”!
That at least is easily dealt with - keep left is an unhelpful reminder to stay as left as practical. On your right is a courtesy / saftey warning that someone's about to come past on your right; especially if you're close to the right curb etc., and they're concerned you might squeeze them.Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff