Prudential Ride London - start times

[walm]

I am one of the "lucky" ones who has secured a place on this most hallowed of sportives.
I have been training quite hard (for me) so that I will be able to draft behind my faster team mates and hold onto their wheels in desperation.

However, my start time is 40 mins later than said team-mates. There is no way they are going to hang around and wait for me.
I called PRL who said, "eff off we can't change 24,000 start times".
I pointed out I just wanted to change one, not all of them but this appeared beyond their comprehension.

Apparently I could have let them know a month and a half ago that I was a lot faster than when I first applied.
Really? News to me sunshine.

So, I said that I would simply join the race beyond the start.
They claim this won't be possible owing to the marshals preventing it.
I am not sure I want to kick off a worthy charity ride with a fight with some poor volunteer who will no doubt be dealing with angry motorists all day whinging about closed roads they pay for etc....

Does anyone have any suggestions?
Is the start that draconian - could I just rock up early and force my way through unnoticed?
Would the marshals really try to stop me if I join half a mile down the road?

[walm]

pablo said:

You could try and start with them because the start wasnt that strictly monitored but dont be annoyed if you are caught and sent back to your alloted time.

OK that's helpful.
Worth a punt.

Since I am catching a lift from home with them I will be there anyway.
I just have to hope they hang around after they finish (or catch them up...).

[walm]

Excellent, thank you chaps.
I am now feeling a lot more positive.

Firstly, it sounds like "manning up" could be a lot of fun.
I have done a few lengthy rides on my own before and they were pretty tedious, but I guess it is different with 24k riders to keep you company and crowds and whatnot.

Secondly, if I fail to sneak in at the start, I could just head down the track a little.

[walm]

Awesome. I really don't care about the timing chip - Strava should do my time!

[walm]

*24,000

[walm]

I agree.
In fact, if you donate whatever the entrance fee was for non-charity participants then I have absolutely no problem at all - load up on feed and medals too.

I wouldn't do it myself as likewise I tend to be a sucker who follows the rules.
But I would have absolutely no problem with someone else coming along if they put a little charity money direct.

Finally - I could not agree more about charity fatigue.

There is simply no way I would ask anyone to sponsor me to do this (I was lucky enough to get a ballot place).

I WANT to do this ride. It will be fun.
If people want charity money from me then they have to suffer at least a little.

It would be like asking for money for a charity bungee jump or something.

[walm]

Mr Will said:

Show me a "but you're not GIVING!" post anywhere in this thread?

Would you say that it's okay to gatecrash the London Marathon as well?

Rob_T said:

Not sure that's the spirit or the attitude really...

[walm]

Mr Will said:

walm said:

Mr Will said:

Show me a "but you're not GIVING!" post anywhere in this thread?

Would you say that it's okay to gatecrash the London Marathon as well?

Rob_T said:

Not sure that's the spirit or the attitude really...

Says nothing about giving. Try again.

Not explicitly but what do you think he means?

I inferred from it that "the spirit" is some sort of "we all raised money or paid through the nose to do this" type camaraderie.

That is the only difference between a gatecrasher and a regular rider.

[walm]

Mr Will said:

Returning to an earlier analogy - is it "against the spirit" if I turn up at the next brands-hatch trackday and sneak on to the track without paying? For that matter, would it be "against the spirit" if I turned up to this: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... and met the rest of the PH guys just outside the circuit and then rode the full distance with them without paying? I think so.

Exactly - you haven't paid (£100 is a lot more than £ZERO) or you haven't raised enough money to get a free spot.

So - "the spirit" is all to do with paying your dues as it were. For the vast majority that would be dues to a charity (i.e. "giving") - no?

[walm]

Mr Will said:

How much you've paid to be there doesn't come in to it...

Yet...

Mr Will said:

Is it okay for me to attend a sportive and ride the full route without paying?

I am confused here now!

I think I paid £100 for my ballot place. Can't really remember.

For the trackday and BBQ examples - the addition of a couple extra people can make a significant difference to the legitimate participants enjoyment.
To suggest 10k people will turn up and gatecrash the RideLondon is... mad!
A few people will gatecrash - what is the realistic extreme - 1,000?
Given that the number of no-shows will probably be that high - clearly my enjoyment of the event will not be impacted by gatecrashers.

The London Marathon is a good example.
And I have to admit I feel gatecrashers here are far less welcome.
Again though I think that is because the marathon is far more obviously CHARITY.

[walm]

Daveyraveygravey said:

The entry fee via the ballot was £45 (I think, or £50) certainly not £100, and when most other sportives are £35+, it isn't "paying through the nose" if you are lucky enough to get a ballot place.

In that case the Tough Mudder I did was a complete and utter rip-off.

I knew I paid for two events that needed training this year - one cost £100+ and one was much less.
I assumed the one that actually required hundreds of people to run and CLOSING 100 MILES OF ROAD - would be the expensive one. (Rather than the one that appeared to be run by an extended family and constructed about 10 pathetic obstacles on a farm.)

Don't do the Tough Mudder. What a scam.

I still stand by the suggestion that gatecrashers are perfectly fine by me - even more so considering the damn thing was so cheap(-ish).

[walm]

Yeah - a bit of refreshing rain is fine but wind is a killer.

[walm]

option click said:

I'm still in search of a space, so if anyone knows of cancellations/drop-outs/injuries I'll be a willing substitute...

Just join the ride a mile from the start!

[walm]

Seriously - that was the worst "bike" show I have ever been to.
There weren't any actual bikes for a start.
And why would a charity have a stall? What is the point of that?

Pretty smooth pick up of documents though.
If anyone was worried about picking up more than one set for friends - unless the numbers are right next to each other you should be fine. Or just wait a bit and go back I guess.

[walm]

Wings.
Definitely wings.

[walm]

Wet, punctures and crashes.

Pretty standard for putting 20,000+ inexperienced crazed MAMILs on an empty road!! (Of which I am one.)

God bless the Gatorskins though - my team of three had no punctures which seemed like a miracle given the carnage.

Marshaling seemed fine to me (in particular letting us swan over empty Vauxhall bridge after the finish - that was bizarre - felt like 28 Days Later.

[walm]

Fotic said:

I genuinely feel the pelotons should be banned on a lot of roads - it's just not fair on everyone else.

It's just that every bike club in the SE seems to flock to this area at the weekend and seeing big groups of bikes riding 2 or 3 abreast on narrow roads is frustrating.

The roads are there for everyone to use.

Slow Sunday drivers.
Horses.
Pedestrians.
Tractors.
Caravanists.
PHers.
Cyclists.

Follow the rules and I can't see ANY cause for complaint.
It just marks someone as impatient and selfish.

Right now it is full on harvest in Hampshire so my commute is regularly slowed by a bunch of mad farmers hooning around at 12mph.

AS IS THEIR RIGHT.

So I leave slightly earlier and enjoy an opportunity to redline the V8 on overtake. It's fun.


Now, 3 abreast and building up a 5+ tail of cars behind your peloton isn't acceptable and quite rightly is against the rules.

So if you want to get pissed off - complain about that.

Complaining about thousands of law-abiding cyclists owing to their choice of perfectly legal hobby since they "frustrate" you is, again, purely selfish.

I spent 2 hours stuck on the M25 getting home yesterday and it was annoying but I don't publish ridiculous posts saying "all those annoying cars driving around frustrate me BAN THEM" - THAT IS LIFE.

[walm]

How is it "dangerous"?

Oh yes, when some impatient selfish moron attempts a ludicrous overtake.

Are you sure you really want them spread out single file?

[walm]

okgo said:

Its closed roads, you don't have to ride like you do when the roads are being shared with traffic, left or right, it doesn't make much odds surely? If you don't want people on the inside, then move right to the left?

I noticed all the passing on the left but my view was that most people seemed to be either holding their line or vaguely drifting one way or another.

There wasn't really a sense of "returning to the left after overtaking".

So in this instance, the "MLMs" really seemed even more unlikely than usual to start randomly heading left.

So passing on the left was perfectly acceptable IMHO.

Other than on the slight inclines (there weren't any real hills, I would say) where people should have kept left as per the ride instructions.

[walm]

Appropriate username.
Nice write-up!