2014-04-06 The London Classic

Just updated the photo set to include the photos from my phone too.

London Classic on flickr

You old dog, Mike.

The signs, or lack of, I assumed to be an indicator of the liveliness of a Saturday night out in each particular area. Covent Garden; much drunken sign rippage, Brockley etc; locals prefer quite nights in. Dulwich, with it's high level of arrowless zipties, seemed to be surprising destination for fans of a piss-up where as Rotherhithers must have been glued to Britain's Got X-Factor on the telly all night, tho there's a solid chance the local's electronic tags don't allow them past the front door.

Skully's suggestion is a good one. A distance between turns/distance travelled on the cue-sheet would be useful.

^I too agree with Skully's suggestion, it works for Audax. Hats you should not have to check them after they have gone up, plus putting them up on Sunday morning would be more stressful. Also I think a few wrong turns adds to the fun of the day.

Thanks to Brixton Cycles and the people at the Gypsy Hill Tavern for hosting another great Classic ride around the city.
Will bring a GPS of sorts next year thou, as pink arrow signs were good for the most part but in central London hey had been removed and I wouldn't want anyone to miss some of the great roads you chose.

A recognisable combo of zipties would be my suggestion. They are actually fairly noticable even without the paper arrows when your looking for them. Black above white = right, white above black = left, two whites = straight on. That and the turn list would be plenty...

Not sure it's been mentioned, but did any one see that 'gold car' ? Cars don't really do it for me, but it was an amazing colour....

Something like this.....

i think it was like this...

1 Attachment

Not sure it's been mentioned, but did any one see that 'gold car' ? Cars don't really do it for me, but it was an amazing colour....
Something like this.....

Also did anyone note the "Academy for Clowning arts!" off one of the cobbled streets - big highlight for me. Was laughing almost all the way to the hills.

Not sure it's been mentioned, but did any one see that 'gold car' ? Cars don't really do it for me, but it was an amazing colour....

Something like this.....

Twice a day I see that on my commute.
Twice a day a little bit of ick comes up in my throat.

Edited to add: Same car BTW - index number matches...

We signed on 344 riders. That is incredible given the wet start.

The TLC crew are incredibly grateful to this forum for both the enthusiastic participation and crucially the volunteering for signage putting upping. I am gutted this work was undone by knobheads; people in different parts of London take the signs down for different reasons...in Dulwich and posh bits of Palace like Fox hill they obv think it unseemly. Maybe in the west end its just pissed people.

We definitely need to look seriously at the signs / route guide situation. We take every suggestion seriously. For the first Classic we were given 200 plastic corrugated signs that were a bastard to put holes in and hard to carry masses of them. Thing is some of those signs are still up after 4 years (Gough street and Blackheath are two that spring to mind). They would certainly be resistant to being pulled down but at £1 a pop they come out of the bottom line and you need to collect them. We can't use waxed paper again, thats for sure.

Anyway, you donated so far over £5k - I will get an official total up on the site for the end of the week but thats fantastic so thank you all for making it happen.

.......
Anyway, you donated so far over £5k -..........

Happy news!

Fantastic day - thanks for organising it.

More pics here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/11528910@N06/sets/72157643599884685/

Does anyone know if I could still get a large from anywhere? I mean, if there's any left I will pay postage on top... Anyone from the team know?

Hi Andrew - I think we have some in L - I will check and PM you.

Zebra - Are there any more photos? I remember you at the top of Canonbie and was wondring if you caught me and my brothers winching up it. Thanks!

JB,

Yes I took 340 pictures in all on Sunday and was going to post more just snowed under with work. Will try and post this weekend but likely to be next week.

While I am posting was going to comment on the negative posts about signage which to be honest I was offended by. The London Classic is entirely voluntary run and the people who came out and did the signage did a great job short of patrolling the whole route all night there is nothing we can do if some signs are lost over night. I would have taken the comments better if the people making the comments had actually done something on the day but actually it was just nasty sniping from the side lines

Adam

http://davidstrachan611.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/byres-road-sign.jpg

I'll SIGN off with this one.....

JB,
While I am posting was going to comment on the negative posts about signage which to be honest I was offended by. The London Classic is entirely voluntary run and the people who came out and did the signage did a great job short of patrolling the whole route all night there is nothing we can do if some signs are lost over night. I would have taken the comments better if the people making the comments had actually done something on the day but actually it was just nasty sniping from the side lines

Adam

I have seen negative comment on a couple of London CC forums. For the first classic somebody complained quite vociferously that we did the route guide in colour and if we'd gone in b&w we could have given more to charity. They then listed several other issues. I invited them to run their own event but to my knowledge this hasn't happened.

After the second one we had a page feature in the comic and their review had PROS:route and atmosphere CONS:signs. That year the signs were shit hot, nobody complained and I collected maybe 95=+% the week after.

Its just the times we live in. People expect 100% uptime, supermarkets the size of towns selling kettles for £4 open 24/7, everything streamed to their phone and nanoblogs on what colour fluff they picked outta their navel that morning. All the feedback I personally received was good and I have a lot of emails from people who seemed to have had a great time.

The event can't run without volunteers. For my part I think I let down volunteers by giving them lightweight signs to put up but I had an eye on cost and every last bean goes to the evelina so I have to justify all spend to myself first. In retrospect I should buy some more corrugated plastic signs. But if I dwelled on that I would feel negatively about the event and honestly I am blown away every year by the goodwill of most people and their generosity.

I would urge you not to be insulted Adam, you did a massive turn on the front and so many have benefited from that.

Gents, I urge you to not confuse a few bits of advice with negative complaints.

It was an ace day out (that is unequivocal), and I think everyone would like your efforts maximised - if that comes in theform of suggestions to make the signing more effective and easier, it's in no way a complaint.

The gradients of South London (and my legs), on the other hand...

P.s....One more thing - I can;t thank you enough for putting it on Flanders weekend (and not, as last year, P-R). As I'm riding PR this year (and last), not only does the change in date enable me to ride it, though as warm ups go, it's hard to imagine a better run out.

Anyone moaning about signs instead if enjoying what is perennially regarded as the best ride in London needs to do one. The ride was fantastic, the organisation great and for the second year running this ride is likely in top 2 or 3 of every ride I'll do.

Long may the classic continue in very much the same vein for many more years.

I improve my 'threading and handing over of signs to taller person for actual affixing' skill each year. Could have done with a few more people though.

Adam! Same time next year?