Ride London 100

Thoroughly enjoyed that. Very well organised, friendly riders for the most part, amazing support from the spectators, great route and good pace. Finished in over 6 hours after slowing down after the first few, but with a busted ankle, no training, and a 25 year old bike, I'd say that isn't too bad. Will try for sub-5 next year.

Highlights: Stopping to ask an old couple for water and being offered a banana as well; seeing a GPS fly off someone's bike on one of the fast descents; ice cream truck at the bottom of Box Hill; overtaking bikes which costs thousands of pounds with a £200 old 80's Peugeot; closed roads and running reds with no police in sight; living 5 mins from the start.

Turbo saddle hurt my arse at that distance. Assos bibs way better than Rapha. Actually didn't mind riding with a helmet at all, as I thought I would after 15 years or so of not using one.

Start, finish and Newlands are the only places that Johnson appears to have been seen. Curious.

I blasted pass him on the top of Box Hill

The Mayor does some excellent work de-mythicising and promoting cycling here:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/04/ride-london-boris-johnson-cycling-event

It's just as well that he didn't come across RPM on the Tesco run.

fantastic organisation and amazing riding through central with no traffic and the odd excited person jumping up and down. the hills were tough for a lot of people in the heat it seemed (me included).

From listening to the chat out on the road, it was Race 100 to most though, chain gangs of very serious looking rapha and crabon chatting about their predicted times. bit sad really. probably still on DD comedown.

My butt hurts this morning.

Yep, 2014 entry list opens next week I think it is.

The goal is for this to run in tandem with the Marathon I believe, book-ending the summer.

Any one know a date in which reg opens for 2014 ?

Monday 12 August the ballot opens for next year's do.

Also with you on the glut pain this morning. Stairs are a little bit more of an obstacle than they should be.

I have my combination walking stick/brolly with me today.

All results ranked by time via Jack Thurston @thebikeshow

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At9hEvGB0JsUdE9XRTlmYzc5S2plRVhNWWdMWlhVdVE#gid=0

Monday 12 August the ballot opens for next year's do.

Thanks Bacci

I'm not on there! Hmm. So it's not complete. (I was 6 hours.)

All results ranked by time via Jack Thurston @thebikeshow

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At9hEvGB0JsUdE9XRTlmYzc5S2plRVhNWWdMWlhVdVE#gid=0

link doesn't work!

Thanks hms.

I have my combination walking stick/brolly with me today.

Dapper! Considering you must've placed in the top 1000, that's allowed.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At9hEvGB0JsUdE9XRTlmYzc5S2plRVhNWWdMWlhVdVE#gid=0

There is a rider I was on club rides with in the top ten.

csb

Dapper! Considering you must've placed in the top 1000, that's allowed.

537th it would appear.

Who knows where I'd have been if I'd had some porridge.

There is a rider I was on club rides with in the top ten.

csb

He is way too fast now.

So only 12,150 finished it then? How many started out of the 20k who registered? That's a hell of an attrition rate

I DAS'd someone somewhere in the surrey hills wearing a forum jersey. Crazy singlespeeders!

The people who predicted the slowest time hit the road closest to the cut-off time, if that makes sense- be interesting to see how many people were diverted to allow the pro's to rocket through.

Be better if they did it the way round that the marathon does it- pros/seeded amateurs/Hippo costumes

done :)
in exactly 8 hours, 7 of those moving. stopping at hub 1 was an error (long walking(!) detour into hampton court and then queues for toilets), didn't bother with the other food stops, I had plenty with me. not the most impressive time, but I'm happy to have done it. I found my weak points are firstly my wonky feet (kept having to stop as my feet would go numb and I couldn't feel my toes) and eating too slowly. I'd brought some cereal bars, fig rolls and jelly babies, but just swallowing them down fast enough was an issue. I guess that's why people use gels - no chewing?

left home half an hour late so blasted it up to aldgate, where I bumped into loads of other people (who, at most, had a start time 4min after me) so relaxed for long straight road up to stratford. there were marshalls starting from the Bow roundabout and traffic was friendly, although we did get shouted at by some lads in the back of a black cab on their way home after a night out. set off pretty pacey, and despite my fears of just how crowded it was going to be, it flowed well. taking over the A12 and Limehouse link was novel. did see some struggle in Richmond Park, which did not bode well. caught a couple of trains in the first third, and there was a chap going at a nice pace for me, who I swopped over with a few times, before losing him in a crowded patch (double bottle cage off the back of his saddle, but we never spoke). that was actually nice, I've never done that before. Leith Hill was a bit of a mess in the second half. I knew I wouldn't make it all the way so I stopped for a break at the right turn by the gate, and watched all the people struggling up who thought they'd finished and then saw the next ramp. second ramp, people stopping/wobbling all over the place, people yelling "Don't stop!" etc, but surprisingly I didn't see anyone fall off. I was super happy from the top there, knowing the worst was over. not as much tailwind as I was hoping for in the second half, but just nice riding. had to remind myself to stop pootling about 70 miles in, as I'd reverted to my usual pace. picked it up for the last stretch, but all in all, seeing how I feel today, I only partially succeeded in pushing myself. better than bonking I guess.

fantastic organisation. nice to see lots of families out right from the start, in the residential areas lots of kids in their pajamas. water stops were really great. soon learnt that there was a scattering of single/paired loos every few miles and no need to stop at the queues. nice to see the ice-cream vans and nice to see people stopping for them! no-one seemed to be stopping for the front garden home-made snack and drink stops though, wonder if they'll get more custom next year? bit hard to stop when you're not expecting them. so many marshalls/volunteers - every time I stopped to get the feeling back in my toes someone in high viz would walk over and ask if I was ok.

lots of people I kept seeing on and off - older couple on a red tandem who I would overtake uphill, blasting it past on the downhills. chap in a black vest and shorts with no numbers on a hybrid with wide risers, and two full panniers, waving and shouting at all the bystanders - at mile 10 I thought he was just on his way to work, at mile 90 I realised he was in it the whole way! the marshalls seemed really very relaxed about people cycling the course with no numbers, there was another couple I kept seeing where she had numbers and he didn't. had a chat with a guy in one of the villages who was just cycling to the post box (holding some letters in one hand). and while the road crossings were quite controlled in central when we left, they really weren't on the way back in - chobham, chiswick and wimbledon in particular people crossing all over the place nipping between cyclists, and occasionally people cycling the wrong way on the course, which was a little alarming...

about 2/3rds through I saw the Dulwich Paragon go past, I figured they must've stopped for a pub lunch or something. there was also a rather relaxed club called Quick Release CC (who may have just been mates in matching jerseys) who I saw often, and they were a bit over the top in calling out hazards. every time they yelled "drain!" I heard "train!".

notable mentions: 3-legged tandem, young lad with a shirt that said "I have cystic fibrosis" on the back (saw him at the beginning, then on the mall being greeted by parents). guy with a "make space for cycling" trailer on the back of his LHT. and the chap in the head and tail of a red panda kigu, looking quite chipper, if a little warm, at 81 mile water stop. most other fancy dress was stuffed animals strapped to helmets, and tutus. oh, and 3 coppers at the top of Box Hill at the NT cafe standing around in stab vests eating ice creams made me smile.

So only 12,150 finished it then? How many started out of the 20k who registered? That's a hell of an attrition rate

looking at the official times (Bacci search your number - I couldn't find my surname, they'd put me under my middle name) it seems the Men 14793 and Women 4414 are the starting numbers. When you display results it shows Men 12150 and Women 2900 finishing times. You can see who got diverted by the Distance column. So 15050 finishers (including those diverted) out of 19207 starters. The diversions worked well I think, they didn't take much distance off but each one took out one of the 3 big hills so made it a lot easier for those who were struggling, although you had to deal with traffic for the duration of the diversion some of which was A roads.

I was pleased with my time 04:38 until i foundout it was only good for 805 position!

I was wondering if they will do a 'good for age' entry system next year like they do for the london marathon.

Now im thinking it won't make any difference to me if they do :(

interestingly I looked for Boris finishing time.. but he doesn't show up?
'Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson'
Unofficial rider dodging the entry fee?

All results ranked by time via Jack Thurston @thebikeshow

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At9hEvGB0JsUdE9XRTlmYzc5S2plRVhNWWdMWlhVdVE#gid=0

I didn't do terribly well- first 50 miles in 2 hours, but the second 50 miles took 2:40ish.

Dammit just stalked your times:
SPLIT / TIME / DIFF
EST MILE 24 / 01:01:28 / 01:01:28
EST MILE 45 / 01:57:46 / 56:18
EST MILE 55 / 02:30:45 / 32:59
EST MILE 82 / 03:44:54 / 01:14:09
EST MILE 91 / 04:12:41 / 27:47
FINISH / 04:32:19 / 19:38

interestingly I looked for Boris finishing time.. but he doesn't show up?
'Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson'
Unofficial rider dodging the entry fee?

Johnson, Alexander (GBR) times

So the fastest woman was only three seconds slower than the fastest man?

Victoria Cowley in 4:03:27
Jamie Wilkins in 4:03:24

Or am I missing something?