Ride Report: Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100

No place for me, Again, at least I didn't stump up the 45 quid this time!

Fantastic event, well organised and run. The hard training paid off and I found I quite easy. Would love to do it again.

Loved every minute. All those years of riding fish and chippers/audaxes on busy roads where lots of drivers hate you... this is bike riding! Very impressed, unlike some people, with the general standard of riding, next year may be tougher with a bigger field and beginners encouraged. Disgraceful about the black A start, so that's why Boris wasn't right at the beginning, shame. We can generalise about a well run event, but yikes, if I'd been there, say we all. As a black cab driver, and you can save it, you lot, I get much worse every lunchtime in Pont St shelter, I did find every major junction completely confusing, but that's no excuse for the lead car or whoever. Loos... how about "French" open urinals? Was grateful for the last minute gel at Vauxhall Bridge but yes it was messy. Otherwise little mess away from the hubs. The Course...it would be tough to have difficulties on the way out into the prevailing wind, tho having said that, the 60% downwind Box Hill, the easiest of the three, knocked me back cos of the distance by then, a bit undertrained I guess. I was cheered up there by the mad beardy old guy directing us to the water fountains, and I hope he'd say the same about me! On the course, I'd say leave it as it is for one more year then think about toughening it up for us. It's a different matter for the pros, but they were a disappointment in a number of ways, see comments on commitment of teams in http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/aug/05/david-millar-british-cycling, despite a fantastic finish. All in all, a massive argument, like the Olympics of course, for adequate funding, communal activity, public sport, schmaltzy positive attitudes, etc.

Interesting to read this happy account. I didn't go for it, because I remembered the Olympic riders commenting that the course was too narrow, and I thought that with 20,000 amateurs that would be carnage. Very pleased to be proved wrong! May have a crack next year.

I am an aspiring amature: For me the day went extremely well. Happy with the event as a whole: load up, the set off, the etiquette of the other riders, the well wishers, Hub 3, the course workers: all the way thro' to the finish, Medalled, Bagged and returned luggage before being discharged back to reality and the London traffic.

Just loved kicking off the final bend to the finish at 24mph

Sure there are always somethings that do not turn out to well but overall with close on 16,000 amatures and being human to boot, expect an error or three...

THINKING OFF OTHERS:
Although located in Coulsdon, skipping a couple of hours work to pick up my Excel package was easy... Feel for you guys further afield...

Maybe Excel is the place to go to buy last minute entries for to spaces gained by those who had to sadly pull out... whiles computers or local agencies can deal with the issuing of packs/numbers. I know, I know the sponsors would not like that.

Final thought: Well done Boris for riding and Team Boris for putting it all together.

Great picture of the Boxford Bike Club B - Team crossing the line together - does anyone know where the club could get permission to use or higher quality image?

Not wishing to labour the 'keep to the left point', but we have to accept that the vast majority of participants may have been doing their first 'Closed Roads'. With that in mind I was very impressed with how many people complied with the protocol.
Nevertheless I think the organisers could emphasise the point a bit more though, as next year there will, presumably, be another load of first timers.
A lot of the route was wide enough so as not to make a big difference, but a few narrower points (like the lower section of Leith Hill where some people seemed to have been caught out by the gradient) might have a few signs up (eg 'keep left unless overtaking')....a similar principle to long hills where lorries/ caravans etc are told to stay left.

An excellent day out and (apart from what was written) well organised.
Slower riders really do need to stay left though, as there are some very fast parts of the route and many people know the roads well.
Maybe better booking for people wanting to ride together for next year?
I hope I get a place.

Well done to all involved - organisers, riders, supporters - all made it what it was.

A reserve list sounds like a really good idea. It's terrible to think there were so many unfilled places after all the trouble it took to get one.

I also think they made it too easy, in terms of ascent. My Garmin only said about 1350m over 160km. They could easily add in some more climbs, and just have alternate routes for those that don't want to do them.

I found myself more than once approaching a traffic island on a four lane section, opting to go to the right as there were people on my left, having someone faster trying to squeeze round my front to go to the left of the island- with nobody to their right.

I echo some of the comments above - thought it was a great event, brilliantly organised.

The crowds were brilliant but I agree that Dorking won the prize for the best bunch.

Also the transport bags were huge so I just carried all my stuff in my usual rucksack on my back, then transferred the lot to the bag. I admit though it would have been handy for that to have been clearer.

Also found out that Boris goes an OK lick (well, faster than I thought he'd be) on the flat and provides a very effective wind break.

Really enjoyed the event, it was worth the hassle of getting down to London. Good route, well organised and great fun riding on the closed roads.

If there was one change I could make, the registration the evening before was a real pain for people travelling - with a 5pm deadline. I got stuck in a traffic jam on the way down and only made it with 15 minutes to spare. It would be better if they could post the registration packs, or failing that to have registration open until say 9pm.

Amazing event, really well organised... except the chaos of Car Park C. Cars were able to enter about one per minute causing huge queues blocking Great Eastern Street in both directions. After 30 minutes queuing I was about to miss my time so I parked up in a side street rather than sitting there in frustration.

At least one of the slicks of Hi-5 gel wrappers I saw I reckon had been caused by a bin at a drinks station blowing over

That was huge fun. Even with the agonising pain of Leith Hill (the article fails to mention the not inconsiderable climb up to Newlands Corner). Rounding the corner into Admiralty Arch was massively inspiring, the noise at that point was a huge boost.

Applications open in a few days...

(sorry to hear about the chaos you had TheClaw, sounds like a terrible cock up that only affected your wave)

Things that could improve?
A reserve list would be good- there were supposed to be 20-25000 I thought, in the end it was under 17000 with under 16000 finishing
the bags for transfer from start to finish could be better designed- not easy to carry for a few miles by bike.
Not trying to hand gels to people going past at 17-20mph. That's the main cause of the wrapper slicks, people were trying to grab them and couldn't. Just hand them out at the hubs and drink stations to stopped riders. We're not pros, and even they wouldn't take single gels from stationary soigneurs whilst moving.

The worst part of this article is the realisation that I sometimes dress like Boris Johnson.

salad cream?

Yes a thoroughly enjoyable event and itching to do it again to beat my 6h 59 min time. Only thing that spoilt it for me were the amount of energy gel wrappers left all over the road. This may cause the locals to block another event !

Was a load of fun and I came in well under my target time with an overall of 5 hours, 21 minutes and 5 seconds. Can't wait until next year!

Big Thank you to the people of Kingston who gave me a massive boost when I went through the high st, for the 2nd time. I was starting to cramp and their encouragement gave me the Kick I needed, it was moving.
The event was amazing, the closed road experience was something to behold and the Chopper count was minimal, apart from one bellend who keep weaving & cutting people up, then did a Houdini on anything more than a speed bump. I say him later with road scuffs to testify to his tooldom.

I had an awesome day. I lost 25kg last year and this was my keep the weight off challenge, having never ridden that far before. After realizing at 80 miles I was on for sub 5:30 I was a man on a mission. According to the times online I did the last 9 miles in 19 minutes - I suspect the tail wind helped - and ended up with a time of 5:16 so well chuffed.

The crowds were amazing, especially the people who obviously came out quite early to cheer us through central London and give us plenty of encouragement up Leith Hill.

After training hard all year for this, I'm not too macho to admit there might have been a tear in the eye as I crossed the finish.

Of course, now I'm hooked so need to find some similar challenges to do.

Yesterday was my first century, having only done 70-80 mile rides before. What a great way to do it! The course was good, and the crowds were fantastic.

Apart from one small muck-up by the organisers on my start (I was in the team challenge and they put 3 of us in the black start and me in the blue start), everything else went pretty smoothly.

The first 25 miles were very fast as groups formed and it showed my lack of bunch riding. Luckily the guys in my 'team' helped me out with some tips.

Descending on closed roads was fantastic -- being able to apex the corner without worrying about traffic. Amazing experience.

We decided to be very relaxed about it, not worrying about a time, and made use of the hubs each time to grab some food, use the toilet and keep it social. We all had a great time and the finish in the Mall, with my kids on the hairpin corner watching, gave me goosebumps

What a fantastic event, the roadside spectators and supporters certainly made it special.

Riding through London on multi-lane carriageways with no traffic was a liberating experience.

I found it amusing that on the majority of the route despite the closed road 90% of riders stuck to the left handside of the left lane, habits are hard to break.

Does anyone know if a finishing order is published? Can only see the individual times on the ridelondon website....