RideLondon-Essex riders halted for 30 minutes because of an incident

I think I was lucky and got to the incident minutes after it happened. There was still 400 people in the road. Thanks to local riders and their mobiles I only lost 13 minutes with a detour around Stebbing Green. However I don't think groups behind us were as fortunate as they were stopped well before the incident and couldn't take that turn, some people waited 50min, not the 30 generally described. It was certainly much less populated after the incident. I was between groups for miles on end back into London.

As some have pointed out below improvements could be make, it is certainly like they are starting the event over again with planning. It all just felt like it was on a smaller scale. The low angle sun at the start was something I never considered until Sunday morning. We were blitzing across the Capital at 40kph in 2019 East to West, but heading up hill into the sun was a grind for the start. And then there is the date. Why move it earlier? It was 9c at the start, I wrapped up for a spring day, but there were so many people dressed like it was a summers day, and a few even got rained on. There was a lot of people pretending to be warm. 

At the end I was surprised that I had still climbed over 1000m, but then again, it is 100 miles. The difference I realized was only about 200+m, i.e. the two big climbs on the old route. Ironically I did better on the old route, even with the climbing. More riders, more drafting. And the old finish was MUCH more impressive. Putney high street and bridge fast, along the Embankment, Parliament Square, Trafalgar Square, The Mall and Buckingham Palace. It had that Olympic sheen. This one was just A-roads then round a corner, bang here's Tower bridge real quick and a wooden medal. I read one comment saying it was an eco thing, and that you might have had your last metal medal pre-pandemic, and you didn't even know it.

My take away question from the event was why were there cones down the middle of the road?   Heading out of London I saw one guy hit one, and stay upright, then a few minutes later the sound of another being hit and then the clatter of a bike hitting the ground a few riders back.   At that point I pulled out of the group I was in and went with one that was riding a little less enthusiastically.

Heading back into London they were back again.   Central reservations also seemed to be a surprise to some riders with last minute swerves to avoid them, and quick reactions from riders around them meaning there was no crash.

Setting off into the sun meant I lost everyone I started with within about 2 miles!  Didn't meet up again until I worked my way through the crowd at the incident site.

Leaving the finish area and into central London traffic was horrendous!  I don't know how people ride up there!!

When I got to the hold-up, it was just a bit in front of me.  They let a group through on foot, but decided to stop that, which left me three people away from freedom.  We stood around and confirmed with a marshall that nothing was going to be happening for a long time; everyone settled down, I changed a slow flat and got cold.   the marhsall did what they could to let people know why they were waiting, but easier said than done in that location. About an hour wating in total, I suppose.  Whatever, it was nothing compared to the bad day out that the guy they were looking after was having.  300 yards further up the road from that one, there was another which they were attending to at the same time.  On the run in to that point there were a fair few misshaps and a swa several near misses - traffic cones in the middle of the orad for the out and back sections, loose gravel in places, and lots of people not keeping their line going around corners in a group.

Lots of groups but, unlike previous rides of a similar ilk I've done, very few in which groups became properly organised.

Top marks for the air ambulance for doing an Insta/bookface flyby to maximise their social media coverage (the patient left by road ambulance)

Timing all over the place as a result, but I'm taking the Wahoo Timing of Truth as gospel....

I hope the IP is ok

I saw a hold up for an injury or something, I think about 50km / 30 miles in, but not the one mentioned above.

The start was chaotic! I arrived at the appointed time, but queued for over an hour to get to the start line. I was pretty calm about it (slightly anxious about my train back to Leeds...!). But I imagine other people might have been impatient. I think the cause could have been people arriving whenever they felt like it... due to contradictory instructions... arrive on time, arrive early, don't arrive early arrive late if you want. Result: 0730 through to 0830 overloaded.

And why couldn't they have published the start times months ago? I booked my trains as soon as they went on sale 12 weeks ago, without knowing my start time.

Overall, I enjoyed the event.

Hearing feedback from friends who did the ride, heading Eastwards towards a rising sun, might not have been the greatest route plan ever devised, and with bollards,speed bumps early on and lots of 90 degree turns in the mix on the route as well as concerns about gravel on the road, riding in big groups became a lot riskier than theyd expected from previous Ride Londons.

Several of them saying they saw enough crashes that made them kind of sit up and adopt a ride to survive to the finish mindset much earlier than theyd planned. And thats not an unusual thing to experience in these kinds of closed roads events at some point as it can start to feel a bit manic at stages when fatigue sets in and with riders hitting the deck, you can lose confidence quickly, but its just to highlight only the most serious accidents ever get the press focus.

The delay was nearly an hour more like, i must have been just behind it given how close the air ambulance was, as mentioned, as soon as we saw the helicopter everyone saw the gravity of the situation and just got on with it. I would imagine the speculation over the incident might have been because half of Essex Police came past us, leading to thoughts of an investigation. 

Overall, a great day out though. 

Must have been ahead of the delay, but saw several injured riders being tended to by paramedics...was told to ride on the right in one section to avoid tacks. People with brooms clearing them up. All told a good event though.

I took a puncture from 2 tacks at Chipping Ongar. Was stopped for the accident but managed to find a way around rather than wait, hope the person is ok. 

Someone had a heart attack is what I hear. But otherwise it seems to have gone well. As for that lame proposal for a 22mph lead car: fastest known ride 3hr 43minutes, 200 riders inside four hours 

Hope whoever is involved is fine.

All those riders in the photo all look like they are trying desperately not to think "FFS, whats the hold up .. I waannnna get goooing .... "