Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Ride London Ballot

Does anyone know the real nature of the Ride London Ballot?  I'm asking because I have been unsuccessful again - not a surprise as the are 100K entries for 20K places ( of which I think 5K are charity places).  The real surprise stories are the people who seem to get entries every year - how does that happen?   

 

Before you reply withe the standard "it's a ballot, that's the luck of the draw" consider the odds,  if getting a place is 1 in 5, ten getting a place 4 years in a row is getting towards unrealistically small 

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

Add new comment

26 comments

Avatar
Jem PT | 8 years ago
0 likes

I got rejected last year but did it through a charity. Got rejected this year, but can't do it anyway.

It is a great day, but Tour of Cambridge is also good, so any rejects should go for that. I know of one female who has had offers three years in a row and another female who has had three rejections in a row, so sex isn't the only factor.

Avatar
graybags | 8 years ago
2 likes

That year was pretty special, my socks are still drying out !

Avatar
CXR94Di2 | 8 years ago
1 like

If you have never done it before and keep getting rejected,  sign upto a charity, raise a few hundred quid and have great day.  I have done it once, I raised money, far more than required, it was quite easy, family friends, work pals etc.  

 

I will always have the memories of the 2014 Storm, drains popping up, raging floods that covered your feet in water, whizzing out of London full of enthusiasm and the ride back into London, oh and the medal  4

Avatar
Bigpikle | 8 years ago
0 likes

Perhaps the real reason for the questions and desire to increase the number of applications, is to be able to sell your data afterwards? A few questions means people can be better segmented and targeted by advertisers and perhaps makes the data more valuable?

I may just be cynical and totally wrong here, but does the T&C's of the application specifically say they dont sell on your data? Just wondering...

Avatar
Judge dreadful | 8 years ago
1 like

It's my second acceptance in a row.

 

I enjoyed it last year, and that's from someone who rarely does Sportives. I hope the weather holds out again this year, as that did help.

Avatar
Pantster | 8 years ago
0 likes

rejected this year. Done the previous 3 but one of them was a guaranteed entry from a wattbike purchase.

What annoys me is the guaranteed place if you pull out due sickness. I believe there was a lot of this with the biblically wet RL, lots deciding a probably dry ride the following year would be better. For every person who has one of these places one cant get a place the following year

Avatar
Rapha Nadal | 8 years ago
0 likes

I'm not sure there's too much that influences the descision.  My first ride was via a charity place & I got in via the ballot both last year and this year.  I've never ridden any of the event listed on the application and my times have varied wildly - a little over 4 hours on my first attempt, 7 for my 2nd due to crippling cramp!  It really is luck of the draw.

I wonder if you get as shirty if you don't hit the lottery jackpot each week!? 

Avatar
Leviathan | 8 years ago
0 likes

Simontuck,

Here is Vsauce to help you with randomness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rIy0xY99a0

What you describe is exactly random. Keep trying, the only thing that is certain is if you don't enter the ballot you won't win a spot. 

Avatar
d_jp | 8 years ago
0 likes

I had three rejections previously (although I rode the storm event in 2014 for charity... so still not done the 100  3 ) & then got an acceptance this year .  My wife didn't get in so being female doesn't necessarily equate to more likely to get a place.  So the only thing common seems to be the random nature of it  1

Avatar
Simontuck | 8 years ago
0 likes

The Tour of Cambridge is a much better event (so far because it hasn't reached critical mass and is harder to get to I guess). You can enter without having to wait several months to find out if you're in or out. You can get to the front of the line if you want to get an earlier start time (it doesn't start until midday anyway so no 4am wake up calls!!). I got my second rejection magazine in a row, I didn't even open the envelope, a complete waste of paper. Last year I did it anyway because I managed to find someone who had 'won' a place and then couldn't go. It was fun, and I would like to do it again, but I won't lose much sleep over it. I also know people who have managed to win a place every year so far, and others who have entered and not won a place every year so far. There's no consistency, and no fairness. It's rubbish and people have started trying to cheat the system by entering multiple times under different names. I believe they've tried to prevent men entering as women now, but I don't know if it worked!! Why should I raise £750 to ride on closed roads? If charities are lowering it to £400 odd then it shows you that maybe we need to just one year stop going to the charities and they'll have to lower their greedy expectations, or work to be a bit more respectable, or just drop out and leave more places for the ballot- some of the charities are a bit of a joke too aren't they? It worked for football supporters?

Avatar
Judge dreadful replied to Simontuck | 8 years ago
3 likes

Simontuck wrote:

The Tour of Cambridge is a much better event (so far because it hasn't reached critical mass and is harder to get to I guess). You can enter without having to wait several months to find out if you're in or out. You can get to the front of the line if you want to get an earlier start time (it doesn't start until midday anyway so no 4am wake up calls!!). I got my second rejection magazine in a row, I didn't even open the envelope, a complete waste of paper. Last year I did it anyway because I managed to find someone who had 'won' a place and then couldn't go. It was fun, and I would like to do it again, but I won't lose much sleep over it. I also know people who have managed to win a place every year so far, and others who have entered and not won a place every year so far. There's no consistency, and no fairness. It's rubbish and people have started trying to cheat the system by entering multiple times under different names. I believe they've tried to prevent men entering as women now, but I don't know if it worked!! Why should I raise £750 to ride on closed roads? If charities are lowering it to £400 odd then it shows you that maybe we need to just one year stop going to the charities and they'll have to lower their greedy expectations, or work to be a bit more respectable, or just drop out and leave more places for the ballot- some of the charities are a bit of a joke too aren't they? It worked for football supporters?

 

 

Avatar
What Mid Life Crisis | 8 years ago
0 likes

first acceptance in four attempts - will be my fourth ride. Previous three, signed up for charity place. Signed up this year with Richard House - a children's hospice. They ask for £300 min fundraising. I will still fundraise for them, but I will give back their place so they can get another rider. It's a great charity, and £300 is at the lower end of the spectrum. Echo the sentiment re the event - riding out through the centre of London and the return is amazing on the closed roads, the support is as close as I will ever get to riding in front of a crowd, and even the hurricane in 2014 couldn't spoil the day.

Avatar
usedtobefaster | 8 years ago
1 like

3rd time unlucky for me, got in for the 2nd year when we had the tail end of the hurricane and the organisers cut the course so I really feel I have unfinished business with this event.

As the OP says I know rider that have got an entry every year, and sorry but I don't believe that's down to luck, more like they've worked out what to write in the application, I'd love to see the details of the picking algorithm.

I think a rule change is needed such as if a rider got an entry the previous year they can't enter the current years, or if you've had 3 rejections in a row your get an automatic place on the next one (I think this is how the London Marathon works)

Just glad I'm riding the Velothon which is a better course anyway  1

 

Avatar
Wookie | 8 years ago
1 like

IT IS A LUCKY DIP you could be rejected year after year or accepted year after year. Please stop whining. So you didn’t get a place boo hoo ah poor diddums.

Avatar
pruaga | 8 years ago
0 likes

3rd rejection in a row for me. I'd predicted a time of 6 hours, not sure where on a bell curve this would put me.

The fact that there are lots of people getting rejected every year while others get accepted every year suggests there is more to it then just a lucky dip.

Maybe a successful entry should prevent entering the next year and a no show should be a lifetime ban. Let fresh people have priority then repeat entrants make up the numbers.

Avatar
wycombewheeler | 8 years ago
2 likes

There is also the velothon for closed ride riding.

Personally I think they should exclude everyone who rode last year, or just didn't show.

I got a place this year, denied last year. I won't enter next year. Others should have a chance.

Avatar
average_joe | 8 years ago
0 likes

It's a shame for people who really want to do RL, but there are other closed road events out there.  I did the Tour of Cambridge Gand Fondo last year, it had a fantastic atmosphere with people in the villages cheering us on and kids asking for high fives.  Plus you have the chance to quailfy for the amateur world champs (although they're in Australia this year)

http://www.tourofcambridge.com/Tour_of_Cambridge_Gran_Fondo.php

I'm doing it again this year, plus I'm also doing the Tour of the Borders up in Scotland.

http://tourotheborders.com/

 

Avatar
DaveT | 8 years ago
2 likes

Standard refusal again for me, standard acceptance again this year for the girlfriend.

I'm not committed enough to cycling to go for the sex change, so I'll just do something more local instead.

Avatar
jollygoodvelo replied to DaveT | 8 years ago
0 likes

DaveT wrote:

Standard refusal again for me, standard acceptance again this year for the girlfriend.

THIS is the reason.

 

25k places.  5k charity and VIP/celeb places are taken.

80k applications for 20k pleb places.  Probably at least 70k / 10k male/female split.

In previous years RL have confirmed that they draw male and female separately.  Clearly not all females get a place, so it's not 1:1, maybe 2:1 or 3:1 M/F.

If we assume 3:1, that means 15k out of 70k male places (24%), 5k out of 10k female (66%).

 

Given these assumptions, after four years:

Chance of getting in all four times is 24.3% ^ 4 = 0.3%.  

Change of not getting in at all is 75.7% ^ 4 = 32.8%.  So you're unlucky, but not as unlucky as you think.

 

 

Avatar
Simon E | 8 years ago
1 like

Wouldn't waste my energy speculating TBH, put it into something positive.

Our club received an email from Nightingale Hospice last month saying they had 20 places. You have to commit to raising £500 but get a jersey, fundraising support etc.

"Every penny raised by those riding with one of our guaranteed places will fund end of life care for patients across North East Wales."

http://www.nightingalehouse.co.uk/event/ridelondon-surrey-100/

That's surely a good reason to go for it if you really want to do the event. The feedback from Leviathan and many others suggest it's one of the best sportive experiences you can hope for in the UK.

 

Avatar
Leviathan | 8 years ago
0 likes

PS. my profile pic is at the end of the 2013 event in front of Buckingham Palace wearing GB olympic kit off ebay from the year before. I watched the mens road race at home on the TV in 2012, then one year later I was charging down the same course with people cheering me/us through central London. It's the closest I will ever get to being in the Olympics (sorry.)

Avatar
Leviathan | 8 years ago
0 likes

Sorry to rub it in, but I now have my acceptance mag. 3/4 times successful in the ballot. I did loose out last year; and I am coming down from Manchester. Perhaps there is a bias against just all "local" types. I really hope you find a way to do it. You've never heard these words together before... Putney High Street is amazing!

Avatar
arfa | 8 years ago
0 likes

I believe that the key factor is forecast time and they want to include a fair cut of ech range of times. So, think of a "normal distribution bell curve", the most likely reply will surround the average (or mean) and therefore a lower probability of success. In a nutshell, either go very fast or very slow.......

Avatar
Anthony.C | 8 years ago
0 likes

Get a guaranteed charity place if you really want to do it, some of them  ask you to raise as little as 400 quid.

Avatar
oceandweller | 8 years ago
0 likes

The ballot entry form seems to imply the ballot is loaded. It asks about other events including previous RL100s, club membership(s), etc., all of which is pointless if it's a straight 1-chance-in-5 ballot. If it's loaded then having form from the RL100 would increase the odds of getting a place in future. That said, a friend of mine who got a place on the 2nd RL100 hasn't won a place since.

Incidentally, is it only me or have others found the rejection letter (my 3rd) rather offensive? It talks about the ballot being oversubscribed as if it was somehow a complete surprise, when the whole thing has been **arranged** to be oversubscribed. Last year they closed the ballot after 80k entries, this year they upped that to 100k. Presumably they'll accept 120k entries next year & so on, until the ballot only closes if the entire country enters.   2

The whole ballot concept is totally unfair anyway but I'll keep on applying. I'm 66 now & I'm not sure how much longer I'll be capable of doing a 100 miles, but however much I dislike the ballot system I'd really, really like to do the RL100 once while I still can. It's the closed roads. My Sunday morning training rides are always  hampered by stopping for lights, major roads, white vans turning etc. & I'd like to know what I could do if I wasn't constantly slowing down for traffic. Ho-hum, probably never find out though.   2

Avatar
sergius | 8 years ago
0 likes

4th time unlucky for me (probably just as well as we'd arranged to go to disneyland without checking the dates and I get back the day before!)

Latest Comments