UPDATED Sunday 1430: The route of today’s Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 sportive has been changed after three air ambulances were called in response to a crash. It was subsequently reported that a cyclist taking part in the event had hit a tree.
According to a spokeswoman for the South East Coast ambulance service, quoted on Guardian.co.uk, the male rider crashed into a tree.
“It is not known whether he hit the tree on his bike or whether he came off his bike prior to hitting the tree,” said the spokeswoman.
“He was airlifted to St George’s Hospital [in Tooting, South West London] and is in a serious condition.”
Katie Meadway, who witnessed the incident, said on Twitter that there were “three air ambulances and countless ambulances” in attendance.
She wrote: “Just been told by stewards that those involved in accident are OK but it is considered serious.”
The Guardian reports that a subsequent incident also required a participant to be taken to hospital by air ambulance, although as yet there are no details of what happened or where on the course it took place.
Many of the 27,000 cyclists taking part in the fourth edition of the event had been waiting for up to an hour behind the scene of the incident, which took place around 40 miles in, with Twitter user Peter Brown describing it as a “nasty crash.”
Shortly before 10.30am this morning, organisers confirmed on Twitter that the route would be amended as a result of the incident.
1/2 Due to an incident that required an air ambulance to attend, riders in the RideLondon-Surrey 100 have been held on the route in Surrey
— RideLondon (@RideLondon) July 31, 2016
2/2 planned contingency route from West Byfleet to Ripley is being opened & riders will be directed to that route. More info when available
— RideLondon (@RideLondon) July 31, 2016
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32 thoughts on “Updated: Cyclist seriously injured after hitting tree during RideLondon sportive”
I was there and saw some of
I was there and saw some of the injured rider, sorry this might be a little graphic.
I didn’t see the incident with the tree, that must have happened after I passed. I was off at 6:39 and making good pace with some faster groups, so there was no clog of riders even at Leith Hill. Just at the bottom of the descent from Leith Hill around Abinger and about 10:00 there were three riders on the ground. About 100 riders were squeezing past as there was nowhere else to go. Many more people were still descending very fast off Leith Hill through the gorge. This was just as the road opens out, but is still steep. In 2013 I went down there at 73kph max, still the fastest I’ve ever gone, and a touch of wheels at those speeds wouldn’t be nice.
There was a young woman sitting on the road with a guy sitting behind her supporting her, she was a little bloodied and holding an arm, further on was another man sitting in hedge, and in between was a man in his 40s lying flat on his back in the middle of the road. He was conscious but his entire face was covered in blood. There was a thick flow of blood running away from him for over a meter down the road, and it looked purple. I might have gotten there within 2/3 mins of the incident. Marshalls and some locals were already there helping.
Even if they closed the road up to Leith Hill immediately, there could be a few thousand people going over it who had no choice but to pass this incident lest they cause another crash behind.
I am sorry for those that didn’t get to do the full course or were delayed, I did 2014 in the (arse) end of a hurricane and missed these climbs but for good reason. The volunteers do a great job, I hope they get a massive goody bag or guaranteed entry next year.
There was one other short delay in Kingston on the way back in. This was due to sheer numbers of riders and too narrow barriers on the high street. They need to review how the 100 and 46 mile riders merge. There were a lot of slower 46 mile riders spread across the road with aero bike guys barrelling down the road to the extreme right of them. Clipping a curb/kerb wouldn’t be nice either.
Leviathan wrote:
The incident the article refers to was way before Leith Hill and some 6 miles or so before Newlands Corner. We were stopped for about 50 minutes, but the timing for us meant the diversion was put in after we’d passed it.
At the end of the day all most of us lost was time the guy in the accident could have lost a lot more.
This is my third year of
This is my third year of cycling this event and this year it was shambolic. From the start, to some of the feed stations and the ‘festival zone’ making female cyclists get changed behind a tent with no privacy. Not a good showcase for the event. I said it last year, reduce the number of cyclists and increase the time between waves. Conversely, use wider roads.
It is great to see that the riders are going to be OK. However, this is a mass participation event and situations such as crashes should be managed to ensure flow. Rapid route changes, not two hour changes. This has now become a yearly ritual – delays and accidents. You’d think they’d have built up contingency planning to handle these situations. I passed the 37 mile marker before they put the diversion in place, we had to wait for two and half hours with zero information except those who were able to get access to 3G and the unless Twitter account. We did Tweet to ask for help/advice but no replies were given to us. They were not turning us around, we were left to it. Throughout my wait I did not see a single steward – I witnessed plenty at the 40 mile mark (some of them sitting on the floor and not actually stewarding), could have easily back tracked to provide information to riders. After this mark there were too many riders on the course, bottlenecks everywhere making it very unsafe to ride at any speed. I was out on the course this year for 9 hours – last year I did it in 5 hours. So delays of about 4 hours. Thats on the reduce course of 92 miles.
I’ll very sadly give it a miss nextyear.
My mate & I were stuck @
My mate & I were stuck @ Pyrford for about 45 mins- Everyone was good natured but the mood sombered when we saw the air ambulance . Riding past the incident & seeing the rider’s belongings bought it home to us asto how easy these things can happen when there is a mix of rider abiltities.
The impact on people didn’t last- So many riders ( all blokes) seem to treat the whole thing as an out and out race and were very aggresive if you didnt get out the way in a nano second. Guys -if you want to race & chaingang your way round then don’t do London… Go and race crits or something where you can shout at riders to “get out the effing way” If you were that good you would have been in the pro race but your aren’t so calm down & enjoy the day for what it was- A celebration of cycling on closed roads with crowds of people cheering & giving high fives as we rode through some beautiful villages in the sunshine- A truly memorable day
simonb wrote:
Well said. I had to widen my line to avoid someone going down directly in front of me through a sharp turn in Richmond. I touched arms with the rider to my right, only the barest of touches, I didn’t lean on the guy, and he was able to move into space on his right in any case. His reaction was to shout “hold your fucking line you fucking chopper” at me. The guy was wearing a club jersey (can’t remember which) and stayed in the group until we hit the incline in the park, where he promptly went backwards.
srchar wrote:
If you were close enough to touch arms, you were close enough to hit the idiot. I hope that guy reads this site – you are the f-cking chopper.
We got stopped about 400m
We got stopped about 400m back from the incident, and were more or less stationary for about an hour. In that time though there was a little grumbling about communication, it was quickly clear that the incident was severe and that there was no alternative route at this point. Everyone nearby was polite and well behaved- when vehicles needed to pass through everyone got to the side quickly and no-one took the piss by cycling behind them to get to the front. There was a stream of stewards came by on foot to assess the situation and work out how to get people moving again.
It was sobering to pass the guy’s clothing on the ground near his bike- I formed a human sight screen for a friend who was quite shaken up by it. In retrospect, even more sobering now I know that he didn’t make it.
this is the location
It’s a nasty little lane. At that stage of the ride it’s possibly too narrow- but there’s very few roads in that area crossing the Wey- there’s a narrower lane with a full on hairpin nearer the M25, the next road west is around the edge of Woking.
I was in a club group- do remember that a section of the entry is reserved for the “British Cycling Club Challenge”- and we did hit it fast on the way out of London with another club group, but without any yelling at people to get out the way. At Pyrford we’d throttled back a bit because of the narrower roads, and took it more carefully- doubly so after passing the accident site.
Until, that was, we passed Putney and hooked into a growing group including RAF and Solihull riders that took advantage of thinner traffic along the Chelsea Emabnkment to the finish to, erm, speed up a bit. But it was still polite I felt. I hope.
Al__S wrote:
?
Hadn’t heard that but even sadder news if true. Is this official?
psling wrote:
May be a different rider – no less tragic.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ridelondon-death-cyclist-robin-chard-dies-during-race-heart-attack-a7166046.html
Duncann wrote:
How desperately cruel is that. Heart attack while collecting for charity…
unconstituted wrote:
It’s a different rider to the crash in the article.
Quite tragic.
psling wrote:
It in the Evening Standard that someone passed away, it doesn’t clarify where though….. very sad news.
I have been fortunate enough to get a place every year so far, and there was something different about this year compared to other years, certainly more aggressive.
You get it in most large participation events but never seen it this bad, moving up on the inside, not calling out obstructions, not moving over, shouting and swearing at other riders, lobbing rubbish, and other just general nobby behaviour.
I have been in this event
I have been in this event since the beginning and the organisers and volunteers do an excellent job. When you are trying to marshal 30000 riders there are going to be delays and incidents but people need to remember this isn’t a race. As Simonb said there are proper outlets for those with racing ambitions and it’s not that expensive.
First time, and I thought the
First time, and I thought the organisation, esp at the start, was superb. I was in quite a late group- scheduled start at 0813, and we rolled over the line within a minute or too of that.
There is, though, a big difficulty with the mix of abilities, or, at least, the mix of ambitions for the day.
Obviously I can understand why people want to go fast and try to set a good time, but with so many people and such a mixed ability/ speed range, it is just not sensible or safe. And, frankly, it is disgraceful that some were shouting at others to get out of their way. I can see why in something that is intended to be a hard and fast ride it is particularly frustrating if there is poor etiquette on the part of people moving more slowly in not keeping left etc, but surely Ride London is not that event?
simonb makes complete sense –
simonb makes complete sense – the guys that want to chain gang round shouting at people to move need to get real – and if you have a start time after 8 then forget it and simply enjoy the ride, you cant blaze round the course.
This event is based on establishing a cycling legacy and, like the marathon, enabling thousands of ordinary souls to raise huge chunks of money for charity – if you’re not into that kind of thing fine but you have to realise what kind of event it is. It isn’t an open road for racing, there is not enough space!
I hit loads of hold ups but didn’t feel distressed about lack of Twitter info – there is hold up for a reason, often a serious reason, they don’t stop you for a laugh so sit tight and wait like all the other grown ups.
Again this year I was stuck at the bottom of Leith Hill for an age and again like last year the young marshalls worked their socks off going along the crowds, explaining what had happened and how they were going to split everybody into waves and get them started again on the hill. I thought they did a great job.
I do think there are issues now with the numbers and the narrow lanes so lets hope feedback is solicited and improvements made to make a great event better.
Re “get out the… way”
Re “get out the… way”
I had the opposite problem. I am used to looking back when I move over, due to riding on the road of course, so I was still doing that. Soon after the start on the A12 I noticed a guy behind in a yellow fluorescent top. I was steaming across London at about 35kph, enjoying the sights and open road, but every time I changed direction and looked I could see this same luminous blob behind me. I even had to dodge a large pothole (with a painted edge) on the Embankment and heard a yelp from behind. I slowed quite a bit around Trafalgar Square and he came up beside me and I said something like “well go on then.” But he didn’t.
I carried on for another several miles and finally got too annoyed about the Hammersmith fly over, I just coasted and he finally passed me. I enquired why he had been drafting me for 20km and he said “I was going about the right speed” I told him it was ruude, with extra u’s, he said he could do what he wants its a public road. After further nonsense exchanges I told him “If you’re so fast, then on you go…” and he did, moving off up the road wheel sucking someone else. I lost sight of him about Richmond park with him barely expended any energy for the first quarter of the event.
I don’t mind a bit of drafting on these events, mini chain gangs form all the time, that is part of the fun of it. Several times I was behind the same guy or girl for a couple minutes, but not the same person, and I regular break forward myself and have others following me; but this was taking the piss.
I didn’t say “Its a Sportive not a race.” I hope he baked in his stupid top. [Let it go, let it go.]
Leviathan wrote:
I wonder if that the yellow blob I had sitting on my wheel for over 10 miles at the end :-/ I didn’t have the energy to up it to beyond 21mph to lose him so I tried the opposite tactic to lose him going downhills at 15mph, the nobber and his noisy freehub just sat there though. I tried it a few times but he still sat there. And I must admit although my instinct was to give hand signals afeter a while I deliberately stopped doing it, probably pointless as my shoulder check before moving out gave every movement away. With all the slowing down I got a fresh set of legs for the penultimate 5miles and was motoring at 25mph he still sat there but it worried me less as there was more of a gap. About 2miles from the end two blokes went by at speed and I became the wheel sucker to lose him (it finally worked). I was going to come by but I then thought what if I blow up and get the wheel sucker back so I stayed on their wheel to the end. In the unlikely event they are reading this, thanks and sterling effort guys.
That aside getting back to the OP/story like a lot of people I was caught immediately behind the tree accident but like reported there was no grumbling around me. A mate ahead also had to abandon after somebody swerved in front of him causing him to lose control in Richmond Park and have an unfortunate crash with one of the wooden bollards which wrote of his bike and led to stiches. Fortunately, he cleaned up well I hear. I also saw another bloke down looking a mess. However, despite all this it actually felt safer to me this year but thats probably because we were in a much later wave and it had started to thin out quite a bit (relatively at least) and apart from Wheel suckers I was rode the second half solo.
Rode in a group of three last year and when I was in the second row behind the other two riders who were side by side an unknown fourth rider joined the pack. If I was behind the slowest rider and he became marginally the faster the idiot would jump onto his wheel forgetting I was there :-/ He almost had me off a few times and couldn’t hold his line at corners either.
HLaB wrote:
It must have been another one, we went quite early and missed (most of) the delays*. Some people are too busy ‘doing their own thing’ to notice they are pissing other people off.
*Unless I passed him at a feed station unnoticed. Ha, the Phantom Wheel Sucker, Velocabra.
Leviathan wrote:
I’m relatively new to sportives, and proper cycling in general – this years Ride100 was only my fourth and I loved it.
I didn’t sit on anyone’s wheel as I enjoyed the challenge myself but it wouldn’t have crossed my mind at all that it’s bad etiqette to do so.
Why do you care who is drafting behind you?
It’s not like you’re towing the person behind so what difference does it make to your ride?
barrymcgee wrote:
Personally I couldn’t give a toss if someone ‘sits on’. Makes no difference to my forward progress. There is an understanding though that it is polite to offer a turn on the front and to share the workload. In my case I always end up slowing down the other rider(s) so invariably end up at the back.
barrymcgee wrote:
Sitting on / near someone in front reduces the effort you have to put in to over come wind resistance by around 20 to 30%…..its loads ! its just not polite to do that for miles without taking a turn….especially then to try to over take the person or train who have been doing all the work
barrymcgee wrote:
I enquired why he had been drafting me for 20km and he said “I was going about the right speed” I told him it was ruude, with extra u’s, he said he could do what he wants its a public road.
— barrymcgee
I’m relatively new to sportives, and proper cycling in general – this years Ride100 was only my fourth and I loved it.
I didn’t sit on anyone’s wheel as I enjoyed the challenge myself but it wouldn’t have crossed my mind at all that it’s bad etiqette to do so.
Why do you care who is drafting behind you?
It’s not like you’re towing the person behind so what difference does it make to your ride?
— Leviathan
The issue comes when said person doesn’t come through for their turn, not that they’re sat on the wheel. Why would you want to spend the majority of your ride towing some stranger around (because that’s what you’re doing) who then refuses to share the workload when asked?
Rapha Nadal wrote:
I’m relatively new to sportives, and proper cycling in general – this years Ride100 was only my fourth and I loved it.
I didn’t sit on anyone’s wheel as I enjoyed the challenge myself but it wouldn’t have crossed my mind at all that it’s bad etiqette to do so.
Why do you care who is drafting behind you?
It’s not like you’re towing the person behind so what difference does it make to your ride?
— barrymcgee
The issue comes when said person doesn’t come through for their turn, not that they’re sat on the wheel. Why would you want to spend the majority of your ride towing some stranger around (because that’s what you’re doing) who then refuses to share the workload when asked?— Leviathan
Thank you, I’m not crazy. It’s not about people following you, its about how long they are doing it for. I don’t know how long is okay, but this was too far, and I gave him a chance to overtake, which he ignored, only to lock on to my arse again. How long would he have stayed there for if I’d not called him out? He looked like Michael Gove #Dick.
Leviathan wrote:
The issue comes when said person doesn’t come through for their turn, not that they’re sat on the wheel. Why would you want to spend the majority of your ride towing some stranger around (because that’s what you’re doing) who then refuses to share the workload when asked?— barrymcgee
Thank you, I’m not crazy. It’s not about people following you, its about how long they are doing it for. I don’t know how long is okay, but this was too far, and I gave him a chance to overtake, which he ignored, only to lock on to my arse again. How long would he have stayed there for if I’d not called him out? He looked like Michael Gove #Dick.— Leviathan
The other week I was riding solo and just beginning to feel my energy levels drop, when another solo rider came past me. I asked if I could drop on his wheel for a bit, which he was happy for, which just gave me the time I needed to re-energise, upon which I then took the lead. We ended up chatting for nearly 10 miles, transpired we had mutual friends and will ride together soon. Happy days.
There will always be crashes
There will always be crashes unfortunately, it’s just the nature of the event with 25,000 on a course. Sure, you get those who think they should have a free run at the course just as you get those unfamiliar with group riding. A bit of common sense or ejection of the former when marshals spot breaches (tearing through a feed zone comes to mind and I saw a crash two years ago as a result). A bit of training for the latter might help and I do think some sort of qualifier event might be sensible so riders aren’t venturing on to the course with no experience of lots of bikes in a bunch.
The one serious question mark I have is over Leith hill. It’s a longish descent on a poor quality road surface with pinch points. To make matters worse, the tree coverage makes it hard to see potholes etc. Tear down this section and you’re in for some nasty accidents.
It remains a very well organised event and ultimately safety is everyone’s responsibility.
4th year riding this event.
4th year riding this event. It seems that a lot of the quality of riding by those going ‘really fast’ was poor – putting themselves and others at risk.
Lots of people want to get their best time on this race as it’s a real acheivement – but for those who see 100 miles as a tt of sorts, suggest you leave it at home next year or ride with some care and attention.
An awesome event though – best legacy of the olympics for me!
ps.. I’m not saying that those in the accidents weren’t riding without due care, just a general standards comment.
Is there a requirement of
Is there a requirement of entry to have doctors certificates as there is with European sportives such as Marmotte & Etape?
Ah, got confused between the
Ah, got confused between the reports of the crash and the reports of the death.
There’s no medical certificate requirements.
The medical certificate
The medical certificate requirement is almost universal here in France – every event I’ve been on requires one unless you hold an FFC licence, which I believe requires a medical certificate to be supplied in any case.
However, it’s all a bit of a farce – doctors don’t want to have their time taken up performing a basic systems medical on someone. When I asked for an appointment to get my cert ‘renewed’ for another year, I got a phone interview (paraphrasing, it went “Are you fit and well?” – “Yes”) and was told it would be waiting for me on the front desk the next day. I wasn’t complaining – saved us both a bit of time, but as a means of reducing the number of these tragedies, it’s pretty ineffective. As with many things in France, it’s about the piece of paper and not what the paper says it actually represents.
Maybe it was Gove!!
Maybe it was Gove!!
I didn’t do it this year –
I didn’t do it this year – over in Italy – but I have done the past two years. Both times I had an early start time, but last year noticed far more people claimed a high average speed to get an early start time who plainly were miles off the pace and going backwards from the outset. It doesn’t help.
Anybody heard anything about
Anybody heard anything about how the guy who hit the tree is?
Was just thinking about him this morning.
Re the whole etiquette thing; I fully agree that shouting and swearing is out of order and that this isn’t a race, but people should be able to try and put in a decent time. They should be able to call “on your right” to safely pass others. People shouldn’t be walking up hills in the middle of the road and should generally move to the left when not overtaking others, not dawdling along in the gutter on the right hand side of the road.
If people use common sense and think of others there is no reason why everybody can’t ride together. I’m by no means one of the faster riders, probably nearer the middle of the pack to be honest, but I like to push on when I can. This event should be a celebration of cycling, not just another charity ride, there are plenty of those available if that’s what you’re looking for. And I’m not saying that you can’t use the event to raise money for charity, I saw and was passed by some perfectly good riders wearing charity jerseys. But have you ever tried to ride up Ditchling Beacon on the BHF London to Brighton ride? We can’t let Ride London vecome like that.