[PhillBrown]

Afternoon Team!

So… With Ride London bearing down on us this weekend… Who else is taking part and what time do you start? With 25,000 people out there, it will be difficult to look out for Road.cc socks – But a good challenge all the same!

It’s the first time I have entered and I was also lucky enough to get a ballot place too!

Really looking forward to the ride… After taking part in the Welsh Velothon a few weeks back, I can only image the closed roads of London & Surrey will be just as much fun!

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[PhillBrown]

Ha… Fantastic taper! How
Ha… Fantastic taper! How did you get on Simon?

I had a great day… Started nice and early so missed any of the fallout from the incident on Leith Hill – Poor chap unfortunately went into cardiac arrest and passed away about 11am. The road was closed for an air ambulance to attend but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Thoughts go out to his friends and family.

Overall, it was nice to be out early and miss any of the trouble. I heard many a bad word about the recklessness of riders later on in the pack and people causing unnecessary incidents from being silly.

I left the start in a very quick train, but unfortunately dropped a bottle whilst exiting Richmond Park. I could have pressed on to catch them but, decided to cap my heart rate at a reasonable level to save myself for the last 40km. Seemed to be a good idea as I passed most of the group I was with on Newlands Corner and Box Hill.

The rolling hills of Surrey provided a dose of great riding, I kept the cap on my heart rate and climbed nice and easily at a comfortable pace. Turns out that in the two Strava KOM challenges, I was around 500th of the circa 10,000 people that took part, happy with that!

The last 40km, I went hard… All of the cyclist seemed to stick to the left of the the closed roads which were two lanes wide. This gave me the perfect opportunity to get my head down and power along the right hand side without having to worry about there being any obstructions. The crowds, the noise, the atmosphere was just incredible – right the way up to the line. I got into a peloton of about 130 people from Kingston travelling at an average of around 45km/h until the end of Whitehall. The crowds there deserve medals themselves for the support they were giving, inspirational.

With King Charles on horseback and Admiral Nelson peering from atop his column, it was through Admiralty arch and with the finish line in sight, it was hammer time… The whole peloton started to sprint… There was a few elbows and nudges out of the way, but I was on the outside and whilst squeezed next to the barrier, managed to slip right around the outside of the peloton for a unforgettable sprint finish on The Mall.

Official time of 4 hours 33 min and 48 seconds. My aim was a sub 5 hour, but I though that was quite optimistic… Instead, I ended up smashing it.

Loved it, every minute of it.

[Simontuck]

I’m starting just after 8.
I’m starting just after 8. I’ll have my road.cc socks on and a mostly white kit with ‘Viva Velo’ written on it and a rocket taking off.

I’m lucky enough to have ridden most of the course at some point, but I have a massive fever at the moment so I’m crossing my fingers that I can get rid of it in time! Won a place on Cav’s rise above sportive next week too! So consider this the taper….

[iUpham]

I wish I was but sadly not
I wish I was but sadly not this year. Hope you have a good time buddy 🙂

[Author]

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