Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Ride London Start Time

Anyone else going to ask for a refund on this shambolic event?

Indicated start time of 8:15 - 8:30. Still waiting shivering in a cold wind dressed for riding at 9:15 with no sign of any movement in the queue. 

Gave up & rode to Richmond instead.
 

 

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

14 comments

Avatar
Chris Hayes | 1 year ago
0 likes

They closed the roads around Canary Wharf and the A12 heading towards the M11 at 0400 for this ride....totally unecessarily in my view.  We were heading to Scotland and I knew that we'd have to leave early so rallied the troops (both of them) to leave at 0500. It took us an hour and a half to get to the M25.

The London Marathon is much better organised. Do they not speak to each other.

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism replied to Chris Hayes | 1 year ago
0 likes

At a guess, they don't normally close most of the A12 route for the Marathon, but also those sections probably also only had two lorries of council workers putting the closure in place for that part of the route so they started early at one end to ensure the full closure was in place by 5 which seems to be the listed time for the A12.

Avatar
Chris Hayes replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
0 likes

I've calmed down now and hope everyone had a great ride, but I was pretty annoyed at the time; most of all at my male 'can't turn back' policy....and because none of the  people who were closing the roads could tell me how to get around it...ended up driving to Cambridge on the A10 which is an underrated road....

Avatar
RunFBRun | 1 year ago
0 likes

You can't blame RideLondon for poor clothing choices, check the forecast!

But the start was shambolic: I arrived on time and joined a slow moving queue up Whitehall and down Northumbeland avenue and started an hour late. I was worried about being on time for my train back to Yorkshire after the event, but otherwise had little to worry about, and enjoyed chatting with the other riders and taking it all in. Needed another pee...

Very poor that the start times were released so late, and with no formal flexibility. I booked my train tickets when the first went on sale 12 weeks ago... felt like a bit of a gamble.

But the reason for the queue?
(1) I could see around me that there was a whole spectrum of letters, so clearly people had chosen to turn up when it suited (encouraged by contradictory Instructions).
(2) At the south end of Northumbeland Avenue, four lanes were throttled down to one with a pedstrian crossing for the public (obviously necessary, but could have been better arranged and managed)
So I think pressure of overwhelming numbers in the most popular time either side of 0800, and the restriction on numbers getting onto the Embankment was the cause.

Poor.

Avatar
Crusty replied to RunFBRun | 1 year ago
1 like

With hindsight my clothing choice was poor, but had the ride started anywhere near time, it wouldn't have been an issue.

Update on ongoing convo with Ride London - refusing refund on terms & Conditions & quoting circumstances out of their control.

Pointed out they knew the No of riders coming, so data from previous years would provide a reasonable estimate of how long it takes to get a given No of riders through the start. Simple extrapolation then provides reasonable start time estimates for each rider. 

Still maintaining  circumstances out of their control.

The 7 P's rule strikes again.…

Avatar
RunFBRun replied to Crusty | 1 year ago
0 likes

It was chilly, I'll give you that... I re-thought my clothing choices several times in the run-up as the forecast seemed to get worse and worse!

But the overcrowding before the start could have been avoided or mitigated:
(1) An explanation as to how Start Times would be allocated on application for the event, to manage expectations. You can't complain that hh:mm is "too early" if you know you're going to be given that Start Time.
(2) Start times published immediately after the event was announced. They have your predicted pace... nothing changes. This would allow riders to make robust plans to be there on time.
(3) Riders instructed to stick to their start times (penalised?), to avoid people making up their own minds and converging on 8-ish
(4) RL should not have announced the 22mph nonsense with the safety car: I suspect a few elite riders decided to start later, and this would have rippled back. I was in wave L, and I think on time - I could see riders in waves from D, E, F etc. I'm not blaming them: "you can join a later wave on the day and don’t need to notify us if you do" is what the event guide said - the rules allowed this.
(5) clearer signage of the start "village" layout: I know their was a map of this in the guide, but who remembers this or carries this. Loos off whitehall overused, loos on the embankment underused.
(6) better management of the public pedestrian / rider interface at the Northumberland Ave / Embankment interface (this was the "killer" issue combined with the issues above - 4 lanes throttled down to an intermitement one)
All of the above being totally in RL's control!

Go get em brother!

Avatar
Crusty replied to RunFBRun | 1 year ago
0 likes

Thanks for your thoughts bro.

RL currently silent..........

Avatar
mark1a | 1 year ago
0 likes

It was OK for me, I had a 0600 wave time/0640 start time, ended up getting away at 0620. I suspect a few earlier riders delayed their start to avoid catching the safety car, which let others go early, but then compounded into the later starts. 

Avatar
lonpfrb | 1 year ago
0 likes

That's a late start time so likely that accumulated the delay of people being late and slow to walk from parliament square to the embankment actual start. I thought the start wasn't clearly marked however I may have been distracted with tech at the time. Certainly the start was cold however that was the forecast so no reason to complain about poor clothing choices. I hope you enjoyed your actual ride.

Avatar
mdavidford replied to lonpfrb | 1 year ago
0 likes

lonpfrb wrote:

no reason to complain about poor clothing choices.

I guess the point is that they wouldn't have been poor choices had the poster been able to start on time - they would have been suitable for riding, just not for the unexpected standing around.

Avatar
Organon replied to mdavidford | 1 year ago
2 likes

I'd say the majority of riders were underdressed for the air temperature at the start, regardless of if they though they would be getting hot and sweaty. 9c isn't short sleeved top weather for anyone. A lot of people trying to kid themselves that this was a summer event, one quick glance at the forecast made me dress for Spring.

Avatar
Gstev68 replied to mdavidford | 1 year ago
1 like

Perhaps it comes with the benefit of doing similar events in the past but you should expect a bit of hanging around at the start and then dress accordingly (and for the latest forecast).  My zone "load time" was 6-6:15 with a "Start time" of 6:40-6:55 so I knew to expect some hanging about and dawdling from the pens to the start line so had a gilet and arm warmers.

You should also be prepared for other delays too.  At the first Velo Birmingham all starters were delayed by over an hour whilst the organisers dealt with an oil spillage on the route.

Having said that, the start pens at the previous location in the olympc park were clearly much easier to organise with each one having it's own directions from the surrounding areas and even their own entertainment it seemed as the waves filtered closer to the start.

This time, as I shuffled down Whitehall, looking for my zone (E) I asked one of the Marshalls where zone E was and he said it didn't matter now as everyone was just filtering towards the start and, as it happened I crossed the start at 6:52 but with no real fanfare like had been previously.

I don't know how many of the previous event's orgainsers were involved this time but there's certainly a lot of learning from this and previous events to take forward to next time but, on the whole I still found it pretty well organised and thoroughly enjoyable.

One aspect I thought was better at the start than I'd seen previously was plenty of mechanics, pumps and loos in the approach.  There were also plenty of loos at regular intervals along the route too.

Avatar
HaveLegsWillRide replied to lonpfrb | 1 year ago
1 like

We rocked up and walked without queues, even managed last minute portaloos easily, to start at 6.50. Agree the rolling start/start arch was a bit odd - "was that the start line then?" was uttered as we hit the speakers playing music & quickly started head units

Avatar
lonpfrb replied to HaveLegsWillRide | 1 year ago
0 likes
HaveLegsWillRide wrote:

We rocked up and walked without queues, even managed last minute portaloos easily, to start at 6.50.

Yes, portaloos were well supplied, even out in the Essex countyside, between the advised stops. So credit to RL for that.
I'm told that the absence of loos is a cause of poor hydration so that means an Inclusion issue. That's a no-no for RL stakeholders like TfL and Essex County Council. Clearly what riders leave behind is a potential issue, and I was disappointed to see so much litter. It's not as if High-5 or SIS gels are used by non-cyclists. If riders have pocket space to bring some, they must have space for the empties and later disposal. There were recycling bins at the finish so no excuse really..

I hope you had a good ride, too!

Latest Comments