Ride london failed again

pruaga wrote:

ktache wrote:

Judge dreadful wrote:

The ballot system is completely random. I know this, because I’ve got in for the previous 3 years, and in one of those years, I got both magazines, so I simultaneously got in, and didn’t get in..

Judge Dreadful, you are truely Schrödinger’s cyclist.  Now if you can exhibit wave particle duality as well…

 

Ride very fast through a very narrow gap and see what happens!  (physics joke)

Careful, there might be pieces of you scattered all over the place.

Okay seriously, if there is a chance I can just sign in and pay even though I got the commeriserations magazine, where is the link? 

Although I would love some open roads at 4am, getting up at 2am to do it seems a bit extreme. Also I would feel a bit embarrased being caught by the real 6am fast boys, even with a two hour headstart a few of them might catch me. I might get lost too without people to follow. (The Strava on my phone won’t last 5/6 hours with screen on.) 

I could use last years number but I think they change a bit each time. Last year I saw someone with a fake looking number and was giving his backside the evil eye, but when we got back into london he turned out to be from the 46mile ride.

I could try for the 46mile ballot and just try to get myself to the front, and try to time trial it around with no stops, Richmond Park and Wimbledon hill arent’s exactly challenging. Or finally the ‘cheapest’ charity slot wants £400. Or so far that I’ve found.

This is a whole lot of faff just to ride on some closed roads. What would you do?

Yes, I’m the same failed each

Yes, I’m the same failed each year but thanks to Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation I’ve had a charity place the last 3 years. This year though I won’t be taking part as it’s difficult to ask the same people over and over to sponsor something I do most weekends. It’s a shame as it’s a fantastic event and I’d love to be part of it, I’m just unlucky in ballots along with all the others, still, lucky number 6 right. 

ktache wrote:

Judge dreadful wrote:

The ballot system is completely random. I know this, because I’ve got in for the previous 3 years, and in one of those years, I got both magazines, so I simultaneously got in, and didn’t get in..

Judge Dreadful, you are truely Schrödinger’s cyclist.  Now if you can exhibit wave particle duality as well…

Ride very fast through a very narrow gap and see what happens!  (physics joke)

They used to have a slightly

They used to have a slightly bigger explaination in the FAQ about how the ballot is run.  It’s not ‘random’ in the sense of all the names get put into a big hat and the ‘winners’ are drawn out because they pool people into different bands based on gender and predicted finish time, then do drawings from that to get a mix of people to make it easier logistically at the finish.

As someone has said above, you don’t want to be in the middle of the bell-shaped-curve as these are the biggest buckets with the lowest chances of being picked.

PaulBox wrote:

dottigirl wrote:

I’m saying this knowing people who’ve applied every year and never got in.

And others who’ve got in every, single year.

Maybe they’re just unlucky, but if you’ve been rejected three or more years in a row, should there not be a mechanism where you get in automatically the next time? 

This is my favourite argument, “there’s something wrong with the completely random ballot because I never get in, so maybe they should make it more fixed…”

To repeat myself, I have not applied. This is from speaking with club members and friends. The same people get in every year, the same people have to either rely on club or charity places, if they can be bothered.

I’m not talking about making the whole ballot fixed, it’s ensuring those who have missed out get their chance. Give them a default place and remove them from the ballot. The London Marathon used to do this. 

Regarding the ballot, it can’t be random if it uses estimated completion times. The bell curve is mentioned – perhaps there should be an extra weighting for those with the more popular times? 

Or rather, times shouldn’t be used at all.

CXR94Di2 wrote:

CXR94Di2 wrote:

I know a number of London based riders who start at 4 am when the roads are closed for free!

Andy! Shhhhush!

Danger Dicko wrote:

http://singletrackworld.com/columns/2016/10/11-ways-to-annoy-an-event-organiser/

I’ll just leave this here for the “I’m not paying to ride roads I can do for free” crowd.

And what about London taxpayers who are subsidising the event? (I presume you realise that the entry fee won’t cover the full cost of the event, of the Saturday freecycle and the road race, which everyone can watch for free).

You surely can’t put the RL infrastructure in the same league as a hard-pressed event organiser who has put many hours into an event, has sweat blood and cried tears of frustration at the obstacles he/she has to overcome to make it happen. Or can you?

Doing it is not illegal so, if they have no ethical issue with doing it and they don’t interfere with the event, I don’t really have an issue with people taking the opportunity to ride the course for free at 4am. Who suffers as a result?

Last year, having failed to

Last year, having failed to get in the ballot I was receiving multiple emails from charities saying ‘free sign up to ridelondon’. As it got closer to the event the minimum fund raise amount gradually dropped down from £1200 to £600 the week before the ride.

It just feels wrong that people can’t get places in the ballot due to the volume of charity/corporate places which it appears proably don’t get fully taken up. There’s no way I’m going to ask people to sponsor me to that level for something for my personal enjoyment and it rankled me to the point I wasn’t going to apply this year having applied every year and failed to get in every time. Against my better judgement I did apply once more.

Saw the magazine in the plastic on the doormat yesterday and immediately cursed the corporate sell out that is ridelondon, then I opened it and found an acceptance letter, but still I hate the system. Especially as one year I ‘donated’ my entry and received a crap top, I wonder how many people do that hoping it makes a difference.