RideLondon is again. After a Covid-enforced hiatus, the closed-roads biking competition held its first incarnation since 2019 on Sunday, with each the family-based Freecycle and the 30-, 60- and 100-mile rides held on the identical day. There have been some adjustments – so what was it like? As has change into conventional, listed below are 5 ideas concerning the occasion.
Goodbye Surrey, hey Essex
The primary seven editions of the RideLondon 100 (and its shorter cousins) took riders on the identical route into the Surrey Hills and again. Now it’s Essex, and the distinction is notable. No particularly steep inclines, like Surrey’s Leith Hill, and extra in the way in which of broad roads – particularly in London, the place the route out and in, via Stratford and past, was one thing of a mini-tour of London’s city motorways and underpasses.
It’s honest to say that the previous route, via west London and Richmond Park, was extra scenic, and that beautiful because the Essex lanes are, we noticed comparatively few of them. There’s a purpose: one plan was to keep away from fast, slim descents (resembling Leith Hill) to cut back the variety of crashes, and likewise make sure that if somebody did want medical assist it will not necessitate re-routing riders, as occurred in 2016. This 12 months, a rider did require an air ambulance after a suspected coronary heart assault (the excellent news is they’re understood to be secure in hospital), and whereas that delayed lots of people, me included, the second the air ambulance had gone, riders had been allowed via.
Additionally: Surrey didn’t need us any extra. Regardless of residents voting to maintain the occasion in a mini-referendum, the county council determined it was too disruptive. RideLondon organisers say Essex officers had been enthusiastic.
It’s nonetheless very effectively run
You would possibly count on this, provided that RideLondon is put collectively by the identical individuals who have organised the London Marathon for 40 years, however issues do go very easily, and all of the marshals, volunteers and others I encountered had been glorious. The logistics are a bit totally different now. Now not beginning within the big areas of the Olympic Park, however on the Embankment, meant the occasion was simpler to get to for a lot of, however there was no room for a bag drop service.
The way in which the totally different waves of riders joined the course appeared a bit haphazard, however no less than it averted the earlier expertise of getting to attend round within the morning chill till your group was allowed to go.
Extra variety
Chatting with Hugh Brasher, who heads the London Marathon organisers, he burdened this as an intention, all of the extra so provided that street biking is a pursuit which, arguably even by the requirements of organised sport, is disproportionately carried out by males of a sure age, me amongst them.
The 30-mile occasion was 46% feminine this 12 months, with the determine for the 100-mile one being 23% – nonetheless pretty low, however 40% up on 2019. Brasher has liaised with incapacity biking and teams representing minority ethnic riders, and when the various-length occasions merged close to the end, it was heartening to see contributors readily available cycles and trikes, amongst different machines.
That is extra related to on a regular basis driving and metropolis planning, and one thing of a truism, however price stressing: relating to finite street area, individuals on bikes are very versatile.
This occurred as I waited for the air ambulance amid an enormous crowd of tightly packed cyclists, one which presumably stretched for miles behind me. However as soon as we received going, inside minutes, the hordes had self-organised into stretched-out teams, with none fuss. An identical-sized visitors jam involving automobiles – and bear in mind, 22,600 riders began – would have taken all day to type out.
Keep in mind this subsequent time a newspaper prints a photograph of an “empty” cycle lane. It’s not that it’s not getting used; it’s simply that the cyclists have already gone.
100 miles with out (a lot) coaching
To indulge myself with a ultimate level about my very own experience, it’s honest to say I started with some misgivings. Barring a four-day mini coaching break in Might, my total preparation concerned a three-ish mile each-way commute in work garments on an on a regular basis bike. And but, if I exclude the await the air ambulance, I completed in about 5 hours 10 minutes, solely barely greater than my quickest ever time, after I was about 5 years youthful and a lot better ready.
Sure, I did discover the final 15 or so miles a slog, and I’m limping a bit on stairs, however I used to be shocked. Or possibly I shouldn’t be? With varied different cycle-based chores, I most likely common 40 or 50 miles per week of driving. That is the magic of what public well being consultants prefer to name incidental exercise – bodily exertion you perform not for formal train, simply in going about your on a regular basis life. It shouldn’t be underestimated.
