On August 4th I successfully completed the Prudential Ride London 100 – along with 16000+ others riders including BoJo!
The route followed the Olympic Road Race – but with only one ascent of Box Hill; although they did throw in Leith Hill as a gift ha ha, thank you very much! It was great fun riding on closed roads and not having to worry about the petrolheads. The weather was perfect. It was a great atmosphere particularly when riding through towns on the route; packed with spectators all giving a cheer as we rode through.
The cut-off time was 9 hours, well within the capabilities of a reasonably fit individual. It was not a race but the “winner” (or Audax firstback) got round in 4h07m which is not far off race pace. Paul Doel of Quest and who many of you will know got round in about 4h30m – a great ride. I got round in 6h38m which was fast for me so I was well pleased.
The organisation was first-rate, and what with the professional race as a supporting event, the whole event is set to become a regular. I would encourage anyone to have a go. Next year’s event takes place on 9th/10th August. The ballot has opened and entry costs £48. It will close on 6th January 2014 or when 80,000 registrations have been received; Enter Here.
Life can bestow many tragedies but surely the greatest tragedy of them all must be the death of a child. Anything anyone can do to help to try to prevent this must be worthwhile. In recognition of that I am collecting money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. I have set up a collection website on Just Giving. Please consider making a donation. You can tick a checkbox to keep the donation secret. I do not see any of the money; justgiving pays it directly to the charity. The illustration shows where your money goes; you can see that the charity gets all your money plus a little bit more; the admin expenses do not come from your donation.
On behalf of all suffering children, Thank You.
Hi Michael,
I completed RideLondon in a similar time to you. I loved every minute (well, almost every minute). As you say, the organisation is excellent (particularly considering the size of the event). Riding on closed roads with so many other cyclists is a really special experience.
I recommend it to anyone. It’s perfectly doable with a little training.
If anyone needs any further persuading, I wrote a (very enthusiastic) post on my blog:
http://grimpeurheureux.com/ridelondon-2014-ballot-sign-up/
I’m not exactly sure why I’m trying to get more people to sign up, since it reduces my own chances for next year’s ballot, but there you go…
Best,
Andrew