RideLondon cyclists raised £11.5m for charity in 2019 – but event may be under threat

Chris Hayes wrote:

I've lived in and around Tower Hill for 25 years and still haven't found a route I like that heads east towards Essex (if anyone has one please advise)

Take the A104 Lee Bridge Road (with protected cycle tracks all the way to Whipps Cross Roundabout now) then B1393 until Epping Forest, turn right after the dip onto B181 through North Weald Bassett, straight ahead at the roundabout at Tyler's Green and you're in deep Essex lanes in the Green Belt. Best start fairly early on a Sunday before the boy racers get going.

I can’t quite see why the route should change. As others have remarked, it is ONE day and those who live on the route do not have the right to demand that nobody else should be able to benefit from such an event. If everyone took that attitude we would have virtually no public events.

Think about those who live on the London Marathon route - one or two days of disruption (on a weekend) for the massive benefit for everyone else. Think about people who live near football grounds, they get disruption every other Saturday or so in the football season. Think about big music venues, those residents will be affected the same.

ONE or TWO days per year of disruption, which is totally surmountable. It is simply selfish to try to deny events like this taking place. I wouldn’t mind but the roads are PUBLIC owned, for the benefit of all, no just those who live along them. It’s a bit like people living in terraced housing in streets in our town who put out cones and lumps of wood to preserve parking spaces outside their houses. They don’t own the street, the pavement, any parking rights, nothing. But they feel justified in being able to park right outside their front door. Why is it drivers feel so entitled?

My wife and I campaigned for and got Stage 3 of the Tour of Britain 2016 which started in our town. It was held entirely within our county. You wouldn’t believe the vocal minority (obviously cycling haters) who harped on about every possible minute detail that might inconvenience ‘someone’, not even them, they would make up wheelchair users who had to access a particular shop at a particular time etc etc as examples of just how disruptive it would be. These were all accommodated into the planning, despite the obvious solution which would be to go to that shop the day before or the day after. We are a small town (26,000 residents) and this was the biggest sporting event we were EVER going to host. The council spent £270k on hosting it and the net spend across the county on the day, purely attributable to the Tour? £3.5m

The organisers Sweetspot confirmed it was the best attended stage EVER - we had 15,000 people lining the streets of our town. The event was widely praised by the vast majority of residents, and I mean vast.

Individuals have no right to deny events such as these. They are proportionate and cause minimal disruption whilst providing wonderful experiences and opportunities for all of society.

PP

The only thing I found annoying when I lived in the area (and this was for the Olympics test race not even the actual Olympics) was that you get conflicting advice so if you live inside the "circle" and for some reason need to get in or out, there were roads blocked that didn't need to be and no diversion info. 

That said, it was the first time it had been done at that scale so some problems were to be expected and if I still lived there I would just park my car outside the area in case I needed it urgently for some reason in that, what, 6-10 hours? 

Those that say 'get over it' 'plan ahead' etc.

I live in Dorking.  Not too much of a problem for me as I can exit to the South easily, or if I want to go into the 'cut off' area to the North I plan ahead and park my car on the other side of the route.
That's easy.   People in London aren't far from public transport or an alternative route.  Might be a bit of a pita but not the end of the world.

But for some villages along the route (A25) the only access is along the route, so there's no way in or out for a day.

It's only a day.

Fair enough, but for Box Hill it's every single day.   I didn't check on Strava, but I'm willing to bet someone climbed it on Christmas day.

The zig zags are a nightmare on the weekend.  So many people going up that you're effectively in a car at the pace of the slowest cyclist as there's always someone coming down as well.  Or it's a 6 or 7 mile detour to come in the other way.

Every group of individuals has its lowlife entitled group.  Living up Box Hill and seeing the sheer volume of us coming past they get to see a large % of that small % which colours their view.  

So those that are up on the hill don't necessarily  hate individual cyclists, but as a group they do because of their daily inconvenience.   They are also quite vocal on local messageboards, telling the tales of cyclists who spit and swear, drop litter and kill their cats.  This is then reflected in the attitudes of other drivers who haven’t experienced it first hand, but have seen the rise in numbers since the Olympics, with the subsequent punishment passes and general attitude towards us. 

Don’t get me wrong on this.  The day of the ride is great.  The town is so quiet.  The atmosphere great (less so last year as they only did one lap of the area rather than the multiple of years gone by, possibly to open roads quicker down here?) but it has a knock on effect on the attitudes of drivers and the public towards us.

If it rotated, we’d get less riders practising on the off years, and it would showcase more of the country.  
 

I speak as someone who lives very close to the route (not right on it but enough to be mildly affected on the day) and as someone who has riden it twice.

I like the idea of varying the route in theory, just for a change, but as others have pointed out this is by far the best route for cycling out from central London to the country. The central London start/finish is essential as without it there would be far less 'prestige', and less fund-raising for charity. Maybe vary the route a bit once out of London, but then the ride wouldn't be the same without Leith & Box.

Good comparison to Notting Hill Carnival, which has caused massive disruption and not a little crime and danger for businesses and residents alike for many years. Those copmplaining about Ride London don't realise how lucky they are!

I'd imagine there a great deal more people "trapped" inside the Notting Hill carnival route for 3 days every August bank holiday, do they just stock up on tins and uht milk before bolting the doors shut

I live in a Bedford. I've chosen to live in a nice bit by the river which attracts vistors to the park and... sporting events. The roads around me are closed for the half marathon, triathlon and several rowing regattas. Every 2 years the entire area is flooded with drunks for the river festival. Oh and a motoring festival. Why? Because it's nice. 
 

I can't live somewhere nice and expect nobody to visit. That's moronic. Also I have the ability to plan ahead... and use it. 

I live in Ham and yes it's probably not possible  to drive out of Ham on Ride London day, but it's only a 1 mile walk / cycle to Kingston train station. My 9 year old loves cycling on the quieter roads, I'm  pretty sure most of my neighbours don't mind it either as I think we get a letter every year to remind us. 
More car free days please. 

What happened to CyclinginBeastMode?

There's just as many Nimby's if not more in Bucks and Herts, there's not too many really hilly bits in Herts though it's rolling terrain for the most part, there are a couple of 12 and 14% short sections here and there - Baldock to Weston, the road to  Preston village on the way from Hitchin and bits near Broxbourne and also around Tring in West Herts which would work to take you into Bucks and the rest of the Downs.

I've never owned or driven a motor vehicle, how come I've never felt that I've been trapped in my home?

I can always open the front door and wander around, even get on my bicycle.

How wedded to their need for instant mobility must some people believe they are for their cars to be trapped on their driveway for a part of a day?  With a tiny amount of thought or preperation I'm sure they could figure out some method to get about, with some restrictions.  Perhaps parking their oh so precious car down a sidestreet off the route?

Now there of course may be a handful of people whose mobility is so impared that they require their cars to get anywhere, but I'm sure that some accomodations can be made for them.

The route definitely needs changing.  I know several people live along the route and are fed up with being trapped in their homes for the entire day.  They're not necessarily anti-cyclists but they have lives to live too, and shouldn't have to put up with this year on year.

It would be difficult to replace this ride.  The Thames - Richmond - Surrey corridor is probaby the safest way in and out of London for mass bike transit: though as some have mentioned the ride could swing left from there into Kent or North into Bucks where there are hills-aplenty.  

I've lived in and around Tower Hill for 25 years and still haven't found a route I like that heads east towards Essex (if anyone has one please advise), and to ride to Kent means picking through Camberwell-Crystal Palace or Catford towards Biggin Hill, etc.  That said, there are already plenty of decent rides in these counties already - the Hell of Ashdown and the Kentish Killer

I responded to the consultation proposing organisers look at an alternative route. Plenty of beautiful roads in Herts or Bucks.

Why not rotate the route using other counties.

I know it would lose the "iconic" (quate marks doing heavy lifting) surrey hills, but could this be an opportunity for a change? Could a good route be put together, still using the same start and finish and still with a couple of centrepiece climbs, into Essex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire or even Kent?