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RideLondon: more controversy and confusion as rider times will be paused at feed stations

"It feels slightly like posting a time on cheat mode": Entrants react to news that riders' official event time will be paused at feed stations...

The much-criticised RideLondon event guide is back under scrutiny today after entrants noticed their official ride time will seemingly be paused during breaks at feed stops. It raises questions about 'moving time' vs total time, and whether riders can claim to have completed the event in a time minus how long they have spent at feed stations. 

Guardian political correspondent Peter Walker spotted that under the 'Take a break' section, participants are told: "The Welfare Stops at Felsted School and Chipping Ongar High Street are great places to take an extended break — especially as your official event time will pause automatically while you're at these stops.

"So you can enjoy the facilities at your leisure, knowing that your time will restart once you hit the road again."

He suggested it would feel "slightly like posting a time on cheat mode", although "I suppose it's good in that it might encourage some people to take it a bit easy".

Others said the news was further proof of the event adopting a 'this is not a race' attitude, and follows on from this week's uproar and backpedalling over the 22mph safety car.

On Tuesday, London Marathon Events, the organiser of RideLondon, said information in the event guide stating there would be a safety car limiting pace to 22mph at the head of event was incorrect and had been an error.

> RideLondon safety car WON'T set 22mph speed limit — organisers admit race guide was "incorrect"

The statement came after four days of vocal criticism from participants who said the limit would, in fact, increase the danger of the ride, and should have been communicated before riders, who have easily averaged faster speeds on previous editions, had signed up expecting to do the same on this year's flatter Essex route.

It remains to be seen if RideLondon says pausing rider timing at feed stops is an error too, but it has already caused discussion online, with some suggesting the change will be a positive, while others think it detracts from the timed aspect of the event.

One disappointed rider asked if the "people at RideLondon had ever ridden a bike?" Another said they "could run a really fast marathon in 100m sprints".

"A big move to 'this is not a race'. It's a shame nobody told anyone who entered that at the time," one rider added.

However, another entrant argued it is a positive change and will "hopefully cut out the mamils averaging 30 km/h treating feed stops like Supermarket Sweep".

What do you think? Is it a big deal? Should the decision have been communicated to participants sooner? Will it change the way you ride the event? Let us know in the comments...

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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31 comments

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Chris Hayes | 1 year ago
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Is this to make it more inclusive? Because in my experience those who want to acheive a good time do not stop unless they need to, and those that do stop tend not to care about the time they post.

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IanMSpencer replied to Chris Hayes | 1 year ago
2 likes

As I said below, anyone who is interested in their time is recording it themselves anyway, so they can do what they want - including both elapsed and moving time and make their excuses accordingly. If only there was a puncture option.

For the casual rider who has a passing interest, stopping the clock will seem perfectly sensible and relieve any minor sense of injustice.

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Sriracha replied to Chris Hayes | 1 year ago
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In any case, I'd have thought that competitors participants who were in it for bragging rights counted on Strava. Why do the event organisers need or want rankings when it is officially not competitive? Or is this all just their way of messaging to encourage people to take sensible rest breaks?

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Awavey replied to Sriracha | 1 year ago
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they dont publish rankings, you just get given a time, with breakdowns on the times you passed timing loops around the course, so you can see how your pacing went, and it enables friends/family to follow your progress via the app/online.

the purpose of pausing the timing at some of these rest stops I think will become much more obvious post event. just take it as read riders who do stop, might be spending considerably more time at them than they anticipate.

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Oldfatgit | 1 year ago
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Why would you include the feedstop in your ride time?

I admit I have little knowledge about this event as it's not something I'm every likely to want to do ...

Is this an all-inclusive sportive - where pretty much any one can pay the fee, jump on a bike and ride; or is this a race?

If it's latter, then riders that want to race should really be having their own event, and let the sportive riders do what they want to do

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Awavey replied to Oldfatgit | 1 year ago
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because normally the official timing is just the time it takes you from the start line to the finish line. It works off an RFID chip attached to your rider numbers that you attach to your bike and helmet, so when you pass over basically a cable they tape to the road it records the time you passed it. So they wont really "pause" the timing, youll simply ride over one of these cables on entry & exit to these feed zones and theyll just subtract the time you spend in between off your total completion time.

sportives like this are all inclusive, Ride London has in the past been a bit more picky about riders it chooses as its generally oversubscribed (not sure this edition is though given you can still pick up charity spaces to ride) and it tries to socially engineer the mix of abilities and riders, so its not all about ultra fast mamil club riders.

and its not a race, people dont treat it as a race, they might want to set the best time they can as a goal, or get bragging rights over their friends and that might lead to some people riding in a way thats more likely to cause crashes in groups of riders, as theyll start taking racing lines through corners, divebombing you into corners, trying to grab max aero benefit from you, tailgating etc etc which is something you only get on closed road sportives ime.

but the majority of people are generally relaxed and sensible about how they will ride it and just want to get to the finish

 

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IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
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If you are in a busy part of the group - such as having been stuck in Richmond Park for an hour before your stop, the feeding stations can be too busy.

Anyone riding for a time will be recording on Strava anyway, (IINOSIDH), so taking time anxiety off less commited riders seems like a good thing, though my cynical view of the organisers is that they will use this as an excuse for their poor organisation ("We are sorry that you had to queue 90 minutes for a toilet, but please note it did not affect your official time, so what's the problem? Yours condescendingly, Brasher Jnr.")

On casual rides, roadies tend to prefer moving average because getting stuck at junctions, punctures etc. can confuse things, but as weather on the day (especially wind) has a lot of impact on time, sensible riders are only looking for a guide number out of interest for general trends.

Generally, I think tools like heart rate monitors are useful to understand how cycling effort "works" but once you get a feel for your limitations, I think monitoring tools are best ditched unless you are into racing as they encourage fixation on performance rather than enjoying the world around you.

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Awavey replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
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IanMSpencer wrote:

though my cynical view of the organisers is that they will use this as an excuse for their poor organisation ("We are sorry that you had to queue 90 minutes for a toilet, but please note it did not affect your official time, so what's the problem? Yours condescendingly, Brasher Jnr.")

Exactly that, my cynicism of this move is the same, the Chipping Ongar stop is literally described as just the High street, which the route also passes through I guess, how is that going to work at all with thousands of cyclists stopped plus feed zone,bike parked,loos, mechanics pedestrians wandering around and riders riding through ?

I think it's absolutely a preemptive ppo move as a well we told you it wasnt a race and your timing was stopped, so sorry you spent 2hrs stuck in Chipping Ongar queuing for a loo but what's the big deal. And bizarrely, as why would you even do this, the guide references a relax and refuel spot at a pub only 2 miles further up the road from the official Chipping Ongar stop, where your timing wont stop I guess. But its like they clearly know some of these stops arent going to work.

I kind of feel sorry for some of the riders as you can see the excitement alot are getting now they have their rider packs and it just feels like its going to be a horrendous experience for alot of them.

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Jetmans Dad | 1 year ago
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if it encourages riders to stop and refuel/hydrate properly on a potentially hot and sunny day, I don't see how it can be a bad thing.

I have done RL four times, each time with my current computer on the handlebars, pausing at the stops and my old one in the back pocket tracking the overall time. Have to say I never really cared what the offical time was as I had my own version of both. 

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bobbinogs | 1 year ago
5 likes

Let's face it, it's no big deal.  I am sure that the Marmotte organisers do the same thing in that the first feed and following descent are also not included in the times (for some very valid safety reasons). 

As an audaxer, I do find it a little baffling about this obsession with moving time/speed because I still judge a ride time as the total time, and the average speed to be the distance/total time...but Strava seems to have realised a long time ago that it appeals to users to call them 'atheletes' and always show the moving time/speed rather than overall.

I remember being on one audax when a couple of young sporty types were almost in tears at the end when the stoical organiser told them that the time going onto the brevit card was the time they had actually taken start to finish, and that he was not (under any circumstances) going to be deducting time for the 2 cafe stops they took along the way.

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Prosper0 | 1 year ago
2 likes

I mean, if its "not a race". Then why are they timing it at all?

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asmallsol | 1 year ago
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As an American looking in from the outside, this seems like the biggest joke and rules like this will drive away anyone who's competitive. Although on a much smaller scale, locally we've had grand fondos that have directors who want to discourage things turning into a race, including scheduling it on the same day as a big local race, so the racers don't attend, cutting the overall attendance of both events (the race curious won't attend the crit, and the racers won't attend the Fondo). Fast forward, both events have died.

In the us, we have a lot of 100 miler my races. For 90% of the riders, it is just a competition against themselves, while the rest, the time/placement actually matters. These races are 8+ hrs and their are food stops along the way. The racer type will be in and out in 30 seconds while the casual rider might take 10 minutes.

Looking at headlines online, big money is up for grabs, so it is infact a race.

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mdavidford replied to asmallsol | 1 year ago
3 likes
asmallsol wrote:

Looking at headlines online, big money is up for grabs, so it is in fact a race.

I think you may be confusing the sportive with the women's professional race that runs alongside it (or rather, vice versa).

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Surreyrider | 1 year ago
2 likes

Why is this even a story? Why has Road CC headlined it "controversy"? 

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mdavidford replied to Surreyrider | 1 year ago
1 like
Surreyrider wrote:

Why is this even a story?

Because there's a limited amount of material to generate stories on a cycling site.

Surreyrider wrote:

Why has Road CC headlined it "controversy"? 

I guess because there has been some (albeit limited) controversy, per the tweets referenced. And that's what the article's about.

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Surreyrider replied to mdavidford | 1 year ago
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They're pathetically inventive then. There are loads of stories they could write if they used a bit of imagination and nous. 

There is no controversy. My Garmin has a pause function, Strava uses moving time but it's easy to see elapsed time. 

So as I said before why is this even a story?

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mdavidford replied to Surreyrider | 1 year ago
1 like
Surreyrider wrote:

There is no controversy. My Garmin has a pause function, Strava uses moving time but it's easy to see elapsed time.

You're confusing whether there should be a controversy (or whether you think there should be one) with whether there is one.

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Prosper0 replied to Surreyrider | 1 year ago
2 likes

It appears that theres quite a lot of comment and engagement on it, so that seems like a story to me. 

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Surreyrider replied to Prosper0 | 1 year ago
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People seem to want to comment on whether there'll be weather

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Gd29 | 1 year ago
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Anyone who thinks a time pause is cheating doesn't really understand cycling.

At mass events like RL your speed really is down to the size and most importantly the number of people taking turns at the front of the group you are in.

Just like how splits form in a pro peloton, you could be a strong rider at the front of a lazy group, and any effort of yours is just delaying how long it takes for a group working together to come past yours that you can join in on!

If people care about speed/times they should race, as RL is as much about luck as ability.

A stop just means you have to spin the dice when you start again.

Unless of course you do it together as a group, cycling club etc.

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Awavey replied to Gd29 | 1 year ago
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The people who care about speeds and time likely wont be stopping anyway, this is far more a not so subtle way of acknowledging those that do stop at Felsted and Chipping Ongar specifically are probably going to be spending way longer than they expect or want there.

which brings it's own issues like cool down, energy crashing etc but they are trying to take away the implicit time pressure of losing large chunks of time at a stop as even the slowest rider will still have a goal time to complete in.

I mean there are still cut off times on the route so you cant really afford to hang about, but I reckon we will be hearing horror stories post ride of people getting stuck for an hour or more in worst cases at these stops, just because they arent big enough to cope with the volume of riders.

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Saintlymark | 1 year ago
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I don't see the issue here, it will just mean your official time matches more closely what your GPS head unit records. 🤷🏼‍♂️

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OnYerBike | 1 year ago
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It seems likely a slightly odd approach (if true) - I can't remember ever seeing any kind of timed event ("race" or otherwise) where your chip time pauses while you take a break.

Whilst I sympathise with the various comments that it's not a race, you can record your own elapsed time etc., at the same time it does beg the question why bother giving out timing chips and having official event timing at all if it's completely irrelevant?

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deanj | 1 year ago
6 likes

Why are people getting so worked up about a charity bike ride? If you want to race, enter a race. It's a sportive ffs, not the ronde.

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Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
8 likes

Really can't see a problem with this, anything which encourages people to refuel and rehydrate properly instead of rushing it is surely to be encouraged, especially in midsummer – poor nutrition and poor hydration leads to lack of concentration which leads to accidents. If someone wants to tell their mates that they got round in 4.5 hours ignoring the 30 minutes they spent at a food stop I really don't see why that should bother anyone.

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Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
4 likes

Anyone who thinks this isnt a good idea is a muppet.  Why on earth should 20 mins spent queueing at feed stops be counted in your time?  It takes half the feeling of sucess away.  Its also worth noting that of the elapsed and moving time Strava makes a much bigger deal of moving time.

It was for precisely this reason that on my 2nd RideLondon I went into full MTB 3 litre camelbak mode with pockets stuffed full of bars and gels.

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Awavey | 1 year ago
5 likes

Struggling to see the impact, roadies going for a time will still stop only briefly, some iirc dont stop at all, all it does maybe is flatter the egos of riders who take longer breaks with a "quicker" official time. But as anyone seriously riding this event will be Garmin/Wahoo/Strava'ing the moving time and elapsed times will be visible to all anyway

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Secret_squirrel replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
3 likes

Generally agree - the one point you miss (at least on my 2 times) is that RideLondon feedstations are massively congested so you queue to park your bike, queue to get your flapjack and fluids then queue to get out again.  Leith (or was it Box) hills feedstop was a nightmare.

A quick stop is pretty hard especially in the middle start groups.

The marathon guy on twitter missed the point that running feed stops and cycling feed stops are very different things imo.

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Awavey replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
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Can you imagine them setting up a long table with water in cups for riders to attempt to grab whilst moving  1

As I interpret the guide though ONLY Felsted and Chipping Ongar are welfare stops where times are paused, and I expect that's because neither location is remotely sized to cope with a normal sized sportive, let alone something like this. Expect congestion at those stops to be the biggest complaints from most riders post event.

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Gd29 replied to Awavey | 1 year ago
2 likes

If congested there might be a crush to get to the timing gate at the stop entrance !

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