Cycling Weekend Road Closures

[stuart]

Just a heads-up to the guy here who had complained he hadn't been forewarned his car journey would be interrupted by the RideLondon road closures.

This year it's this weekend. Details:

The annual Prudential RideLondon weekend festival of cycling is taking place this weekend. The routes will be closed to traffic. Road users are advised to avoid the affected areas wherever possible. Buses will be on diversion or stop short of their destinations.
• On Saturday, the event routes are in the City and Westminster. Some roads will be closed from 06:00 until 18:00, although some in central London will reopen later
• On Sunday, the event route is between east, central and southwest London and Surrey. There will be extensive road and bridge closures throughout the day; roads will be closed from 04:00 and will reopen in phases once the event has passed and it is safe to do so

The bonus is for those who don't ride 100 miles @ 20mph (Sunday's main event). The road closures on Saturday will also enable those who haven't cycled because of their fear of traffic to do so with their families around the sights of London. A great opportunity. More info: https://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/ ... freecycle/

Stuart

[Robin Orton]

Just a heads-up to the guy here who had complained he hadn't been forewarned his car journey would be interrupted by the RideLondon road closures.
Stuart

Thanks, Stuart. I did in fact complain here last year, but now have my 'head up' (ugh) and am happy to abandon central London to the young and fit for the weekend.

[Eagle]

Surely Robin driving in central London should be avoided.

We want road pricing in all of London as soon as possible.

[admin]

It's a great day cycling in a traffic free Central London. Go and enjoy the sites!

[Robin Orton]

I suggest that Admin, qua Admin, should remain neutral on this sort of issue.

[JayB]

Thanks for the tips about sight seeing Admin, but actually some of us had to visit freinds in Whipps Cross hospital- a journey which thanks ot the chaos caused by the closure of central London took 2 hours and 15 minutes each way.As the organisers claim it is "an olympic legacy" why not hold it in and around the Olympic Park? It seems like a whole lot of inconvenience for most Londoners for what appears to be largely a relatively small group of middle-aged, middle class white men!

[simon]

Is 24,000 a small group? 80% male. Varied age and ethnicity to my eyes. Don't know how you can gauge the social class of cyclist as they go past. The Olympic Park was used for the start. Is it not possible to visit Whipps Cross by public transport?

[vbsydenham]

It's a pity that you were one of a very small number of people negatively affected by the event. Perils of living in a large city I'm afraid. Hopefully next year you won't have any unfortunately timed cross town visits to make and can just choose to go out and enjoy the occasion, or ignore it entirely. Just like folks do for the marathon and other, similar events.

[stuart]

Thanks for the tips about sight seeing Admin, but actually some of us had to visit freinds in Whipps Cross hospital- a journey which thanks ot the chaos caused by the closure of central London took 2 hours and 15 minutes each way.

Bit confused how you managed that. The TfL website gives a time of 66 mins from Syd station to the hospital at 9am on a Sunday morning. The route doesn't go through central London and I don't think uses any affected road.

Or you could have joined in the spirit and cycled it in 83 minutes (faster if you are fit).

What am I missing?

Stuart

[Zsazsa]

Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of pounds raised for charities! If this event is getting middle aged men (and women may I add) off their sofas and outside exercising then that is some legacy for the olympics. As for cycling endlessly round the mostly flat olympic park, I think the sign up rates would be rather smaller.
I know it is an inconvenience for some but the joy of central London with no cars is great for everyone, not just those involved. The atmosphere of the event is priceless. Long may it remain.

[JRobinson]

my in laws checked the appropriate websites to see if roads would be affected, and were under the impression that they would not have road closures affecting their journey from Sydenham, westwards to Basingstoke. It took them 4.5 hours instead of 2 ish. as the south circular was closed! so either they misread the information available (which is unlikely as myself, and my wife also checked, and FIL is an ex lawyer), or the information available was wrong.

[stuart]

my in laws checked the appropriate websites to see if roads would be affected, and were under the impression that they would not have road closures affecting their journey from Sydenham, westwards to Basingstoke. It took them 4.5 hours instead of 2 ish. as the south circular was closed! so either they misread the information available (which is unlikely as myself, and my wife also checked, and FIL is an ex lawyer), or the information available was wrong.

I'm trying to think of a way of going to/from Central London to the Surrey Hills without crossing the South Circular twice. The obvious way from Sydenham would have been south down the M23 and across via Horsham avoiding any contact.

its all pretty obvious if you had bothered to check out the route on the official site I linked too so this wouldn't happen. I guess the lawyer wasn't as sharp as this one. Doh! https://d1ffaecguugkl4.cloudfront.net/r ... %20map.pdf

[Sydenham]

Please correct me if necessary on geography - but what about Sydenham - Crown Hill - Streatham - Mitcham - Colliers Wood - South Wimbledon - Wimbledon Chase - onto A3 just South West of Raynes Park.

No need to go across South Circular - this is our normal route. Then get to Basingstoke either by M25 / M3, or Hogs Back / Farnham

Quite direct and clear