RIDELONDON TURNS INTO GRUELING HIKE AND BIKE ADVENTURE

The United Kingdom’s largest gran fondo style cycling event, RideLondon, turned into an urban asphalt hike n’ bike adventure for many riders this past weekend.

With 25,000 riders fighting for space on narrow roads, the event was a 100 mile London traffic jam.

Riders were nonplussed and had to dismount during standstills, some walking their bike for an hour of more.

Afterwards, the Twitterverse exploded:

@Dwoswald79 “Pathetic. Far too many people to make it either enjoyable or safe. Hills shut because too many riders. Also no finishers medals for some after 100 miles. This event needs a major rethink!”

@wright_stuf_ “I thought this was a bike ride not a walk @RideLondon ??” 

@Dinipatel “#RideLondon chaos, on last waves, got caught in the congestion/crashes, no Leith or Box Hill, with all the closures we missed the cutoffs. No Medal as pellet didn’t turn up for 100. Similar experience for thousands – time to take stock and solve the safety problems.”

To make matters worse, after riders spent hours riding-walking-riding RideLondon didn’t have any finisher medals.

So they issued IOU letters…

@impoltel “Disappointing, and really should have been resolved during the day when it was discovered – you can’t really wear the letter with pride around your neck tomorrow.”

@garyjohnstone “You can stick my medal in the bin and send me something for my feet which are blistered due to walking miles in cycling shoes because the congestion was ridiculous.”