More than 30,000 cyclists are due to set off in the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey sportives this morning after record numbers signed up for the mass participation events by the 17:00 deadline on Saturday afternoon.
More than 27,000 have registered for the fourth Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 while nearly 3,000 have collected their rider numbers for the shorter version known as the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 46.
With 27,275 signed up for the 2016 event by close of registrations at the Prudential RideLondon Cycling Show, a record number are expected to complete the 100-mile route through London and Surrey tomorrow on what is forecast to be a warm and muggy Sunday.
The 100 riders will be followed by 2,935 newcomers and younger riders who have registered for the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 46, a new event for those who don’t feel ready for the full route.
Among those who will push off from Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London at 06:00 on Sunday morning, 31 July, will be two of the Fixing Dad Whitington family, father Geoff and son Anthony, whose BBC2 film has moved and inspired thousands since it was shown last Sunday.
Joining them in the mass-participation event will be singers Sam Bailey and Lemar, soap stars Leon Ockenden and Lauren Drummond, and TV comedian Hugh Dennis.
Olympic champion rowers Tim Foster and Mark Hunter will also saddle up for the challenge along with former England cricketers Darren Gough and Allan Lamb, rugby’s Colin Charvis and Martin Johnson, and racing driver Mark Webber.
Dame Kelly Holmes will be among the 46ers, hoping to roll through the Finish Line on The Mall sometime tomorrow morning.
Britain’s double Olympic gold medallist will be hoping for a good ride, but she’ll never match the pro-women who careered around the tight bends and long straights of the Prudential RideLondon Classique course this evening, led home by Kirsten Wild who crowned a day of triumph for Dutch riders.
Wild powered past the field to take victory ahead of her compatriot Nina Kessler as another Dutch rider, Lucinda Brand, won the Continental Tyres Queen of the Sprints trophy and Brand’s Dutch-based squad RaboLiv took the team contest.
After the women came the mini-wheeled men as Mark Emsley claimed victory in the Brompton World Championship Final for the third year in succession, the well-dressed Briton beating American Richard Spencer by a second as former Tour de France stage winner David Millar placed 21st.
Ten hours earlier Andrei Burton got the whole carnival underway with three world records in 15 minutes at the Green Park Festival Zone at Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle. Burton side-hopped 157.5 centimetres up to a platform, vertically dropped 3.34 metres onto a tiny target and popped his back wheel left-to-right 75 times over a wooden bar … and all before 10am.
“Three world records before breakfast – how good is that?” said Burton when he was handed his new Guinness World Record certificate from adjudicator Adam Brown.
A handful of early starters turned up to watch Burton’s bouncing while an estimated 70,000 pedallers filled 10 miles of the capital’s car-free streets for seven hours of noisy and colourful cycling.
Riders of all ages, abilities and shapes made their way to central London for the annual showcase of all things chained and spoked. There were hire bikes and trikes, Bromptons and box bikes, tandems and trailers, fixies and fat-wheelers.
Some wore flowered hats, some sported flowered handlebars. Some cruised, some swerved, some selfied to their heart’s content. There were babes in baskets and dogs in pods. From drop-down racers to sit-up-and-begs, all types of cycles came to the city, including one made by Continental with running shoes for tyres.
From Big Ben to Lincoln’s Inn Fields and out across the Thames on Waterloo Bridge, London’s roads rang with the sounds of cyclists – bells, boom-boxes, horns and whistles, squeaky brakes and clunky gears, plus all varieties of pedal-powered music.
It was, as event director Hugh Brasher put it, “a fantastic day out for the whole family”.
“It’s about getting people out on bikes of all descriptions – small bikes, big bikes, racing bikes, Penny Farthings, you name it, people are on it,” he said. “Basically, anything on two wheels is happening.
“It’s really about getting people who may be a little nervous out on London’s traffic-free roads. One of our goals is to inspire 30,000 new people every year on to two wheels. This is the start of that journey for many who haven’t had their bike out of the garage or shed. This is the time to experience it.”
His message was echoed by Lilli Matson, head of strategy and outcome planning at Transport for London. “This whole weekend is all about really celebrating cycling in London,” she said.
“It’s a great way to get around the city – it’s free, it’s quick, it’s cheap and it’s healthy. As the city grows we want to encourage more people to travel by bike and foot, by sustainable methods.
“Cycling’s for everyone and today is a real celebration of cycling.”