London to Brighton - 17th June 2012 - 20:20 17 Jan 12Hey everyone, im new to the site, am planning to be a regular on here, and i really like everything ive seen here.
I emailed the British Heart Foundation to register my interest in skating the LTB, as i had seen that it had been done before (by you guys from camberley skate i believe!). They called me today to tell me that i couldnt do the skate as i wasnt allowed to through safety reasons. I asked them if i could do it unofficially and unaffiliated from the BHF, and they told me i couldnt as there would be police that would pull me off the course if they saw me skating on it.
Just wanted to know if any of you have skated it before and if you did it officially or not, and if you have come against any objections like the one i received on the phone today.
I have been wanting to skate the LTB for so long now, i think about it every day and am willing to take the risk of being pulled of the course just to give it a go! And anyone that wanted to join me would be more than welcome!
Would really love some advice and knowledge about it if anyone has any, and hope to get to come up to the London skate soon to meet you all.
Many thanks
Darren (newbie!)
[Mod Note: Edited post title to include full date to make it the official event thread]
Post edited by: dogsbody, at: 16:48 18 Jan 12
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A couple (or 3) of us were planning to give it a go this year, I was speaking to Dogs Body about it on Saturday.
I know Dogs Body has done it before but never heard of the police pulling skaters off! Maybe DB just dodged them!
I'd be surprised to be honest because I know that a lot of the London skaters go, perhaps a search through the Serpentine Road forum might bring something to light, I'll have a look when I get time and post here if I find anything of interest.
I too am happy to 'take the risk' by the way so lets go for it
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I've done this twice before. First in 2007 (you can read my write up HERE) and again in 2010.
I'm afraid the British Heart Foundation don't like us! That's a bit harsh, if I was the BHF, I wouldn't like us either! They have to organise a HUGE event every year, on public roads, with god knows how many councils and police forces etc. To make things worse they have twice as many people wanting to do the event as they have space for and yet they can't actually stop people because it's public roads. I don't know how many thousand people officially enter but usually only up to 50% of the cyclists on the roads have bib numbers. The last thing that BHF needs is a load of skaters taking part! I'm not complaining at all, you weren't to know but what we do is very under the raidar and containing the BHF isn't going to help.
To give you some history. The L2B ride has been going on for years (Google tells me it started in 1976). It was first skated on 2005 by two skaters who probably didn't even get noticed. In 2006 and 2007 this grew to 20-30 skaters. We were always unofficial, personally I wasn't going to skate if it was raining and didn't want to steal a place from a cyclist but with most of the cyclists not being official either easier to justify [1]. In 2008 or 2009 it seems the BHF wanted to stop us skating. I'm not sure why they picked on us over the thousands of cyclists that don't actually enter but hey. There was a rumour that a skater had an accident with a cyclists the year before but skaters are a pretty close bunch and no one knows anything about it from the skaters side.
Historically there has only been one place they have tried to stop us. Beacon Hill is the HUGE hill right before you get to Brighton, it's basically the South Downs. It's a very tough 1 mile skate up and an amazingly fast 2 miles skate down (before a 3 mile downhill coast into Brighton). From 2008 (or 09) They put marshals at the top to stop us skating down there and directing us down another road into Brighton. This is fine but the official route is a country lane that then joins the main road into Brighton where one lane is coned off for those taking part. The alternative route is a country lane that joins a dual carriageway with no such protection and lots of fast cars! When I did it again in 2010 I got a load of (very rude) verbal abuse from a marshal at the top of this hill but managed to shout back a thank you for his encouragement before carrying on skating the official route.
I should say here that this skate is NOT for beginners, or even intermediates. You need road sense for this event. While I skate without a heal break in London traffic I will put one on for L2B. Cyclists have very good breaks and break a lot harder and after than we do. And there are a lot of them!
My one bit of advice is LEAVE EARLY. Unfortunately there aren't any trains that can get you from Camberley to London early enough on a Sunday morning so you really have to stay up in London the night before. Thousands of cyclists will be leaving the start point from 6am onwards and the route has quite a few bottlenecks which cause traffic jams. No matter how hard you try, you can't skate though stationary bicycles!
Having said all that (my didn't I write a lot!) I'd still be interested in skating it again
Dan
[1] Just because you are not "official" you can still give a donation to the BHF. If you donate (some more) to them at the finish line they will still give you a medal too Still grinning from an awesome @LondonSkate last night :-D Such a party atmosphere - Twitter Status
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I am definitely interested in doing the skate, I skate the brighton end of the route every day to work and back (around 7 miles). I live on the big hill (Coldean Lane) which comes directly off of the Ditchling Beacon road, so if we get redirected, i know the perfect routes to the finish line!!!
Ive wanted to skate the LTB for years, have been training and road skating for 2 years now to get prepared for it, and would love nothing more than my 16 year old Bauer Turbo's to do the 56 miles in one stretch!!! Its something i dream about every day, and a though that keeps me going through the stresses life brings!!
If you two are prepared to do it, then i am 100% prepared to. It would mean a lot to do it.
If you can think of anyone else who may want to, please let them know.
Would really, REALLY, love for this to happen.
Once again, thanks for your help and advice, its very much appreciated.
Darren
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dogsbody
Moderator
Posts: 7871
Re:London to Brighton - 17th June 2012 - 16:50 18 Jan 12There will likely be quite a few skaters from London doing it who will discuss it on the Serpentine Road forum. There isn't a thread yet though.
I've edited the top post to include the date and will make this the official thread for discussion about the 2012 ride.
Bring it on Still grinning from an awesome @LondonSkate last night :-D Such a party atmosphere - Twitter Status
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lemming
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Posts: 3308
Re:London to Brighton - 17th June 2012 - 07:56 19 Jan 12Dan's posts are exactly right. I went with Dan in 2007 and we had no troubles at all. Obviously things have changed a bit since if they're not letting you skate down the big hill into Brighton, although to be honest if you've made it there without a problem, you're unlikely to have any issue.
I assume they can't pull you off the roads, becuase the roads ARE still open, so there's no legal precedent (at the moment) that means they could take you off the route.
As Dan says, take sensible precautions. I also took a heel brake, and a helmet when I went. I would suggest that these should be the bare minimum. Not because I'm questioning your skating ability, but I AM questioning the ability of all those around you. We saw cyclists hit each other on the flat!! Skate Monkey !
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Im like 99% sure its gonna be a defo for the skate, just need to get a big group of us to do it (or as many as poss), then if they try to stop us, they wont have a chance!!
im gonna get in touch with the serpentine road guys tonight to drum up some interest, and of course if you or anyone you know want to do it, then that would be awesome.
cheers dude,
Daz
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dogsbody
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Re:London to Brighton - 17th June 2012 - 15:30 19 Jan 12TheSurfingToad wrote: just need to get a big group of us to do it (or as many as poss), then if they try to stop us, they wont have a chance!!
I know what you mean but over that distance everyone spreads out A LOT
The speed skaters were on the beach when I was passing the half way mark at Turners Hill last time Still grinning from an awesome @LondonSkate last night :-D Such a party atmosphere - Twitter Status
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Dan (surfingtoad) - keep an eye out on this forum, when we're going out for a skate, it's often posted here (street skates or just general training) - in fact, I'm just about to post one in a few minutes
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