I am thinking of riding the London Sightseer Audax on 3 September 2017.
If you don't know what it is/haven't ridden it before it's about 100km starting near Hampton Court and across London to the Olympic Park, crossing the river and then the return to Hampton Court. It takes in, as the name suggests, lots of the sights of London : Syon Park, Portobello Road, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, The City, Tower of London, Docklands, Olympic Park*, Canary Wharf, Greenwich, South Bank, Houses of Parliament, Battersea Park, Richmond Park . . and more.
More details at
http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/17-559/The start is at 0830 and the ride is slow given the amount of stopping and starting for lights and junctions - other than at Greenwich there are very few hills (I've ridden the event several times on my fixed wheel machine). Much of the route is on good surface towpaths, through Royal Parks on tarmac cycle tracks and in bus lanes. The thought of riding in London may be daunting - it isn't, especially on Sunday when the traffic is lighter (riding up the traffic-free Mall has to be experienced!)
Navigation is a bit of a challenge so I have developed a "route book" based on the A-Z map of London with the whole route marked. Files for GPS gadgets are available but are a bit hit and miss as satellite connection is often interrupted by tall buildings. As someone said recently : "If you're riding the Sightseer, stick with Rob he knows the way" (well, having worked in London for a long time a lot of it is familiar)
If you're interested get in touch with as it obviously makes sense to car share for the drive down to the start.
Having ridden the Sightseer about 8 or 9 times over the past 11 years it's still different every time.
Rob
* the "official" route goes to the Olympic Park and the Velodrome . . . . that section has a couple of stretches of uninteresting London (unless you're a Kray brothers fan!) and in the past I have modified the route slightly. The easternmost crossing of the Thames is usually the foot tunnel at Greenwich but the route can be adapted to use the Emirates Airline cable car which is interesting (yes, it takes bikes). Decision nearer the time.
