London to Brighton

John Hearns said:

First impressions - a very tough day's cycling. Very hot.

The ride was held up at the M25 crossing for the air ambulance to land for
a serious accident.
Later on the air ambulance landed in a field next to me as we inched past
someone being tended to on a stretcher.
Saw also in Haywards Heath someone on a stretcher.
Its making me think twice about doing it next year.

Wonderful cycling festival, and a great day out.
But at the moment I wonder if its worth it.

How many tens of thousands? For many it is an extreme exertion. I
wouldn't be surprised to see a similar death rate to the London
Marathon (ca 4 or 5 per year, mostly from heart attacks). If it was hot
there will probably have been a bunch of heat exhaustion cases, as well
as those who lubricate themselves well in teh pubs along the way.

...d

David Martin said:

How many tens of thousands? For many it is an extreme exertion. I wouldn't
be surprised to see a similar death rate to the London Marathon (ca 4 or 5
per year, mostly from heart attacks). If it was hot there will probably
have been a bunch of heat exhaustion cases, as well as those who lubricate
themselves well in teh pubs along the way.

27000 riders. Yes, I agree that with 27000 people there will statistically
be an amount of accidents.
Doesn't stop them being any less frightening.

quote='David Martin'John Hearns said:

First impressions - a very tough day's cycling. Very hot.

The ride was held up at the M25 crossing for the air ambulance to land for
a serious accident.
Later on the air ambulance landed in a field next to me as we inched past
someone being tended to on a stretcher.
Saw also in Haywards Heath someone on a stretcher.
Its making me think twice about doing it next year.

Wonderful cycling festival, and a great day out.
But at the moment I wonder if its worth it.

How many tens of thousands? For many it is an extreme exertion. I
wouldn't be surprised to see a similar death rate to the London
Marathon (ca 4 or 5 per year, mostly from heart attacks). If it was hot
there will probably have been a bunch of heat exhaustion cases, as well
as those who lubricate themselves well in teh pubs along the way.

...d[/QUOTE]

Actually IIRC there have been 7 deaths on the London Marthon, in it's 25 yeras (Peak Performance quote a death rate of 1 in 67000), however there were the 4 on last years Great North Run, (inquiry continuing) In general it's cooler in April for the marathon, and apart from those taking >5 hours, most people have actually done some 'proper' [FGVO] training

Bryan (who's curretly in training after stupidly got talked into doing the Berlin Marathon in September)