Great organisation you can't fault how they set up the different coloured waves & start times. As you ride into the pens there is ample toilets, bike rack, cafe & your baggage truck, then you filter to your wave pen which is alphabetical & on your number. However, for me I stupidly put some ridiculous finish time in & allocated a late start. My friend I travelled up with started 3 hrs before me. He had a long wait at the end!
I didn't hang around once I started, you soon pick up speed on closed roads, keep to the right & overtake cautiously, drafting was a bit immense although helpful at times ;)
I unfortunately got held up by 3 crashes, quite major ones needing Air Ambulances so waiting in heat of the day was a bit frustrating, the que soon built up & some were diverted. I was lucky & managed the whole route. It's a very busy race/ride with 26,000 riders you will get accidents & bottle necks accrue especially in some of the smaller towns.
It was very Scenic route through London, Richmond Park, Hampton Court then into the Surrey Hills. All manageable even for novice riders. Then back through Wimbledon, Parsons Green & Clapham, it's a pretty route if you take notice!
Plenty of Hubs & Feed stations. Bananas, Cliff Bars, Water etc . You are given in your race pack a sticker of route milage points & water/feed stations to put on your frame which is a great idea!
Marvellous Medal at the finish line & a backdrop of the Mall!
Goody bag is usual water & a Cliff Bar! .. I had enough of them all I wanted was chocolate..
My only mistake I will change & consider next time is if your a confident, experienced rider like me, pop a faster time down so you start In earlier wave pen to avoid the big rush & gain a good finish time..
Over all it's a great day!