“ I have absolutely no hesitation to pour buckets of scorn over Surrey County Council and their uselessness”
SEPTEMBER | THE COMMENTATOR
Cyclists fixed my roads
Martin Fullard on cycling, and squinting
If you live in South West London or Surrey then in July you may have noticed a few road closures. 2018 saw the sixth running of the Ride London cycle race take place and it was, of course, jolly exciting. For most, the event is just something that happens on TV, but if like me you live in the area it passes through, then one’ s perception can be, shall we say, blurred.
The Ride London event starts at the Olympic Park in the East End before cyclists trickle down through central westwards before turning down towards Richmond, Sunbury and Weybridge. It then penetrates the M25, out to Ripley, into the Surrey Hills( which is where I live), over to Dorking, and back up towards The Mall via Esher, Kingston-upon-Thames and Fulham.
Ahead of this article I wanted to find out what measures it took to arrange such road closures and how much the organisers spent on policing costs, but they weren’ t able to help me. So, instead, I wondered how much the event actually benefits the areas it passes through.
The event may happen just once each year, but the practicing goes on all year round. Hoards of lycra enthusiasts tear about the Surrey Hills’ tight winding roads trying to shave 0.3 tenths
of a second off last weeks’ 60km ride. This is all fine, and we must all learn to share the roads … unfortunately there are some – on both two and four wheels – who let their respective sides down. Some cyclists are downright rude, and some motorists are outright dangerous( I have been guilty of expletive-ridden rants in the direction of the occasional wiggling, lycra sculpted bottom, I confess).
But, no matter, because the benefits that this sporting event brings the area are clear to see. For one, the village shop in Peaslake – a quaint, picturesque
“ I have absolutely no hesitation to pour buckets of scorn over Surrey County Council and their uselessness”
shop straight out of the Sylvanian Families catalogue – appears to make more money than Microsoft. In fact the only other shop in the village is a cycle shop that, as I frequent the pub opposite, is literally always teeming with lyrca and muddyfaces.
The cyclists love stopping off at picturesque villages for cups of tea and to coo at the ducklings, and the result is I can buy artisan local honey for £ 6.50.
Then there are the roads. I have absolutely no hesitation to pour buckets of scorn over Surrey County Council and their uselessness when it comes to traffic management. They make life as miserable as possible for motorists, and the potholes on some roads lead quite literally to the centre of the earth. But when the cycle race comes to the area, you can’ t move for temporary traffic lights and hi-vis jackets as they frantically scrabble to patch up all the craters. It’ s fantastic; it means that when I’ m stuck behind a peloton doing 8mph the road is smooth and pleasant.
The race is watched all over the world, and people do actually travel from as far away as the US to cycle the route. The result? Arkwright’ s Local Stationary Shop in Dorking High Street is beamed straight into the living room of Hank the American. You can’ t buy advertising like that …
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