BBC article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12416914

PDF of route: http://www.london2012.com/documents/venue-documents/cycling-road-race-route.pdf

As a new resident of South West London, I can't say I am disappointed. Not sure if it was ever mooted, in the wake of the marathon debacle, that East London would get a few kilometres of the road race as compensation, but doubtless it will be raised again as a slight to Tower Hamlets et al (which I certainly have some sympathy with).

Tower Hamlets simply isn't photogenic enough for a discerning international TV audience....

Neither was the area of Athens they had to run through to get to the Olympic complex.

Another slap in the face for the East.

Britain is not a theme park, London is not a museum! The yanks already think its all Buck House, the Mall and Notting Hill with plummy voiced imbeciles or, worse, cringey throwback punk types populating the city.

Don't get me wrong, our museums ARE great, our heritage IS fantastic but, we get a chance to showcase our 21st century city and what do we do?

Of course, we don the beefeater costumes.

Sodding typical, Simon Jenkins will be thrilled.

CF

Another slap in the face for the East.

Britain is not a theme park, London is not a museum! The yanks already think its all Buck House, the Mall and Notting Hill with plummy voiced imbeciles or, worse, cringey throwback punk types populating the city.

Don't get me wrong, our museums ARE great, our heritage IS fantastic but, we get a chance to showcase our 21st century city and what do we do?

Of course, we don the beefeater costumes.

Sodding typical, Simon Jenkins will be thrilled.

CF

95% of all Olympic events will be held in east London.

The area is benefiting from huge investment and unprecedented regeneration, paid for with taxpayers money from all over the UK (and council tax payers from all over London).

Yet you complain about one bicycle race that won't be held in east London?

Unbefuckinglievable!

Spoilt or what?

Im with Jim on this one. This passes through some of the most spectacular areas of the south east!! And East London has nearly all the other events, why can't West London have something? Oh no, because it's the affluent West, rich bastards!

95% of all Olympic events will be held in east London.

The area is benefiting from huge investment and unprecedented regeneration, paid for with taxpayers money from all over the UK (and council tax payers from all over London).

Yet you complain about one bicycle race that won't be held in east London?

Unbefuckinglievable!

Spoilt or what?

Well, perhaps if I was sure that ordinary folks from the East End would get the tickets and see the benefit of the legacy instead of being gentrified away then I would be spoilt and "unfuckingbelievable" I won't hold my breath.

Both Free events (marathon now this) have been snatched from the streets of East London and while Il Tonkso certainly has a point about the beauty of the route he's way off key with the snidey end to the comment because my reply regarding rich bastards can easily be justified in one word:

EXACTLY

This town is incredibly Westcentric, always has and always will be, open your eyes...

I'm not talking about me by the way, not everything in life is about "me" no doubt I'll get some tickets and will also travel to the free events, I'm fairly priviledged compared to a lot in East London, particularly the areas surrounding the park.

Oh and while we're at it my post was almost light hearted (beefeater suits etc) but if you want to get personal, feel free, your choice.

Goodnight folks

CF

At the risk of derailing the thread and just by way of further explanation of my attitude:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/04/18/brick_lane_business_feature.shtml

http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/

http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/news/council_news/february/london_2012_benefits_for_tower.aspx

Okay, i'll get my coat now and let everyone discuss the relative merits of St Georges Hill, The Mall and, er Beefeater costumes...

;)

CF

Well, perhaps if I was sure that ordinary folks from the East End would get the tickets and see the benefit of the legacy instead of being gentrified away then I would be spoilt and "unfuckingbelievable" I won't hold my breath.

Both Free events (marathon now this) have been snatched from the streets of East London and while Il Tonkso certainly has a point about the beauty of the route he's way off key with the snidey end to the comment because my reply regarding rich bastards can easily be justified in one word:

EXACTLY

This town is incredibly Westcentric, always has and always will be, open your eyes...

I'm not talking about me by the way, not everything in life is about "me" no doubt I'll get some tickets and will also travel to the free events, I'm fairly priviledged compared to a lot in East London, particularly the areas surrounding the park.

Oh and while we're at it my post was almost light hearted (beefeater suits etc) but if you want to get personal, feel free, your choice.

Goodnight folks

CF

Depends what you call "west".

The likes of Bayswater, Knightsbridge and Hyde Park are west central. Anything east of that - including what's called the West End - is central central London. Anything encompassed by the Circle Line is a pretty good gauge.

So no. London isn't "west-centric". It's central-centric. Hardly surprising. Most cities are.

I'm with Chingfordflannywotnot over this. Why would you want to take a 140km cycle race down to the beautiful Surrey Hills when you can peg it up and down Mile End Road 110 times, if not to deliberately slap the faces of the only real people in the South East; those that live in the east end.

I know what you're going to say, that people in other parts of London and the South East have put just as much money towards the cost of the games as the denizens of Stratford, but you can't fool me! :ohno:

I mean, first they move the rowing out to Eton instead of along the Limehouse Cut, then the sailing goes to Weymouth when there's clearly nothing wrong with Tilbury Docks, and now this!

I'm with Chingfordflannywotnot over this. Why would you want to take a 140km cycle race down to the beautiful Surrey Hills when you can peg it up and down Mile End Road 110 times, if not to deliberately slap the faces of the only real people in the South East; those that live in the east end.

I know what you're going to say, that people in other parts of London and the South East have put just as much money towards the cost of the games as the denizens of Stratford, but you can't fool me! :ohno:

I mean, first they move the rowing out to Eton instead of along the Limehouse Cut, then the sailing goes to Weymouth when there's clearly nothing wrong with Tilbury Docks, and now this!

:lol:

I'm with Chingfordflannywotnot over this. Why would you want to take a 140km cycle race down to the beautiful Surrey Hills when you can peg it up and down Mile End Road 110 times, if not to deliberately slap the faces of the only real people in the South East; those that live in the east end.

I know what you're going to say, that people in other parts of London and the South East have put just as much money towards the cost of the games as the denizens of Stratford, but you can't fool me! :ohno:

I mean, first they move the rowing out to Eton instead of along the Limehouse Cut, then the sailing goes to Weymouth when there's clearly nothing wrong with Tilbury Docks, and now this!

Errr, okay, "Crapsalot or whatever your name is", fnarr, fnarr...

And your point is what?

Come on, do elucidate, it would be fascinating to hear it and I'm sure there is one somewhere amongst all that juvenile crap you sprayed on the screen.

Surely it won't come down to the old (Tory) chestnut about it's MY taxes paying for this so the 100m final should be in my local leisure centre will it (ooops, they've closed it down and sold the site to Tesco)?

As for you JimB, still bitter over the olympic stadium I see, typical Spurs though, only piping up when you know someone else has got your back, pathetic.

You didn't have an answer of your own to my rebuttal and only surfaced again to giggle behind the lines like the kids standing behind the school bully when this Capslock clown put his shoddy tuppence worth into the ring.

Very sad.

CF

I can't even believe you are complaining that a few events in the Olympics will not be held in East London, but instead held in suitable places which promote world class venues and tourism.

I live in Manchester, all we have of the Olympics is Old Trafford, and do you know how lucky we feel? That billions of people will tune in to see Manchester in the spotlight, even if its only for a few GAMES.

But you complain that not every single minute of the 16 DAY action will not be held in East London??

How selfish is that?

East London is very lucky. When this bid came about, organizers could have easily decided to place the Olympic Park in the West, or central London, and just only show "that" side of London.

But instead, they decided to hold it in the poorer East London, providing a legacy for you all, which is extremely lucky, especially in this economic climate, with councils cutting housing and jobs. Also, you have the chance of being 5 minutes away from thousands of the worlds elite.

I don't think you realize how luck you are...

Errr, okay, "Crapsalot or whatever your name is", fnarr, fnarr...

And your point is what?

Come on, do elucidate, it would be fascinating to hear it and I'm sure there is one somewhere amongst all that juvenile crap you sprayed on the screen.

Surely it won't come down to the old (Tory) chestnut about it's MY taxes paying for this so the 100m final should be in my local leisure centre will it (ooops, they've closed it down and sold the site to Tesco)?

As for you JimB, still bitter over the olympic stadium I see, typical Spurs though, only piping up when you know someone else has got your back, pathetic.

You didn't have an answer of your own to my rebuttal and only surfaced again to giggle behind the lines like the kids standing behind the school bully when this Capslock clown put his shoddy tuppence worth into the ring.

Very sad.

CF

The Olympics were intended to rejuvenate the Lea Valley area, which arguably will happen, but when looking for road routes, it's a bit much to expect the organisers to either opt for run-down East end areas or to knock large parts of the route down and rebuild to tart them up. Even Beijing didn't opt for this, instead choosing to build hordings along the routes when they passed through areas that weren't spik & span (much to the annoyance of businesses and residents that had 9-foot-high walls plonked outside them for several months, blocking out light and custom!).
It stands to reason that the organisers want to show off as many famous landmarks as possible in a nice setting, rather than burn up lots of the route on the Mile End Road.

Errr, okay, "Crapsalot or whatever your name is", fnarr, fnarr...

And your point is what?

Come on, do elucidate, it would be fascinating to hear it and I'm sure there is one somewhere amongst all that juvenile crap you sprayed on the screen.

Surely it won't come down to the old (Tory) chestnut about it's MY taxes paying for this so the 100m final should be in my local leisure centre will it (ooops, they've closed it down and sold the site to Tesco)?

As for you JimB, still bitter over the olympic stadium I see, typical Spurs though, only piping up when you know someone else has got your back, pathetic.

You didn't have an answer of your own to my rebuttal and only surfaced again to giggle behind the lines like the kids standing behind the school bully when this Capslock clown put his shoddy tuppence worth into the ring.

Very sad.

CF

Should have gone to specsavers........

Try looking just above capslock's post, fella.

Oh, and me bitter about West Ham being given the Olympic stadium???????

:lol:

I suggest that you check out the New WHL thread on the Stadium and Sports Arena section of SSC to see exactly what I thought of the idea of Spurs defecting to Stratford.

All in all, not one of your more successful posts, eh, CF? ;)

Should have gone to specsavers........

Try looking just above capslock's post, fella.

Oh, and me bitter about West Ham being given the Olympic stadium???????

:lol:

I suggest that you check out the New WHL thread on the Stadium and Sports Arena section of SSC to see exactly what I thought of the idea of Spurs defecting to Stratford.

All in all, not one of your more successful posts, eh, CF? ;)

Yeah, I'll give you that, not one of my more successful posts in that majority opinion seems to be against me but only Bertyboy addressed my point in a grown up way (and I thank him).

As for you JimB methinks you doth protest too much, you and your Spurs buddies are all saying how you didn't want to move to Stratford but are also gobbing off all over the place about WHU and even, in some cases trying to get on your taxpayer high horses and "ensure" we stick to agreements made. You lot are IMHO nearly as bad as Hearn who will shut up muy rapido about justice for the O's if given the hockey stadium - hypocrites the lot of you.

Oh and Woo-Woo - read my posts again, I think youve misunderstood why quite a few of us are hacked off. Folk may not like the fact or, as evidenced here, hold their own view but, c'est la vie.

CF

Yeah, I'll give you that, not one of my more successful posts in that majority opinion seems to be against me but only Bertyboy addressed my point in a grown up way (and I thank him).

As for you JimB methinks you doth protest too much, you and your Spurs buddies are all saying how you didn't want to move to Stratford but are also gobbing off all over the place about WHU and even, in some cases trying to get on your taxpayer high horses and "ensure" we stick to agreements made. You lot are IMHO nearly as bad as Hearn who will shut up muy rapido about justice for the O's if given the hockey stadium - hypocrites the lot of you.

Oh and Woo-Woo - read my posts again, I think youve misunderstood why quite a few of us are hacked off. Folk may not like the fact or, as evidenced here, hold their own view but, c'est la vie.

CF

Firstly, you really ought to take yourself a little less seriously. Nothing wrong with a gentle piss take - which is all capslock's post was. Sense of humour required.

Secondly, I did address your point in a perfectly adult manner (far more adult, I suggest, than your keyboard warrior sneering at Spurs fans - 'cos West Ham are well 'ard, right? ;) ).

Thirdly, who's "gobbing off about West Ham all over the place"? There is no contradiction between not wanting Spurs to move to Stratford while, at the same time, wanting to ensure that West Ham's leasehold will be subject to watertight obligations to retain the athletics track. UK Athletics deserves and requires no less. Why should that be at all confusing?

Errr, okay, "Crapsalot or whatever your name is", fnarr, fnarr...

And your point is what?

Come on, do elucidate, it would be fascinating to hear it and I'm sure there is one somewhere amongst all that juvenile crap you sprayed on the screen.

Surely it won't come down to the old (Tory) chestnut about it's MY taxes paying for this so the 100m final should be in my local leisure centre will it (ooops, they've closed it down and sold the site to Tesco)?

As for you JimB, still bitter over the olympic stadium I see, typical Spurs though, only piping up when you know someone else has got your back, pathetic.

You didn't have an answer of your own to my rebuttal and only surfaced again to giggle behind the lines like the kids standing behind the school bully when this Capslock clown put his shoddy tuppence worth into the ring.

Very sad.

CF

Well I was taking the piss out of your post (not you I stress), so I can hardly begrudge your reply :) I still think your post merited it though - sorry.

My point, less sarcastically made, is that a 140km-ish cycle road race is better held where they're currently proposing it than based around the East End. You can see that right? ...even if you don't like it? Your post suggesting that it was a deliberate "slap in the face for the East End"; the inference almost being that events shouldn't be spread around because of some kind of exclusive East Londoner rights to them; was pretty flimsy, to put it charitably.

Your point about me wanting the 100m in my local leisure centre cos 'I pay my taxes' is just stupid. For what it's worth, none of the route goes anywhere near where I live, I can just see the sense of it. You also seem genuinely oblivious to the irony that it was you claiming some god-given right to have all the events in your back-yard in the first place.

Have you read any of Romania1's recent threads? Same shoulder-chip argument you seem to be making, (albeit extended to a ridiculous extreme). If you believe him, the games and every other recent London investment have been paid for by hard-pressed Liverpudlians anyway, so no-one south of the Watford Gap 'deserve' any of it.

Anyway, there's another 'shoddy tuppence' worth. Now you have fourpence.

Well I was taking the piss out of your post (not you I stress), so I can hardly begrudge your reply :) I still think your post merited it though - sorry.

My point, less sarcastically made, is that a 140km-ish cycle road race is better held where they're currently proposing it than based around the East End. You can see that right? ...even if you don't like it? Your post suggesting that it was a deliberate "slap in the face for the East End"; the inference almost being that events shouldn't be spread around because of some kind of exclusive East Londoner rights to them; was pretty flimsy, to put it charitably.

Your point about me wanting the 100m in my local leisure centre cos 'I pay my taxes' is just stupid. For what it's worth, none of the route goes anywhere near where I live, I can just see the sense of it. You also seem genuinely oblivious to the irony that it was you claiming some god-given right to have all the events in your back-yard in the first place.

Have you read any of Romania1's recent threads? Same shoulder-chip argument you seem to be making, (albeit extended to a ridiculous extreme). If you believe him, the games and every other recent London investment have been paid for by hard-pressed Liverpudlians anyway, so no-one south of the Watford Gap 'deserve' any of it.

Anyway, there's another 'shoddy tuppence' worth. Now you have fourpence.

Sighs, okay Capslock, thanks for coming back, fair enough, lets just beg to differ on why I was making my point, it's obviously been lost in the vitriol (from both sides) by the way irony is NOT lost on me, I'm from London not Wisconsin :) .

Jim, look, whatever, again we obviously don't see eye to eye on this but as a last point to accuse me of being the keyboard warrior after you fired the first (personal) shots is rich, lets just leave it eh?

Anyhow, lets hope the Roadrace goes well and folk do enjoy it around the world now that it's been shifted to the "scenic" side of the tracks...

PS - Jim, I'm a TAXPAYER too...

CF

Sighs, okay Capslock, thanks for coming back, fair enough, lets just beg to differ on why I was making my point, it's obviously been lost in the vitriol (from both sides) by the way irony is NOT lost on me, I'm from London not Wisconsin :) .
CF

I didn't set out to be vitriolic... and apologise if the tone of my first post wound you up - it was slightly childish :happy:

...and I don't think Wisconsin has the Internet yet :dunno:

Anyway - group hug. Maybe see you on Box Hill in two summer's time. It's a lovely spot. :grouphug:

Wandered out my house across the park to the Diana fountain in Bushy Park for half nine this morning. Lots of people, a few Union Flags and a lovely atmosphere for the cycle race.

Best part was when the cyclist group hitthe fountain, it split either side and rejoined on the other. It was quite beautiful to watch (big fountain, see google maps).

The leaders of the pack of elites had such a grin on their faces when they arced round!