As much as the womens is just as important, we all want to see the big one. So Saturday, Staples Lane is the nearest Big Hill where most people will gather, it will be busy but its the best place to see the rush before heading home for the majority of the race on TV.

The approximate time the race will be heading up this is 11:20am, I suggest aiming to be there between 9.30 and 10:00 to get a spot on the hill, I would suggest bringing some flip flops in your pocket as security may be being very tight, they might not let you actually ride up the hill,

Finally, Im suggesting a meeting point of Mychett BP garage, to head over tunnel hill and out via old woking and send, quiter roads than via guilding meaning a meeting time of 8.30 to comfortably get over there? sound good, post if A. this proposal is sensible and B. if we should go along with it and C. who will be coming?

Sounds like a plan, as it will be almost impossible to get anywhere near the Box Hill Loop. Trainers in a string bag might be a better option than flip flops.

A: Yes, sensible proposal Gareth. Gives us a chance to hopefully see the stars without too much hassle.

B/C: We're discussing options here - Gill might want to come, in which case we would probably need to go over slower (c.10mph) separately and perhaps meet up there. Also may want to go on our old MTBs, so can easily park them up and walk if we have to (less concerned about them being nicked), and maybe take a bit of a picnic too.

Are you suggesting the same route that was taken to Staple Lane last Sunday, about 15.5mls?
http://connect.garmin.com/course/1714900

yup same route, once over tunnel hill relatively flat nothing steep at all until the hill, I see Procycling rate the climb Im heading too as the first notable point before the circuit proper

Count me in please, see you at 8.30

How did it go - were many out and did you get a good view?

An estimated million people watching at the roadside. But wasn't the TV coverage dire? I read that the Beeb have put in a formal complaint to the Olympic Broadcasters.

We Get the same coverage and It was awful, no time splits that made any sense, the German commentators went quite a few times as you could see they no information, picked up a bit of Hugh Porter on internet

According to The Register, the IOC blames it all on spectators. Apparently they were using their smartphones and tweeting too much, causing network congestion that stopped the bike mounted GPS units phoning home with data. Now that couldn't have been predicted, could it?

I went out to Staple Lane with Tracey. We drove out there (a bit far for her to cycle), arriving at 7:40 (I had no idea what traffic restrictions would be in place, so how long it would take us to find somewhere to park). We came down Ripley Road; from Tythebarns Lane there were "no stopping - towaway zone" signs. But once into East Clandon, Old Epsom road where I'd intended parking was free of restrictions (presumably because it doesn't go anywhere). We went most of the way up the hill, and settled down in a field gateway with a picnic rug, some good books (I finished off David Millar's Racing Through The Dark) and a picnic. At about 8:15 a policeman warned us that the road was going to be closed completely, I tried to get through to warn Gareth but failed

They actually seemed to close it at about 9:30; until then there had been a steady stream of people walking or riding up the hill. There was a good atmosphere there, and when the riders eventually came past (pretty much exactly when Gareth predicted) we were close enough to touch them.

Back to the car, I was surprised that there was absolutely no congestion trying to get back out of East Clandon heading North - I suspect that the towaway signs had just put people off driving down that way as the only cars parked by us were the ones that had been there before we arrived (camper vans, etc.).

A bit disappointed to find out that a bug in our Humax Foxsat-HDR PVR is preventing it recording the HD olympic streams, so we didn't get to see ourselves on telly - and, more importantly, we didn't get to go back and watch the race from the start, only from when we got back home at about 12:15.

Incidentally, if you do have one of those PVRs it is possible to hack it so that it will show and record the SD streams, as long as you don't mind putting some custom firmware on it (which I did months ago to allow it to stream recordings to any computer in the house). If anyone is interested, I can talk you through it.

Gill and I went down on MTBs to a spot near Pyrford on Saturday - a bit last minute and too late to get to Staples Lane. There was a bend in the road which we thought would slow the field down, so headed for that. Masses of cars, pedestrians and cyclists coming from Woking direction - when we got to the bend it was already about six deep. So we scrambled down the side of a field, through brambles and nettles, ouch, to a bank on the verge just before the bend. I found the best view was by hanging on to a tree branch with one hand and leaning out just a little, hoping the branch wouldn't give way at the worst possible moment. The police were having a great deal of fun, and the stewarts too, threatening that they would video anyone doing something stupid and post it on YouTube as a punishment.

The break came through, then the peleton at about 4 minutes, led by TeamGB. They were very close and we felt the rush of wind as they went past.

And that was - it over in a flash- save for queuing slowly to get back to main road with the retreating crowd. Probably our one and only hands-on experience of the London Olympics.

It all seemed a very British thing to do....