RideLondon gets started with new world record as Laura Trott leads ensemble

 
Double Olympic champion Laura Trott leads the record attempt in the City
Standard Reporter9 August 2014

London's festival of cycling started with a new world record as riders geared up for the capital's 100-mile race this weekend.

Olympic and Commonwealth gold medal cyclist Laura Trott and former British downhill skier Chemmy Alcott led a cast of hundreds of cyclists as they smashed the record for the largest bicycle bell ensemble.

Their performance in the shadow of St Paul's Cathedral kicked off a weekend of Prudential RideLondon cycling events in the capital, starting with the opening of a 10-mile traffic-free route on closed roads through the city, allowing an expected 50,000 people to ride past iconic landmarks including Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London.

RideLondon 2014 - in pictures

1/12

A full 639 cyclists, led by bell-ringing musicians from the Guildhall School of Music, easily surpassed the total of 503 cycling bell-ringers set in 2003 by the University of Leipzig in Germany, in front of officials from the Guinness Book of Records.

Miss Trott, 22, who was racing later in the day in the grand prix event, said it had been worth getting up early for what is her second world record.

She said: "It was really exciting. I was part of the one they tried to do last year and it wasn't successful so it was really nice to see happy, smiley faces at the end of it.

"Our team pursuit team actually holds the world record for the team pursuit so this is my second one."

The Essex-born champion added: "For me when I was growing up there was never really those opportunities - they would never shut down a whole city. For cycling to have come that far and be able to do that is incredible."

The orchestra was conducted by Guildhall School of Music's Dominic Wheeler, who was working with bike bells for the first time in his career to perform a specially composed variation on the Westminster Chimes.

Miss Trott and Olympic and Tour de France star Sir Bradley Wiggins will take part tomorrow in a 100-mile road race which ends on the Mall. The London-Surrey Classic will also star 2012 world champion Philippe Gilbert, and 2014 Tour de France top 10 finisher Laurens ten Dam.

Miss Trott said she was slightly daunted by riding 100 miles for the first time. She is taking part with her father, uncle and her sister, a former professional cyclist.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in