RideLondon-Essex sees thosands take part in cycling festival

The 30, 60 and 100-mile events took place on Sunday, May 28, with more than 22,500 people of all abilities taking part on car-free roads.

Around 50,000 joined the free, family-friendly FreeCycle event, which took place across eight miles of closed roads.

Cyclists rode through the Essex countryside as part of the RideLondon-Essex (Image: London Marathon Events)

The 100-mile event went through towns in Essex including Woodford, Epping, Ongar, Brentwood, Chelmsford, Braintree, Felsted, Great Dunmow, Fyfield and Chigwell, before returning to London.

This year's event marked the 10th anniversary for RideLondon-Essex, which encourages people to get on their bikes as well as raising millions for charity.

Over the last 10 years, more than £83 million has been raised for more than 1,000 charities. The charities of the year for 2023 were The Alzheimer's Society and the Eve Appeal.

RideLondon cyclists passing through Ongar (Image: London Marathon Events)

RideLondon event director Hugh Brashner said: "I started at the back of the Ford RideLondon-Essex 30 event and the diversity, the ages, the different demographics, the people who you wouldn’t normally associate with a bicycle, and the fact that they were getting involved and cycling out to Essex and back, was brilliant.

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"The event has changed since 2013 – we are encouraging people of different ethnicities and socio-economic background and ages to get on a bicycle.

Cyclists passing through the Essex countryside on the RideLondon-Essex (Image: London Marathon Events)

"We know that in the last 10 years we’ve inspired more than 150,000 people to get on a bike, either who’d never been on one before, or people who dusted one down, so we’re really inspiring activity.

"There are para cyclists taking part, people on tricycles. It can feel daunting [to get on a bike] but in this traffic-free environment pollution levels go down 90 per cent, so the more people we can inspire to get on two wheels, whether to cycle one mile or 10 miles, the better."

Richard Ward celebrates completing the RideLondon-Essex 100 (Image: London Marathon Events)

Uttlesford also played host to the women's three-stage Ford RideLondon Classique, the first stage of which began in Saffron Walden on Friday, May 26. 

The second stage took place in Maldon on Saturday, May 27, and the final stage was held in London at the Mall.

Riders on the Ford RideLondon-Essex through the Essex countryside (Image: London Marathon Events)

Riders at Tower Bridge completing the RideLondon-Essex (Image: London Marathon Events)

Riders cycling through the Essex countryside (Image: London Marathon Events)