RideLondon 100-mile bike race kicks off by breaking Guinness World Record for largest bicycle bell ensemble

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

London's annual festival of cycling kicked off this morning by setting a new world record for the largest bicycle bell ensemble.

Olympic and Commonwealth gold medal cyclist Laura Trott and former British downhill skier Chemmy Alcott joined 639 cyclists, led by bell-ringing musicians from the Guildhall School of Music, for the beginning of RideLondon at Guildhall Yard, near St Pauls Cathedral in central London.

The festival begins with a ten mile ride through the capital and continues with a 100-mile race on Sunday through Surrey.

The number this year 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.

Thousands are expected to ride past iconic landmarks including Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London.

Miss Trott and Olympic and Tour de France star Sir Bradley Wiggins will take part tomorrow in the road 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, 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."

Additional reporting by PA