London to Brighton cycle (Part 3: sponsorship/plan for day)

[G]

You can probably come along anyway, I think.

[byke95]

[G]

Been talking to people at work that have done it.
You can't go to the very start, but can join in a couple of roads down no problem.

[Irezumi aka Reuben]

Remember this isn't a race so I'll be sticking with the BCF group, if such a thing happens.

A list of thing's you will need:

Water, at least 3 litres.
Spare inner tube for your bike.
Pump, only 1 or 2 needed for all of us obviously.
Any tools specific to you bike that you may need.
Some fruit.
A packet of crisps.
Mobile phone/money.
Sunglasses.
Suncream, at least put on before you go out.
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Pictorgraphicalfantastical

[G]

I shall be taking...
A bike!

Do we have to pay for water at the rest places en route?

[byke95]

Bugger, hadn't thought about anything in that list Reuben, thanks for the reminder!

[G]

Does anyone else need a lift from Reading to London?

[Dom]

Just found a pic of the route. Ditchling beacon looks fun.

Think I might do some last minute shopping this afternoon and pick up a helmet and some bike luggage.
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Photos and that

[Ste]

fucked bikes 2
london brighton tomorrow 0

[Korn]

I've attached a log of our ride today for those of you with Google Earth, exported from the little GPS I was carrying. On loading the file you can select the placemark under "Tracklogs" and hit F10 for a flying tour. The huge hill at the end is scary...

https://www.kornel.com/pics/ltb.gif

F'kin knackered now, and sunburnt. All good fun!
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3516 Miles, 11 Countries

[Irezumi aka Reuben]

Not been in long, dropped illusion about 6 miles from his house so he should get home pretty soon as well.

Sorry to byke, byke's girlfriend (sorry forgotten name ) and Dom. Itried ringing but couldnt get through, got your txt though.

Was good to meet you all and a good day out.
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Pictorgraphicalfantastical

[byke95]

Only just got back home, and everything is cramping up!

Still, quality day!

Korn, G, Dusty, Reuben, Paul; Did you all manage to ride up Ditchling Beacon?

Edit: Reuben, her name is Tina

[Irezumi aka Reuben]

Woops, don't let her read that.

Get her to sign up too. She can't post any less relevant stuff than us.

Was good to meet you all, all really nice people.

Edit: Me and dan (illusion) rode up the Ditchling beacon. Not far past the top, a mile at most, there was an accident with a few rider's on the floor and one who appeared to be out cold.
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Pictorgraphicalfantastical

[byke95]

[Irezumi aka Reuben]

Yep was quite dangerous considering it was a charity ride.

I was adding to the danger by constantly getting distracted by young lady's wearing very little.
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Pictorgraphicalfantastical

[Dom]

Yep a really good day, I will definitely try and do more things like this in the future.

Dan (who I was also calling Paul I think, sorry! ) and Reuben, it was a shame we all got split up at the end, but no big deal. I managed to cycle all the way up Ditchling Beacon without even putting my foot down, which I was pretty pleased with given that by the time we got there 99% of people were walking from the bottom.

On that crash after the beacon, there was still one guy on the floor and being treated when we went past, probably quite a bit later on. Looked a bit nasty.

Weird thing is I barely ache at all today (normally do after anything more than 20 miles), but I've got an absolute bastard of a headache. Ah well.

Paul, cheers for picking up that water for me (I think I owe you a beer in return!) from the extortionately priced stop off point. Hope you're not feeling too dead after having to get up first thing for work! Being self employed isn't always great, but at least the boss wasn't going to shout at me for not falling out of bed 'til 11.

Which one are we doing next, then?

Edit: Might do this. 50 or 80 miles and starting and finishing in the same place (just outside of Portsmouth). Any takers?
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Photos and that

[G]

Long report, lot of gaff, in short; basically, we had fun, not quite as bad as I thought, but still bloody knackering!


Was tempted to write a spoof style post about 'owning' London to Brighton, but I shall resist .


With little practice or other exercise in the last few months I wasn't sure how well I would last.

I wasn't sure how well my off road tyres would last either, so I swapped them for some cheap slicks from Halfords that I was told would fit.
Not only did I manage to get a puncture which changing tyres, but the rear tyre didn't seem to fit properly, leaving a bulge even when the tyre wasn't inflated enough.
The day before I also played with my gears, something I was definitely grateful of when I heard other people's bikes constantly slipping between gears while trying to go up hill - mine weren't perfect, but only the steep Ditchlin caused any problems.

We chose a nine am start time so that we wouldn't have to get up too early, though that still meant a quarter past six to leave at six thirty.
Getting to Korn's for seven thirty and grabbing a lift in the back of the van

Managed to meet up with everyone else before the start; first byke95 + girl friend at our van, then Dom on the way to the start, then Reuben and illusion at the start.

We go through the start to get stamped to say we've started, then meet up with Dusty who's riding 'unofficialy' so can't go through the main gates.

We arrange a meet up point in case we get split up; luckily we've all got mobile phones.

Within a mile it's obvious it's going to be very easy to get split up with the sheer volume of other bikes.
Through London sees why there may be just as bad congestion problems if everyone rode push bikes (though less pollution, probably); with it being quite hard to make progress at a reasonable speed. This sees Korn, Dusty, Reuben and I taking some 'creative' routes, as a typical bicycle courier might be seen executing.
Traffic lights were generally ignored, with Police directing traffic, letting the thousands of cyclists have priority. In some cases cars were attempting to move with the cyclists, but mostly they get swamped.

Moving from Urban, then through suburbs and into countryside, the roads start to open up a bit and are dedicated to cyclists.
We make use of the first official rest stop, where I blow up my rear tyre a bit, as it's looking decidedly squidy and get some water.
We wait for everyone else to catch up then continue.

Korn, Dusty and I soon find that we've lost the others again, especially as we come to some quite serious hold-ups of stationary traffic. Some are caused by people pushing their bikes up slow hills, while others from road traffic crossing the route or as we soon find out, accidents.
We are stuck behind an accident which has a massive tail back, the police are not letting any one through.

Korn and Dusty decide to jump over the fence and go through a field, to the general amusement of the crowd, with slight arseyness from some quarters.
I'm not so sure about following thanks to my rather dodgy rear tyre and the bumpy fields. I try and call Alex a while later, but get no answer, so when a few other people follow suit, I decide to join them.
I rouse a bit of a cheer when I manage to break a rather rotten fence as I'm jumping over it, catching my leg on some barbed wire as I go down.

Getting back onto the main road, it's completely empty bar the five of us that took the shortcut, so we make use of the space and progress at a decent pace to make some space between us and those caught behind us.
Coming up to a roundabout I'm shouted at from some people standing on the pavement, who turn out to be Dusty and Korn, who have met up with some of Korn's mates who are driving the van.
Continuing on, we make use of the empty roads to keep up decent progress. We decide to skip the pre-arranged point we had given to meet other people, as it's going to be a while before the blockage is cleared.
Give the others a quick call to tell them what we're up to and manage to nearly get taken out as I cut up another rider - though to be fair she was trying to undertake me on an open road while she should have been able to see I was using a mobile phone. Bloody dangerous these mobile phones when used on the road. (I was slowing down and pulling into the side because there was too much wind noise.)

Continuing on, Dusty and I manage to lose Korn as he gets off to walk up some of the steeper hills while we carry on.
We decide on a stopping point for Lunch at the top of what is shown as a steep hill, the idea being that we will have a bit more of a leisurely ride down what is shown as a gentle down hill slope, after eating lunch.
The stopping point, in the middle of a small village, also seems to be a bit of a bottle neck, as four wheeled traffic and two wheeled traffic is prioritised by the police.

As the spot Dusty had picked to stop had no shade we carry on to find somewhere better to rest.
Fairly soon Dusty and I manage to lose Korn on a fairly steep up hill - I'm convinced the route plan showing elevation was put together by a psychologist rather than a scientific charter!
We loose track of the fact we were going to stop for a rest and continue on.

I put my seat up to improve my power on climbs, where I find I'm having to stand up to keep up.
Generally I find my possibly stronger than average legs work better turning the pedals slower, but with more force; Dusty comments that it looks like I'm putting a lot more effort in than others.
Putting my seat up helps quite a bit; something I'd been meaning to do before I started! However, a find it's a bit too uncomfortable, despite the padded cycling shorts I purchased the day before, so I lower it a little bit, a few miles further on, too a reasonable mid range between pain and performance.

Getting on for three quarters distance Dusty slowly gets away from me, as my legs are feeling totally drained; however much I tell my legs to turn, they aren't having any of it and I find myself free wheeling on the down hills rather than pedalling.

I stop to refill my water about four stops before the imposing Ditchlin Hill, then on the one just before as well as using the portaloos set up in some one on the route's garden, I'm tempted by the cheap cakes on offer which look very good, but manage to resist with the thought of going up the steep hill just behind.
You can see Ditchlin hill from quite a few miles away, often coming up to smaller hills with trees covering the road wondering if this time it was going to be 'it'.

Starting up Ditchlin it's obviously a lot steeper than most. I want to cycle all the up, so put that bit more effort into keeping going.
Most people are walking and I'm often not going much faster than those that are, however I do manage to not only get up, but get past a few other people that are also cycling.
While cycling up I get a call from Dusty to say he's just got to the top.

I've definitely been putting more effort in than I've managed to get my previously drained legs to do before.
On reflection, it may have been that the Lucazade that Dusty drunk actually did work, while the Fanta (and Burger) I had took a bit longer to get through to my muscles. Or of course that he's just fitter than me as he's done a lot more exercise than me recently!

At the top of Ditchlin I stop for a quick breather and another water refill, as well as to call Dusty, who I find has left now and is on his way down to Brighton.

I definitely have got some more energy now, as I manage to keep pedalling decently, where possible even on the fairly steep down-hills.
The last seven miles go much quicker than the rest, with some very steep downhill sections as well as slightly gentler descents.

I do get a little worried when I see a town surrounded by hills and no obvious route to the see; much as I've got some energy, I'm not sure I could handle another decent ascent!
Luckily it seems hidden from sight, Brighton sneaks between two hills, so I have a fairly relaxing ride in.

Coming into Brigton-proper I follow some police push bikers who are going on the outside of traffic, rather than the lane on the inside that most riders are using.
I end up sitting in big jams of other London to Brighton riders in the last mile with everyone in a cordoned off lane, I do consider hopping over and riding with the 'normal' traffic, but I'm not too bothered by being a few minutes later.

The final little straight on the Brighton Sea front has quite large crowds cheering on either side. I've been quite surprised the whole ride with the number of people standing by the side of the road to watch and support the riders, as well as those with water pistols to cool people down in some cases and annoy in others!

I make some progress through the people let go by the traffic police and get some fairly empty space to let me stoppie across the line and almost flip it doing so, but do raise a bit of a cheer for my efforts!


All in all good fun, if very knackering.
I thought I was feeling ok towards the end, then I tried to carry my bike up some stairs from the seafront to the road above and wasn't sure if I was going to make it all the way up!

Not feeling too bad today, a little stiff in the morning, but loosened up quick enough and even rode my mountain bike too work!

I was quite surprised with the pace, in that I seemed to be passing more people than I was passed by, however I appreciate that this is supposed to be a fun ride and a social event, rather than a race!


Apologies to everyone else for not staying in the group as such, I still wanted it to be a bit of a challenge for me, as I didn't have the stupid bike. Sure everyone enjoyed it regardless of having my sweaty body near them or not! Nice to meet meet those that I haven't met before, for the time we were together.

[byke95]

[G]

Oh and to Dusty for doing it after getting a lot less sleep than the rest of us. And a to Ste who managed to brake both his bikes the night before, and use the excuse that he only had one working brake on the second bike he broke, despite that fact it's a way better brake than loads of other people had.

[Dave McCool]

Sorry to bump and (incredibly) old thread, but I just thought I'd congratulate all of you (especially G) on making it up the Ditchling Beacon hill, I live about half a mile from the top, and that hill is ridiculous!

Superb road though, my car's brakes are hammered after 2 'spirited' runs down there....

If you're all doing it this year I'll be at the top with some bottled water for you!
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McGee - "When I go to the mall and see all the high school girls, I have to have DO NOT TOUCH THE GIRLS written on my hand. Every time I go to grope I see it and stop."
K7 GSXR750

[Dom]

I'm planning to, but so far nobody else is seeming very keen.
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Photos and that