stapfam

This is an annual ride and is 54 miles long and is from the Southern Edge of London to Brighton- A "City" on the South Coast. Run by the British Heart Foundation and has a lot of entrants. Around 30,000 each year--and to confirm- That is 30 thousand. Route is not hard for an accomplished rider and only takes in one hill about 7 miles from the end and that is Ditchling Beacon. It takes place on mainly back roads that "May" be closed to traffic but with 30,000 bikes in 54 miles- not many cars attempt to drive along the route on the day.

I have done it 8 times till this year and is not a ride I enjoy. The standard of riders is not good and runs from the accomplished down to " I am doing the ride next week so I had better do a couple of miles on my 30 year old bike I have in the loft" As far as I am concerned- that means there are 30,000 riders attempting to take you down. Accidents abound and a lot of them are serious- some resulting in Serious injury or even death.

However- Saturday morning and a rider dropped out of my Son-in-Laws team and I was asked to replace him. Like the idiot I am- I accepted the offer. I have not done much mileage this year but if I took it steady- I would manage the ride. So Saturday Night and a Trip to a friends house in London to enable an early start. Our start was scheduled for 8am but getting to the event and signing in etc would take time. It was either a 4am start from home or a good night sleep and a 6am start. I chose the latter.

We got dropped off about 5 miles from the start and the team met up at the event. Chatting to the others and my son-in-law- Ross would be the fittest. Two Mountain bikers Paul and Gary- Ex Army and they seemed OK. Then there was Matt and Pete. Both newcomers and they would struggle. Plenty of Entrants and a couple of Vids.

This is taken at the assembly area before you go to your time slot gate. I just took a 360 sweep and the gantrys are the start gates for the riders. We were starting at 8am and they let riders go off in batches of 500 or so every few minutes



I went through the start gate to Video our team starting and they were all in Orange tops- so I was looking for a batch of Orange tops. Orange seemed to be a popular colour this year. This was the 5th batch to be released for that time slot.


So the ride started and although you could not get up any speed- I stayed at the back and got separated a few times and had to work hard to get back to them The roads were not completely closed but if you can imagine one lane of a main road being closed to cars and that lane was solid bikes for 54 miles then it was abit crowded. Then the first slope and it was chaos. Narrow road and it was closed completly to cars. Road was only 10ft wide and up an 8% slope for 1/2 mile. Only wide enough for 4 bikes and the fast boys wanted to race- The walkers got off in front of you with no warning and it was 2 bike widths down the middle of people cycling. Lots of wheel touches and Tombay's but I did manage to ride it without incident. Matt didn't and right knee got knocked. Got to the top with Ross and I went onward to get a group pic. Seemed ages before they came but Matts Knee was swollen and painfull. But heres the pic of the group--Less me obviously.

And a bit later in the ride

And finally a Shot showing the ones that were flagging at the top of a 200ft 8% rise later in the ride. This was only the 2nd slope so they were going to be in trouble later.


From here on we were nursing Matt- and by the 27mile mark he was in trouble- So was Pete and the two Mountain bikers were flagging aswell. Ross and I decided that we were going to leave them shortly and did so after a few miles.

There is only one hill on this and it is a 10% average for one mile. Big problem on this hill is going to be the walkers and the bikes suddenly stopping in front of you. When we left the others we were cold so built up to get some rhythm in the legs. Had about 10 miles before the hill and I let Ross go. I have not ridden much this year so I was worried by the length of the hill. It twists and turns and is tree covered so you have no idea how much further the hill is going to be till you get to open sky at the top. Kept my pace down and just turned the pedals and no leg strain and I was surprised that my lungs were fine too. So much so that when I passed comments like "Walkers on the Left-Walkers on the left- If you are F*****g walking get on the left"- I could do it at the top of my voice and still had enough breath left for the next batch. Got to the top and found the Headwind- 25 to 30 mph and gusting a lot higher. Time to put the windproof on as the highlight of the ride was coming up. ColdHarbour Lane. A 1 mile descent into Brighton at between 8 and 12%. Ross went for it and as he reached his max of 42mph- I Coasted past him doing 55. Only about 5 miles on the Flat down into Brighton with only the Cars and buses to contend with. I'll be honest- the Cars and buses were safer than the cyclists on this ride. They didn't want a bike as a mascot on their bonnet so stayed away from us.

Got to the finish and had to cool down on the bike so did another 5 miles on the flat to have ridden my age for the first time this year. I did not feel too bad- Legs ached a bit and the knee was stiff but no problems. 30 minutes later and the others came in. They had got to the top of Coldharbour Lane and ran into a Hail storm They were soaked and cold. All had walked up Ditchling Beacon but they had done the ride. If anyone had walked past Pete or Mat at that moment- I think they would have been given bikes- for free.

Tonight and the others are fine- Pete wants do do a road ride on a road bike and we are all looking at a London Hastings ride in August. So I will presume that Pete has managed to get that saddle out of a place where it should not have got in the first place.

reverborama

Hmmm.... I've always wanted to do London to Brighton, but I'd always imagine it more of a "chasing down the Mods on my Norton" sort of thing...

That looks like a lot of fun, but I sure hate those bunch starts. I can't imagine it with 30,000 people even if you start in waves. Here when we get a ride of 5,000 or so I just hate the first several miles until everyone is stretched out into a long line.

stapfam

It is a long line--54 miles of it and 6 bikes wide.

This is not a ride for the racers unless you get a 6am start. And work it out- 30,000 and start times from 6am to 11am. That is 3,000 riders every 30 minutes or 6 batches of 500 in that 30 minutes. Luckily- The fast downhill at the end is wide and all slower riders are guided to the left by Marshalls. The one spot you can get speed.

And those accidents--I saw at least 6 where riders were staying down. Those were accidents I saw just in front of me. Plenty of others where road rash was the only problem but this ride is for the brave or the foolhardy. I did warn the others in the group that they would have to look out for other riders- but they did not believe me, They do now.

Rick@OCRR

Looks like an awful lot of mountain bikes for a road ride! Other than that it would be fun, esp. for an American on holiday.

My only problem riding in the U.K. was remembering to keep left. Other than that, the pack seemed to have the same informal rules that we have here.

What do you have to do (or be) to qualify for the 6:00AM start? That seems like the way to do it, though probably hammering right out of the gate to keep pace with the blokes in SKY kit!

Rick / OCRR

NOS88

Nice ride report, Stapfam. Although, when I read "30,000" and later, "release in batches of 500" I knew I'd never want to ride in that.

Marauder9

I have always wanted to do this ride. Was ready about it in Cycling Active last month IIRC.
My brother lives in Hove and has done it a couple of times before.

I think next year I will look into seeing if he is going to take part and travel down for it.

Good ride report Stapfam.

stapfam

First of all- If you want a road ride and do it sensibly then you get your entries in early and apply for the 6 am start. Up to 7 is OK as it is still serious riders but after that it is The "office" getting 20 riders together to get money for sponsorship. Look round your office- Or work place- and find 20 people that ride bikes. I doubt that you could find 20 in a larger company with 500 staff. So you finish up with 5 cyclists- 10 that have a bike in the shed and 5 that will have to borrow or buy a bike for the event. So 25% of your team will do it comfortable- 25% will do it and the other 50% will finish but sell their bikes immediately afterwards- just so they don't get invited next year.

And just to whet your appetite- A new event for 2012 at the end of May--The same ride run with the same organistaion- but a Night ride. Starting at 1am and that will be spectacular. Imagine the fun to be had with all those Pubs that will be open for 24 hours that day. Might enter that one-Just to see what it is like riding for 6 hours on a 5 hour lamp.

And Marauder- Get down if you can. I am not too far from Hove and "May" be able to help with bike transport. Way to do this is to get a lift to the area on the morning and ride back to Hove from Brighton. Whats that? 5 miles?

bradtx

What a nice report, stapfam!

Brad

leob1

Sounds a lot like the 5-Boro tour in NYC. 30k people(10k cyclists) riding bikes around the city. LOTS of people trying to sightsee the first few miles, weaving all over the road, looking up at the buildings not where they are going. A lesson in defensive driving. The "hills" are a mess, the slightest rise causes a rolling raodblock. Except for those that suddenly decide to stop and walk, or take a picture. Uh excuse me, not a good idea with 10,000 people behind you. One big hill, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Luckly, the crowd was thinned, and I was able to ride up it with little issue.