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Cycling from London to Brighton

tommers said:
hmmm... interesting... could do... what do you think goldie?

I am actually working that day again, but I could probably take it off or something
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Is that a Sunday? I'd prefer a Saturday to be honest. And I'm not familiar with the route at all. Still, it's a possibility and seems like a fair few people would be up for it. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks.
 
Yep, I'm doing it with my Dad, and I think he said he got his entrace confirmation through the other day. I've been reading about Ditchlin Beacon on the web and know I'm going to have to do a fair bit of training for that climb.
 
stavros said:
Yep, I'm doing it with my Dad, and I think he said he got his entrace confirmation through the other day. I've been reading about Ditchlin Beacon on the web and know I'm going to have to do a fair bit of training for that climb.
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It's not that bad, but there's always enough people walking up to take away any shame you may feel ;)
 
stavros said:
Yep, I'm doing it with my Dad, and I think he said he got his entrace confirmation through the other day. I've been reading about Ditchlin Beacon on the web and know I'm going to have to do a fair bit of training for that climb.
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If you cycle regularly, and drop to a very low gear, you'll be fine. The sight of it approaching* is worse than the thing itself. And on the cruise down into brighton, it'll all be forgotten in seconds!




* technically, you'll be approaching it.
 
Luckily I live in Somerset, which seems to be mostly hills, and I've found one I'm going to have a go at on Sunday. It's about 1.7km long with a rise of around 150m. To be honest, I think I prefer ascents to coming down, where I sometimes feel a bit out of control. There is a certain satisfaction in knowing that you've gone up that equivalent though.
 
Here is a cut and paste of an off road route...

The route used NCN route 4 (Thames towpath) from London in a westerley direction to Weybridge. From Weybridge the route then heads south along the River Wey to Shalford, located 2 miles to the south of Guildford. At this point the route links up with the Downslink (disused railway path between Shalford and Shoreham by Sea. From Shoreham you head in an easterly direction for the last few miles to Brighton.

It's not a direct route by any means, however it was designed to be flat route, and one that could be undertaken over a couple of days for those wanting a slightly more leisurely pace.

Have a look at the following:

http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/leisureand ... eGuide.pdf

http://weyriver.co.uk/theriver/Wey_Navigations_Map.htm


http://www.sustransshop.co.uk/products/ ... mes-valley
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Three weeks to go folks. How's everyone's training going? Luckily I got out early this morning before it got totally Sarahan in temperature, and got some good hills under my belt. Also had a very satisfatory ride yesterday, as I rode down and then turned round and rode up a hill that had previously beaten me. It made me feel that I'm definitely getting better, because it really wasn't *that* hard.

Bring on the 21st. :cool:
 
I haven't been training as much, apart from my weekly average of 40 miles to and from work. Yesterday I cycled to Farnborough, kent, which I guess it's about 24 miles there and back., so not bad...I am in good shape, but it was harder going up Crystal Palace on the way back though! But I made it without getting off my bike. Bring on Ditchling Beacon!!!! ;)
 
I have a friend in Brighton who cycles up to see me all the time. I'm sure he knows some good routes. He came up last Thursday, stayed for a cup of tea and a cake and then went back again. Weirdo.

He's up tomorrow, i'll ask him.
 
I hope it's not this bloody hot then. I've got a 6.30am start, but it could still be boiling by the time I get to the coast. :eek:
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX- could you forward the route to me too :)

i have a brighton nightride coming up, last time i organised one i relied on everyone else to bring maps and stuff and looked like a right numpty. :o
 
Boycey said:
ATOMIC SUPLEX- could you forward the route to me too :)

i have a brighton nightride coming up, last time i organised one i relied on everyone else to bring maps and stuff and looked like a right numpty. :o
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Arhhhh I totally forgot to ask him, he's been around twice since I spotted this thread as well. He's gone to Germany for a couple of weeks but he's send him an email
 
Here is what he says.

1) I take the route up Coombe Road (hilly) , past the Addington Golf course (Fair child road)gets hilly again), down Titsey Hill, follow Titsey Lane towards Limpfield, take at the start of Limpfield a right to Oxted, go through Oxted towards Tandridge, in Tandridge after the golf course a left turn into Tandridge Lane, follow this road all the way south until it hits the B2029, I take the B2029 to the right to Blidley Heath where I do a left turn onto the A22 (can be very busy) and follow it for a few hundred yards, then I turn right into Hare Lane, I follow Hare Lane till its end, then cycle on a small roads towards Newchapel until I reach the B2028 (west park road), I do a right turn onto B2028 (don't get confused by the road closure signs in the first five miles, there's a construction site, but it's open for cyclists) and then always stay on it - going past Crawley Down, through Turner Hill, Ardingley, Lindfield, into Haywards Heath, where I take the B2112 past Wivelsfield into Ditchling, go through Ditchling and take on the otherside of Ditchling Beacon rd which leads you up the Beacon (very steep), on top of Ditchling Beacon you should see already Brighton and the sea, so follow the road into Brighton. Hooray - 55miles done and dusted. If you think of cycling to Brighton to save money I'd be careful because a day return from Croydon to Brighton is about 11quid which you can' really beat by bike, unless you cycle it back as well. Difficult: Coombe road, Fair child rd, Tandridge lane at the beginning (up the Northdowns) and Ditchling Beacon is infamous among cyclists.

If you look at googlemap my route should make sense.
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Only goes up to Croydon.

The route I took from there missed out Crystal palace and went up right up London Road (or Green lane) to Streatham (or Balham) and then Waterloo. It's pretty easy going from Croydon to the southbank and anywhere from there is a piece of piss (unless you go way way north).
 
editor said:
I've done the return trip several times, but always took the A23 out of town straight there and back.

There's a nice looking route here: http://www.freewebs.com/cycleroutes/
Looks a good idea to start from Sutton too. Getting out of London through Streatham onwards was always the shittiest part.

*in fact, I'm wondering if this wouldn't make a good urban day out...
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I did this route on Saturday, although from Hackney rather than Sutton which added on a fair bit, but it was a wonderful route - I've done many different routes to Brighton before but this one is the best I've done - I hardly saw a soul once I got on to the country lanes - highly recommended!:)
 
I managed to get up this killer climb this morning which had defeated me previously. It was never that steep, but it gets steeper as you go up, and has long straights before going round a bend to find another long straight climb. Almost gave myself a bloody hernia, but I did it and am proud.
 
Turns out, our plans to have a van taking our bikes back from Brighton has fell through, so we are basically stuck now. It's such a pain that bikes aren't allowed on any trains from the south that day, unless we cycle up to Gatwick!!! not bloody way!! :(
 
It was brilliant!!!!! But next year I´ll be starting at 6.30am, this year is was way too packed in places and had to get off my bike many times because people pushing their bikes up the hills were blocking the way...I had an amazing day, that Ditchling Beacon was easy peasy, sorry i´m just really proud I managed to get all the way up there!! =)
Did everyone else have a great time?
 
I thought Ditchling would be harder than it turned out. I'd taken it fairly easy the whole way, partly because I was riding with my Dad who was on a mountain bike to my road bike. I also kept cadence high as it approached, and found it not nearly as taxing as some of the hills I've done here in Somerset. It was crowded on the hill and I did clip wheels at one point, but I kept going all the way up, and was quite proud that no one overtook me on the way up. What was noticeable was that those on mountain bikes had some much lower gears than me, but I was very pleased that I managed to stay sat down all the way up.

I also managed to hit about 47mph on the way down the other side. :cool:
 
For some reason DB didn't seem as difficult this year... maybe they hacked a bit off?

The burger and pint I had at Turners Hill was sent from God him/herself.
 
I'm also pleased at how well my legs have come out of it. I expected to ache royally for a few days, but I managed the 9 miles back to the train station fine yesterday, and today did 24 miles for work, up some not totally meaningless hills. I can only figure I'm getting a lot fitter, and judging my riding a lot better.

I'm doing the Sea-to-Sea later this summer which is a whole different kettle of fish, being offroad and on a mountain bike, so it'll be interesting to see how I cope with that.
 
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