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@muggomagic - our group of 4 are riding the following:
Me - Specialized Status - a 160mm mullet park bike. Totally wrong tool for the job, but neither my ragley hardtail or Norco Optic warranty replacement has turned up in time.
Joe - Giant Trance Advanced - 29er short travel trail/down country. XC tyres with lots of energy gels strapped to it. He also changed the front ring to a 30t (from 32t).
Mark - Specialized Epic hardtial - XC race machine. But he has a frame bag that engulfs the entire front triangle, so i am hoping for cross winds to send him off into oblivian.
Si - Santa Cruz Mega Tower - bit like me, wrong bike for the job, but you know, run what ya brung!
Food wise, lots of energy gels, shot bloks, haribo. Plus various nut/nature bars. And i have 2 x Veggie pasties.
Drink - i just use water, and rubbish at drinking enough, so my plan is to use pretty much every tap and finish what i have in my bottle before refilling.
Any top tips are very welcome. I have done similar distance on road before, but i know its not the same!
You're riding a Status?! I live in Lewes, let me know when you'll be near Blackcap and I'll cycle up to encourage / laugh / steal your bike from whatever is left of you as you'll be too weak to fight back.
its minging here today. (woodingdean - about 5 mins from the SDW outside Brighton) plenty of showers.
on the plus side met office suggests a decent tailwind for saturday.
You’re riding a Status?! I live in Lewes, let me know when you’ll be near Blackcap and I’ll cycle up to encourage / laugh / steal your bike from whatever is left of you as you’ll be too weak to fight back.
the first time I did SDW in a day I was riding a 45lb cannondale gemini with ultratacky 2.5" highrollers. Is is possible.
It was 10 years before I did it again.
Jealous, would love to be riding it tomorrow, but will be spending the day driving from the south coast to near the north coast!
I think adverse weather just makes it more fun, interesting and memorable. Granted the SDW is lovely on a sunny clear day, but it's also just as good in the wet imo.
Might have to accept a few of the climbs might be pushers, such as out of amberley or that killer just past harting down.
Worst case, just jump on a train with a smile on your face and come back another day.
Definitely possible. Just (as you know!) deeply, deeply unpleasant. Chatted with a lad doing it over 2 days on a 2016 Orange 5. Didn't fancy that either, but fair play!
Cycled over Firle this morning - the wind has done a good job of drying everything out. No green chalk on my normal bit where there can be when its wet (just off the actual SDW). Wind is crazy strong but should be blowing you along if doing it from Winchester. No real rain forecast till Sunday night
I say go for it!!!!!
Supposedly, the wind is gusting up to 50 mph ...
If you are still intent on doing it , keep away from any wooded bits. Branches will be blowing off.
You'll be on for doing most of it without pedalling if this keeps up.
Just popped out in Worthing and there's folk struggling to stand up. I'm on the 4th floor and it sounds like the windows are going to give way. 😳
It is WINDY. No chance you'd get me out in woods in these conditions, really dry month, then saturated soils, trees now in leaf. Nope.
Weather actually looks ok for tomorrow. Bar maybe a few claggy bits, it might just work. Good luck all!
The forecast tomorrow does look better, but if this wind keeps up then I’d suggest starting in Winchester, putting all of your baggiest clothes on, and booking a table in Eastbourne for lunch…
The wind should ease and veer by tomorrow. 10mph from the west for most of the day. Perfect.
Sat in the office just south of Arundel and Amberley and genuinely concerned the roof is going to take off!
Watching with interest it has the potential to be epically good or a massive adventure with much suffering.
No rain but a ton of wind throughout Brighton, south to north today. Almost got blown over walking out onto the seafront!
Met Office thinks Petersfield will be dry until 1500ish tomorrow, Wunderground thinks there's going to be on/off showers all day...
Who is telling the truth?
Actually looking okay this morning. Would imagine there's a few trees down around the wooded sections. I'm tempted to get up there this afternoon for a bimble now.
Rather you than me on a Status mind! I'm barely fit enough for the hills on a light bike ha
Been up since ~0530, weather watching and trying to decide if taking the road bike out is a good idea, or whether the frame and drivetrain would get covered in surface water grit and so pondering the hybrid and a shorter ride instead.
Out of our flat window, the road is now dry, but there's been a succession of showers over the hills all morning that have passed through between roughly Winchester and Midhurst, with not much breeze or heat to help get rid of the damp.
More showers expected from ~1500.
Was hoping to see pictures of you all eating fish and chips and having a beer in Eastbourne when I logged in this morning. Hope all went well.
Been up since ~0530, weather watching and trying to decide if taking the road bike out is a good idea, or whether the frame and drivetrain would get covered in surface water grit and so pondering the hybrid and a shorter ride instead.
I had no idea that people didn’t ride their road bikes because the bike could get wet and dirty?
The v7fmp team got it done from looking at Si's strava. Good stuff!
I had to bail at Amberly, absolutely gutted doesn’t even begin to cover it
Long story short…
Friday night got to Winchester, riding to the B&b I had booked, had an incident with a car, came off bike, landed hard on hands/wrists, lots of pain, scratches and cuts to hands etc etc
Decided to try and ignore the pain on Saturday morning and do it all the same but got to a point where I just couldn’t do any more, the pain was just so bad and it was slowing me down something terrible with all the climbing and descending on bobbly bits,
Currently sitting in a&e waiting treatment for a double fracture to my left wrist…
On a flip side, sooo much fun and the views…oh my the views…
so you rode from Winchester to Amberley with a double wrist fracture?
That's a better story than doing the SDW!
Oof, of all the times to have a collision with a car! How the heck did you get to Amberley with a double fracture?!
so you rode from Winchester to Amberley with a double wrist fracture
That is indeed impressive
Heal up well and come back and smash it.
I can attest to the pain of riding with a double wrist fracture, did the same 3k into a 45km offroad ride, but knew it may be my last ride for a while so foolishly carried on for the next 3 hours.
Any slightly rough section pointing downhill was pure agony, ended up riding with my left wrist just resting on the bars
Almost forgot the pain when having to lift the bike over gates! (locked gates on little used bridleways!)
Changing gear on the drive home almost had tears running down my face
Rest up! Mine is still weak 10 months later despite healing fast after 8 weeks in a cast
@n0b0dy0ftheg0at with lots of pain is all I can say, couldn’t even drop my saddle on the downs because my hand couldn’t push the lever down
@theotherjonv absolutely gutted I couldn’t finish, although through the pain, was having so much fun too albeit veerry slowly ha ha
@weeksy Thankyou but am still kicking myself for not finishing
@yak first opportunity I get…
@sri16v horrible isn’t it?! Driving home to Essex from Eastbourne this morning was much the same
Gutted for you. Where did the incident with the car happen?
Pretty sure I saw the @v7fmp guys a couple of times, there were motoring along with me eating their dust and squealing in pain ha ha
haven’t seen what time they did it in but good work all the same fellas
That is such bad luck @donslow - but cojones for giving it everything you could.
It'll be there waiting for you when you're fixed.
@curto80 near the town center, think they were building a leisure centre nearby if you know the area, car went to go past, got a bit too close,
Wing mirror - handle bar - front wheel -kerb - sack of spuds on the floor
The ONLY time I have ever been on a bike without gloves too, typical
Oh man that’s awful, so sorry for you. Yeah I live here so know exactly where you mean - that’s one of the main roads into town and is way too narrow. I got close passed by a national express coach there early one morning and don’t think I’ve ridden down that road since. Bloody crap drivers everywhere.
have you got all the details from the driver? I assume they stopped!?
Bloody hell @donslow that’s a great effort to ride that far with your injuries.
Heal fast and let us know when you give it another go.
Nutter. Well done for getting that far, pretty much halfway with broken bones is impressive. The views get better the further along you go as the sea gets nearer.
How muddy was it in the end?
@theotherjonv nope, didn’t stop, unfortunately I was too busy trying to drag bike out of the road to get any details either, put it down to one of those things I suppose
@curto80 was thinking that it was busy & narrow, nearly needed new pants too ha ha
@muggomagic cheers fella
@singletrackmind weather and conditions were great in the end, a few puddles and gloopy bits here and there but in general, not bad at all,
Jeez - did they know they'd hit you, that's a hit and run and should be reported. I assume so if they hit your handle bar with a wing mirror.
did they know they’d hit you, that’s a hit and run and should be reported.
You’d think so wouldn’t you?! I guess with no details technically there’s nothing to report unless the driver reports himself?!
Still has to be reported, even just for the stats. You owe that to anyone that cycles on the roads in the area, or that road in particular. You can do it on line and lets face it you won't be riding for a while.
You might find a traffic camera in the area if you find an officer that is being particularly diligent. Bit of info on the vehicle, time, etc.
Do it. You owe it to fellow cyclists. It's not 'one of those things' and if we treat it as one it gets normalised and becomes one of those things.
Very good point, didn’t know you could do it that way, will do that for sure then
If you report it there's always the chance of some CCTV if they are aware they should go looking for footage.
@donslow - absolutely gutted for you! Good effort getting as far as you did.
As for me and my group..... well we made it! about 14.5 hours from start to finish. 12 hours 15 mins moving time. By far the toughest and biggest day out on my bike. i was destroyed by the end.
I underestimated the SDW, over estimated my fitness and can thoroughly recommend NOT doing it on a Specialized Status.
As mentioned earlier, i am rubbish as taking on enough fluids and the SDW highlighted this. 7 hours in i was yet to have a pee. Then on a decent a flint flicked up and hit my ankle. Natural reaction of flinching and my thigh went into instant cramp. This was just past half way. So i then had to contend with trying to make up my fluid deficit i was already in and to try and keep cramp at bay. Luckily it only came back once more briefly.
I also found it tough taking on food, as most of the time, eating was the last thing i felt like i wanted to do. Especially when it was all quite sweet stuff.
We started losing light towards the end, also knowing that the last train from Eastbourne was leaving possibly before we got there.... which made the final few miles all that bit more exciting/challenging/rubbish.
We had two short rain showers, a little wind at the end, but overall the conditions were pretty good, considering all the rain we had during the week before.
As mentioned, the Status is not a long distance machine! Something with less travel, less weight and faster rolling tyres would be a far better choice (more fool me!).
But, did i enjoy it.... at the time, there were highs and lows, but looking back, im glad i have done it and ticked it off the list. Would i do it again.... i think so, but i will be better prepared and on a more suitable bike.
Many lessons learnt, thats for sure! 😀
Thanks for all the advice and support from everyone, it helped with the motivation of actually doing it, even if the conditions werent prime.
Nice one, glad you made it and the weather/conditions weren't too bad for you all.
The right bike is a balancing act as you want something light and fast rolling, but it needs to be super comfortable as you are spending such a long time on it.
@v7fmp sterling effort fellas, that was a decent time as well, glad you got there
Fair play donslow for riding with broken wrist, hope you didn't do it any further damage on the ride.
And fair play v7 for doing it on a Status. What tyres? 2.5in Super Tacky Wet Screams?
Sounds like you've both got good reasons to go back for another, slightly more enjoyable crack at it!
v7 - I found going with just 1 bottle concentrates the mind a little - pass a tap, drink as much as you can, brim it, carry on.
I also found it tough taking on food, as most of the time, eating was the last thing I felt like I wanted to do. Especially when it was all quite sweet stuff.
I can't do sweet stuff on long rides. Never fancy it, tend to get a massive crash afterwards. I'd much rather take e.g. ham and cheese sarnies, stop when I'm hungry, eat proper food. I can then carry on for a good while after without more. I find I'm not eating as much as others who are riding the sugar roller coaster and needing to constantly top up to avoid the crash.
I'll take a gel or two for emergencies, but it's usually not used, or just "burned" on the last climb.
@nedrapier - Yup, a 2.4 Magic Mary front and 2.4 Big Betty rear, so not the fastest of rollers!! 😀
The drinking at each tap was my loose plan, but it just didnt pan out. Lesson learnt.
And that sounds like a much better way to do it with food. More savoury would suit me better and then as you say, avoid the crash.
Lots learnt for the next go!
I have turned a 14 1/2 hour first attempt imto a 10hr 50min effort.
Just by being canny with the weather, tyre choice and food / drink intake.
Took 4 goes to dial it in mind.
I got lost ony first go, didnt eat or drink enough. But its all information tjat gets stored up and becomes useful when the pain subsides