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I've entered a charity cycling challenge where you nominate a distance then try to complete it - no provided food stops, route maps, cheering crowds etc. All the organisers offer is a days insurance and GPS data verification/publishing after the event, all the rest is self supported/planned so apart form the modest registration fee al money raised goes direct to a charity of your choice 😀
Anyway I went for 200k, challenging (for me) but do-able then realised I'd never actually planned a long ride before 😯
Being Surrey based I was thinking of Weybridge to Brighton and back plus a few diversions in Surrey hills to make up the distance.
The ride is on a Saturday so missing the weekday commute rush and the Sunday club run rush so if anyone's got any reccomendations for "good cycling roads" that cover that area I'd be glad to hear them.
London to Brighton route out..fish and chips..L2B route back...??
DrP
Dunwich Dynamo route with a little extra to make up the distance - out from North East London to the Suffolk coast?
You will need some extra K's but this was a fantastic route, taking the best bits from a wiggle south downs sportive and riding to them from the north downs 🙂
https://www.strava.com/activities/131518444
in terms of advice, if you don't have GPS just write all the village names on a piece of paper and tape it to your stem/TT. you can then just confirm every now and again with phone maps.
take plenty of food but plan to stop at a village shop/ petrol station at some point so you arnt carrying silly amounts of stuff. and do it on a nice day 🙂
I'm now thinking more of Weybridge to Worthing via Surrey Hills, along the seafront to Brighton, then "classic" L2B back to Redhill-ish, A25 to Dorking, then either up to Leatherhead and A245 back to Weybridge or across to Ripley via E Horsely depending if I've got any legs left for hills.
So it's more any specific advice on roads to use/avoid based on experience, and I've just realised it's the day before the BHF L2B so not sure if that will affect things at all
Get this book and link up a few of the rides:
http://thebikeshow.net/lost-lanes-shop/
There are 3 between Woking and the Surrey Hills, 3 more further east towards/into Kent, 1 near Haslemere. Page 9 of the online reader on the link shows an overview of where the rides are.
Great book, nicely written too. GPS tracks, pub/caff stops and stories/info history about what/where you're riding through.
Oh thanks titus rider, that's a nice route to use 😀
Ned, the day is fixed as June 20th, so it's take the weather as it comes 😮
Devon coast to coast start looking at the sea ride through Devon countryside majority no traffic and all paved railway lines finish looking at the sea about 110 miles from memory.
Devon C2C looks good but is more likely for a holiday trip.
I'll be on a Alu TCR0 and skinny Schwalbe 1s so anything cycle path-ish might be pushing the comfort zone a bit plus after 200k I'd rather finish at home than a long drive/train ride away 😉
You could head out to the chilterns and ride some of this
http://www.mapmyride.com/sc/victoria-english-river/chiltern-100-route-2351174
I appreciate the ideas and I'm sure there's countless good 200k routes around but I'm definitely going to be doing this in Surrey/Sussex/Hants rather than needing to explore a new area 😉
Unfortunately a day too late if your date is fixed, but there's a 200km Audax near Ashford in Kent on 21st June:
http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/15-860/
How about heading more towards Arundel & Chichester or Midhurst/Petworth? The back roads will be quieter.
The L2B route down, via Ditchling, could be a good place to [s]suck some wheels[/s]find some other riders to talk to as it's pretty popular on a Saturday.
Yes, Chichester way is a good call - I'm pretty familair with the general geography but still would find some new interesting roads 😀
how about a very early train ride out to a stop about 200km away from your house and ride back?
I am not sure if you can see this without following me, but this is a 100mile circular route starting in Frimley and going to Chichester. https://www.strava.com/activities/267905892. It would be fairly easy to extend to 200km.
I use Plotaroute.com to plan long road rides. Once you figure out how it works it is easy to tweak the route to get the distance you want.