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Had some time booked off work for a North Yorkshire trip , but due to a lack of communication it didn't happen. Looked at the weather and thought I would have a crack at the SDW.
Left car in the St Catherines car park in Winchester and headed off at 0505.
It was pretty dark and used a small head torch for the first 20 minutes or so. Absolutely georgeous sunrise as i peddled along past Cheesfefoot Head, deep pink clouds all across the sky.
All went to plan, I intended to stop every hour for Malt loaf / Peanuts etc. This seemed to work well.
Got lost dropping off the original route onto the divert , ended up freestylin across a farmers feild , nearly taking out 2 deer in the process, to get back on track.
Sustainability center up in 2 hours, QECP in 3 hours. WAter stop and a Maxim Gel in the Camalbak then on eastwards . Amberly in 5 hours and feeling good , warm but not too hot and a very light westerly wind.
The climb up to Kithurst hill was harsh , but once over that it speeds up again. Cracking views with the combine harvetsers working in the feilds below.
Met a guy attempting the double at Truleigh YHA . He left Amberly at Midnight , the nutter. Its either Gate Hell or The climb up to Whiteways /Bury Hill straight off. He took 4 1/2 hours to get to Winch, then was in front of me all the way to Truleigh, where he shot off as i arrived.
I followed him a few mins behind and kept on catching glimpses but didnt reel him in.
Got lost over Blackcap ( above Brighton ) and stuck an extra 5 miles on the day, and had to backtrack, uphill and into the now freashening wind.
All good once back on track, just kept on trying to eat and drink and stop every 45 mins. Cleared Itford Hill with its false crests and whizzed on in Alfriston at mad speed. Didnt stop for real food despite the desire for a pasty.
Windover hill nearly beat me. Had to stop at the bottom for a load of food and a chat with walker , Tesco fruit Jellies are the new Tangfastics and a load of them plus a walk / grind /walk combo got me over the top then on to Jevington. Little horse interface on the V.fast drop into JV with 3 lovely laddeees on horses then on and the final grind up Jevington and across the Golf Course. Nearly cried once I saw Eastbourne.
I was proper done in. My @rse really hurt, and is bruised today on my sit bones. My shoulders hurt from lugging all the foodage and water neccessary for alpine stylee riding. Legs done in , icepack on slightly swollen knee now.Lower back very stiff and painfull.
How long did it take? 13 hours and 20 minutes in total.
The sigposts are rubbish and a sick joke. I have ridden 90% of it and I was lost / unsure if on course alot of the time. The hills go on and the climbs go from chalk to grass which is nice.
Consumed 250gm Peanuts, 2 Large malt loafs, 2 maxim gels, 2 Zero tablets, 4 flapjacks, 2 bananas and about 6 cereal bars, plus about 10 ltrs of water.
I got to see and appreciate the beauty of the south downs in summer, with the feilds being harvested and the veiws northwards towards the Surrey hills and out over the channel are stunning in the sunshine. Would be a different story if it was pouring down though!
Rob
Nice.
It's a great ride albeit it does test you!
Tim
Oh, remember to turn right at Blackcap next time :O) It is signed but you need to be looking for it.
Good on you. I did it a few years back around this time of year and it is stunning but that last climb to the golf course is a painful by the time you get there. I sat on the beach when i got there and its amazing how conffy pebbels are after doing that. It also took me around the 13 hours mark.
Well done Rob, I am thinking of joining a group on the 7th Aug, I was going to tag along a see how I do. May be my attempt has a bit of a half arsed attitude to it. Not going to take all the food as I would like to stop to refuel not sure where though.
This group tried last year and got as far as Brighton.
Big group = more chance of mechanicals and punctures
There aren't any shops on the route so you'll have to detour or rely on ice cream vans!
Saying that there's a petrol station or two at the crossing of the A/M23 within 1/2 mile of the official route.
Well done chap, still a ride I need to 'tick off' my list!
there's a little tea room/caravan thing in the farm yard at Seddlescombe now. Not entirely sure on opening times but it is most days in the summer I think.
I did pass a couple of ice cream vans, but didnt stop.
AMberly is the obvious place to buy supplies, but TBH if you can get support to carry spares , pasta, water , even Tea ( I was gagging for a mug of tea) it would be much easier.
Also I would have taken some strong flavoured chewing gum to ' clean ' my mouth after all the sugary gunk i was eating .
Putting on factor 30 sun tan cream at 0400 in the dark, in my flat, was a head**** as well
So, on a whim you did the SDW in a day? Yoikes. Well done!
Excellent! Done it in 2 days loads of times, my ambition to do it in 1 ! 🙂
Well done fella.
I wish i'd know you were doing it as I would have come along with you.
My lot have all backed out after realising that one ride of 20 miles a week was not enough for training.
I'm fit enough to do it now just have no confidence to do it on my own.
Well done. Nice write up.
great stuff - nice write up.
Steve.- You could do it , its a mind thing. Just roll all the rolly bits, pump the bumps and go abit mad on the descents. Spin the flats and drop to granny on the steeper bits. Eat loads and never go into the red zone.
Poppa .- I am a 40+ 13 stone weekend warrior ,with a fragile back and screwed rotator cuff I normally ride 20 - 30 miles a week. Steve and I did some 'training' rides, but tbh a few 50 milers is not enough.
I read all these SDW trips but I know the start point in Winchester (only live a couple of miles away) but where is the turn around point in east bourne??
I always thought it was by the train station but apparently it's not according to my colleague in the RoW office. They are about to (well, as of a year ago) start the SDW footpath and bridleway from the same location nearer to the seafront where as before they started in different locations.
Tim
http://www.southdownsdouble.net/routeinfo.html
The SDW double route. The new end/start will be at the west end of King Edwards Parade by all accounts.
Tim
What's at the end, a sign 'In my world' I imagine a Sign to be there with 'Congratulations on completing the SDW' or at least something to have a piccy with.....
Eastbournes at the end. Run away quickly!
[i]'Congratulations on completing the SDW' [/i]
I thought it said;
"You've done half the ride, now turn around and go back to Winchester"
I wanted fireworks at the end and a ticker tape parade, Rory Hitchens giving me a medal ( known him for years ) ,a pint of beer, a shower , clean dry colthes, a can of that freeze magic freeze spray that fixes footballers broken legs, JoolzeD taking a photo, a deep tissue massage and a cheesebuger
Rory would have said you need to make a bit of time up on the homebound journey :O)
I'm gonna have to go and do this now too.
i'm eating a herb crusted ham sandwich with red onion chutney and spring onions on brown bread just now. Yum
me and 2 other mates did it on a whim in May (decided 2 days before we'd do it). I didn't really have an xc bike, which made it interesting (6" travel, no lockout, 2.5" highrollers, 45lb interesting). Took us 16 hours, finished the decent into eastbourne at night without lights (quite good fun). had beer, went to bed. Didn't keep such a detailed diary of my food intake, but a set of sausage rolls made it the whole way without being eaten.
still, box ticked n all that. probably won't bother again, unless I have some sort of xc whippetry. I agree the signs are crap, we got lost at one point by going straight over a field you're meant to take a right turn on (unsigned).
13 hours is impressive. even with all sorts of whippetry I doubt I'd get much below 15.
the weather has been good for it lately. I did this last year (with a support stop at Devils Dyke), but this year will be Alpine Style (only end of August so hope the weather holds). I'm addicted and the SDD is the final goal - maybe next year
Hey, that's brilliant Rob - well done 8) Make sure you get some rest and keep eating and drinking for a few days.
S'funny, thought I asked you about the SDW last Saturday. 😉
Steve - [b]yes you can do it[/b] so go for it! You have really been flying and these conditons won't last for ever.
Did this Yesterday, 11h:44m of cycling, 13 hours from Winchester to Eastbourne. Proper can't move today. It is a hard hard ride.
Yeah was a tough ride yesterday, didn't help getting saturated for 3 hours ! oh and 3 punctures + getting lost on home turf ! god knows why they didn't route us up wincheter hill on the road ;>