Got an offer from another STWer of a spot on D2D. Given I'm a lardy unfit mess but don't mind a little pain, my only concern is the course, how much climbing is there usually? I'm getting the idea there's a lot of pedalling to do as it's mostly flat is that the case?

Oh and I need lights but a little more reading this morning suggests I can rent some, unless trout wants to loan me his thermonuclear lighting system 😉

Flat.

year before last was pretty damn flat and i thought they use the same area of salisbury plain each year?

i thought they use the same area of salisbury plain each year

Its in Thetford forest and very flat.

Lots of constant leg work, no room for a break on some nice gentle downhill rolls then? Better than 3 mile climbs I suppose

Most courses I've ridden at D2D have had less than 50m climbing per lap

Flat=lots and lots of pedaling, coupled with the trails being quite "undulating".

Have done this several times, it is flattish but any climbs as such are no more than 15 metres in height gain but the climbs are usually sharp and require a burst of power to clear, the problem is after pedalling for a few hours the legs dont always have the power left so you have to change gear or struggle. Last year i had to replace one b/bracket, chainring middle, cassatte and chain due to masses of rain and the sandy soil and i ran out of dry clothes

at five in the morning some of the flat bits are surprisingly steep

You are right there JoB, are you going to ride a tandem up there again

i've run out of people that will ride tandem with me 🙂

where's AP, he still does that kind of thing

Fingers crossed that the weather doesn't suck this year.

Flat with a spattering of bomb holes – hopefully not a quagmire this year! 😀