So its 100miles and 3000metres of climbing. so around 10 hours of riding. so i was thinking of going light and not bothering with a bag. Is there plenty of places to stop and fill bottles and so on?
Does anybody also know any where half way throught to stop for a "quick" something to eat like a little cafe or shop?

Cheers

10 hours would be *mighty* quick for the sdw. Most people manage 13-16 hours. There's not a lot of good places to eat on the trail, but there's a few a couple of miles away. Filling a bottle is no problem, but you will almost certainly need food with you to eat en-route.

yer the timing and food preperation isnt to much of a problem. Done quite a few 12 hours races and so on. so dont bank on a proper food stop is what we are saying ?

Plenty of water points, can be done without a pack. Stick some Gels and bars in your pocket.

You can stop at QE for a mars bar (20 miles) and get an Ice cream at Ditchling (70 miles)

You can drop down into Steyning for lunch I suppose and then pick up the trial again by heading down the bypass.

10 hours would be quick(ish) but do-able, it's the hills and the punctures that get you though!

You need this web page, it's very usefull

http://www.southdownsdouble.net/routeinfo.html

Take food. Your feeding strategy will be key. I did it in 2 days in June and took me a couple of days to recover – and I'm not unfit! Lots of hi-energy, slow release stuff. And feed well the day before.

If you search this site there's a previous thread which had a link to a site where all the water points are marked. I then marked them on my OS maps and took them with me so I didn't miss one. If you do the distance is quite long to the next one. Dropping off the downs at any point to get food water is a major time-consumer. Go self-sufficient if you can.
Oh, and enjoy. It's a wonderful ride. If the weather's good the views are fantastic and you'll feel well pleased with yourself once you've done it 🙂

From experience I'd recommend taking lights, assuming you weren't already! We ran out of light just outside of Jevington, which is about 4 miles from Eastbourne we had to bail with only the light from an Iphone to guide us!

We did it in 14 hours, 3 of which were stops – lesson learnt!

bike downs is your friend.

be wary of the water it is along way between taps at the eastern end especially if the QE centre is not open as the outside tap has been removed.

be wary of the water it is along way between taps at the eastern end especially if the QE centre is not open as the outside tap has been removed.

There is another tap here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?cid=8296161435977731776&hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=&ll=50.961471,-0.978578&spn=0.00027,0.001742&t=h&z=20&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=50.961471,-0.978578&panoid=ZBE7sGsvYtFf8nkJkbI4TQ&cbp=11,157.26,,0,5

I've put a market on Google Maps and if you swing the Street view round its on the wall directly behind the tractor cab.

Next to the Kitchen back door.

The ranger there told me it's drinking water but the tap in the toilets on the other side of the building isn't drinking water as it's fed from a tank. (Water not Sherman)

cheers tiger. that is V. useful. 🙂

Wonder how this attempt is going – hopefully plain sailing. Related point (slight hijack) – anyone know what the conditions on the SDW are like at the moment (after the last 10 days of rain)? Was planing an attempt this weekend but may lay it over till next weekend in the hope that the weather improves.

Pretty rainy down south ATM, could be a bit of a slog.

i crossed it the other day near worthing, conditions were fine. This was along the crest though – I expect in the dips its a bit slimey

not really had that much rain on the eastern part (worthing – eastbourne). the trails are still dry in the main. Nice westerly today, so apart from the possibility of the odd shower it could be a good day for it.

did he do it? how did it go?

10 hours. . . Intending to go off route to stop and eat at Cafe's. In the drizzle, bet he's at Alfriston about now ( 16.14 )
10 hours is very fast , and I wouldnt mind betting the 10 hour riders do not stop for 15 – 20 mins at a cafe whilst lunch is prepared.

Plus the rain is coming down in Worthing – Brighton area right now.
Slippery chalk fun to be had 😉

It's funny…. I did it in May in 2 days, got so lost I had to ask someone to give me and the bike a lift in their 4×4, I was so tired and miserable going up one hill in the rain it made me cry, yet here I am reading this and thinking I want to do it again, the siren's lure of the SDW…do people get addicted?

annabananna – in my experience – YES. I got hooked on the occasional foray out there when visiting my in-laws. Did my fist SDW in 12hrs, 2 years ago and have done it twice now. The SDD is the inevitable conclusion for those of us who are inflicted

Anyone know if he made it in under 10hrs??????

i rode from winchester (milburys)to brighton on saturday for the big dog. the conditions were fine everywhere – slightly sloppy around old winchester hill.

I think he's still doing it 😯

What's the SDD??

SDD – South Downs Double

There and back?

There and back?

Yep. Check out…

http://www.southdownsdouble.net/

I spoke to rich today…it was an epic fail apparently due to his riding partner wanting to start late and then ride slow!
he's gonna attempt to do the SDD solo when he returns from his holidays though 🙂