Are you old enough to be allowed into Eastbourne?
Remember, "Noise, annoys!".
@poopscoop that may well be the most amazing yet confusing thing I’ve seen in a while, absolute brilliance right there ha ha
@danw to fair, that’s not a bad point you make re lots of work so soon before
@saccades a little bit of internet enquiry reveals the average age of residents in Eastbourne is 42, think I’ll get away with my looks if nothing else ha ha
Plus if I’m holding a slight limp after 100 miles of cycling, all helps ha ha
I also have find memories of sitting on the pavement of the Tesco Express in Eastbourne early one Sunday morning eating a pack of pork pies and guzzling a bottle of water. I did get a few funny looks from locals on their way to pick up their Sunday Telegraph - it may also have had something to do with me riding overnight, the ground was wet due to dew and I had ample smatterings of animal excrement. I then got back on my bike and rode home again via the SDW/Downslink/NDW.
@dovebiker ha ha that’s brilliant! Ahhh the humble pork pie...breakfast of champs...
Wind in Eastbourne this weekend has been North Easterly. This is rare. Westerlys normally prevail.
If you finish in Eastbourne there is a brewery just inland of Friston Forest at Litlington - Long Man Brewery. This would be the penultimate climb before Eastbourne.
If you are heading for Butts Brow on the donwland ridge inland of a Eastbourne, there is woodside single track all the way to Paradise woods. Plenty of options for jumps, steep cut trails and old school trails.
there is a brewery just inland of Friston Forest at Litlington
Sod the brewery, there is a new cycle takeway opposite (Cadence Cycle Hub) with top notch coffee and toasties etc...6 minutes detour. You'll have to make good time though as it shuts at 4pm, or 6pm on Fridays and Saturdays. I've probably spent about £200 in there since it opened in January!
(There is also a tap at the fire assembly point)
I tend to use a mix of 2.3 magic Mary and Hans dampf tyres on my bike and have never had any issues with either, nice mixture of grip and rolling resistance (or lack of) for me personally, on another note
Totally OTT.
I used a pair of UST Racing Ralphs - old school as 26 and UST rims.
Wanted something fast but strong - no issues what so ever.
the average age of residents in Eastbourne is 42
No way. Everyone knows it as god's waiting room.
As for tyres. Anything fast rolling but with decent puncture protection. Think spesh slaughter/Schwalbe rock razor/Minion SS on the rear.
Thanks for the tyre recommendations fellas, will look into them for sure
On another note...just in case anyone was interested...
Just heard back from one of the “rangers” of the South Downs way regarding the “are the taps on or off” comment(s)
Please find his response below...
Dear Dan,
Thank you for your email. As far as I am aware the taps haven't been turned off due to the Pandemic, although over the winter some would have been turned off to prevent the pipes from freezing and bursting. There are two which are currently out of action (at Washington and also at Botolphs, next to the River Adur) and awaiting repair. The rest, I believe should be in working order.
Kind regards,
Ben Bessant
South Downs Way Ranger
South Downs National Park Authority
Similar to what intheborders had to say. A group of.mates and I did it 'organised' just to make the logistics easier.
When I did it, it was windy at times (headwind - went Winchester to Eastbourne over 2 days). It was also wet underfoot all the time and at various points either rained, or drizzled, or were basically in the clouds. The wet made the chalk very very greasy and the flint in it chops you up nicely if you come off due to zero grip. The 3-pedal-strokes forward, 2-back nature of the wet chalk. It was a bleedin hard day out because of the conditions.
Defo go tubeless ! The number of punctures I saw was unreal. Also take spare brake pads or make sure you're on new ones, if it's wet.
Pick a still day or tailwind and make sure it's dry, and it'll be much better.
I'm glad we did it.
But whilst I'm much fitter these days, I can't (be arsed) doing thst again. I'd rather go do a big day in the Peaks or Lakes.
That makes sense, the two taps I tried on the same ride were Botolphs and Washington!
Yep but both means cocking then truliegh yha which isnt too bad a stretch
Although cardiac hill is in the way and the god awfull climb up to the yha.
Tyre wise, i have used ikon and Aspen from maxxis, both fine. Or Racing Ralph but there isca myriad of types now so pick carefully.
Must be ust though.
I have sliced a tyre that needed a boot internally amd aborted as it was a long cut.
On the draggy grass out of southease you will wish you had the lightest, fastest rolling tyres in the world.
So an additional question - don't think i've seen it earlier in the thread - I'm planning on SDW In-a-day later in the summer too. Should I swap my 32T chainring for a 30T chainring to help out on those later climbs towards Eastbourne?
reason not to: its a bit dull
reason to: because you want to
the winchester end is a much nicer ride.
take as fast a rolling tyre as possible
Chainring. No.
28 instead 🙂
And who dissed the brewery?! 4 pints of hand drawn Long Man APA for ten pounds. Wash yer mouth out!
I've done it a few times and there has been loads of good solid advice here - my pointers would be 1) Go with the wind. 2) Go tubeless with decent tyres (Vittoria Mezcal's are my choice cos of the flints) 3) Eat early and eat often - it helps if you focus your snacks towards protein and let the carbs take care of themselves. 4) Go out as slow as you dare, the amount of elevation gain in the two halves of the route are similar but you get less respite between the ups n the downs so it feels harder.
I'm planning to do 10 singles through this summer cos I can't guarantee to be able to travel abroad and the downs are a brilliant place to have a staycation ride; the scenery and the light changes all the time and you can feast on the views all the way to take your mind off the climbs; remember that they are only 10 -15 mins of up, then you get a reward of a down!
Thanks again to all that have passed on their advice and experiences, can’t wait to get started on it now!
Starting to plan the ride and I THINK I have most things covered from where to stay at the beginning and end to food and prep for climbs
As with most things there is a but....
Feeling confident with my bike, gear, spares etc etc and the people started mentioning tyres, starting to get a tad worried that my staple choice (Dampf and Mary) won’t be good enough, not being one to ever shun good advice I’m starting to consider changing tyres....can anyone recommend me a set that I could use that won’t set me back £100 a pair?!
Budget for this particular escapade is dwindling very fast and I’m questioning whether to do it or not now because I’m (for the first time ever) doubting my tyres
Once again, any advice is massively appreciated
I'd agree with the need-for-speed tyres. Changed to commuter tyres to do the L2B off-road, it does make a difference. Have been looking at tyres as am planning SDW24 too. My riding buddy is riding Nobby Nics, but is looking at a racing ralph and a racing ray (different front and back), and i will put Spesh FastTraks back on. Look at Merlin as they have some great offers on the Racing Rs at the moment, and you should come in under £50 for both (29")
@susepic Thankyou for the recommendation, I had a look on the merlin website and found these that would come in at under £50 (less sealant) as I have 27.5 wheels, would these be the same ones you were recommending or have I gone awry somewhere?
https://www.merlincycles.com/schwalbe-racing-ray-addix-speedgrip-folding-tyre-275-123049.html
@donslow that's the ones. I've used rocket rons in the past and they've been excellent. I'm sure that others have used brands like Maxxis and Vittorio, but Schwalbe always a reliable choice. I am using Spesh FastTrax on my XC as these were fitted standard when i bought it last summer - they'd be another option if you can find them at a good price.
Those Schwalbes are actually reasonably priced, I've kind of got used to Maxxis priced tyres.😟
I'll be using Minion SS and DHF on the SDW attempt this year. Mainly as I already have them.
Did this a few years ago and ride parts of the SDW regularly. I did it with the BHF even though my reason for doing the ride was a different charity. Your entry fee still gives something back and you get the benefit of the support along the way.
There were two things I got wrong, one that I couldn't control and one I could. The first was the weather, jeez it was hot. By mile 65 I was ready to quit but after hitting a support station I got myself together in the shade and carried on. The bit I could control was arse lube and sunscreen, dear god the chaffing was bad, I still can feel the hot water on my raw arse during the showers days after the event. DO NOT FORGET YOUR BUM BUTTER.
Fitness wise I did it off 75 miles max road distance and a few 50 milers on the SDW but I was pretty slow, about 14hrs in total including stops, with the long one when I thought I was going to die of heat stroke
Cheers guys, looks like I’ll be getting some of those ordered as soon as...
Will be also ordering some tyre boots just in case, any recommendations or are they all pretty much a case of same as?!
And where others have stated punctures being an issue, I rode the whole thing without one puncture using slime tubes, maybe I got very lucky
John was that 2017? I did the BHF that year and had weird sunburn blisters on my arms for days afterwards. It really was properly hot.
@Johnjn2000 bum butter...check! A few others have mentioned that so it’s definitely on my list ha ha
I’m looking to do the ride towards the end of may, so British weather being British weather, it SHOULDNT be too warm but who knows...
being ginger and fair skinned, sun cream is always on the list ha ha
Ah yeah it was 2016 for me too. Must have drunk my own body weight in water that day, was glad for the BHF pit-stops.