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Can you hear his teeth rattling ?
He should be 1 1/2hrs into it, I wonder how many of those Gels' he's gotten through 😆
And if he's bumped into my Wife yet 😯
A nice gentle westerly breeze too, after a few days of easterly!
Well if my Mrs is to believed they've seen him go past and her text just now was... he is very fit.
Now clearly it might have not been him, could have been another bloke doing it..
So it's either a 😯
or a 😆
or divorce 😛
Yeah nicely overcast and a decent tail wind. #simples
3 times I've got the train to Winchester to start, it's meant a 5:30 train from home and then 2 hours of travelling 🙄
njee20 is a pretty handy cyclist for those who haven't ridden with him!
I'm doing it on Sat. with a friend on CX bikes so taking a keen interest in all this...
I too am planning a sub 10hr attempt at this in the next few weeks so will be very interested to see how Njee gets on. In the knowledge that I'm not really at that level. Having ridden it a few times and various sections many times I luckily don't have the navigational concerns. Here's hoping he does a sub 9hr which will make me feel infinitely better about my attempt.
Shall we all shout out together,
1..
2...
3.....
EAT SOMETHING DAMN IT !!!
😆
I think one of my legs weighs more than Nick. He's a racing Whippet and no mistake.
Just had a flick through my previous SDWiaD rides
12/8/06 12:30 elapsed. Ride with a group
21/6/08 9:45 wheels turning. Ride with same guys
25/7/09 12:36 elapsed. Ebo - Winc overnight solo SDD attempt (FAIL!)
15/8/09 10:47 elapsed. Ebo - Winc overnight solo SDD attempt. Bailed after 129 miles / 15 hours / Cocking
30/7/11 5:52 fastest Winc - Devils Dyke solo + bumped into DaisyDuke from here doing his puncture fest SDD
13/8/11 12:20 elapsed. Ride with 4 others
20/7/13 9:48 elapsed solo
19/7/14 11:47 elapsed. Ride with two others
Take aways
1 I'm a lazy flucker with no mental strength but faster on my own
2 group rides [u]always[/u] introduce more variables and stops
3 I've never had any punctures!
4 levels of preparation make a big difference. My 1st SDD attempt was an utter train wreck. 2 weeks later and I flew (relatively speaking)
Bikebouy
could you share your ride thoughts / diary so that us mere mortals can learn some hints and tips?
Cloudy my arse, the middle section was horrific, I got cooked! Weird mist in Eastbourne too.
9:25 all in, 9 hours 17 seconds moving time. A few silly navigational errors, I managed to go off course completely between Harting and Cocking, but pulled it back, only added half a mile or so. Got confused at QECP too, could only see the Butser direction signed.
The climb up to Truleigh YHA nearly killed me, was fairly sure a dog walker would pass me!
I drunk 10 bottles of High 5 (I think), ate 9 gels, a packet of wine gums and a small cheese sandwich. Felt alright actually.
Not sure if I enjoyed it or not, parts of it are great, but parts are really really slow! Alfriston was horrible!
Bikebuoy I did see lots of pairs of walkers, so it's entirely possible! I didn't ask if any were your wife, for fear of a grave misunderstanding!
Edit: actually, moving was slightly quicker than that, as I left it running on the way to the station to get the 100 miles! More like 8:58
Nice one!
Good time, but the ratio of moving to stopped time is really impressive!
And where'd you get 10 bottles of high5 from?
😯I drunk 10 bottles of High 5 (I think), ate 9 gels, a packet of wine gums and [b]shat out half my bodyweight somewhere near the devil's dyke[/b]
2 bottles on bike, pockets stuffed full of individual servings in sandwich bags!
I drunk 10 bottles of High 5 (I think), ate 9 gels, a packet of wine gums and shat out half my bodyweight somewhere near the devil's dyke
Nope! Had a pee at QE, and that was it!
Only just spotted the wine gums, that was a big mistake, a packet of fruit pastilles and you'll have been significantly faster! 😆
Harder to chew though!
I committed the cardinal sin it seems, I dropped a gel wrapper! I think I know where too, and I'd just passed two guys who'll now think I'm one of 'those people'!
Well done. No excuse not to race longer now! Any psychologicaly weak moments?
Yeah a couple of lows, nothing horrendous. I had the distances to all the taps written down on my stem, so just chunked it up like that. The bit I knew was a little over halfway, which helped too.
Well done njee! When I did it it absolutely chucked it down for most of the ride. Made the descents really *interesting*. I can still remember the DH at the hill before the QECP being flat out fast all these years later! *Goes all misty eyed*
Not sure if I enjoyed it or not
After a particurly shit-filled 24 hour race I believe the late Steve Worland mused something along the lines of life enhancing and pleasurable not always being synonymous.
It's over now... 🙂
Well done! Any chance you can post a link to the strava?
Great effort that, very well done indeed.
Now go pick up that wrapper !! 😆
As always on a long ride you do have to factor "enjoyment" into the equation. Often when I'm hacking hard I do forget that around me is a whole new world. Despite the occasional inner chimp shouting "look up you tosser" i rarely do and miss some quite spectacular parts of rides. SDW has an extraordinary variation of both terrain and local focus points, not all you see from the trail. A shame to hack it hard I know but invariably we all do it.
My Mrs hasn't called in yet. I guess she too was too busy [s]enjoying the walk[/s] chatting and now supping of a pint or two somewhere near Bury. 😆
I'll scan through my ride diary to give some background to my training on it, I am going for a one way record attempt see hence the amount of time I've spent on it (and it's just up the hill from Home. When I plan training I too plan in segments, look for the hard bits and train on them.. its those buggers that slow you down see.
Anyway enough of me..
This ride you did njee20 will come back to you in a day or two. You will remember segments soon enough.. I feel you will be back to have another crack soon enough.
Well done again, in fact well done to everyone whose put a knobbly on it.
Well done Nick. Its certainly a test and Im pretty sure I know where you went wrong at QE and past Harting Down.
Good idea to break it down into tap sections as it would appear alot more manageable thinking 'OK 8 miles to Amberly' then off you go .
Great time too , SO how would you feel about turning round and riding back?
Well done great effort.
Well done 🙂
Nice one Nick - now for the double 🙂
Got a space on a leisurely team at 24/12 if you fancy a rest...
Great stuff 🙂 Nice target for me to try and get somewhere near in a few weeks time!
Thanks for the kind words everyone!
Bikebuoy - you're so right, in a few places I was forcing myself to look at the views, which are often stunning, but it's so easy to just look at the trail in front of you! Sure I missed many of the best bits!
I was thinking about people doing the double as I rolled down into Eastbourne, I really don't know how people do it. Sod that!
When is 24/12 Nobby? Can't rule it out...
25th and 26th July - you want my torchbearer place? 😀
Fair play ,rapido.Hope your legs feel ok today.
I've done it before (over two days) and got lost at the same places you did!It was a ride I totally under-estimated.Ha.
I'm very tempted by the cx trailbreak thing in July....
As above Nick, 24th July.
We're just there for a laugh this year but you're welcome to join us. A few are soloing so may need some polite encouragement. 😉
I've done the Torchbearer before Ads, in 2009. It was alright, bit depressing that it gets light and what not before you're halfway through!
Can't do that weekend anyway sadly!
That's very quick, nice one! The weird mist spread later all along the ridge to Brighton.
The last 2 climbs are 'great', no? I remember getting to the end and not being able to contemplate turning round and riding back again.
Having said that, that time shows you should be well under the 24hrs 😉
I was vaguely thinking about asking to join you for the first few miles. Not sure I could have kept up! Is there a way of getting a gpx of the current route? There seem to be several floating about on the net.
Well done Njee - although I fear that my sub10hr attempt in the next few weeks is now looking a little "optimistic".
Nice one njee!
Got a space on a leisurely team at 24/12 if you fancy a rest...
We've a space on a [i]competitive [/i]team if anyone wants that, you'll be representing our club though 🙂
The last 2 climbs are 'great', no? I remember getting to the end and not being able to contemplate turning round and riding back again.
Horrendous, Alfriston particularly! The last one after Jevington wasn't great either, was just ready to get to the end by then!
DT - YGM
I was really worried about going off too hard, but everyone said the second half was a lot slower. I was at a 12mph average at QECP, which was down to 11 by Devil's Dyke and 10.6 by Eastbourne. Not sure I could've gone much harder at the end, and suspect I'd have been a bit of a mess if I'd tried much harder early on!
Well done Nick! Good recovery ride after Sunday's race 😉
Which route did you take at Old Winchester Hill? The 'old' Warnford route (which isn't signposted as SDW any more, but is what most of the South Downs Double record times are based on), or the 'new' Exton route which is signed but longer?
Did you get the tailwind you were hoping for? Must admit I prefer to start at Eastbourne to get the worst of the climbing out of the way while still reasonably fresh, but more chance of a headwind if you can't pick and choose your day!
Went via Exton, didn't realise it was different actually! Dammit, could've saved time! There was a bit on the road at Exton where you ride 3 sides of a square, I was tempted to cut that, but rode the whole thing. I wanted to make sure it was 100 miles - I left Strava running on the way to the station to get it to tick over.
Tailwind picked up later on, was pretty calm first thing, which was fine, the few places it was a headwind weren't great! I'd be interested to do the other way, I imagine Butser Hill would be horrible, and there was a straight, fast, concrete descent off Alfriston (I think?) which I imagine would be hell to climb!
I imagine Butser Hill would be horrible
Yes! Especially if you've carelessly discarded your front mech and granny ring 😉
But once you're over that, it's relatively plain sailing. Either that, or I've subconsciously blotted out the bad bits...
Fantastic Nick. Chose a date, rode it, done. Respect for your fast time, too. What are you up to today? Resting/working? Are you feeding your face? Hope so, you deserve it.
Good effort!