I suspect it is going to be a tad muddy. Has anyone done the ride before?
I did it last year and it was dry as a bone and a beautiful day. Likely to be a tad different this year! I'm going to wait until I see the weather forecast Friday night before making a decision about going. I don't mind it muddy, I just don't want to be slogging round in the pouring rain.
I've done it the last 2 years, dry as a bone both times and singlespeeded it. A lot of it is on fairly sandy soil though so I suspect it'll be a bit variable in terms of mud.
Having just received their weather warnign email I'm now trying to decide whether to stick with SS and my current weak legs or take some gears so I can cope on sticky muddy hills.
I'm doing it this year and did it last year. Most of it is actually pretty well drained but a few hundred bikes going through the puddles before you is still going to leave it pretty messy. The forecast is currently for no rain on Saturday morning so here's hoping it doesn't change.
Should drain fairly well being mainly chalk downs...hope so anyway
Is that the Dorking one?
yes
If it's the same as the last couple of years, the final hill before dropping back down into Denbies is a cheeky one.
[i]the final hill[/i]
I pushed rootiest bit of that the first year as it caught me out with knackered legs.
Think I cleaned it last year as I was on for a 'gold' time and was worried I'd miss it.
I did it last year in the sun, am due to do it this year. However I rode part of the course on Monday and it wasn't fun. Very boggy in places and that is without many other bike tracks in the mud.
Well that was entertaining! Cold, wet and muddy slitherfest.
Was certainly a mudfest. Hard work but i enjoyed it in a masochistic kind of way.
I was half an hour slower than last year which is probably about right as I had some gears this year.
I was on the first feed station...Hats Off to everyone who gave it a go today,that was really muddy out there ,with a bit of extra rain thrown in for the later riders too!
Interesting to see the amount of 29ers...more popular than you may think.
Managed to get through two sets of brake pads. Dunno how as i never got fast enough to use them
Today's Ups and Downs sportive has been cancelled now.
That's a shame but understandable. Road ride today would be a nightmare.
Robbo167 - hat off to all the guys at the feed stations - all very cheerful offering encouragement.
After 10 miles I lost the granny ring.
After 15 the rear brake.
After 20 I was single speeding due to a drive gain meltdown.
At 28 miles I lost the front brake so had to walk DOWN some hills!
Having persuaded my wife to do it too, I became fearful that she might not be enjoying herself, but when we met at the feed station she was smiling away (she did the 25 and I did the longer route).
We finished within three minutes of each other and had a really great time.
It was the muddiest, hardest ride we've both done (given the gear failure) but we both loved it!
I did a recce of that route in early January 2011 with the organiser and it was muddy then in spite of it being a relatively dry winter. I know the North Downs/Dorking area well anyway having lived in London for many years but I dread to think what it was like yesterday!
Good call on cancelling the sportive - never a nice decision to have to make but the right one.
Just took my brake pads out. Rear down to the metal, front not far off.
I didn't have any gear problems on 1x9 but I'd probably singlespeed if I did it again in similar conditions.
Quite pleased with 3:54 for the Epic under the circumstances.
I did 4.02 for the Epic. The bike was making some terrible noises crunching and grinding, just spent a couple of hours cleaning it
My wife works with someone who did the Epic ride with her 7 year old son.
Took them 3.5 hours.
Just slack jawed here, really, to cover that distance at that age is an achievement in good weather.
On Saturday in those conditions and in that time, unbelievable 😯
The woman was a bit apologetic when my wife said I didn't mind being beaten by a woman but an under 10 was a bit humiliating to say the least 🙂