MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I'm thinking of doing a charity ride in November, doing London to Brighton three times from dawn until dusk.
Is this conceivable? It's about 160 miles in 9.5 hours, so an average speed, with stops, of 17mph. I can comfortably do that over 50-60 miles.
I want it to be challenging, but I don't want to kid myself. I've got over 3 months to train.
So, anyone done these kind of distances in a day? What will be the challenges?
Walking up stairs the next day
depends where in London but I can see traffic beign an issue as regards to average speeds, particularly when you're tired.
I've done brighton-london-brighton in a day. Found it easy but wasn't doing anything like that speed (the london-brighton leg was the standard ride, i was just too tight to pay for the bike ride up there).
You could always just stick some lights on, in case it takes you longer than expected?
What will be the challenges?
Sitting down when you've finished.
I did London to Brighton recently starting at Marble Arch at midnight.
It was quiet and cool with little traffic, which may be a better bet than doing it during the day in heavy traffic.
that's a point, traffic, I would be setting off from Central London.
maybe the official start could be somewhere with less traffic.
the 160 miles is based on the official L2B Clapham Common start, I'm a good 6 miles north of there.
I would take lights, just in case, but dawn to dusk is my challenge - I would prefer to start earlier than finish later.
trail_rat's your man, as these sort of distances are a snip to him.
My experience of long rides (I've done two beyonfd 125 miles: 140 mile audax in Jan this year, and 165 miles on this years Tour of Flanders sportive) - decent shorts, plenty of chamois cream, and lots of food and drink throughout the day.
AFAIK there's only one hill (Ditchling Beacon), so the flat is helpful.
Just ramp up your mileage over three months.
Sounds like quite a fun ride. Enjoy 😀
do it 'offroad'? it's a nice route mostly along canal towpaths etc, would avoid traffic etc?
decent shorts
I'm not wearing lycra
offroad
maybe, there and back offroad could be doable
but it's a psychological thing, everyone does L2B2L, but I've not heard of anyone doing L2B2L2B
.
actually, that's a point, maybe I start in Brighton?
get down to the guildford area and do the downs link and back? lovely bit of countryside, decent paths, no traffic and a good few boozers on the way to fill your camelbak at ; )
why not do it dusk-till-dawn, instead of the other way around? be quieter..
when i did b2l2b i took a different route on the way up, saves a few miles - approx 100 total distance
I'm not wearing lycra
Bad start.
Still, it's pretty flat and assuming it's all road it's not that far.
I'm not wearing lycra
In which case, buy an extra large pot of Sudocrem and book a week off work.
I'm not wearing lycra
Bibs under baggies? That way, no one will ever know 😉
Personally that's my biking outfit of choice (for both road and mtb)
tbh, I wouldn't do it at that time of the year- your biggest problems are likely to be the weather, and poor light at either end of the day. I did the Dunwich Dynamo (only 120 miles) the year it rained most of the night, and it was pretty miserable and cold in July, a complete conrtast to doing it on a warm night. If you have rain, poor visiblity or wind at that time of the year it's going to make it pretty damned awful trying to make good time on the road, especially alone, and not going to be terrifically safe.
What size group are you planning on, or is it going to be solo?
get down to the guildford area and do the downs link and back? lovely bit of countryside, decent paths, no traffic and a good few boozers on the way to fill your camelbak at ; )
Plus 1
Or SDW in a day even better
get down to the guildford area and do the downs link and back? lovely bit of countryside, decent paths, no traffic and a good few boozers on the way to fill your camelbak at ; )
Booze and the Downs Link = falling asleep at the (handle) bars due to boredom.
Oh and you will need a Cx bike for the Downs link
J.
it's going to be in November as I plan to tie it in with Movember, if the weather's that bad I'll postpone
or is it going to be solo
it's all pie in the sky at the moment, I have a couple of mates who I might ask to join me on legs of it, but I'd prefer to do it solo
bibs under baggies
ok, I won't be wearing visible lycra
why not do it dusk-till-dawn
I can only imagine that it would be extremely depressing and I'd probably fall asleep
That distance at that speed should be easily doable .The main problem is the traffic.Most people can average that in 12 hour timetrials many average well over 20 mph
riding for 10 hours on your own is a pretty lonely existance. Might be a lot more fun to get more folk in to do it
maybe I shouldn't bill it as dawn til dusk just in case I (inevitably) fail
maybe aim for dusk and call it 'dark til dusk'
any of the evening crowd got any advice?
Traffic in and out of town will be your biggest issue, oh and your refusal to wear proper clothing.
Average speed in London is less than 15 mph unless you're going to ride through all the red lights.
ok, where's the furthest south I can go that will still be regarded as 'London'? Wimbledon? Sutton? Purley? Reigate?
Who cares if it's London, surely that's an arbitrary starting point.
Would it not be nicer to ride London - somewhere 160 miles away. I'd far rather do that, I reckon the last leg to Brighton would be paralysingly boring!
Edit: London - Sheffield is around 160 miles, to be me that'd be a far bigger achievement, and challenge, than Brighton and back repeatedly.
you might be onto something there njee, my parents are up Sheffield way, in fact they're about 150 miles away...
the reason I picked L2B is because it's a popular bike ride and people can associate with it and might be more inclined to give some money, that's the theory anyway
I'm not wearing lycra
do you want to be comfortable?
just man up and buy some assos/giordana/gore bibs
17mph? in a group maybe. solo? good luck with that.
you're so negative Gary, what if I wore some Farah slacks and a Rapha Gentleman's cap?
I've done 65 miles solo at 17mph. is it that much harder to do that 2.5 times?
i once rode cardiff - wokingham overnight, which is probably a similar distance, at reasonable (~15mph) pace. Was dull. T'was to see my first girlfriend cos I didn't have money for the train (aaaah)
I've done 65 miles solo at 17mph. is it that much harder to do that 2.5 times?
Yes.
Can I address the elephant in the room and ask exactly what you feel the point of hiding your lycra shorts underneath something which will make you less comfortable is?
is it that much harder to do that 2.5 times?
yes. about just over twice as hard 🙂
Can I address the elephant in the room and ask exactly what you feel the point of hiding your lycra shorts underneath something which will make you less comfortable is?
a small penis.
when I was between jobs in the spring I did a lot of ride outs from London on my own.....I really quite enjoyed being on my tod but prob only because the weather was lovely.
+1 for riding somewhere a long way a way rather than Brighton several times. Pick somewhere lovely and head for it, start early and end up in a nice pub somewhere. My favourite was NE London to Winchester, met my mate at St Pauls Cathedral for breakfast, had lunch looking at Winchester Cathedral. A perfect day.
London to York, about 200 miles, wind behind you (hopefully), I'd do that with you.
If you are reasonably fit it should be no problem. This year I rode up to the London-Brighton start, rode with some friends to Brighton, had a full English breakie, rode back to near the start and rode home. Around 125miles and I'm not racing this year.
Apart from Ditchling it's mostly flat/rolling. You should be able to average 17mph.
Look up the Pearson 150th Sportive route for a decent alternative route to the BHF London-Brighton route.
what you feel the point of hiding your lycra shorts
maybe people could sponsor me more to wear lycra?