Anybody else doing it?
Knee hurts after Dunwich Dynamo this weekend, a little worried.
Yup, i'm in for some of that.
I've got a few knee issues myself this weekend, but i'm hoping to learn a few lessons from this weekend.
Going to be an early start and a very long day out !
Yes. 5am is the off time. Hip hurts now. I will be the chap in black on the black Pivot, looking anxious. I will be going very steady. Last year, 5am till 7pm. Long ride.
Must do the SDW again. Wonder if it's quicker doing an organised thing - people holding gates etc, or slower - simple volume of people.
Good luck to all.
Wally.
I'll be on a sky blue Whyte t130.
With the double chainset!
I ran out of gears so many times on the last 30 miles that I am going lower geared this year. Last time fellow riders opened gates if they could. Organised means you can travel light, no back pack.
We were going to take packs due to staying over, but mates missus is collecting us now, so no pack for me.
Yep, it's brutally long, do everything you can to be as light as possible and comfortable. Last year I used the tubeless tyre plugs when flint cut a hole, sunscreen also advised. Resting up this week.
I've done it twice at night as an event. But coming from Eastbourne. Although our event did finish at QECP.
We should be around same pace as I'll be sticking with a mate for moral support on eachother.
I inadvertently ran into this very event back in 2010 on the last day of my personal little SDW adventure!
Was wild camping, first 2 days never saw a single rider practically, then Sunday! Boom! Riders everywhere!
It was great to be there even though I "officially" wasn't.
Have a GREAT ride guys. That multi day STW ride I did is one of the best things I have ever done and will be repeating it this Summer.
Not this weekend though. 🙁
Watch the flint, I had to superglue a ripped tyre back together on the last day.Lol Running tubed at the time luckily!
Did it last year on whyte t130. 2nd wave off of the start, finished at 1915.
Best tip, if you don't have a bell get one. Makes life so much easier if the walking dead can hear you coming and they get out of the way!
Wish I was doing it again but working.
I'm in. I did the 35 miler last year and swore i'd never go near it again.
How the memories fade. Doing the 100 this time.
Organised means you can travel light, no back pack.
There are taps, no backpack needed any time 😉
Yes, me and a mate riding it this weekend. Not sure we're doing it "right" though as raising funds for a MS charity & and on a Spesh Enduro & a long low slack hardtail....
Ummmm a bell, good point. Sure I have one in spares box.
Anybody, in Winchester the night before? Pasta joint?
Local Wally, 30 mins away, you're more than welcome at mine for Carbonara though.
Pasta joint?
Dude, you can't smoke da pasta, man. What a Wally. Oh, hang on.....
Weeksy, you must be close. I'm in Bishops Waltham if you want a bell.
Opposite direction from Winchester mate. I've found and fitted a bell.
Good luck chaps, I did it in 14 hours last month. Back again for a more leisurely pace this thursday/friday. I'll stash some Haribo's behind a tap for you!
It's worth printing out the route profile if you've never done it before. At least you'll know how many hills left. I've always found half the battle is in my mind with the SDW.
[url= http://www.bikedowns.co.uk/Profile%20All.htm ]Route profile[/url]
Good luck guys.
No probs.
Bell is definitely worth having - Rockbros on Amazon is nice'n'loud.
There are about 90 gates (if you're counting)
The hills before Truleigh don't really count for much - Southease is the 'killer', fortunately there's the cafe at the youth hostel
Looking at the BHF website it specifies it has water stops and mechanical support, but i can't see anything on feed stations ? If there were feed stations i was going to ride without a Camelbak, just 2 bottles and carry some food and then a tailbag for spares/stuff. We're now not staying over in Eastbourne so no need to carry a change of clothing with us.. But i'd like more than a pocket full of food as i'm not sure i can carry enough in pockets even with the number of water taps, i think i'd be OK for liquids, but food, hmmmm.
The hills before Truleigh don't really count for much
Not sure about that. Plenty of decent climbs before the river Adur - Truleigh hill climb. You have the climb up from the A32, up from the A3, A285 to Bignor hill, Amberley Mount, A24 - Chanctonbury ring.
The worst one for me though is Alfriston to Windover Hill.
The trail will be brutally hard now, I went up early Saturday morning on the CXer to do a loop I have from home/Cheesefoot/SDW/QECP/home and its running hard and fast chalk. Unlikely to get slippy at all despite today's rain here, lots of wind will dry it out.
Teeth rattling fun.
Enjoy it.
That's why i've brought the bouncy bike 🙂
Good luck to all those doing it. I keep toying with the idea of having another go as it's a great day out, as long as the weather plays ball.
Regarding feed stations. I wouldn't rely on things like that. You might get the chance to grab a cake here and there but you need a lot of the right food, little and often to keep the tanks filled up. There's plenty of water stops but I'd never do it without a backpack and some food inside it.
Did it for the first time on Saturday with some mates up until Washington Hill then solo. Nearly quit at Southease. I knew it was coming, I should have stopped at the cafe but knew I was cutting it fine to get to Eastbourne before dark. Reached the point I couldn't push more than 10m or do 2 turns of the pedals without stopping.
Got 1 flat out on the trails and a slow puncture that has gone down since so be prepared for multiple flats. It was cold to start, but HOT later, then freezing sat waiting for my train. I had all my food and water on the bike and a rucksack with spare clothes, suntan lotion etc. so the lighter but bulky stuff.
Bike wise I managed it on 26" wheeled Soul with just 9 gears (retro I know!!)
Good luck to all doing it!!
The worst one for me though is Alfriston to Windover Hill.
Is that 'cos you always stuffed yourself with pastry goods from the deli? 😀
How's it going on the final prep Weeksy?
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Tube behind the saddle.
Sticky pod bag with all tools in, inhaler, sanitising gel, moisture cream, bum butter, salt NuuN tablets for water, three fruit jellies and three savory, pump, tunes and token lock. Asthma and Excema don't help when traveling light.
Still debating pack or no pack.
Did 20km gentle one today, now all ready.
Slow and steady!
If you've feed stations, some snacks and 2 bottles on the bike should be fine..
I've just done the SDW but solo unsupported, so had a fuel pod and a lumbar camel back...
DrP
I need every advantage I can get, so no pack for me. Old almost slick tyres. Slow and steady will win the day, too right. See you there 5am.
Gotta say it.
Have a huge amount of fun, hope the weather and the trail ride smooth, you bonk at least twice, puncture 4times from the same hole and trap a chunk of flint in your mech.
Should be a huge amount of fun.
Be nice to the Downs, savour the views.
Oh dear, living up to Forum name. At start in Bnb and just realised multitool is 100's of miles back home. What a Wally. No chain breaker either. Weeksy, got anything I can buy from you at start line?
Y'll be fine, borrow one if needed. Someone will no doubt be towing a snap-on toolkit with them... 😀
In all the times I've ridden it, I've never ever needed one, ask DrP.. he's just done it, see if he needed one.. didn't mention any breaks or mishaps ..
And the weather looks damn near perfect, with dry sunny and a SWly wind to push you all the way there.
I've just come back from Old Winny Hill along the Meon Trail flat chat and its dry as a bone and teeth rattling fun.
All sorted! Bikers are a friendly bunch.
Mine is in the car if you need it too.
I was tempted to go to the gate at the top of decent from old Winchester hill and keep it open for people. I was going to ask singletrackers from the forum to say poontang and I was going to give each person that did, a Mars bar.
Then my wife reminded it was my turn to have the lie in and she'd be getting up when our daughter did.
It was at this point I thought "get your own bloody snacks".
Seriously though, I'm working tomorrow afternoon and would love to be doing it again.
Good luck!
Yep, have a great time all riding tomorrow!
Don't get so caught up in the riding that you forget to savour the views.
Unforgettable!
Just had a double "Kraken" and ice at "black boy" then walked through the fields on start of SDW to bnb. Just that alone was worth the effort. Yep,views and journey are the name of the game, not just destination.
What time do you reckon you'll be getting to the top of amberly mount..sort of midway between the amberly and Washington taps??
I might head up there with the kids and heckle!!
DrP
8.5-9mph from a 5am start.
7 hours or so into ride, we're 60 miles in and just fuelling ourselves before I hellish looking climb. Its not the first by a long way and won't be the last.
Good luck 🙂 Keen on going!!
I was up by Chantry lane car park (between Amberly mount climb, and the car park, to be more accurate) with the kids about 10am for an hour or so..
Was fun clapping and cheering you lot on! I even timed it perfectly so that I caught up with 2 mates doing the ride 🙂
Enjoy the (painful) second half!
DrP
That's us done. 12hrs from Winchester Premier Inn - Eastbourne Pier. 10:35hrs ride time. Probably around 9l of fluid, a lot of energy products and some hot cross buns. Most time I've ever spent on a bike. Suitably fatigued, Strouds local hills prepped me well. Fantastic support from two friends. Nearly £1000 raised for a MS charity.
Likes
T's alright for a pootle innit 😀
11 +1/2 hours for me. Strong tailwind and cool temp really helped. Lots of local support and banter with complete strangers on bikes. Top day out. Guts abit churned up though.
Was just talking about this ride with the lads this morning on the drive back from Ventoux, a year to the day since we did it and still got incredible memories. God it was hot. Well done everyone, that's a proper bike ride you've done today.
6 miles left and waiting at top of hill up from Alfriston. My oppo could be a while
Finished just before 9pm. Hell of a long day
😀
One I suspect you'll not forget in a hurry.
Well done all, really well done.
Tremendously well done. Chapeau.
miles left and waiting at top of hill up from Alfriston. My oppo could be a while
waiting ?
Surely the done thing would be to freewheel back to him and then encourage him up. By stripping to your underpants and running alongside him yelling in his ear. At the least would give him the impetus to get that over asap 😉
Great effort. Still on my To Do list.......
Weeksy, Glad you laughed when I shouted out "Weeksy" top of my lungs from the start line at 5.10 when you rocked up on the orange Whyte. One long enjoyable day.
Shall we have a poll ?
Who aches ?
No need to put your hands up, just grunt 😆
I almost wanted to pee in the bed this morning as it would have meant not having to get up!
😆
Brilliant.
Well done all of you. It's a right ******* of a ride.
So how was it then, i guess this goes down as a quite write up/report.
Firstly, the organisation was a bit meh. The postcode for Sat NAv took us 4 miles round the world to get there after dropping car off.. It was a bit poor. Happily things got better (sort of) after that.
One good amusing bit to come up, Wally, my Whyte is BLUE 😉 and we didn't get there till 5.25 😀
So we set off on the ride, with last weeks mistakes ringing in our ears "too hard, too fast" and we cruised and cruised... I was trying to make sure my mate wasn't pushing too hard as it was going to kill him too early if he was. On the whole on a flat section he can crack on but when we get to hills he lacks power but has tonnes of stamina, so we were just cruising it.
After 2 hours we hit Butster hill where i hit a PR on the descent and an 8th for the day overall 🙂 the Whyte was really flying. Sadly my mate snapped a chain so while we got that fixed we sampled some bacon and sausage 🙂 MMMMMM
The next, well, 8-10 hours i guess kind of blurs into, climb, climb, climb, little decent, climb climb... The feed stations were empty, so at one main road section we bailed and went to the nearest village and stocked up on supplies, then back to the same point and up some massive hill again. Even though we've done 80% of the SDW before, you foget just how hillly it is.
Over the day was 3500m of climbing ! I don't know about anyone else, but that's a LOT in my world.
By the time we hit Alfriston my mate was finding it REALLY tough, him and most of the people around us were walking many of the hills, i was feeling OK so still pedalling but that then meant a 10-15 minute wait at the top sometimes, one in particular was near 20 mins.... The problem for me with that was that i was getting REALLY cold, with cramp setting in as well, so around then i decided to sod off and leave my mate, i know him well and knew he'd make it, so sod it, i was off.
The last 6-7 miles was good, i made up loads of places of people i would keep passing on the hills, then they'd see me waiting at the top and go back past...
Eventually with a fading light i came into Eastbourne and the reward of a cheese and ham toastie, a coffee and a massage. With our ride to the start and the section for food, i got about 103 miles. Which i'm insanely happy with, especially after failing the weekend before on the 100.
We met and chatted to many many random people and had laughs at our own expense. We shared memories and i think with me being my chatty self, i helped mould a few memories for some people.
I rode 99.9% of it, only one tiny section in the woods i thought "sod that".
My best climb was some chalky one, just after a bridge crossing, every single people was walking it, but i dug deep and climbed it, even getting a round of appluase from the spectators at the top lol.
I did a cracking log jump for people too later on.
Would i do the SDW again, well in honesty, no. The rewards apart from a sense of pride are not great enough for the efforts you have to put in. I can't fathom how we didn't end up 2000m higher than we started, we just climbed that much.
It was a day i won't forget though that's for sure.
My mate is my hero for the day for me, dogged determination, effort, courage and laughing at himself and the world all day... All at 59 year of age and carrying a bit too much round the middle. Massive respect to him.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1085111146
For anyone into Strava stalking !
My best climb was some chalky one, just after a bridge crossing, every single people was walking it, but i dug deep and climbed it, even getting a round of appluase from the spectators at the top lol.
I suspect that's 'cardiac hill' - the SDW climb just after the A24... it's a good hill - testing but doable!
(One of our local climbs..I know it well!)
Glad you had fun..your account of waiting at the tops is one of the reasons why, if you want to bash out a good time, you're best of doing this alone...!
DrP
Glad you had fun..your account of waiting at the tops is one of the reasons why, if you want to bash out a good time, you're best of doing this alone...!
Of course, but I honestly wouldn't do it alone, it's about experiences with friends, the laughs, the sharing. Without sounding too cocky I think I'd have taken a reasonable amount of time off alone, but why would I want to? Lol
Great effort, good write up too.
Puts me in the right frame of mind for my attempt on the 24th, watching the weather like a man possessed!
Excellent write up.
Doing it with mates or folks you don't know is better I reckon.
I've ridden it plenty, the hardest bit for me is coming into Eastbourne, the section over Beach Head Downs. The expectation of "almost there" and "have I done better than last time" fills my mind before I look at the Garmin.
Ridgeway next, full route to Lyme Regis??
"My Whyte is blue", that's funny, even funnier because bloke shouted back Hi and to top it all, I am colour blind. Not quite red/blue though! that would be seriously bad, opposite ends of spectrum. Funny day. I walked two bits.
I feel fatigued for sure, some pain in right patella when going up stairs, but I reckon I could ride again today - but I won't - probably tomorrow instead.
The flint put a hole in my sidewall @ 22 miles, the worm did an astounding job of fixing it, but it did loose pressure throughout the rest of the day, that's a brand new tyre in the bin.
Definately agree that a solo it the way forward it your looking at achieving a personal best, treat it as a ITT.
We had a support vehicle that RVP'd with us 9 times, really saved on carrying stuff. Just 1 bottle, rear pockets for food and a saddle bag for tools.
I rode all the climbs and didn't cramp, so pleased with that.
We did discuss if we were over hydrating but it's difficult to tell. Wee'd a LOT.
Definately a lightweight short travel 29er FS / HT event, but we managed fine on a 29er Enduro and my 650b slack HT.
Ridgeway next, full route to Lyme Regis??
I'm never cycling again.
Well, until at least We'd!
Worst part today is my under carriage, I feel like I've been in the State Pen with Big Mike and Long John!
Early optimism 🙂
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4308/35805792722_5e51481842_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4308/35805792722_5e51481842_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/Wy33HQ ]2017-07-17_08-20-58[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
Don't forget the correct fuelling !
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4320/35843713951_aeaeef9f90_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4320/35843713951_aeaeef9f90_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/WBopo8 ]2017-07-17_08-20-38[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
"Oi mate, did you enjoy that hill?"
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4291/35843709021_044c8bff1f_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4291/35843709021_044c8bff1f_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/WBonV8 ]2017-07-17_08-20-23[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
More hills from the top.
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4313/35587296220_0bc0ca8b9a_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4313/35587296220_0bc0ca8b9a_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/WdJcjL ]2017-07-17_08-19-59[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
I think he's dead !
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4325/35587293950_a0cb9bed17_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4325/35587293950_a0cb9bed17_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/WdJbDC ]2017-07-17_08-19-42[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
Thanks for sharing the stories.