[Closed] Sdw in a day - cx sportive

It'll be fine, I've done it on 28mm cross tyres back in the 90s. The worst bits are the shale/ gravel section later on. Oh, and the green chalk.

40mm will be fine, that's 1.6", not that long ago 2.0" MTB tyres were considdered big and for downhill only!

Are you just turning up and riding it? I'm not wholy anti sportive, but the SDW is well signposted all year round and plenty of local shops to re-fuel at rather than pay £35.

I got on the pre-register list for this and need to make a decision whether to ride it or not.

It's not the riding it that's the problem for me - it's getting to the start line.

I've never done it but I think putting some 40mm wtb nano's on my rigid ti 29er should be ok as long as I remember to hold back a bit on the descents.

I kind if agree with you mr notaspoon

I did it a couple of years back over a day and half or so leaving Winchester around midday. Does seem a bit daft to pay for the privilege, but there's something about entering that a) makes me train a bit and b) bit of camaraderie I suppose

Check online to see it doesn't clash with any walking, running etc events. Best bit of advice I ever had.

Pros - company, motivation to train for a specific day etc

Cons - locked into a date irrespective of weather/trail conditions.

For me the con outweighs the pro plus I don't think you get help with travel back to the start? Personally I'd not want to do it on narrow tyres - 2.25s weren't exactly an armchair.

For me the con outweighs the pro plus

Nothing outweighs pro plus for enduance events!

It's not that well signposted (throughout the year) tbh so you have to slow down, look around or stop to check the signs and it's bloody annoying making a wrong turn and dropping all the way down a hill you didn't need to and having to climb back up when you've got a whole load more of them to do in 1 day 😳

I'd personally want to do it with bigger tougher tyres due to the tyre splitting qualities of the trail and its fairly rough so you have to rein it in a bit on the downhills.

BHF do a one-dayer for Mountain bikes. There are sections of the SDW which would be a dream on a cx, but i'd favour the pleasure of at least a front sus fork and some decent tyres.
Seem to remember the CX sportive event requires drop bars, rigid forks and narrow tyres to be considered for the 'roll of honour'

[i]requires drop bars, rigid forks and narrow tyres to be considered for the 'roll of honour' [/i]
[i]

No suspension.
40mm / 1.5 inch tyres maximum.
Drop bars preferred; flat bars tolerated. No riser bars.[/i]

I was hoping my rigid flat bar 29er with thin tyres and would qualify.

wwaswas, you'll probably be alright with flats, but my risers, chunky 2.2's and sus fork probably wont!

flip them over so they become 'lowers'?

Hi - Happy to answer any questions here, as one of the organisers.

No suspension.
40mm / 1.5 inch tyres maximum.
Drop bars preferred; flat bars tolerated. No riser bars.

I was hoping my rigid flat bar 29er with thin tyres and would qualify.

It would. As long as it meets those criteria, you're good to go.

flip them over so they become 'lowers'?

Do you know, I hadn't thought of that! Pretty sure we'd have to allow that! 😉

I really fancied this ,sadly, doubt I'll be fit enough. 🙁

senor j - if fitness is the issue, we run a [url= http://www.trailbreak.co.uk/lemming/ ]two day SDW trip via our MTB site[/url] in September. This will be it's 20th year, and the last time we run it too. If you fancy doing the Way over a weekend with loads of support options, meals included and an overnight stop at the Truleigh Hill YHA, give it a look.

Cheers Martin.

The worst bits are the shale/ gravel section later on. Oh, and the green chalk.

never ridden it on a cross bike but riding it on a rigid mtb, i found the worst bits the chalk that is churned up but baked hard.

it's as hard as concrete, the smooth bits are super quick but the rough bits are hell.

Last time I rode parts over in the west it was perfectly smooth, baked hard. Wonderful.

Time before that, it was dry and hard, but with baked in hoof-prints. Awful!

Some of the "smoother" road type sections aren't really that smooth - flint cobbles and stones set into the chalk. It's pretty fatiguing over 100 miles.

Given I can get 2.1s in my cross type bike, I wouldn't be rushing to ride with anything narrower!

Do the "roll of honour" rules say anything about flexstems and thudbusters? 🙂

I rode some of the SDW east of Brighton on my CX last summer when it was bone dry. After one long downhill I had to call into a cafe to wash the copious amounts of blood off my left hand where my watch had worn through the skin on my wrist.

Do the "roll of honour" rules say anything about flexstems and thudbusters?

Pretty sure that'd come under 'suspension'. Do flexsems count as suspension? Or just an annoyance?

OK, honest question, I'd be interested to know:

The reason we've set these criteria is to keep it as a distinct challenge, not just a CX event in name that gets dominated by mountain bikes, which I've seen happen to other events. There have been MTB events on the SDW for years (we've been doing our own for 20), but I don't know of another CX one like this. The fact that riding it on CX bike sounds a little bit insane is, we hope, part of the appeal. We wouldn't be into this whole off road biking thing if we didn't like a little bit of stupid every now and then, would we?

So to get to the question - how important is it to you to meet those CX criteria if you plan to take part in the event? We have stated that we'll let anyone ride on any bike. The only difference would be getting a finishers medal and your name published on the main list on the website. We're getting a lot of questions and feedback about this (it seems to have sparked a conversation at least!) so I'm interested to hear what everyone thinks.

could you post the link to the event?

Thanks

http://www.cxsportive.com/cx-century-the-south-downs-way/

Google cx sportive

I'm happy with the drop bar rigid thing - I did it on a Fargo and thought it was perfect - but I had 2.25 tyres on!

So not sure I see the need for the 40 mm tyre limit

I'm having a bash at the reading event on Sunday on 40mm tyres - but about half of that is on road. Will give me an idea though !

Oh and ditto the signposting - I went wrong a few times when I did it - not least finding right route out of Winchester!!

I've done it 7 times since November and all on my CX'er and 32mm Griffos, except one of them when I stuck my 32mm Limus on.

The Fargo will be a great choice, most of the ride is flowing, some steep bumpy bits but on the whole it drains quite well and by the time the Sportive comes around it'll be dry no doubt.

Your teeth will not fall out, if they start rattling let some psi out of your tyres.

I too will fight for a decent start, being behind and getting stuck on the "Off" will be no fun what so ever.

Enjoy it, see you there.

8)

Would the CX nazis let you do it on this?
[img] [/img]

[i]Would the CX nazis[/i]

possibly but the style police might not.

I think the thing is that the event is organised for peopel who want to do the ride in a cx-style.

It's a public bridleway so you can do it how you want and when you want but for this event it's not in the spirit.

It's like going to a wine tasting at an off licence and demanding that they let you try the lager?

bikebouy, you've ridden the 101 miles 7 times since nov? 😯 Impressive!

@charliemort - We see this new form of CX (as opposed to traditional cyclocross) as an evolving thing, same with the bikes that are being made for it. So we'll be open to tweaking the 'rules' as it develops. We do want it to be of it's own identity though; an event for this newly developing side of the sport. The thinking behind 40mm was that that's about 1.5in, which is about what I probably had on the MTB I first rode the SDW on, so that seemed like a good starting point. Totally agree that we need to be open minded about how we define the bikes in the future.

I know what you mean about the signing; the SDW way is easy to follow, except in a few key places, where it's easy to go completely the wrong way. We don't skimp on marking the route. We take a belt and braces approach to that.

I'll be on the finish on Sunday, so say hi. You'll enjoy the Woodcote route on the narrower tyres. It's actually a really good route for the more pure crossers.

Yup, I've been very lucky and had the time to do it. Also I'm in training and it's a great place to use as timed sections. No plans to do a double but I do want a crack at the "one way" later this year.

8)

It's like going to a wine tasting at an off licence and demanding that they let you try the lager?

😉

so no fat bikes then?

No, but on a Wiggle sportive, there'll be plenty of fat blokes.

Just got my first CX bike so this sounds perfect. Will see if I can drum up some others!

Thanks Alan! Make sure you get a lot of miles in on that new CX in preparation - CX Century is going to be hell of a big undertaking, so you want to go in ready. We have a few of our other CX Sportives between now and then if you want some build up events to prepare on:

http://www.cxsportive.com/

I might ride my CX bike on Sunday at Woodcote as its currently having new chainrings/ chain/ cassette/ jockey wheels/ cables today. Otherwise it'll be the rigid 29er. We did the first one, and it was pretty cold at the start...

Martin, are you still sending out GPX of the routes before hand? I have only just got around to entering Sunday's event and wasn't sure if I had left it too late to get the route for my Garmin?

Looking forward to it. I think I did it the first year you ran it and it was a good mix of terrain. On my newish CX bike this year.

Hi Jason. Yes, most people got them earlier in the week, but there will be a final send of the information sheet after 4pm today, when online entries close. There is a download link for GPS in that.

^^ Ohh good call, forgot about the Wildwood CX event was this weekend.. 😳

Cheers.

How does a top CX time compare to the current record?

Thanks for the warning Martin but I have done plenty of big days in the saddle including 100+ miles on a hard tail so know what I am in for.

How does a top CX time compare to the current record?

I don't honestly know! Looking around on Google, it's hard to find anyone claiming a time for CX end to end at all. It's going to be interesting to see how folks go in July!

wwaswas, I have a lovely CX bike you can borrow... 😉

I'm not doing it on that shonky thing - the back wheel's held together by spit and string 😉

You could ride it with me though 🙂

SDW on a CX bike, rather you than me. I did it on a front suspension hardtail and my arms were shot at Alfriston.

good luck all

if you use frog legs type cx brakes as i did your arms and hands get the most pain as you can't get enough leverage to stay in control on some of the very step downhills and pick a good line. It can also get quite rutted in places and again lack of suspension is pretty tiring. That said it is perfectly doable on cx - i have ridden several times cx ss and I'm no athlete.

Now you tell me! I am only using it to carry my daughter to school so that it ok 😯
Maybe I will get the trailgator out...

[i] I am only using it to carry my daughter to school so that it ok[/i]

really? I'm pleased it's being put to good use 🙂

(the wheel will be fine, honest. I assume it's stayed true?)

Define true? The wheel is doing well with well over 100kg on it, but I do need to get her sorted onto something else though as she is at or just over the weight limit for the seat. The trail gator and/or the ute beckon...

I found a proper trail-a-bike really good - very stable and my daughter got to pedal bit on the hills to help out.

I'm in. Been meaning to do this for a while now.