[Closed] September London to Brighton Off Road

Last year any black round near bald tire would have done it. Lots of gravel path, lots, well over half.

So any good? Looking forward to it

Last year any black round near bald tire would have done it. Lots of gravel path, lots, well over half.

What were you expecting - a cross Alps challenge? 😀

I did it on a singlespeed and really suffered on the long flat Downs Link section. Only big climb (big=I had to walk") was coming into Brighton

Just checked my tracklogs route from last year and there are three climbs 150m 28miles in, 150m 33miles in and 200m 65miles in. The last one is off road and the only one that will give you any pain.

Last year amazingly the conditions were perfect, dry trails and no mud so the off road sections were easy, there is nothing technical other than a few roots and rocks. I used a hardtail 26 with low rolling resistance tyres pumped up hard and it was ideal.

You are unlikely to run out of gears on a standard bike as there are few sections where you will be going that fast.

If you are interested in the tracklogs file I can email it to you.

I'll be doing it on a 26" Stumpy FSR with hard tyres.
Any idea how many people do it?

I'm doing it on my Trance with Racing Ralph's on it. Should be ok I reckon.

This has saved me asking the question. I only have two bikes, a Scott ransom full sus and a single speed cube hybrid commuter on 700cc wheels. I thought the later would probably be the better option?

Put the 700c wheels on the Ransom 😀

Ride the last ascent, don't walk it like most do. OK so I stopped about 20 times on the way up but I rode it all. 8)

Brakes, don't know how many people there were last year, many hundreds. Worth getting to the start early as you are briefed and sent off in batches of about 50. This takes quite a while so you could be queuing a long time.

Put the 700c wheels on the Ransom

Been beaten to that by someone else

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Just had the same dilema.....went for a Genesis Mantle 29er.

Do most of my riding on a specialized FSR, but long rides kill me decided to go hardtail for this one.

XC Hardtail with skinnyish fast rolling tyres if it's dry. That's what I did last year. A Cube Acid with Maxxis Crossmarks on it.

It may also be worth considering a set of bar ends, the downs link is 35 miles of railway track and it would have been lovely last year to give my wrists a rest.

So if 'someone' was planning on SS'ing this, what gearing would be best ? Lower than 32:16 ?

Yes, it's an event where a hybrid is probably ideal.

So on a SS, the ideal gearing would be ...?

I normally run a 26" ss hard tail with 32/15 (55-56 gi) when off roading (not often), but I ride fixed at 72gi everyday on my commute.

I ran a single speed rigid cx bike with 35mm cross tyres, 38cm drop bars and clipless pedals on yesterday's l2bor. It weighed just under 9kg. Built it a day before and its the first time using this type of bike and I'm a fan.

I ran a dual setup on mine 39/17 (62gi) and 36/18 (54gi)

I used 62 Gear inches for the majority of the ride. It sounds high, but it made alot of sense on the ride - it was a great gear ratio for 85% of the time. I'm used to grinding so could do some of the hills but it was difficult to maintain momentum behind other riders shifting down and slowing on climbs. Once you stop on ss on a hill, its very hard to start up again but I would find myself actually overtaking people on the hills if I could get past. I'm not a very skilled off road rider so I found some sections very hard it was mainly the roots, loose rock and soft mud on the some hills that caused that me walk up (and down in some cases). I found myself wishing for my mtb. Im glad the weather was dry.

Where I lost speed on the hills and downhills, more than made up for time on the road, paths and downs link section. 62gi was extremely efficient in my case - I cycled with a friend on a mtb (more of a skilled off roader than I) and I made 15mins on top of him after every water stop. I felt pretty fresh throughout the ride.

I switched to 54gi in preparation for some of the earlier hills on the ride, it was easier but was pointless again because of momentum and slow so I just swiched back - I walked up the last hill (rocky part of it) and was back on the bike when it eventually became tarmac again.

If I were to do it again on ss cx (which I won't be doing this particular ride), I would still go for 62gi but use use different handle bars such a dirt drop bar or moustache bars to provide more leverage on the climbs (and control on descents). For me, they seem to add some extra power on climbs when running single speed.

I had so much fun on ss and did not find myself wishing for gears, only suspension and wider bars in some sections.

Were there any other ss riders yesterday? I was looking out.

I saw a SS fat bike - Owner forgot the beard though.

Riding an MTB SS down the downs link would have been torture.

Soooooo Slooooooooow.

Sounds like you had a big enough gear to make it bearable!

GB

2:1 probably possible without getting off, but yes downs link would have been soul destroying.

I rode it a few weeks ago on a 42:18 cx bike. Got up everything apart from truleigh Hill. Great gear for the downs link though.

Rode 32:16 yesterday with a mate who rode 32:17 and we passed considerably more people than passed us on the downs link. The only bit we had to walk was the loose bit of the last climb. If I were to SS it again then I would run the same gearing. We stopped for lunch halfways along the downs link which broke it up nicely.

I rode it singlespeed on a 26" carbon Whippet with Nobby Nicks 2.35" tyres, gearing was 32:16. Set off in the 1st group and was the 6th finisher in just under 6 hours. Barely saw anybody after Winterfold, just one person came past and he was on a cyclo cross bike. Have to admit to walking about 1/2 of that last hill out of beeding, was just too much on the singlespeed, my legs were certainly tireing by then.