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Hi
Tell me if you think I am crazy but I fancy a crack at the SDD, but in a very soft 3 day effort.
Using Truleigh Hill YHA as a break point out andback
Day 1 63miles plus ice camp at the yha
Day 2 75 miles Truleigh ebourne Truleigh
Day 3 Truleigh -, winch and finish. 63 miles again
Need a big weather window, a few bits of kit as I have not done any thing like this before
I know the route. The taps, the cafes etc and it seems to be a nice safe little adventure
Thoughts...
Don't see why not. Might depend on what sort of distances/climbing per day you are currently used to doing but a bit of training would sort that out. Doing larger distances is mostly about plodding on and not faffing at stops, etc. I presume you've seen this site - https://www.southdownsdouble.co.uk/
Nice camp even
If you ride at a comfy pace on a comfy bike in nice weather, then it will all be fine. For three consecutive days its the small things that count. Like fresh inners ? Comfy shoes for long distances. Easy rolling tyres. Oh, and a bail out plan for when you stop enjoying it.
Looks good from the comfort of my office.
Do it, take pics.
Just realised your thread title says "intro". It might be a bit much as an intro, I'd get some overnight rides: ride, bivy, ride; done before you attempt this. It will teach you so much more about what works and what doesn't. You don't have to go far, in fact for your first bivy/camp I'd find somewhere as close to home as you can, under 10km or so, then if it all goes pear shaped it's not too far to get back.
It's things like: the best way to carry your kit (there is no best way!); what kit you need rather than what you want (see Alex's thread about Las Lon Cymru for a B&B based kit list to see how little you need); how the kit affects bike handling; etc.
You say "camp", how heavy and bulky is your tent? That couple of kilos might not seem much now but every time you have to lift your bike up off the ground you'll be cursing it.
That's the practical stuff, well some of it, mentally if you know the route it's a case of breaking it down into sections rather than looking at it as one big block. The three days helps as that's one cut of the cake, you just need to break each day into four or five blocks none of which seem bad in themselves.
Make sure you get on really well with your saddle.
Other than that your plan sounds very doable.
very soft 3 day effort LOL....
Whether 1 day, 3 days or a week, the SDW ain't a soft anything... the hills are tough
I'd be a bit wary of Day 2... the route from Truleigh to Eastbourne has a lot of climbing, so 75 miles out-and-back will be a tough day and may well take you 10 hours. Truleigh to Eastbourne on its own is on a par with the whole Winchester to Truleigh section.