South Downs Way Double! I made it! – Page 2 – Bike Forum

mccraque · 2019-07-15T11:29:24Z

What an adventure that was! Am buzzing! 5 of us set off from Eastbourne Station at 1.30pm on Friday and 2 of us rolled wearily back in to Eastbourne at about 7.45pm on Saturday evening. 2 had to quit at Winchester, and one got back to QECP before having to throw in the towel as was dangerously falling asleep while cycling. A quick powernap didn't help him unfortunately. Had a couple of guys with fresh legs join us at Winchester as part of the BHF Ride (I quickly slapped on my number in Winchester, turned around and joined the official ride). I'm new to this endurance game. Biggest ride before last time was 100 miles. so doubling it was a big unknown. The psychological side was as hard as the physical side, although I went through periods of nausea and not feeling I could eat, energy levels falling off a cliff in an instant - only to feel back to full power after "proper food". I was ready to quit a few times, but my riding buddies pretty much refused to let me. Ended up breaking the return legs into manageable chunks. Amberley at 150 / Devils Dyke where I met my family for a motivational cuddle and a punnet of strawberries / Being swept home by @painey and six of our other local riding buddies for the last part of the ride. You see some bizarre things at night. Surprising amount of people out doing all manner of things at 3am. The weirdest being 6 guys in tuxedos, absolutely battered in the middle of nowhere (must have been around East Meon) at 4am. Not even close to a road.....just in the woods, drinking (and boy had they been drinking). How did they get there? Where had they come from?! Great views of the Tower in Pompey, the blood moon and the sunrise over a poppy field just outside of Winchester. I'll try get some photos up after work. Was congratulated at the end by a STW member, but apologies... didn't quite catch the name as was so exhausted. I think it weas possibly @weeksy? in a Gnarpoon teeshirt, which made me smile. Certainly would not have made the ride without the tremendous support - so thanks to everyone who popped up along the way in some capacity. The reason we decided to have a crack at it at all was quite personal. My younger sister was diagnosed with breast cancer at around this time last year - she's doing ok thankfully, but wanted to have a suitably testing event to raise a bit of money for Breast Cancer Care. Hope it is ok to share the link on here, just in case anyone would like to contribute. Thank you so much if you are able to.

immaterial

Posts: 0

Free Member

Late to the congratulatory party, but that is amazing.

So yesterday, having talked some mates down from doing the SDW in a day (I know that I'm not fit enough, and had my doubts about another), we did a 100KM-ish loop of it, from QE Park to the A24. We started at QE as we'd done the first 25m from Winchester to QE a few weeks ago.

That 100KM was the toughest thing that I'd ever done- reduced to pushing up some of the downs on the way back... and that was only 63-odd miles! Once again, your ride was some achievement- grats!

Posted : 22/07/2019 11:41 am

Wally

Posts: 3149

Free Member

Immaterial, I remember getting to Qepark by 8 ish on BHF ride and thought 1/3 in ... this is an absolute peach. Eastbourne by 3/4?

Oh my, oh my flipping heck. Off by several hours. Brutal. Double is almost superhuman.

Posted : 22/07/2019 7:06 pm

mccraque

Posts: 1502

Full Member

Topic starter

Thanks @wally & @immaterial - definitely takes any explosiveness out of the legs. Only a week and a half from the big dog and I’m still feeling very one paced!

Posted : 29/07/2019 9:04 pm

four

Posts: 609

Free Member

Immense!

Good effort.

Posted : 29/07/2019 9:54 pm

Oblongbob

Posts: 655

Full Member

Amazing effort. Well done!

Posted : 29/07/2019 11:06 pm

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