[Closed] South Downs way (double??)

Depends how quickly you want to do it, how much margin for error you want with layers, spares and food. There are taps en route, so that's a big part of the equation dealt with.

Have you done it one way?

Huge amount of info here: http://www.bikedowns.co.uk/

Obvious advice is to do it one way first. Also possble to do out/back sections to give you an idea. Issue with unsupported/alone is that if you have a serious mechanical what do you do, and what if that happens in the middle of the night ?

For me it also comes down to timing for fuel for yourself. There's only 1 place which was a garage/petrol station I recall that's open 24x7 and easily reachable from the route, of course there's a few other places, but they're only I think a daytime facility so you need some way of getting some food inside you at other times overnight etc.

if you have a serious mechanical what do you do

is this a trick question? phone someone to pick u up! its not the sodding outer hebridies...

all you can do is try. if you fail - go back and do it again.

its quite a nice ride one way. no technical bits at all. its easily doable on a hybrid/cx bike (there were people on these doing it successfully on the BHF ride i did) - hell my colleagues dad even did it on a brompton.

Van Halen 🙂 and what if those freinds and family are 2+ hrs away and its 2am and you have to walk an hour plus fo find a road ? I think we agree one-way first and OP why not do that this year ?

Sorry I didn't explain very well at the outset: I'm thinking of doing it with another 1 or more rider(s) and not racing; ie 3/4ish days, with B+B? stops each night. I did the Ratrace crossing (200 miles) in 3,so feel I could do this in similar.

As well as my,very short,Enduro life being over,I have never been,and never will be,a "Strave hound"

So it's just a good pace,steady as you go trip.

jambalaya - Member

Van Halen and what if those freinds and family are 2+ hrs away and its 2am and you have to walk an hour plus fo find a road ?

If you have warm clothes and an emergency bivy then the only issue is being bored until daytime.

I've done the single a few times, and had a crack at the double a year or so ago (E-W-E direction) but turned back about half-way at Amberley as I wasn't feeling great and didn't fancy getting to Winchester at 3am with no bail options. Went down with flu the next day so probably one of my wiser decisions!

There's a good SDD report here: [url= http://thebikepicture.com/south-downs-double-its-all-about-the-small-print/ ]link[/url]

my one-way overnight report: [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sdw-trip-report ]link[/url]

It's very doable if you are fit. Good weather helps, it's fairly exposed to the weather for pretty much the whole way, and there are long sections with no shelter if you have to stop for any reason. Take plenty of food (very few places to stock up en route) and more warm kit than you think you need, especially if riding solo. If you have to stop to fix a puncture in a rain storm at 3am you'll get very cold very quickly (as I found out!). There are taps well spaced along the route - I drank heavily from each tap and then carried half a bottle forward from the tap, which worked well.

I'm planning to have another go at the double this summer. Looking forward to it now!

Just seen that you're planning on doing it over several days. Excellent way of doing it - I did a really nice ride one-way over 2 days with some relatively novice cyclists, staying in a pub in Amberley. Very civilised - huge dinner and a few pints, cycling about 8 or 9 hours a day. They loved it (so did I to be honest - nice to have time to enjoy the scenery!)

There's a few good B&Bs located just off the route, and YHAs at Truleigh Hill and near Southease, both on the route.

assuming you take a couple of extra layers to keep you warm its only a bit of a walk. its part of he adventure. you can have a mechanical and have to walk home on any ride.

You can resupply at Amberley and Alfriston plus there are cafes at QECP, YHA and a farm shop at Cocking. Conditions make a big difference to progress - heavy rain can make it slippy and slow whilst after a few weeks of sunshine it can be pretty quick. Even in mid-summer I've encountered 40mph winds and temperature barely in double figures. Can't guarantee that all the taps are working, so best to work on carrying enough water for 2 stops.

Is it feasible on a Fatbike guys?

Yes, very. I'm planning on feasing it on a fatbike later this year.

Watch out for the white goods on Windover Hill

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^ scandalous.

That's really shit.

pipiom, I'm genuinely interested to see how a fattie would fare over long distances like this. I've found mine to be a lot less of a drag than I thought I'd would be over short rides, and quicker on some long climbs than anything else I've ridden. Really intrigued to see how this might translate to long distance rides.

Yes, very feasible on a fatbike as you can get grip/traction where it would be pretty tricky on anything else - been riding sections all winter, including a controlled slide all the way down Old Winch Hill in a hailstorm. OWH last summer during a 300km over-nighter.

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I've ridden my fattie for loads of miles in Canada (on snow trails and dry trails) and with the right gearing, fatting on the downs would be an absolute hoot and make riding the roots just after the A27 crossing simple.

I'm thinking of doing it with another 1 or more rider(s) and not racing; ie 3/4ish days, with B+B? stops each night.

That'd be a nice few days away. A few sunny days following a dry spell and it will be glorious.

My riding buddy from uni holds the singlespeed record (and 3rd overall). Now, I'm the kind of lunatic that 'enjoys' racing TTs and hill climbs, but the SDWD sounds like a whole world of hell that I'm going nowhere near.

A relaxed picnic atop Ditchling Beacon, however, is something I can really get behind. 😉

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