I did my first road ride yesterday. It was just over 100 miles long. It hurt a lot. The SDW Double is going to be far worse.

Put These on the Croix de Fer, The difference in cruising speed is quite amazing compared to my cross tyres.

I did this route return, unfortunately my phone died half an hour into the return route.

It was awesome getting to the end though.

very nice! well done!

Just been having a look on Map my Ride and apparantly there was a total elevation gain of 3284 feet.

Is that a lot or not?

Nice one. Now make sure you recover properly :-). To put the height gain into perspective, one leg of the SDW has about 3 to 4 times more!

A 30 mile ride in the white peaks and we did 2539 ft. That felt like a lot to me!
So yeah, I’d count that as a substantial gain!

Hmmmmm….

So recovery. I’ve already got it wrong, I was to tired to eat last night, pretty much fell asleep as soon as I got in.

I’ve had 3 pseudo weetabix (aldi brand I think) 2 cups of tea and 3 bits of toast. Got some protein shake stuff, but I have probably missed the useful window for that stuff!!!

Still, stomach is feeling less bloated than it has for a very long time!!!

Good effort but sorry to say 3300 in a 100 miles is not much gain but still 100 miler nice one.

ah well, it felt like a lot. Clearly the “hilly” south coast is not as “hilly” as I’d thought.

The SDW Double is going to be far worse.

You’re going for the SDW Double 😯 Fair play and good luck.

I’m just training to do the SDW in a day and that’s hard enough….managed to hit about every hill around Box, Reigate and Ranmore on Wednesday on a 40 miler and achieved about 4550ft of ascent which is still only just over a third of the 12700ft on the SDW.

Oh crap.

The original plan (made before Chritmas) was to do it in the middle of April (2 weeks away)…. Having had a month long lay off over Jan/Feb due to a broken arm and a few weeks of no riding due to holiday, I thought I would use this as a test ride.

It’s looking a little more unachievable each day, the guys I am going with though are determined to do it, so maybe the pure will to finish will be enough.

Positive mental attitude…very important, good stuff. Hell, it’s only like cycling from sea level to the top of Snowdon 3.5 times…then doubled 😀

Have you ridden the SDW much before or done the SDW in a day?

er…..

No. I did a very small loop with the missus last October. That’s it.

Hmmm.

I’ve never ridden 100 miles in one go. 80 is my record so far. 100 is like the Holy Grail.

And this git goes and does it on his ‘first road ride’.

Grrr! 👿

100 miles on road is a world easier than off, particularly offroad on the sdw. Having done brighton-london-brighton on road, and the sdw offroad, its a completely different league.

If I was training to do the SDW double (in a day??? very best of luck) I’d be wanting to push out 200 miles on the road on a regular basis

Elfin – 😈 Just accept it, you are to worried abou the potential consequences to just go for it!!!!

5lab – I am under no illusions that this is possibly going to be the hardest thing I have ever done. It is probably going to cause me to fall out of love with self propelled 2 wheelers for a lonbg time, but that is ok, I live near the beach, have motorbikes and the summer is coming!!!

The problem I have is fitting it in around work, I have been pushing the distance up weekly, next week it’s my aim to get 150 miles under my belt, so far with work commitments and everything I have been about 20 miles short of my previous targets (100miles and 125miles).

Plus I have a wedding to attend next weekend which knocks out Friday – Sunday as training days!

Genuinely hope you achieve it…very best of luck. It will be a hell of a challenge but a huge achievement. It’s only one day of your life after all.

Looking forward to the ride report 😀

Have you seen this website btw….

http://www.southdownsdouble.net/

Elfin – Just accept it, you are too worried about the potential consequences to just go for it!!!!

😮

I’d need some serious motivation to do big milage. I’m certainly not one for grinding out loads of miles just for the sake of it. Just don’t see the point in half killing meself; I need to be able to enjoy it.

Funny enough, some of my longest rides have been spur of the moment things, just get on the bike see where you get to. Feel good, carry on a bit more. And so on. I think being mentally relaxed about it is the key for most folk; seeing something as a daunting challenge can be a negative influence I think.

Personally, I’m better just going for a ride, then thinking ‘oh, I’ve done X miles, great’, than ‘I’m going to do X miles’. There’s rides I’ve done where a train back is an option, but i’ve wanted to ride home too.

Ultimately, it’s all about enjoyment. If you enjoy mega rides, fine. If you have to ‘force’ yourself to do them, then I think it gets a bit silly really.

Yeah I have seen the website,

that was the whole reason for setting ourselves the challenge. It went something like this:

“I’m bored of doing the trail centre thing. Lets do something else.”
“I live on the south coast, how about doing the SDW? We can do it over a weekend.”
“OK.”

a week later.

“Fancy doing the double in a weekend? Shouldn’t be to hard, it’s only 100 miles each way.”
“Why not, have to do some training though.”

a week later.

“HAVE YOU SEEN THIS SITE?”
“Er…. Where are you going with this?”
“Lets do it, plus I can’t do the whole weekend that we chose as I am flying out for a 3 month holiday to the exotic east on the Sunday morning.”
“Er… Ok. At least I can recover for the rest of the weekend!!!”
“Oh an dby the way I have a lady friend who does a lot of adventure racing who is going to join us.”
“Damn now I really can’t drop out!”

Haha – fair enough Elfin, I’ve done a couple of long rides for those exact reasons. On this occasion I am training for the south down’s way double so I have a distance I know I need to achieve and this i sall part of doing that.

It brings a different kind of enjoyment setting yourself a target and hitting despite the odds.

Hold on shut up a minute…

You’re doing two hundred miles, offroad, IN ONE DAY?????? 😯

You’re not well in the head. Nor are your mates.

Elfin – I am with you on this one.

So far all my suggestions about leaving it to the end of the summer to allow the trails to dry out and give us time to get some proper training in have been met with comments such as “Southern Softy” and “Wimp” and “you’re going to get beaten by a girl”.

Edit – Although that last option might not be too bad 😉

I’m planning on riding the SDW double in the summer, but with an overnight stop in Eastbourne. Are you planning on an overnight break or thinking of riding it there & back in one “sitting”?

No they’re doing it IN ONE DAY the nutters! 😯

Not wishing to sound patronising but…based on what DrDomRob has said on this thread, I’d suggest enthusiasm may be writing cheques that legs won’t be able to cash. Best of luck though. 🙂

Pedalhead – Worryingly I actually am inclined to agree with you. Still we’ll see where we’re at in a few weeks time.

Worst case scenario if I/We don’t make it then I’ll do a LOT more training and give it a shot again at the end of the summer.

One way or another I will complete it this year!!!

Respect on your first road ride being 100 miles, never got round to doing that myself yet 🙂

But the SDW double ? Good luck with that 🙂 I don’t think you’ll do it but that’s no reason not to try 😀

TBH we just want our names on that website!!!!

I have no idea how I am going to keep endomondo going for 24 hours though!!!

I would seriously have a halfway ‘escape plan’ built. The last thing you want is to get to eastbourne, f*cked, after 16 hours, and have no option but to return. I’ve got to eastbounre, f*cked, after 16 hours, and there is no way you could have persuded me to ride any further than the car, even with dancing girls and beer.

Can you update this thread in 3 weeks and let us know

a) how it went
b) if you still think you’ll do it by the end of the summer

ta 🙂

Hugh

ps. I’ve no doubt you’re able to do the single. The double is a world more pain and difficulty

DrDomRob, I think it’d be cool if you trained like a crazy man for a few months & then proved us all wrong 🙂

I shall definately revisit letting everyone know how it went, although at the moment it’s not looking promising. Need to find a way of looking after the dog whilst I am away, unfortunately the missus is working days (12 hr shifts assuming she finishes on time) and I don’t like leaving it that long without some company.

I may see if there is space in kennels for one day.

For those who are interested. We chickened out 🙁

A combination of me not being able to get rid of the dog, one of our group having a big confidence knock at CRC Marathon thing the weekend before and lack of organisation did pay to it for us.

We shall however be doing it in September after doing a lot more training.

Dom

Rode the SDW in a day back in August 97 in 35c then July 98, and it’s a big day out with the longest toughest climbs near the end riding W to E. Mentally found it very tedious after around 50 miles, and then just wanted it to finish but kept on slogging away and made it.

Can’t even contemplate getting there, turning round, and going back!?!?

But what an achievement to even turn up on the day, get to the end, and try to give the double a go. Boy, I wouldn’t want to try and give up half way. Something even harder to contemplate.

And it’s a lot of climbing. It’s around 4500m in 100miles I think, one way. So double that…and you’ve got a oodles. But if there’s no time deadline, and you’re setting yourself a big goal, then get stuck in, prepare for it, and when you dig deep you’ll see that you can surprise yourself.

I was at the Builth Wells marathon the other weekend, and the conditions were incredible. Probably very much like the SDW in summer. And the maths for the climbing vs. total distance on the SDW Double looks like the SDW comes out around the same per mile as the BW marathon.

So plenty of climbing on long rides like you say in your preparation should help.

Very best of luck for September.

Cheers Cakefest,

I’d like to take part in the Marathons myself, but I don’t have a huge number of free weekends and I would prefer to find some closer to home on the south coast.

I am taking part in Mountain Mayhem as part of a team, so will try and stay up the whole time!!!!!!

Will also try and get some days on the actual SDW itself.

done sdw in a day a few times getting quicker each time, ridden there for an age…..tbh what your doing wont be enough if you know how much up down up down up down up down up down up down ( you get the idea) it will involve..