London to Brighton off road

So did anyone else do it today ?

I did it on my gravel bike as the race pack said a hard tail or gravel would be sufficient – erm I beg to differ

The rain made some of the trails unpleasant with claggy mud so had to walk from the beacon to the road (several km) as I just couldn’t clear the mud and after falling off for the 10th time I decided to walk.

Overall a good race and a nice route but some of it wasn’t really for anything other than a full suspension bike.. if I do it again I will ride a full suspension bike with mud tyres if there’s a sniff of rain.

Q

Unless there’s some tech around the route of the wey I’m not aware of I don’t think there’s anything on that route I wouldn’t do on a cross bike, let alone with the extra cush of bigger gravel tyres. I mean, coming off the north downs into shere could be hairy on drop bars if it’s slippery and the south downs chalk can be lethal on, well, anything, but that’s about it.

I’d probably choose a hardtail for fun/comfort and you can obviously use a full suss, but ‘need’ one?

The potential for mud and need for appropriate tyre choice is present in all UK routes at any time of year, surely?

There was a bit in the Surrey hills that went on for about a kilometre where I fell off two or three times which had this massive almost ravine that we were cycling down…. It had jumps at various points which became choke points. I don’t think that that section really was doable in the wet on a gravel bike

Seen some spectacular mud pics on one of the gravel bike FB groups…

I felt overbiked on a 120mm F/S the tow times I’ve done it, a hard tail would be perfect.  Can understand how it being wet could change things though as both times I did it I lucked out on perfect weather.

done it on the 120mm xc full sus and felt totally overbiked, done it on the gravel bike and it was overall the right bike albeit with a couple of sections that required some attention but nothing that made me feel like i’d come off.

I think the mud can make the difference. We did KAW a couple of weeks ago and the mud/slippyness made it hard work of fully loaded gravel/cross bikes (including camping kit). We also had tyres more suited to the peak grit type mud, not slippy chalk.

Yup, I was there enjoying the slop!

first time I have done it, but was a good crack.

was on my chisel HT which coped very well. Always amazed how quickly that thing covers ground!

although I am a little surprised at the lack of riding ability of a few people. Was almost like the first time they had encountered mud. But it’s all good fun!

that last big hill was a touch spicy, managed to clear it in one, but thought my lungs were gonna burst.

I had a black long sleeve ‘trash free trails’ top on if anyone saw me.

Hat’s off for doing that last climb, by thr time I got there the chalk was like ice and not only did I struggle to cycle up thr chalk bit I also struggled to walk it. I just had no grip underfoot. As soon as I got off the chalk I cycled from there to the top of the beacon

The major issue I had over the beacon was the claggy mud, on the gravel bike there just wasn’t the clearance front or back. At one point I had to clear the mud every 5-10 yds

The challenging technical section was just as you got to the top of the end of climb 2 as you exited the forest to make a sharp left turn down a ravine- in the dry it would have been fun. In the wet it was lethal and everyone I saw walked it ( and people fell walking).

Do you mean Beeding Hill rather than beacon?

There’s been a few really heavy downpours here. I think they’ve washed out some of the trails down to the bedrock so it’s quite rutted and bumpy.

Did this with a couple of mates today. Can confirm – it was extremely muddy! Did it on my gravel bike which was ok for the most part but struggled on some sections.

Cleared all the hills including Beeding though we started quite late so it has dried out by mid afternoon.

think a lot of people got caught out by the weather, most forecasts said it was going to be dry…

Some of the standards of riding were hilariously bad but a fun day out nonetheless.

Oops yes beeding hill would be the one

One of the guys on the coach described people absolutely flying to the finish from that hill onwards – when it was dry

Overall I still enjoyed it but if it’s wet next year I will be on the mountain bike

I did the route on my own a few years ago, was on a 100mm forked hardtail and that was fine, was bone dry and gloriously sunny day,probably overbiked for most of it, but did stop for a play in hurtwood which was fun (before I remembered I had another 70k to do)

Havent done it officially but have ridden the various bits of the route having had a look. Some interesting route choices in places given its for 2000 riders of various ability like the BW off of Holister farm into Shere and the descent from the top of Winterfold (Jelleys Hollow)….chalky steep and rutted both of them. Then the sections of BW running to the north & east side of Cranleigh down to Vachery are a muddy mess after rain. I never think the Downs Link is good at draining on the former railway sections either so that must have been nice.

….so well done for anyone doing it yesterday!

Nah, it’s all fine on a gravel bike, you get used to it living here. Traction in the wet is an illusion.

It’s a properly fast route in the dry, DrP and I did Brighton -> London on road and London -> Brighton off road in one mega day, both the official routes.

Actually been giving this some thought over the last few days. And apart from a very small section through the Surrey hills, I actually think that a gravel bike probably was the fastest bike to take. It’s easy for me to focus on the bit I couldn’t do whilst forgetting that 3/4 of the ride was on gravel paths where I was incredibly fast

I just checked the official results and I was quite amused to find that I came in in position number 50! Given that I wasn’t pushing it really hard (I stopped several times to get food and go for a wee), and if the mud on top of that hill hadn’t been like peanut butter…. I wonder where I would have come. Then again, perhaps no one else was racing :)

I was surprised to see that the person who came in first did it in just over 4 hours which is absolutely amazing!

@quentyn Do you have a link to the official results? I can’t seem to find it.

Hopefully this link works

https://results.sporthive.com/events/7231225403057345792/races/490467?utm_campaign=2700563_OE_PE_3DAYS&utm_medium=email&utm_source=British%20Heart%20Foundation%20(BHF)%20&mi_u=&dm_i=4P3Q,1LVRN,8KW14E,7JITZ,1

Download to excel /sheets as the web interface is terrible

Thanks