just wondering, as i am doing it the week after next (the BHF one) and probably havent done enough training. i mean i did do more miles in May than usual but i’ve not been doing long rides regularly.

please put my mind at rest by telling me not to panic, its not actually that hard going?

please
thanks
cheers.

telling me not to panic, its not actually that hard going

don’t panic

you can always walk the steeper bits.

65 miles along the SDW is always going to be an effort but as long as you pace yourself and keep the fluid and calories going in you’ll get to Devils Dyke.

done it on a come down after two days of non sleep. was not very hard, its all smooth 🙂

Theres some long climbs, so you need to pace yourself. Try and get some decent long rides in your legs before you do it.
The Winchester to Queen Elizabeth Country Park I believe is fairly dull.
None of it is particularly technical.
Get some fast rolling light tyres and lose the mudguards etc.
Plenty of food variety and drink plenty.

Depends on the amount of wind and what directions it’s going.

It’s certainly doable. I don’t normally ride more than 20m at a time, but I did it a while back and it took around 8 hours (with a stop or two) on a bike with stuck shifters. Lots of people (myself included) walked harder hills towards the end. It’s a good atmosphere.

Ditto on the food and fluids – don’t skimp.

Have a good time.

I did it yesterday…well, Winchester to Dorking (SDW->Downs Link->NDW).

The advice is pretty much as people have said although I will say on the food and fluids that it really is up to the individual as you don’t want to be adding extra weight. I carried a sandwich, pork pie and a malt loaf 106miles yesterday 🙄 . On the water side, again, think about what you’ll need and when the next tap is…I got to QECP and realised that the next tap was about 10miles away so just refilled my water bottle instead of refilling my Camelbak. I repeated this again for the next water stop.

Navigation is good…its well signposted. The hardest part was navigating out of Winchester from the station 😳

Personally I found none of the SDW dull…well certainly compared to the Downs Link.

On the technical side, no it isn’t but then some of the descents can be quite steep and very fast, combine this with smooth chalk and tiredness and things can get nervy

Depends on the wind direction and the temperature, the weekend of the SDW Randonee last year temperatures reached 30C and dehydration was a major problem. Saying that, it’s a great day out, and definately doable by most weekend warriors at the right pace, with plenty of re-fuelling along the way. The first 20 miles or so is pretty dull but a good warm up, the terrain becomes a little more interesting after that with QEII, Harting Down, Bury Hill etc being the highlights i’d say. A few big climbs where you’ll need to pace yourself… Bignor Hill, Amberley Mount, Washington Hill, Truleigh Hill… you’ll meet them all close-up 😉

The scenery is great, and you’ll meet some nice people along the way as the Randonee is a very sociable event. Enjoy!

Paceman

thanks a lot for the replies i feel better now. ‘cept for the one saying “Try and get some decent long rides in your legs before you do it.” :’|

that said I will be out at 5am tomorrow and wont return to my home until 8/9am and hope to have some good mileage done in that time. i will also get out a few times in the evenings or early mornings during the week for short ones to keep the legs going and then maybe a medium ride next weekend.

looking forward to it now – its been on my to do list for a few years now. even considering going for the 100 later in the year if this one works out well……haha!

The toughest section is Harting to Amberley, and that is tough, some nasty long climbs. But you’ll be rewarded with great views, and sense of achievement. Very doable by most, in a day.

done the whole thing, the last 20 mile was pure pain

yeah the 65 miles is tough but not the end of the world, and the end is in sight.. you could walk it in 15 hours 🙂

flebby – Member

thanks a lot for the replies i feel better now. ‘cept for the one saying “Try and get some decent long rides in your legs before you do it.” :’|
Only joshing, couple of 20mile rides and you’ll be fine.

No really.

😯

lol.

:'(

If you’re doing the BHF ride then don’t rely on getting water from the tap at the A24/Washington. Make sure you fill up at the Amberley tap. They route you down into Washington to avoid crossing the A24, so you miss the tap (and forcing you to climb an extra 80m on the road you don’t need to do).

Wow, what a day yesterday.

Started raining Friday night and didnt stop until ride start at 7am sat, nice.

This made it rather slippery and contributed to 2 big offs in the first 20miles, no real knocks, just caked in glupe.

Anyway I did find that first section tough going, to the point where I actually thought about quitting! (had my dad driving about for us and this kind of gave me the idea that I could bail out easily anytime, although it was good to have support.)

With relentless climbs, the ride just got harder and harder the further we went, and I struggled to convince myself not to jack it in at every stop. It wasn’t legs or lungs etc just my back & neck that were killing me baaad. Plus too much time sat in saddle climbing up bumpy hills :'(

Cleverly, the bhf seem to plonk their checkpoints at the bottom of very welcomed downhill bits, so this gives you a wee boost for the next section I found. I think because of tjis and also the motivational chat from my fitter riding buddy (shutup and get on with it) I managed to complete the 65.

Really happy I did this. Not sooo sure about the 100 in July now, although this might change once my aches cease!

Thanks for the bits of advice on here, most helpful.

Flb.

Good effort and well done on not quitting. Sounds like the rain has made things a bit tricky. 8)