London to Brighton Bike Ride

anarchocherry · Mar 20, 2014

Has anyone on here done the London to Brighton bike ride for the British Heart Foundation?

Considering doing it and would like to know what it's like.Thanks

£1.99 · Mar 20, 2014

Did it some years ago, great fun!

Tom Hark Preston Park · Mar 20, 2014

I've done it a couple of times on a borrowed mountain bike. Took between 5-6 hours and that's only with a couple of weeks very moderate prep beforehand. Main tip: don't be tempted to stop for a pub lunch halfway because it will be SO hard to get going again afterwards. Save yourself til Brighton. Oh, and wear padded cycle shorts (with manly football shorts over the top, obviously) and kit your bike out with TWO jelly saddle covers.

mlg57 · Mar 20, 2014

Done it 5 times and it's a brilliant day out. I'm in my early 50's and it usually takes me about 5 hours including three stops. There are loads of stops you can make but I usually do 20 odd miles before my first stop, then another 15 and then the last stop just before the beacon. There are usually loads of people out watching, especially if it's a nice day and they really help cheering you on, giving you food and drink. I was born in Brighton and now live in Newport Pagnell so it's nice to ride home through the Sussex villages. There are three hills of note before the big one but once you get up Turner's Hill it's all down hill till you get to the Beacon. The beacon is tough but doable if you take your time, then it's a great ride down into Brighton and thousands watching on the sea front. Have a great day.

dazzer6666 · Mar 20, 2014

Sold out ??

Big G · Mar 20, 2014

anarchocherry said:
Has anyone on here done the London to Brighton bike ride for the British Heart Foundation?

Considering doing it and would like to know what it's like.Thanks

Never done it......but ****ing hard I can imagine and the utmost respect for those that have done it for any charity!

dazzer6666 · Mar 20, 2014

Did it on foot last year. That was f@cking hard. 64 miles.

Stat Brother · Mar 21, 2014

I stopped when I managed to complete in under 3 hours, 2hrs 57 to be precise.
The highlight was clocking up 49.2 mph down Coldean Lane.

Arrogant moi?

Get the thinnest, slickest tyres your wheels can hold.
Pump them to maximum inflation.
Turn off any suspension, ideally don't have any.

OzMike · Mar 21, 2014

I did it 3 times with a group from my local pub.
Stopped when it was dictated to us how many we could enter and how much we had to raise in order to enter, or you can't enter.
We thought 'f**k you', so started another one from Southsea to Brighton and bought the kids hospital items with the proceeds.
It was preferable to just giving away money.
We'd ask for a list of items and then got what we could.

Pickledegg · Mar 21, 2014

It's a good day out and pretty easy with little or no training!

If you want a quick time, you have to leave very early, otherwise the start is very very busy and getting going takes about 6 miles!

essbee · Mar 21, 2014

I'd echo Pickled egg's comments: leave early otherwise you'll get caught up in huge
amounts of traffic up the country lanes. Also there is more chance of an accident
(as I found out to my cost) if you're constantly tailing someone else's wheel.

Get the earliest time possible and get to Clapham early if you can.

scooter1 · Mar 21, 2014

I did it overnight a few years ago for the Martletts, leaving Hyde Park corner at midnight. It was a fully organised ride, and the team that do it, do it 4 or 5 times a year(with a couple of support vehicles). It was great once we were out of central London, really peaceful. They stop every 8 miles or so to let the stragglers catch up and there is a food stop somewhere around Horley. I made the mistake of eating too much and struggled for the next few hours until it burnt off, but "doing" the beacon as the sun came up, and then freewheeling down to the coast at the end was excellent. I finished it off with a breakfast down on Madeira Drive and a can of lager. All in all it took about 8 hours, but there was no pressure to do it quickly and we weren't stuck in a queue of bikes at the bottom of the beacon waiting to start the ascent(which I have heard is the case on the annual run)

OzMike · Mar 21, 2014

The first one was a laugh, I rode a tandem with a mate.
We had a few beverage stops on the way and crashed at least 3 times..................hic!

Bold Seagull · Mar 21, 2014

Stat Brother said:
I stopped when I managed to complete in under 3 hours, 2hrs 57 to be precise.
The highlight was clocking up 49.2 mph down Coldean Lane.

Arrogant moi?

Get the thinnest, slickest tyres your wheels can hold.
Pump them to maximum inflation.
Turn off any suspension, ideally don't have any.

2hrs 57mins - I take it you must have stopped for lunch

Badger · Mar 21, 2014

I've done it 5 times before, it's great fun.

BIG TIP: go for one of the EARLY time slots otherwise you'll spend a lot of the time stuck in traffic and end up walking on some of the narrow stretches.

wardy wonder land · Mar 21, 2014

first time i did it, was around the 3.30 hr mark no training

it was 1986 & i was 16 and used to cycle everywhere

2 yearsago did bournemouth to brighton 2 days 140 miles - ouch old man

Stat Brother · Mar 21, 2014

Bold Seagull said:
2hrs 57mins - I take it you must have stopped for lunch

Lunch, lunch behave.

If my memory serves I might have called into The Ferring Beach cafe for a very early elevenese, on the ride home. :thumbup:

Bold Seagull · Mar 21, 2014

Anyone interested in doing a London to Brighton would do well to consider the REMF version. Good fun last year, plenty of cash raised and a finish in front of the Amex dug outs. Can't be bad.

teaboy · Mar 21, 2014

Done it once, on an 8:30am start - bloody nightmare. Impossible to ride at your own pace and very stop-start. Also there were a few idiots who thought it was a) a race and b) they had the ability to ride in a group. Crashes and near-misses ensued.

I did have fun on the Beacon though - shouting encouragement to a young guy who was struggling before he had to stop, then just kicking hard and over-hearing a "wow - he's awesome!" from a walker!

fat old seagull · Mar 21, 2014

£1.99 said:
Did it some years ago, great fun!

Fun, are you sure. Aren't there several hills on the way, and stretches where there isn't a pub for a mile or so ? :yawn:

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