South Downs Randonnee - update #2

Finally got a bit of time to write the Randonne up - this will probably come in installments though - there's more to it than a standard ride! T and I ended up leaving for the Giffard Hotel, where I'd booked a room, at about 21:00, which was a lot later than I'd hoped it'd be. Luckily, there were no mishaps, and we ended up getting to the hotel about 22:30; it was fairly slow going due to the rain (which was not a good omen for thefollowing day!).

The hotel was absolutely fantastic - so comfortable that I was more gutted than usual when my alarm went off - Will, Tom and Toms brother had agreed to meet for breakfast (continental - I didn't hold out much hope of a full English..) at 4:00am! I was down there on time, having wisely decided to pack my bag the night before, including filling the hydration pack (which I left in the bathroom, just in case!).

Will was down shortly after I'd finished scoffing my 3 Weetabix, and had a bite to eat; the brothers Morphy still hadn't arisen by this point, so we decided to make a move. The bikes had been stored safely inside, so we got them out and had a bit of a stretch. Here are the bikes outside at 5:00am, more ready to go than we were:

Will and I set off through town at a moderate pace to get warmed up, quickly getting to the carpark which was mentioned in the info pack. It transpired that there wasn't much to do here, so we set off to the registration point, which was inside a sports club; we had to ride along a few "A" roads to get there too - luckily it was 5:30 in the morning by this point and not later in the afternoon..

We got to the club and registered, and I noticed that they had helmets for sale - although I'd been more organised than normal with this ride, I'd forgotted my helmet. I'd also forgotten to bring any cash, but they kindly ley me promise to stick the purchase price in my sponsorship money. Coatsy and Jonny turned up a little after us, and we set about getting some group photos taken before starting out on the ride.

It took the usual 5 miles or so for me to warm up properly, but we soon hit the first hill on the South Downs Way, which isn't all that high; shortly after the top, the trail turns to singletrack, going between a barbed wire fence and thick nettle bushes - I got quite a few cuts on my arms from this, but not quite deep enough to draw blood. The mud was incredibly deep here, having been churned by several hundred riders already that morning, and all youcould do was "skate" the bike, propelling yourself with one foot whilst the other sat on the pedal. This was the point that Will and myself got cut off from Coatsy and Jonny. We carried on down the bridleway, saving some reckless riders from taking the wrong route, after they failed to turn right as per the sign. (actually, it really surprised me just how many people had very little clue about the route - this is hardly the London to Brighton after all! I wouldn't have taken the ride on without knowing the route).

We carried on trouble-free, making the most of the relatively flat terrain. I drank my water regularly, also taking advantage of the 24+ Fruesli (etc) bars that I'd taken. The Powerbars, of which I had three, were eaten on a much more sporadic basis; in fact, I rationed myself to one bites worth at a time for the second and third bars - I wasn't convinced as to their effectiveness anyway, to be honest.

We got to the Queen Elizabeth Country park in good time, completely caked in mud from the puddles that were still around from the rainfall the day before, and carried on down the hill to the forest, which was the first checkpoint. A few bars later, and we were off again, riding through the forest on what is a really nasty surface for riding - tarmac with a surface of small stones - it causes so much drag it's unbelievable.

I helped some of the guys here with the route too, one I remember was riding a Specialized (hi guys!), assuring them that I was very familiar with it, although when describing the sections directly ahead, it seemed I blocked out chunks of about 4 miles at a time! Needless to say, we didn't get lost.

To be continued (distance travelled up to this point: 25 miles)

Installment 2 - 5.8.2007

By this point I'd well and truly lost Will - I think he was behind at this point - I did wait for a while when the track through the forest opened out in to a field with a toilet stop on it, but no joy. I carried on, down the steep rutted chalk track, and back up the long, slow going hill to that leads miles off to the right before turning back on itself. Nothing very eventful happened, and I continued on, slowing down for two blokes on horses who let me past.

The ride is a bit of a blur now; certain things stand out a *lot*, but pretty much, as the ride was so uneventful in terms of mechanicals etc, it was just like another training ride. Will caught up again and we rode one of the road sections together, before losing each other again after a lavatory stop, with him going in front.

By the time I got to Amberley, I'd made numerous "friends", chatting about energy gels, drinks additives and the like - I was interested because the first supposed peformance enhancement I've used was the Powerbars for this ride. So hello to the fellow riders who missed the diversion off the route, and ended up taking the South Downs Way proper down to the A24 - oops! ; ) and also to the guys who I pushed alongside up from the A24 towards Chanctonbury Ring. I knew it was pretty much downhill (to the River Adur) from this point, so was relieved once I got there. I stopped for a bar and continued on my way, going past quite a few riders who it turned out were doing a triathlon, until the Shoreham checkpoint, at the River Adur. Here, I checked out Wills progress and it transpired that he'd gained half an hour on me by this point.

I didn't hold out much hope of riding up the hill up from the Adur - After 63 miles, I wasn't realy that bothered about it, althoughas I'm normally fresh by this point, I clear it on most rides. I made my way over the three hills from Truleigh Hill to the Dyke, and at this point realised how dire the food situation actually was - and guess what - no cash. I think I had about half a Power bar, and two muesli bars - completely insufficient for getting me to the end. I stopped at the stall where they were selling refreshments alongside a water tap, and asked if they took Visa ; )

Needless to say, the answer was no, although the kind lady there did give me a banana and a Mars bar, for which I promised I'd donate £5 extra to my sponsorship. She did offer more, but I didn't want to take liberties! I rode off after a short break, knowing that as it was curently 15:00, I had quite a while to get to Southease, where the retirement point was. I wasn't going to take it easy though, and bombed it down to Saddlescombe Farm, from where I pushed the bike up the rutted track, and almost the entire hill after. One the other side of the A23, I met the guy riding the Kona "The King" (henceforth abbreviated to KTK) for the first time - he'd prove to be someone I saw on and off throughout the next 15-20 miles, as we overtook and then re-overtook each other continuously. Luckily, the first time I saw him and a few other guys was as they missed the turning through Pyecombe just over the bridge; I shouted to them that they were going the wrong way and, once again, assured them that this was my local stomping ground, and that I definitely knew the way.

I led them over the hill and pointed out the route, leaving them to their own devices as they mostly bombed it off down the hill. I saw KTK man shortly after, as he had stopped to fix a puncture ; )

I rode up past the golf course, extra wary of flying golf balls after being hit by one on a previous training ride, took the track off to the left at the relevant point (past the farm building where they are always burning manure - nice), and then tried to help a non-Randonnee rider who was trying to get to Devils Dyke. At the point I realised that it's actually quite a convoluted route from DD to Ditchling Beacon, and just take it for granted because I know the route so well. His map wasn't a detailed enough scale by quite a long way, so I basically described the route and left him to his own devices.

I made my way steadily up to the Beacon, for the first time, not stopping for a rest - after all, with no money, it wouldn't have been possible to top up atthe ice cream van. I rode along to the turning off to the right, again, seeing "KTK" man, and following him down to the Bunkershill plantation, where agin, I resigned myself to the fact that I'd be walking up through the trees, rather than riding. I caught him yet again at the top, and rode down the hill in front of him, only to see him pop out from somewhere at the bottom, whilst riding along to the bridge over the A27 - he'd gone the wrong way. I could feel a very slight niggle in my hamstring riding up the road to the bridge, so stood up to pedal, to stretch it out a bit. About 5 minutes later, I overtook KTK again as he was resting.

OK, timeout - up to this point I'd so far ridden 74 miles, and had almost run out of food, and hadn't had any proper company for several hours. The ride had started to grate on me now. To be fair, I was used to the grating, as a lump of mud had fallen in to my riding shorts after about 15 miles (I'll leave the rest to you..), but the lack of food and someone to egg me on was really effecting me. Especially as I knew that at the top of this hill, I could turn towards Brighton and be home relatively quickly (there was very little chance that this would actually happen, but the knowledge of it didn't help). I pushed up the hill, being egged on by fellow riders as I went, which realy helped. However, it was after the SDW turns left and up a relatively gentle hill, and then to the right after a gate, that I got talking to another group of riders, again who I helped by confirming the exact route. We were just chatting away, riding at a fair pace, and one of them randomly asked "are you Jim?". I looked at him in disbelief, and confirmed that that was the case, to which he said "with the web site?".

I was pretty gobsmacked to say the least, because I don't have pictures of myself on the site, but it transpired that he recognised the Dawg! Turns out it was Andy, someone who'd emailed me some absolutely fantastic tips for the Randonnee a few months previous, which I'd not had a chance to actually get up on the site. We had a great old chat, in which he told me that mine was a site which he regularly visited to read up on what I'd been up to - this lifted me up so much - I was an internet celebrity!! He he.

So, hi to Andy and buddy, and thanks so much for asking what must have seemed quite a random thing to ask - it had such a massive effect on my spirits, and I suddenly gained as much enthusiasm for the ride, after about 78 miles, as I'd had at the beginning. I chatted with quite a few people between this point and the end, and chatting always pushed me on, but my chat with you had the biggest impact on my will to finish the ride - thanks so much.

I again confirmed part of the route for the guys as we rode, and found myself with a massive spurt of energy - the newly realised internet celebrity status (ish!) gave me a real buzz, and I found myself pedalling at quite a rate. The concrete section of the SDW at this point is always a great chance to boost the average speed - my GPS had now officially run out of battery, but I knew I'd gained about .4 of a mph on this secton before, so gave it all I could. Crossing the next two fields, I noticed that two of the guys who'd been riding with Andy and co were quite close behind, so I waited at the end of the long alley for them, as they weren't sure of the route. 5 minutes later we were at Southease (Itford Farm, is it?) with over 40 minutes to go before we'd have had to retire. I also saw KTK here again!

A refill of the hydration pack, and the 4x500 ml bottles that I'd been refilling throughout the ride, and I was off again, riding still with the other two riders - hello to Gary and pal - and thanks for letting me ride with you.

It didn't take long for the guys to ride ahead - again, the hill after Itford Farm was not one that I was dismayed not to be able to ride after 80+ miles; after a few minutes of walking, I decided to ride anyway, seeing the point where Gary and his pal got to before pushing, and trying to beat that, as something to push me on (it's amazing what goes through your head when you're on your own on a ride like this, but anything you find to help keep you going is great).

I struggled slightly over the undulating hills that go from the top of this hill, to Alfriston, but made steady progress, and met some more riders (both in red cycle jerseys - didn't catch their names), who, after asking if I had any food and finding I had none, donated half a flapjack - wow, another of those moments where I got a big pick-me-up - both from the gesture (however small it may seem, it was significant to someone who'd ran out of food!), and also due to the much-needed energy it provided.

So I got to Alfriston, and still had the problem that the flapjack wasn't going to fuel me for another 15 miles. Not having any cash, I ventured to the nearest pub I could find, and asked what their minimum card payment was, to be told that they don't take cards. I filled my hydration pack again, and headed to the next nearest pub, and asked them the same question. The answer was £10! How was I going to spend that? The guy helpfully added that they did cashback, which, of course, adds to the value of the transaction, so I bought half a pint of coke, some Cheese & Onion crisps and some Salt & Vinegar crisps. I downed the coke, packed one pack of crisps, and ate the other while I was riding to the checkpoint.

On the ride up the hill from Alfriston, which in my opinion is the longest, worst hill on the ride, I found myself again riding with a group of Randoneers; however, these fitted the profile of the other type of rider I came across - sullen, and not prepared to converse with anyone outside of their group. Which I found myself strangely unbothered by! I let them go on, moving (OK, pushing!) at my own pace, and calling out to some chaps who were going the wrong way up the hill. Despite several calls, they couldn't hear, so I carried on, starting to feel by this point that people really should take move care over their route planning!

I got to Jevington quickly, again troubled by my lack of nourishment (or am I just a greedy b*stard?), and decided to stop at the 7 Bells pub for more refreshment. With such a small amount of riding left, I was much less concerned by the whole sugar-rush followed by burnout thing, so got a pint of coke and another packet of crisps, and sat outside chatting to some locals who seemed what I thought, suitably impressed by the distance I'd have ridden by the end of the day. Having said that, I think the number on the front of the bike went a long way to convincing them that I wasn't telling a porky pie - they asked why they hadn't seen any other riders, to which I replied "Because I'm probably behind them all!". He he.

I went on my (quite..) merry way, starting the not-actually-so-bad slog up to the golf course above Eastbourne. After having a loo stop (sorry!), another rider came past (henceforth know as "TOR" - The Other Rider), who I rode with to the finish line. We discussed GPS devices and the like - he had the Germin Edge 305, the battery for which had also expired several hours prior. When we got to the end of track that runs through the golf course (thankfully too late for any wayward golf balls), we decided to go down the road, rather than the off-road bit that I normally would. I thought that the off-road bit just came out on that road, but after a few miles, it transpired that I was slightly incorrect ; )

This was much to the chagrin of TOR, who proceeded to swear quite a lot. We asked a studenty-looking person (SLP) where the Uni was, and he gave approximate directions, which we followed. We came to a junction, on "Paradise Drive", which TOR said he thought we should go down, which was the opposite direction to which SLP had told us to go. At this point, I called T to say that I was slightly lost.. when I mentioned Paradise Drive, she was able to give me directions to the start, because she'd been lost here earlier, trying to drive to the start so she could pick me up! Fantastic!

This was even more to the chagrin of TOR, which was fair enough because the directions she gave involved another uphill climb! TOR bombed it off pretty quickly, so I followed, and finally, the cheers from the crowd standing on the entrance to the road the Uni building was in, guided me in.

I was slightly overwhelmed when I saw T, and found tears streaming down my face, which I did not try to stop. I'd made it. 14.5 hours in the saddle, with some very high points and some very low points.. arrival time, 20:40.

I left the bike with T while I went and registered, and got my wonderful medal, which I wore for the whole of Monday at work. I then went to the canteen and got two chocolate bars with my £1 voucher that they gave to all riders. I got a call from Will, who'd completed the ride half an hour earlier. I declined the kind offer of a pint, as all I wanted was bed! We stopped off at McDonalds on the way home, where I concluded my feeding for the day with two hamburgers, a large fries, and yet another coke.

Of course, the other guys in my group who did the ride had a whole lot of stories to tell too; I'll leave them to another post though. I'll conclude this post by firstly saying well done to you all, I enjoyed my training with you, and look forward to some more fun-oriented rides soon. Secondly, well done and thanks again to the guys who rode with me and egged me on during the ride - really grateful. And of course, well done to every other hardcore bugger who did the ride.

Phew! If you're still with me after all that, thanks for reading!

South Downs Randonnee - over!

Just a quick post today; I'll fill in more details later (there's a lot to say!). Completed the Randonnee yesterday, starting at 6:00am, finished at 20:40. Wow, what an emotional rollercoaster! Well done to Jonny, Dave, Will, Paul, Tom and bro (Simon? Not heard from Tom yet though), and all the other guys who took part.

Having a relaxing Sunday evening, before work tomorrow, but will post the details soon - made notes so I remember the details!

Final post before the big event..

OK, just about to leave work, and will be leaving home for Winchester shortly after - as I can't remember the last time I added an image to the site, thought I'd post some pictures of my new gloves - Specialized Body Geometry Comps - they are the daddy. I wore them to work on my motorbike this morning to wear them in a bit, as I only bought them yesterday, along with my secret weapon - my 1000 calorie a pop Powerbars - mentalist ; )

Quick road / promenade training ride..

Due to the shite weather, which had caused flooding at Haywards Heath and East Croydon, had a nightmare with transport to / from London on Friday, meaning that T and I didn't get home until 2:00AM.. not conducive to a training ride starting early in the morning. This, coupled with the fact that we had been invited to a party which started mid afternoon, meant that there wasn't a whole lot of time for riding.

This wasn't too much of a problem - I'd decided that the last week before the Randonnee wasn't going to consist of long-distance rides, as I wanted a bit of a recovery period before the Randonnee itself - not sure if this is a good way of doing things, but in one of the MTB racing books I've read, it is suggested that you should back off on effort just before the start of the season - seemed like sound advice, so I applied it to the Randonnee.

So due to time contraints, decided to go for a jaunt along the coast - went from Lancing, along the coast to Brighton, past the Marina, to just about level with Roedean School. Distance was about 21 miles, with the average speed at around 14 miles an hour; once I've synched my GPS with the laptop, I'll stick in the proper stats. This was quite a good training ride - due to the flat terrain for most of the route, I found myself pedalling a lot more than when off-roading; in fact, almost continuously. This made up for the fact that the ride was pretty short, because it meant more effort for the shorter time that I was riding for.

The weekend also saw me stocking up on some items for the Randonnee - I purchased three slime filled inner tubes, a 750ml bottle to complement my Hydration pack, and an under-saddle bag, just largte enough to take a few tools - this to avoid having to get the backpack off in the event of a mechanical, unless I absolutely have to. I also fitted the Maxxis ADvantage that was fitted to my Fire Mountain, because it had a lot more tread than the nearly bald one sitting on the rear of my Dawg - I'm feeling that I'll need as much tread as possible on the ride, due to the incredible amount of rainfall we've had recently.

In terms of my plans for the week, I've been to the gym today, concentrating on resistance work followed by a mile on the rower, and will do the same kind of thing tomorrow. I may be able to fit in a quick training ride on Wednesday evening; then it's down to Winchester to stay Friday night in a comfortable (5*!) hotel in town, and up the next day at 5:00am ready to start the ride! Oh, and I am *trying* to lay off the chocolate for the week too.. not sure how well that'll go though! Have a good one!

More Randonnee training rides..

Well, there goes another patch of ziltch in the way of updates - again, lots of excuses in the form of lots of study, working my arse off, a weekend break in Hampshire, and *actual* riding! Hopefully the below posts will make up for this.

Service for the Kona Dawg..

For once I was organised, and booked a service for my Dawg, on which I'll be riding the Randonnee, about two weeks in advance. This time, with Freedom Bikes, a shop about whom I've heard so many good things.

Took it in today, fully prepared to pay £120ish for a decent Mavic wheel, but they didn't have a built up one in stock. After they explained that the Mavics that came as standard on my bike weren't really all-that-and-a-bag-of-potato chips, I settled for a double walled Alex Rims wheel, with a Deore hub. They assured me that it would be at least as good as the Mavic was, and the price was a bargain, at £65 - so I went for it. Needed a few other bits and bobs done, including a gear tune-up, replacement gear cable, new brake pads front and rear, and the diagnosis of a creak mentioned in another post (turned out to be the wheel, which, to be fair, was pretty fecked). Total cost, £178.

I was slightly dismayed to get a phone call saying that my rear brake would need to be sent back to Hayes - apparently, the pad had fallen off, and I'd been braking directly with the piston - aaah! I explained that I had a crucial training ride on Saturday, and couldn't really have the bike un-rideable by then, and that, with the Randonnee in just over a week, I couldn't take the risk of not having the bike ready and worn in for the ride. They told me they'd see what they could do, but it looked like I was going to end up having to buy a whole new rear hydraulic disk brake.

As part of my fitness drive for the Randonnee, I decided to walk / jog the 8 miles back to Lancing - it turned out to be only about 2 miles of jogging, but useful all the same, I'm sure.

I'd not been home more than 20 minutes when Freedom Bikes called again to say the bike was ready - they'd dug out a complete caliper for a Hayes HFX 9, refurbished it and fitted it to my bike, with a view to sending mine off to get it serviced and using it as a replacement. Fantastic - what service. I hastily made my way back to Brighton, and picked up the bike, which I have to say rides like a dream - it's just so smooth!

I won't count my chickens just yet, as the brakes are a bit soft, needing the pads to be worn in, but initial impressions are that Freedom have just picked up a customer for life - "I'll be back" ; )

Winchester to Shoreham bike ride

Coatsy, Will and myself decided on the Winchester to Brighton ride as practise for the Randonnee. This is a 65 mile route, covering what is generally generally less demanding terrain that the other end, at least until you get to Amberley. We took a slightly different route this time, avoiding the footpath that I vowed not to use again - as Mr. Coats had done the ride with Jonny the week previous, he'd worked out what we now believe to be the correct route - talkabout round the houses though (not literally) - there's a fair few hundred yards that go alongside an "A" road - not what I'd expected but hey.

Actually, I shouldn't miss out Mr. D - he also decided to ride the route, starting out at 6:00AM that day (we got there about 10:00), and aiming to go as far as possible - I'm yet to receive an update as to how far that was, having only been updated once he'd got to the 27 mile mark. I've been away from work for a week but I'm sure I'll be enlightened soon.

It wasn't long before we got on to the good old South Downs Way - I'd started my speedo about two miles from the train station, by the black statue. Almost straight away, the familiar sound of what I believed to be another screwed up bottom bracket making itself known could be heard, although I speculated that it could be the saddle / seatpost interface instead.

No major happenings apart from Coatsy well and truly swallowing a fly and feeling a bit green for a while.. and we didn't get lost either - result!

The miles passed fairly rapidly, with us maintaining around the 10mph mark on our average speed for at least 15 miles - pretty good, I thought. We really kept it together with our breaks - very few of them, and only 5 minutes or so a piece when we did have them - this is how to do it when trying to maintain a good average. This *even* applied to reaching the top of Butser hill, where we stopped off for ages last time while Tom chatted up the lass serving at the little ice cream shack. In total we were there about 15 minutes this time, while we refilled on water, had a small snack and re-stretched - a great improvement.

At this point last time I did this section of the SDW, I got a very annoying puncture which slowed us down severely - luckily this didn't happen this time, although on the descent to the motorway, I did have a few hairy moments where I'd strayed off track and ended up jumping down some small drops - dodgy at 30mph when you're not expecting it. I think my gym work has really helped my upper-body strength - I've never been a subtle rider, but I've started to find manhandling a 35lb bike a lot easier in recent weeks, which I think really helped with avoiding wiping out on these drops.

Quick progress was made through the foresty bit (think it's part of the Queen Elizabeth Country Park), and we got on to the road section pretty quickly. Which is where we bumped in to what would prove to be potentially the bain of our lives for almost the rest of the ride - there was a charity walk from this point to Brighton, consisting of about 2000 walkers. Who insisted on spreading out to whatever the width of the path was at any given time.

For the slight inconvenience caused, I found that most of them were really polite, with some even apologising when I called to make them aware of my presence - altogether it wasn't that bad - and it was for charity after all.

There was one point though, on the run down to the A286, where Will and I got stuck behind a tractor going at 3mph - the amount of cursing! I almost cried as I watched the average speed drop - it turns out the tractor was stuck behind some of said walkers, and the track was too narrow at this point for them to let it past. So we were stuck. Gutting.

After topping up with water at the tap, and getting to the top of the hill after the A286, we'd made fairly good progress with boosting the average speed, until Coatsy got a puncture. I've been fixing punctures for about 15 years, but never in that time have I experienced a tyre / rim combination that was so difficult to part - after about 20 minutes of three fully grown blokes panting away trying to get tyre off said rim, without exposing more than about three inches of it, I had a brainwave and suggested wetting the rim. Voilah! Worked straight away, and we were off, total down-time, 20 mins. I had a flare-up of the hamstring pull from my last ride, which resulted from the 20 minute stop and insuffient stretching, but another stretch sorted it.

The next hill was one where on a previous ride, D and I had a 2-hour "break", trying to fix the 9+ punctures I'd ammassed coming down the hill. It's basically single-track all the way down, great in a normal situation, but not where 400+ walkers are slowly making their way down. A quick(ish) detour, and we were away again, hitting a section where the walkers had to vere off to the left, which gave us some respite.

I have to say, at this point, I started struggling. I would have been fine had it not been for the puncture break and the fact that I'd now run out of food. I took a while to pull myself together, but after about 5 or so miles, I'd almost caught up with the boys again, who'd carried on riding. I think it would be fair to say I never fully recovered from this, and that I really hope that any punctures I get on the day are fixed a lot quicker!

Needless to say, I will not be in a position where I run out of food again! The ride went fairly smoothly from there, with nothing to note particularly, and me saying fairwell to the guys at the River Adur. This was mainly to do with the fact that I already had to go back on myself to get home, and would have been 8 miles out of my way going to Devils' Dyke, their destination, but also to do with the fact that I was absolutely cream crackered. Having said that, I think the ride on the day will be fine; that last section will definitely be slower than I'm used to doing it in though!

Stats for the ride are as follows:

• Distance: 64.02 miles
• Time: 9:04:10 (h:m:s)
• Max Speed: 31.1 mph
• Average Speed: 7.1 mph

Shoreham to Eastbourne bike ride

On the 7th July, did another training ride from Shoreham to Eastbourne. This was again completed solo, with the difference being that I started the GPS recording from the start of the South Downs Way, rather than the Downs Link Trail (I start it normally once I get off-road, which in the case of this route, is once I hit the Downs Link Trail on the way up to the SDW).

As it was a while ago, can't remember the specifics of the ride but I think it was a pretty nice day; the skin peel through lack of after sun lotion application being harsh evidence.

The stats for the ride were as follows:

• Distance: 37.68 miles
• Time: 5:34:16 (h:m:s)
• Max Speed: 33.2 mph
• Average Speed: 6.8 mph

Now, although this is a big drop from the last ride, which had an average of 7.9, it's actually not far off the mark. This is because on the ride up the Downs Link Trail to the SDW, which is 2.7 miles approx, my average is normally something along the lines of 14-15mph. Therefore, it is going down from there throughout the course of the ride, rather than up from 0mph.

Feeling really good on this section now; I actually quite enjoy most of it, apart from the real bast*ard hill up from Alfriston.

South Downs Way Randonnee Challenge Posts..