Butlins or Bust - Echappée Escapades Rd.4

Bikewankers on da train hooooo

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Give him a cuddle, he looks freezing!

How does it rate from 1 to South Downs Way in one day?

I am also freezing. And stinky. There are no plans to share warmth.

7/10 for agony

Bit disappointing to not make more headway into the route, but it wasn't happening for either I or @xkittyx on sscx. We split from the group shortly after Richmond (and somehow missed picking up @branwen frownemoticon.jpeg) and a puncture shut the door on us getting back to the group. Ranmore was the realisation that it was going to be lots of walking, @xkittyx had all his fun for the day and I was enjoying the company so we called it a day (and didn't think it would be wise for me to go it alone). Anyway, mostly a gear lesson: the pomp will do most things but it will not go Up off-road. I'm sure it's a cracking route but well above my bike's pay grade.

Got one nice coffee, two good grams and lots of nice chat out of it though.

Oooof. This was great but pretty tough.

Things were going reasonably well until about seven miles from the end when @o̼wlz͛ decided to puncture four times in as many miles, the first being a double insta-flat with a spray of Stan's goo that wouldn't do the job, despite the rivers of it in the tyres. It was cold, grey and pissing it down, we were down to our last tube so decided to sack off Bognor and head straight for Barnham. This is allowed as @jammy said so.

The route was surprisingly rad in places, especially the actual Surrey Hills MTB trail used that the SE guys insist was a 'blue' despite none of the SH trails actually being graded. Wild enough on a Race 29er with 100mm up front, I'm amazed more of the folks on CX bikes didn't break their appendages going down it. Chapeau.

Give this one a go if you think you are hard enough. Just turn up with gears and a suspension fork.

Sounds pretty rad! Too bad the weather didn't hold up!

I'm amazed more of the folks on CX bikes didn't break their appendages going down it.

I remember going down this same bit slower than walking!
We also had an absurd number of punctures, like 6 or so I think.. Must be a special shard-like mud

Your mission should you wish to accept it, this message will destuct in 10 seconds..........

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Good work!

Well done. How far did you get before Garmin conked out?

Well done all! Great day yesterday

Hope you enjoyed an alternative look at some of the areas which I'm guessing lots of you road ride in... 2 un-rideable climbs were worth it for the descents I hope!

Seemed to have about a 50%+ attrition rate, which is what we shoot for for these rides. Any yes you can ride down those Surrey Hill trails on a CX bike!

Thanks @jammy. It may have been tough but it was also a lot of fun.

^^ Garmin said 'low power' at the lakes just after the Downs Link after Run Common, ... do you guys carry a spare power pack?

It's flint that does it. Found this morning

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Some guys did. I was using my Garmin watch - it worked surprisingly well.

Suitably epic, the weather for the last hour helped. The hardest of the 3 EE I've done (though I wussed out of the 3200m of climbing on the Royal Rumble).

My Edge 520 just about made it, brightness set to 0% and the bluetooth off but on the map screen most of the time (which doesn't help). Just over 11 hours in total from home in NE London, 8 hours moving.

I had a thorn stuck in my tyre for the 20km, too scared to remove it incase the stans didn't do the job.

So much fun. Can barely move today. Trying to ride the unrideable bits was very funny. Slow motion stacks a plenty.

Very impressive @Jon.

Lots of respect for anyone riding that on a cross bike: it's not so much that the trails are massively technical, it's just the focus required on some of those descents after having ridden a bike that long off-road. Much more lee-way for error with big tyres and some bounce.

And 300mm more width on the bars!

Yeah the MTB-ers were flying down some of the sections where I was slightly screaming. That MTB single-track bit especially! Wish I'd had one or two easier cogs, but I think being forced to brutalise the last long climb in order not to have to push was nice because it got it over with faster.
The Strava flyby is fun. http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/#966020827?c=gcpsxbfv&z=A&t=1P1OcD&a=206UObWhhTlty4U5N76MOaRWhzmle4Y5YuWHOfnXgzkAh4c5 because you can see where people punctured, stopped for cream teas, and stopped to admire the view.
Mine goes a bit haywire near the end when the Garmin and iphone files overlap. Stupid 810, doesn't even last 11 hours.

because you can see where people punctured, stopped for cream teas, made rad route adjustments to increase the GNAR, and stopped to admire the view.

I'm kidding. We skipped the foot path on Ranmore in favour of the bridleway and the steeper, gnarlier descent off the back of it.

You can also see where Owl's garmin conked out.

"Attrition rate" Love it.