South Downs way, end-to-end, TBC

Pro tips:

1. Don't do it on a cx bike. Good on the way up the many, many lovely hills but the descents are too sketchy and steep to let loose comfortably. And I got 4 punctures. As has been said, a light Enduro bike would be perfect.

2. Don't take a diversion at the end to ride over Beachy Head 'because it will be lovely'. It's too steep and you're not allowed. Pretty tho.

3. Don't camp. It was kind of lovely being woken by barking badgers at 2am and the rising sun at 5.30. But it would have been so much more fun to ride without 8kg of luggage hanging off the bike and a half decent sleep.

4. Do it. It was bloody wonderful.

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early to bed, really fucking early to rise with it getting light at like goddamn 5am

Quoth the Raven "Nevermore"

Excellent work and excellent advice. Still going to give it a go on a CX bike one day tho :)

Good job! Lovely weekend for it.

It was still great, but I was having to descend in the drops to get enough braking, which meant hanging off the back of the saddle so as not to tip over the bars. Tiring and slow at the same time. :(

I am now consulting the diary for the next available weekend to do it full suspension.

Did either of you happen to drop a large container of chlorine while you were in Eastbourne? :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-kent-41069085

We rode past about 10 police cars sealing off various roads. That'll explain it.

Wow. That's proper grim.

without 8kg of luggage

Did you take a bell tent?

2.2kg of tent, 800g of sleeping bag, 5kg of Percy Pigs.

I would have ditched the tent and sleeping bag and packed extra Percy Pigs.

I'm surprised you could even hear the badgers and see the sun through 3 kilos of tent and sleeping bag! :)

I relate on the percy pigs. Veggie ones ohmygod

My weekend image dump:

it was hot

Looks shit bruv

Mark camped directly on a shit, so..

I think @LHL and I rode this at the same time last year. Similarly bonkers hot.

ive done it a week later in the year before, and couldnt see 20 yards ahead through the fog

Looks wicked.

Where did you guys sleep in the end?

A little ways after the QE park.. Pub location was the deciding factor.

As it should be.

Yep. Mid-afternoon was not particularly fun.

Looks like you both had a lovely ride. Nice one for completing, and I'm a little jealous. Well kinda.... recognise the hills in some of your pics and start to appreciate my couch (6th from top I never want to meet again).

Though, weirdly, I've recently picked up the idea of hiring a full-susser next summer and trying for a 24hr double. Despite being well aware that this is a waste of beautiful countryside which should be appreciated. Rose tinted specs in action much.

So I only have a CX/gravel bike. As my overall fitness and anecdotal data suggests it's too hard and too far to do the whole thing, I was thinking of doing half of it which means I'd have fun for my whole ride. For those that have done it, would this much of the SDW be fun, or would it still be too much? Imagine I the right tyres etc. It seems like it all gets a bit much / mental just outside of Lewes, but I'd love to see it but also have fun instead of suffer needlessly...

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/25268189

I think if you can do 80/90 miles on the road at a sedate pace you'll be fine. There are climbs that'll never be fun, but the countryside is well worth it.

From previous posts in this thread, I'd mostly be concerned about what tyres to use.

Puncturegeddon could kill your enthusiasm pretty quickly.

I did the Petersfield to Brighton section over the August bank holiday on a CX bike with 33c tyres (tubeless) and it was thoroughly enjoyable https://www.strava.com/activities/1156405143