2012-04-14 Sat - London to Brighton off-road (29er day out)

0 bids, make him an offer, get him to delist.

Weather looking so so for saturday, according to auntie:

Sunshine at times, especially mornings and early evenings, but also showers, heavy and thundery, with hail possible. A chilly northerly breeze setting in and night frosts likely.

Or is that the kind of forecast they do to cover all eventualities. Hail can fuck the fuck off. At least we'll have a tailwind. I will assess on the day, if its properly pissing it i'll probably bail.

If its looking wet underwheel I think cycling all the way may be a bit too much for me so will train it to Dorking. Who else is up for the train to Dorking? Not done it before, anyone have any idea how much a groupsave to there will be? And what the likely damage is for a groupsave return to the smoke from Brighton?

@william, painting kit and tent, haha you win, u mad bro. dont know how you manage all that without a trailer.

was dithering in deciding whether to do this but the weatherman just forecast a 99% chance of hangover

You're going to the guinness ride then

Weather looking so so for saturday, according to auntie:

Sunshine at times, especially mornings and early evenings, but also showers, heavy and thundery, with hail possible. A chilly northerly breeze setting in and night frosts likely.

Or is that the kind of forecast they do to cover all eventualities. Hail can fuck the fuck off. At least we'll have a tailwind. I will assess on the day, if its properly pissing it i'll probably bail.

If its looking wet underwheel I think cycling all the way may be a bit too much for me so will train it to Dorking. Who else is up for the train to Dorking? Not done it before, anyone have any idea how much a groupsave to there will be? And what the likely damage is for a groupsave return to the smoke from Brighton?

@william, painting kit and tent, haha you win, u mad bro. dont know how you manage all that without a trailer.

I'd train it to Dorking too...

might go to the guinness ride if my work night out sucks, see how it goes

didn't see this til today, realised I already signed up ages ago, then realised I have a work night out, dayum

probably not gonna make it unfortunately

I hate it when that happens

enough about buying bikes for the ride.

the 'best' train leaves Victoria at 9:01 and takes 49minutes. if we get 4people we can group save return all the way to brighton.

who's meeting Victoria?

also, if it is raining all day i'm bailing.

9.01 it is. Hung over or not, McDonalds in hand. On the 'cross bike so I get all chimpy in the rain.

Rain all day = me bailing too

otherwise

Victoria 09:01 train to Dorking**

Groupsave group one**

1. Texas
   
2. Ramaye
   
3. Apolloxl
   

Groupsave group one

1. Texas
   
2. Ramaye
   
3. Apolloxl
   
4. Ballz-pending weather too
   

If people are doubtful don't bother with lists, just do groupsave at the station on arrival.

Route planning off-road is an absolute bitch.

None of the maps I've found seem to be able to offer any assistance, and if you use the Garmin tool or some of the online ones (bikely, viewranger), then they generate hundreds of waypoints per 10km.

Anyone got a recommendation in case I'm missing an obvious tool.

bikehike is good, export as a tcx I think

bikehike is very good

Ordnance Survey, Open Cycle Map + Google

Between all of them it should be fine.

We're going to have to be tolerant of minor errors. All of the maps appear to be off by up to 5m from each other, with even major junctions not lining up perfectly let alone paths and bridleways.

I'm sure this will mostly be a problem for the first 10 miles (the bit I'm writing now) rather than the BHF route (which is likely to only be major and wide trails).

If people are doubtful don't bother with lists, just do groupsave at the station on arrival.

i agree. i'm already thinking i may have to bail.

route planning is generally a pain. but when it comes together it is awesome to stumble across a new lane, climb, descent...etc

Routing.

Most of the official BHF route is on the Downs Link, which is a mostly flat to rolling country disused rail line.

There's a lot of technical routing getting to Shere from Dorking. So the first 8 miles from Dorking could prove to be the hardest from a technical perspective. Lots of navigation going on. The land is also choppy, small ups and downs through varying terrain.

Basically, the first part looks a blast and like the most work... after that we can settle into riding the Downs Link for most of the day.

There are only 2 major climbs during the day, the most severe being Bostal/Beeding Hill near the end. The other is marked only because it's 2 miles of incline and not because of severity... that's by Ponds Lane which is a mile or two after Shere.

Total ascent from Dorking to Shere is 472 feet.
Total ascent from Shere to Brighton is 1,973 feet.

I'll upload all of the route files this afternoon. Need to prepare for a meeting shortly, but will return to this afterwards.

Is anybody still riding out to Dorking?

I won't be... it's the train for me.

I've fucked my knee up, and whilst it should be good for the day I don't want to push my luck by adding 20 miles (or whatever it is) to the beginning.

Routes attached.

There are two routes:
1) Dorking to Shere
2) Shere to Brighton

Both are offered as TCX tracks, and GPX courses.

I've loaded them up on my Garmin, I strongly suggest to anyone that has a Garmin or other GPS device to load it onto theirs. I've done the work to create them, it's a no-brainer you loading them up.

Dorking to Shere is 7.56 miles, and Shere to Brighton is 43.65 miles... so it's a total of 51.21 miles.

Not too bad at all.

If we average 7mph then that's still a good 7 and a bit hours in the saddle.

End destination is pegged on the routes I've built... it's the Fortune of War pub down on the beach in Brighton.

http://www.drinkinbrighton.co.uk/fortune-of-war

See you all Saturday morning at Victoria or Dorking.

1 Attachment

• TCX and GPX.zip

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/dorking-to-shere

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/shere-to-brighton

What time do you recon we'll be back in london at?

Wild guess is that we'll be in Brighton after 5pm and before 6pm. Pint and chips down the front, and then hop a train by 7pm, back in London by circa 8pm.

It all goes to hell if we get pissed in Brighton or get the daft idea to cycle back.

Those on cyclocross and with their own navigation might decide to go faster (if you're being assholes). You guys are going to get bored of the slow pace on the Downs Link.