2013-06-09 - London Ditchling Devil 200km Audax

I'm in Ireland this time unfortunately! Was my first audax last year, and was really looking forward to doing it again 1 year on, a sort of trip down memory lane.
(although I've done them perm a few times since)

Last time I did it on a specialised allez, with 23c tyres, and a rack+two panniers on the rear... (Full thermos, d-lock, kitchen sink etc etc)
Not what I'd plan on taking nowadays!

I first set off with good intentions of just me and my housemate, going at our own steady pace, but not far in we got chatting with a solo rider ("matthias"?) and we rode from there on as a trio. Unfortuntely he was a significantly stronger rider than either of us, and we really burned ourselves out trying to set a good pace/keeping up with him, and we eventually let the poor guy go soon after the first control (an awesome fry-up thanks Manotea!).

After all the excitement of the beacon, and grinding back up out of Brighton to Devils Dyke, my housemate had to dropout as he was having real bad knee pain. A pretty low point for both of us, him having to bail half way round, me facing the prospect of heading into the unknown onmy own..
To make matters worse at this point, Ithen went on to miss the turn on the descent down to poynings (after the dyke) and got rather lost and frustrated! The turning is given a clear warning on the routesheet as well!
(I got lost at this same point the next time I did it as a perm, and the most recent time time I did the route, the turning was etched in my memory so no trouble spotting it, but my housemate picked a puncture up at this exact spot! It's cursed I tell ye!)

after getting back on route, just making the next control after devils dyke, fixing a puncture in between, I picked up the pace and arrived at the following control with time to sit down, relax and take stock of the journey so far and what I had left to do.
I seem to remember some lovely rock cakes/jam tarts on offer :)

Drawing closer to London, after being on my own for an age I caught up with one lone fixed rider, grinding around the steep corner near the top of Coombe Lane like a boss. We rolled it back together chatting for a good while after this, me generally in awe of his riding the route in one gear, which was just incomprehensible to me at that point.
To be fair, he was really shattered by this point, and a while together I pressed on ahead of him...

...only to meet up with the infamous Edscoble and his partner en route! The first time I had seen him on the entire ride, and in general for that matter.

We three headed back to the Arrivée together, adding on a bit extra distance in Richmond Park to make sure we got our 200s worth.

Pretty sure we were one of the last riders that day, in around 7pm, and hearing about the first rider getting in about 2pm I also just couldn't comprehend!

I sat in the pub the Arrivée was at until I mustered up the legs to head to the station, the weather pouring it down at this point (it had held off for most of the day fortunately)
But once I was on the train it felt like I was home already. A mixture of exhaustion, euphoria and plain old tiredness, having ridden the furthest I had ever done in a day, up and down some decent bumps, and about half of it solo as well. It was every bit the challenge I was looking for when I signed up to the ride.

Anyone signing up for this, first ride or not, you will have a great time :)