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Carry your own food. You know you'll like it, you can eat when you like and no worries about bonking in the middle of nowhere!
I'd also recommend eating a decent meal at about 3am. It's pretty cold then and the rest and food will help you through the worst part of the ride (just before dawn), when most people feel pretty shitty from lack of sleep and the drop in temperature.
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I've been making these for ages: https://tomsbiketrip.com/how-to-turn-a-beer-can-into-the-only-camping-stove-youll-ever-need-video/
They work incredibly well and are so tiny and light. My "best" one sits inside my cup in a plastic bag with a few camping matches.
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Tried that ride yesterday and it nearly killed me!
I ended up bailing out at Dorking and taking the train back.Technically I guess I did succeed in riding both trails, as Dorking is the turn-off point for the Downs Link, but it was just too hot.
However, having now ridden the Downs Link from South to North, I think it's much better ridden towards the south. The downhill portions are steeper in the southern direction, so harder to ride in the northern direction.
It's still a lovely ride.
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My take on this, is that this is what presumed fault should look like.
The heirarchy of most to least vulnerable road user was observed: Pedestrian>Cyclist
Then 50% was deducted for her failure to be observant (using her phone).In a way it's a warning to all of us to slow down, to be as observant as possible around more vulnerable road users and to try to ensure we can stop as quickly as possible.
3rd party insurance is also important too (LCC, CUK/CTC/BC etc.) Check that you have legal cover too. CTC/CUK doesn't cover legal cover for affiliate membership, but does provide 3rd party cover.
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huh. Too much bravado on my part by far! I ended up not doing it in the end. It's GCSE mocks and I was on duty all weekend helping out with revision...
It would definitely work in reverse, it's just that Shoreham is quite nice once you arrive there, so it would be quite a nice place to stop for a beer or something to eat.
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To be honest, I like seeing a well-produced film, but now they've stopped following Lael, I hope they follow some of the middle of the pack. The TCR documentary did a great job of this and I find some of the most interesting stories and characters really do come from the folks who are closer to us "mere mortals".
The Racing to the Rock documentary did a really great job of documenting the front end of a race, so I can understand the mindset of trying to strike a balance between not interfering and trying to show how hard the front runners are pushing themselves. -
There's a quite a bit of rolling climbing and descending, some of it on quite short steep pitches in places. This is all confined to the link routes to get to the Downs Link. On the railway route is fast flat/rolling until you get to Stan's Cycle Shack and then there are some more loose rolling hills. Again, after that, flat and fast all the way into Shoreham.
Singlespeed would be better. I met a rider doing it on a Specialised Langster... -
If anyone's up for it, I might try a ride that follows part of the route this weekend.
I'm thinking of taking the train to East Grinstead, following the cuckoo trail and Avenue Vert trail (NCN21) south, then cross country diversion to the west, skirting to the north of Lewes and avoiding dipping into the South Downs before picking up the Downs Link at Steyning and then reversing my route of two weeks ago back to the smoke. About 120 miles all in.
This: https://cycle.travel/map/journey/110358There's a bail out at Lewes at 35 miles, Shoreham at about 60 miles, then another one at Christ's Hospital at around 70 miles. Dorking would be about 90 miles in.
I've not floated this at home yet, so it might not go ahead...
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I really loved the route actually. It takes you towards Mitcham and then routes westward along the Wandle trail, past little gardens on the edge of the river. It's really stunning in places. Then you end up on those weird fields at the edge of the downs with all the black-painted clapperboard houses.
It's by far the best route into the Surrey Hills that I've found so far.
All of the trails are hard packed gravel/sand or very easy draining dirt. As I got onto the downs themselves there was a lot more clinker/flint/gravel, but again not a problem. It was a bit "rooty" in places, but no worse than riding through a London park on the trails in Wimbledon Common for example.
I mean don't turn up on racing tyres with thin tread and sidewalls and you'll be fine.
I was riding a Michelin Dynamic on the front (it's their cheapest 700x28c tyre) and a Vittoria Randonneur at the rear (puncture guard and bit of tread), but again it's a £10 tyre!I don't do fancy tyres.
I thought it was quieter this year as well. Plenty of bikes on the road, but there were really no bikes at Ipswich station which was a surprise as there are usually dozens. Well done to Greater Anglia for letting me get on a train 2 hours earlier than the one I had booked.