Ride wrap up

OK, so just about recovered from the ride now. Here is the story, cross posted from the Kilimanajaro climb site

Quick summary of what this ride is first: 100 miles along the South Downs Way – the longest bridleway in the UK. This means a terrain of mud, wet fields, more mud, chalky, rutted tracks, large flint rocks ready to shred tyres, more mud, killer hills (all 10,697 feet of them), oh and some more mud. You need a mountain bike to do it. The route begins in Winchester and finishes in Eastbourne, crossing all the river valleys, and skirting our home town of Brighton. Here is the map.

So…what happened? Well, take a look at the numbers and comments I gathered for some fun, in no particular order:

Dave Coats

Time: 15hrs 10mins
Dist: 100 miles
Avg speed: 8mph
Max: approx 35.4mph

Consumed:
4 Frusili bars
2 snickers bars
½ tub wholemeal pasta with sundried tomato pesto
1 southern fried chicken wrap
1 Cookies and Cream energy Powerbar
4 bananas
Approx 7 litres water
1 cup of tea at Devils Dyke
1 Pint of coke at finish line
Punctures: 2
Gears: complete failure at QECP - ½ hour fixing
Stomach cramp: severe! Had to rest about 5 times in agony!

Paul Doleman

Time: 15hrs 41 mins
Dist: 100 miles
Average (don’t ask)
Split Time: 7:15:49
Dist: 122k / 76.25 miles
Energy: 4772 cals

Consumed:
4 ½ Banana Power bars
2 salt tablets
12ish litres of water
1 Cream cheese sandwich
2 bananas at devil’s dyke
5 bars of fruit and nut

Also collected along the way….
Knees x 2 very sore
Left knee ligament even more sore (I’m sure that is SPD related)
Thighs x 2 cramp, inability to pedal for more than 100m without falling over
Rightan hd index finger RSI (changed gear more times than Pete Doherty)
One minor rear puncture that slime sorted out.

Jim Colborn

Time: 14hrs 40 mins
Dist: 100 miles
Average (manual calculation): 6.9ish mph
Max: 27mph at the point my GPS ran out

Consumed :
3 Powerbars @ 1,000 calories a pop
24 assorted fruit & fibre, fruesli, Alpen bars
About 10 litres water
1 x Cheese and onion crisps, from pub in Alfriston
2 x salt and vinegar crisps, one from pub in Alfriston, one from pub in Jevington
½ pint of coke from pub in Alfriston
1 pint of coke from the 7 Bells at Jevington
Half an apricot flapjack donated by another rider just above Alfriston
1 Mars bar and one banana, blagged from the stall at Devils Dyke

Tom Morphy

Time: 10hrs 5mins
Dist: 65 miles
Avg: 6.5mph

Consumed:
1 lucozade
2 clif bars
3 isotonic go gels
1 banana
1 chicken and mushroom pasta salad picnic
6 litres of water
Pint of harveys at the dyke
Lots more beer, wine and curry once I got home

Also, along the way…
Many bruises from falling over, even though I didn’t fall as impressively as some people did - falling down banks, into bushes etc
V achey wrists
About a billion (approx) stinging nettle stings
3 wrong routes, although luckily each time I didn’t go the wrong way for too long
Also, I have since learnt that pumping your tyres up to 60psi doesn’t give you much grip

Will Lockie

time:14hrs
dist:100 miles
Avg: 7.1mph
Max: 36.3mph

Consumed:
2 pasties
4 bars
1 tube isotonic go gel – it’s the secret lads!
5 bananas
Packet mints
Approx 5 litres water
2 pints of harveys at finish..ahhh.

Jon Stewart

2 miles from Winchester, I snapped my derailleur hanger.Called mobile mechanic, who told me to carry my bike back to the start. Mobile mechanic didn’t have a replacement Kona hanger, so he drove me and my bike to Halfords.

Halfords was shut (it was 8am), didn’t open for another hour, and the mechanic thought it was unlikely they’d have the right part. Due to the fact I had a very broken bike and was in the middle of nowhere, I retired, and the mechanic drove me to the train station. I then caught the train to Brighton, where I got my bike fixed at Evan’s cycles, and then cycled up to Devil’s Dyke.

At about 3, I met Will, and did the Devil’s Dyke – Eastbourne section of the ride.

We got in about 8, meaning I must have had an average speed of 7 miles an hour.

Consumed:
4 kit kats
4 healty nut bars
5 gloopy energy things
6 sausage rolls
4 bananas
Approx 3 litres of water

My personal fave has got to be Jim’s cheeky pub stops! And how many bars!

We think full respect is due to Mr P Doleman – who simply did not give up, despite it being *pitch black* and rolling into Eastbourne past 11pm. G-G-G-Go.

More respect to Mr J Stewart, whose rear mech fell off 2 miles out of Winchester – so then like a madman he jumped on the train to Brighton, and met me as I came through Devils Dyke, then proceeded to cycle ahead of me at every opportunity and encouraged me to keep those legs going. cheers Jonny, nice one!

So a very big thank you to everyone who supported and sponsored us. I think we all surprised ourselves with an incredible amount of determination and we certainly raised a lot of money. There is talk of other rides..but for now, our next bike adventures remain firmly set around gentle trails and the odd country pub. Amen to that, I am still raw in areas I’d rather not mention. Here is a picture when we were all happy at the start. It didn't last for long.