British Heart Foundation/London to Brighton-Sun Jun 21 2009

Citizen Smith

http://www.bhf.org.uk/get_involved/take_part_in_our_events/bike_rides/london_to_brighton_bike_ride.aspx

Right, standard registration opened today so I've signed myself for an early doors start at 6am, hoping to avoid the critical mass.

Anyone else doing it this year? Any tips for a first timer?

EDIT to topic title to clarify which ride I'm on about!

Bassjunkieuk

EDIT; Just realized that thats the other Capital to Coast ride (the London to Brighton) and not the one I did that was called Capital to Coast - http://www.capitaltocoast.org.uk/

I'm doing it again this year! I got the super early registration at the end of last years ride - under half price :-)

I started at one of the later times last year but it wasn't strictly enforced as I rolled in about 30 minutes early and just went to registration desk, got my name ticked and then made my way to the start :-)

Think I ended up starting around 7:30 ish and didn't have many problems with the other riders, think I cleared most of the "fun" riders by the 10 mile mark and started picking off more serious riders on road bikes from around the 20 mile mark. When I got to the feed station at about half way (27 miles) there where still setting up!

If they use the same route as last year I'd suggest you get some hill practise in as the climb over Devils Dyke is right at the end and has a deceptive climb and hidden summit, you think your about to top it and there's another hill to climb!

I didn't do any "proper" training except a couple of longer rides a few weeks before to break in the new cycling gear and see how I coped with longer periods in the saddle, the rest was just from the base fitness from the regular commuting.

Was an excellent ride tho, they did a pretty good job of keeping you on back roads and I only had one complaint with a sharp corner on a fast downhill section that had very little warning, if I hadn't caught up with 2 other riders I could have well missed it!

Rich158

+1 for the Capital to Coast, I did it last year and it was much better than the BHF London to Brighton imho. There's far fewer people on the roads, I've found the BHF event suffers from severe overcrowding unless you get a really early start, the last time I did the L to B we had to walk up most hills, they were just too crowded to ride up. Also now you can't get your bikes on the trains Brighton is extremely congested on the day. It took me 4 hours to get into Brighton to pick my sister and her partner up a couple of years ago. The organisation on the C to C is just as good with plenty of well stocked feed stops, which probably accounted for my extremely poor time, and it's much easier to get in and out of Brighton afterwards

I know exactly which corner you're on about BJ, I nearly slid past it with my rear wheel locked up last year :shock: I didn't find the Beacon too hard tbh, it's a different route up than the BHF L to B and it's not as steep, although it is longer.

I'm toying with the idea of doing the Capital to Coast this year and then riding back to pick my car up at the start.