wiggle south downs epic

trevron73

Anybody going on Sunday its my first event and ive got no friends ,ill be the one crying in the corner please come say hello

delta5

Hi trevron
I might be, and if so I'd be happy to meet up.

When I was trying to book online yesterday (4 hours before the online deadline) it kept saying 'out of stock', so I gave up on it - but I see that they now have a note on the UKCyclingEvents website http://www.ukcyclingevents.co.uk/events/wiggle-south-downs-epic-mtb-ride-2012/ saying " ** On the day entries will be accepted ** ". Seems odd that they 'sold out' but now still have entries available on the day. It's my first attempt at a Wiggle event so maybe I'm missing something, but I don't want to drive all the way from Kent to be turned away, so I'm trying to contact them to make sure they really will accept registrations on the day - and if so how many.
If they are, it's going to be an early start to get in the front of the queue.
Also fyi, I'll be a bit limited for time, so I'll only be doing the standard 24 miler.

The upside is that if the weather is its normal foul self I can laugh the ride off, save the time, petrol & entry cost, and opt for a local pootle instead.
So I'll probably only decide tomorrow afternoon - but I'll let you know either way.

Btw, where are you traveling from?

D5

trevron73

Im travelling from Rye , your right the weather will be Pony ,but im booked and the missis will give me grief if i dont finish ,so i come hell or high water im gonna push on get there ,kick the crap out of it and then worry about it later ,catch you if i can D

bartimaeus

The latest forecast is for the weather to clear at lunchtime so personally I'd go for a late start as you may find it clears half way round - an 8am start could see you riding in the rain the whole way around. A bigger issue could be the wind - you'll have a strong SW in your face for the first third of the course, and then a cross-wind for the second third.

Definitely go for tyres with reasonable grip - there will be some muddy sections on the notherly leg from Stanstead up to the SDW, thought it's a lot dryer than you'd expect at the moment. The chalky sections will be a bit slippery if we have 10-12 hours of heavy rain, so take care.

It looks like a really good course with a couple of stiff climbs, so let's hope the bad weather blows through even earlier than predicted. There's even the opportunity for a cheeky pub stop in Stoughton or tea and cakes in Stanstead. I'll probably try the same loop later in the summer when the weather is better, though I think there might be a couple of 'private' sections to route around.

delta5

Trevron - I've sent you a PM.
Bartimaeus, thanks for the info.

D

bartimaeus

It's looking better and better for tomorrow.

The weather's blowing through quicker than expected and it looks like there'll be less rain overall. The Met Office now say the rain will be easing off by 10am, so be of good cheer even if you wake up and it's tipping down!

I did about 15 miles of the route from Adsdean (southerly point) to the top of Stanstead, and it was all good. Even Stanstead is pretty dry - there are a few sticky patches as you go through the woods heading north up to Forestside, but pretty much everywhere else the going is very good, and will likely survive the overnight rain. I reckon the only tricky bit will be the short steep part of the climb up Inholms after descending Kingley Vale... the first 40m or so is a chalky gully, so the smooth line at the sides will be pretty slick if it's been raining.

Have good ride guys!

delta5

Well, a ride it was. The organisation was pretty good and it was a great route, but the mud was something else - 'specially the swamp after the first feed station, and that lovely rutted, porridgy section on the way down to Singleton. I seem to have a habit of going on mudfests . . like the Cliddesden ride in Nov 2010. Most of it went well though - walked a few hills, then had a slow leak in my front tyre for the last 4 miles - wasn't keen to try fixing it in the mud so stopped about every mile to top it up, and got there ok in the end.
Sad seeing that car crash at the end - luckily there were no serious injuries - sfaik just shock all round.

trevron73

What mud indeed ,chainring deep custard like mud in places ,the up hills were ok ,the downhills scary like riding on ice that clay/chalky mud,still i finished and that was the goal ,i had no power at the end ,thanks to all encourgment from many riders i had 2 offs and 1 puncture,finished the epic i enjoyed it from around 13:30 to 15:00 only the other 6 1/2 hours were a mix of FEAR and HOPE ,8 hours of warfare is how i describe it. See you next year ha ha !!!