South Downs

SPOC

Hey all,

Anyone ride the south downs much? I am going out tomorrow from the day in Chichester, although not that local i'm from further along the coast, so don't know the area well.

The more hills the better to be honest, I need the practice.

Anyone from around there know any good routes? I won't have my Garmin 705 so I'm a bit worried about getting lost out on my own.

Maverick54

Plenty of hills around Chichester, and stunning scenery too. Head out towards Goodwood racecourse and it's hills all round from there. Head on towards Midhurst and loop back on yourself. Depends how far you want to go, but just head north out of Chi and you'll hit the downs, and can pretty much spend all day in them if you like! Also take a look at the Southern Sportive route. Very hilly, but on quiet roads so a great route. I rode it last year and it was fantastic. It goes past Goodwood so you could ride part of that. Enjoy!

DavidBelcher

The P845 time trial course has some tough uphill stretches on it;

http://www.southdc.org.uk/courses/p845.htm

Most of the hard work is from Chilgrove to near South Harting on the B2141, from where there is a sharp, sweeping descent (take care!) on to the B2146 towards Uppark. Most of the stretch from Uppark to Lavant via the city centre is rolling but nothing too taxing.

David

clickrumble

You must cycle over Butser hill, aim for Petersfield loop back over Butser, then Charlton, Rowlands Castle. There's a really good cafe in Compton so swing though there.
If you need another good hill there's Bexleyhill, just NE of Midhurst, especially good if attacked from the North side.

SPOC

Cheers guys, was planning to do 50-60 miles, looked at these places on the map and gonna give them a good go late tomorrow morning, looks a great loop!

mustgettaller

DavidBelcher wrote:

The P845 time trial course has some tough uphill stretches on it;

http://www.southdc.org.uk/courses/p845.htm

Most of the hard work is from Chilgrove to near South Harting on the B2141, from where there is a sharp, sweeping descent (take care!) on to the B2146 towards Uppark. Most of the stretch from Uppark to Lavant via the city centre is rolling but nothing too taxing.

David

Yup, I'd say that's a great route (not done the exact route but I know all the roads around here like the back of my....)

Be careful on the stretch Lavant->Chilgrove->Harting. The first section is great - slightly uphill but fast (and obviously gets steeper into a good steady climb). The thing to be careful of is the fact that it's a popular road for motorbikes and cars to blat along.

I'm jealous - I'll be working!

jameses

Depends how far you're willing to go, but there's a lovely climb heading west from Steep (not as difficult as the name of the town may suggest!) and another heading up Old Winchester Hill from Warnford, which is beautiful now that they have re-surfaced the road.
There are a few short but steep hlls around this area - Butser (the Harvesting Lane side), Buriton, Ditcham Park school and three coming out of South Harting can all be easily combined.

KentPuncheur

Give Devil's Dyke and Ditchling Beacon a go if you fancy riding east along the coast. They offer great coastal views and a well earned pint at the top of Devil's Dyke!

BelgianBeerGeek

+1 for the Petersfield/Buriton/Harting route. The climb out of S Harting is evil, but the descent through Compton etc back towards Chi is ace.

DavidBelcher

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

+1 for the Petersfield/Buriton/Harting route. The climb out of S Harting is evil, but the descent through Compton etc back towards Chi is ace.

If you mean the hill just after the B2141/B2146 junction making for Uppark, I'd forgotten about that one - it really does make the legs hurt. In one event on the P845 a couple of years back, the rider just up the road from me succumbed to getting off and walking up!

David

clarkey cat

is it Town Lane off the A286 that goes up to Goodwood Racecourse?

I confess - I got off and pushed!

El Zomba

Town Lane is a horrible climb, made worse by traffic. Better off heading east and going up Knight's Hill which is more of a short sharp shock. Either way, at least you get a nice decent down Kennel Hill for your troubles.

Avant

El Zomba beat me to it!

It is Town Lane its a killer! although if you fancy a easier climb up there is always Knights Hill which comes up from Charlton.

I have not had the bottle yet to descend down Town Lane, worried about stopping at the junction at the end!!

Avant

El Zomba wrote:

Town Lane is a horrible climb, made worse by traffic. Better off heading east and going up Knight's Hill which is more of a short sharp shock. Either way, at least you get a nice decent down Kennel Hill for your troubles.

Just watch up for wayward golfers crossing the road....

GBR1

DavidBelcher wrote:

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

+1 for the Petersfield/Buriton/Harting route. The climb out of S Harting is evil, but the descent through Compton etc back towards Chi is ace.

If you mean the hill just after the B2141/B2146 junction making for Uppark, I'd forgotten about that one - it really does make the legs hurt. In one event on the P845 a couple of years back, the rider just up the road from me succumbed to getting off and walking up!

David

This hill always gets me, hit max HR every time and its about 30 miles into my 60 mile loop, feel it till the end!

There is the Chichester sportive coming up in a month or so, here are there course sure you can get some ideas from this!!

http://www.ukcyclingevents.co.uk/events ... tive-2012/

GBR1

SPOC

Cheers guys! I just got back an hour ago. Great rides out of Chichester! I only live 30 miles down the road in Gosport but have never come up this way before, the only one f ridden that you guys suggested was Butser a few times, I sometimes catch that in the Meln valley if I'm riding that way.

I am riding lately just with a forerunner 405 and didn't have a computer to even load a basic route onto, just the compass on the watch and a vague idea of the map in my head! so just went for the midhurst signs and then back to signpostes places I'm more familair with and then back across to Chichester. I'll upload it when I get home tomorrofook Strava, 73 miles and it really was a testing ride, but thanks for all the suggestions, it really made a good ride in the end.

Bexley Hill and the one coming out of Harting going south are the closest I've ever come to gettig off my bike and pushing (although I've not been biking that long!).

BlakeysFC

Just booked up to do the South Downs Sportive on the 21st October, anyone else taking part in that?

mustgettaller

BlakeysFC wrote:

Just booked up to do the South Downs Sportive on the 21st October, anyone else taking part in that?

Yup - I'm doing it. Usually pretty good. Quite lumpy!

SPOC

I think after today will get myself in this Sportive as well, loved the ride.

The Epic 100 should really quite be something.

SPOC

It looks like I've already taken in most a lot of the climbs on the Sportive, I found Bexley Hill in particular absolute murder, I had short steep climbs, the steady 4-5% all the way ones I can spin up.

http://app.strava.com/rides/22662393 For anyone who's interested.......

I have to say though, great advice everyone, the South Downs really is beautiful! Will have to get myself over that way more often.

BlakeysFC

SPOC wrote:

It looks like I've already taken in most a lot of the climbs on the Sportive, I found Bexley Hill in particular absolute murder, I had short steep climbs, the steady 4-5% all the way ones I can spin up.

http://app.strava.com/rides/22662393 For anyone who's interested.......

I have to say though, great advice everyone, the South Downs really is beautiful! Will have to get myself over that way more often.

Looks great the route I'm doing on the South Downs Sportive is only 45 miles so will probably miss out most of the climbs you experienced on your ride.

You can check it out here, if anyone fancies it:

http://www.ukcyclingevents.co.uk/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/UKCE_map_SD100.pdf

clickrumble

SPOC wrote:

It looks like I've already taken in most a lot of the climbs on the Sportive, I found Bexley Hill in particular absolute murder, I had short steep climbs, the steady 4-5% all the way ones I can spin up.

http://app.strava.com/rides/22662393 For anyone who's interested.......

I have to say though, great advice everyone, the South Downs really is beautiful! Will have to get myself over that way more often.

It's the worst (or the best depending which way you look at it) hill round here. It sort of creeps up on you as it's all wooded unlike the South Downs themselves, but worth it for the descent back into Midhurst.

Glad you had a nice ride.

clarkey cat

I often ride from Walton to the in-laws in Bosham and do Bexley Hill - it is a killer. Narrow, twisting, steep, rough surface. It's so inviting at the start though, turning off that little green.

Is there a better route to Bosham from Midhurst than the A286? I tend to just put my head and then turn off at Hunters Race (?)

mustgettaller

clarkey cat wrote:

I often ride from Walton to the in-laws in Bosham and do Bexley Hill - it is a killer. Narrow, twisting, steep, rough surface. It's so inviting at the start though, turning off that little green.

Is there a better route to Bosham from Midhurst than the A286? I tend to just put my head and then turn off at Hunters Race (?)

The problem is that there are limited crossing points on the South Downs. From Midhurst you've got either Cocking or Harting.

Given the Cocking option, you can go via Bepton to avoid some of the 286, and then turn off at Lavant and go through the back lanes to Bosham. This is 15.75 miles and 282 feet of climbing. I've created a MapMyRide route here:
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/139082259
which you hopefully can view if I've got the privacy settings right!

If you want to go via Harting, then it's longer but with a great descent down into Chilgrove (watch for cars and mortorbikes hooning down here, though). This is 22.5 miles and -ahem - 656 feet of climbing. The climb out of Harting is harder than the Cocking climb. You could go along the 272 and then cut down, which would be shorter, but the 272 is pretty unpleasant with fast traffic. The lanes along from Bepton to Elsted are quite narrow and very gravelly just as you exit Bepton, with a lot of short climbs and descents. However, the view to the South is great! Note that you can cut down the narrow lane (known as Turkey Island) just south of East Harting, to cut off the corner and avoiding Harting itself. This is quite a challenging little climb!
Map here:
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/139084591

Hope this helps!