L2B on a singlespeed

unclejimbo1983

I'm toying with a project to attempt next spring/summer and I'd appreciate the advice of some of the grizzled high-mileage guys on here.

I live in South West London (Putney-ish) and my parents live in Littlehampton, West Sussex. It's been a pipe dream of mine for a while now to cycle to visit them one weekend and probably get the train back.

I figure that the simplest thing would be to cycle from London to Brighton and then along the coast to Littlehampton, as the former has well documented routes online and the latter is a nice flat 20mile residential route that I am familiar with. I would be doing this solo, not on the organised mass start annual event.

The kicker is this - I commute a 17 mile round trip, 5 days a week on my single speed road bike so I'm fit-ish but never encounter proper hills and only cycle for over 45 minutes at a time if I have to detour to run errands. The SS is my only bike, so I’d be doing the trip on this! I have a few questions about the attempt:

1) How much extra mileage do I need to put in as training? I assume I should do some longer rides at the weekend, gradually bumping up the distance.
2) What gearing should I use? I currently ride 46/16 (75.6 gear inches) but have a 42 ring I could fit for 69 gear inches. I don’t really want to go any lower if possible so I can hold a decent speed on the flats, but I’m not sure if this is realistic.
3) Am I going to get squished walking up Ditchling Beacon?! Would I be better off admitting defeat and just pushing my bike up a footpath somewhere instead?
4) How ruined will I be the next day?

If you are one of the hardmen/women that have done this already I would especially like to hear from you. Thanks in advance everyone.

Wrath Rob

If you're only going 1 way, you'll probably be fit enough from the commute to get there. The route isn't too hilly, apart from Ditchling Beacon, which is a fair hill. I did it on 34-25 and wanted a 27 in places. IIRC there isn't a footpath but the road isn't that busy so you should be fine walking up it, if you can't MTFU and ride it

If you want some practice, and to answer your last question, come along to a Kingston Wheelers Sunday club run. I live around the corner from you and by the time you've ridden down there, done the newbie ride and ridden home you'll be at 52 miles. Both the hills on that are milder than Ditching (Critten Lane and Box Hill) but will give you an idea of gearing. They normally average 16mph, so slightly faster on the flats and then slower on the hills.

iPete

You already ride 5 days a week, you'll be fine. You'll also be ok walking up ditchling if needed.

Am planning to do the same trip on my fixed when I have the time/right weather/inclination.

Go do a few laps or Richmond Park and see how you get along.

dhope

If you're doing 17 miles a day 5 days a week then L2B will be a piece of cake. I did it with a group that were all on single speeds and the guy at the front made it up Ditchling on his fixed track bike with about an 86 inch gear. I don't imagine it was fun, but he didn't stop.

Just do a few longer rides before, 50 milers should suffice and you'll find it pretty straightforward with your base commuting mileage. You could join the Kingston Wheelers and head out with the slower group just to get some more miles in.

Edit: what ^^those two^^ said

SteppenHerring

If I were you, I wouldn't go by Ditchling - I'd go through the Shoreham gap. If you look on the map, there's a smaller road that runs from Steyning to Shoreham parallel to the A283 but on the other side of the river.

The L2B route has a few small lumps (How Lane - Chipstead, Bletchingly, Turners Hill). On SS, not sure - although coming down into Brighton on fixed could be entertaining.

keyser__soze

Saddlescombe Road will be easier than Ditchling while still offering some climbing. I did Devil's Dyke (which turns off Saddlescome Rd and is a bit steeper) without real difficulty in a 34/11 (81") when my rear shifter broke a couple of months ago.

il_principe

You'll be fine. Funnily enough I rode down to Ditchling from Wandsworth on Sat morning - I have a nice quiet route i can email over if you want. The Beacon is no bother really, I was chatting to a friend of a friend who pootles around on an SS and an old Sturmey Archer equipped bike. He doesn't do lycra or high mileage and managed the beacon on a 46 x 18. So it's doable. Anyway if you do have to get off then hey ho, who cares. As for the ride down, it's rolling and the beacon is the only real 'climb' you'll encounter.

Harry182

+1 to you'll be fine with your current fitness and gear ratio. I did the same thing a few years ago on a 50x17 and commuting fitness. I reckon pace yourself and you'll do fine without resorting to walking.
ps - iirc its a bit hilly around Caterham too.

yocto

You’ll be fine. I used to have a round trip of 12 miles to work which I did 5 days a week. Been doing that for 2-3 years with no long rides to speak of.

This summer I rode with a 13kg small wheel bike with two gears (49 inches and 67 inches) from Streatham South London to Leeds Castle (44miles) and then onto Deal after a day rest. Later in the summer Streatham to Newbury (66 miles), and then onto Bradford-on-Avon the next day. Both times with a Carradice Pendle saddle bag (5-8kg) and pulling a trailer (I think it was about 20-25kg though this may be widely out as I can’t quite remember!). I was pretty slow but I made it!

Have not ridden up Ditchling Beacon but I imagine you will not be the only person pushing a bike up.

Without a trailer etc you’ll have no problems. Make sure you eat and drink well and don’t treat it like a race and you’ll be ready to ride back the next day!!

BigLights

Il Principe I'd love to have your WWorth - Brighton route if it's easy...I also live in WWorth and i've done L2B on an organised ride but wouldn't mind just giving it a go with a mate or 2, just need a good route!!

davis

Strongly suspect you'll be fine for fitness. I think your route's a bit bonkers if you're planning to take in Ditchling Beacon on the way to LA (Little'ampton, innit)

meanredspider

Redundantly, I too think you'll be fine with your current level of fitness.

As a broader question (and possibly a nonsense one), do folks think there's a commute multiplier for one-off rides? For instance, I do 30 miles a day and I know, for sure, that I can do 90-mile one-off rides comfortably (in fact, I was fine doing multiple days of that distance in flattish Ireland). So 3x or 4x commute RT? Or is that just a stupid question?

anonymousblackfg

Head down through Shoreham airport, as it's the esturary your closer to your end destiantion and you avoid Ditling and the main hills to get over the ridge into Birghton...

You'll be fine with your fitness, I've done Guildford - Brighton - SW London before riding a 90 gear inch Fixed.

mrc1

I did L2B with a mate about five years ago on a 48x18 Pearson Touche and had fun. Ditchling was obviously pretty hard work but I got up without stopping - the whole thing was out of the saddle and basically "Press pedal down, track stand, press pedal down, track stand". My mate who was on 48x16 probably would have got up as well but randomly a tool box fell out of the back of a passing van and blocked his path.

The rest of the ride is fairly straight forward and single speeding it is actually quite fun. You just need to plan accordingly time wise as it will take you longer than if you had gears. The only thing that would really suck is if you hit big headwinds!

Main thing to take away from me is give it a go - you'll have fun (or collapse in a heap in the middle of nowhere due to exhaustion).

unclejimbo1983

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think perhaps I'd got a bit scared by some of the generic advice online, but a lot of it is probably aimed at novices.

SteppenHerring - Thanks for the tip. The term "gap" is music to my ears! I don't suppose you know where i could find a route that links up to Shoreham from London do you? I was only really looking at L2B routes as they are easy to find, but is seems silly to do a great big dogleg to avoid the beacon. I see you live in Tadworth, which would pretty much be en route for me, so if you've ever done that ride yourself I'd be very appreciative of any further tips you have.

On that subject, does anyone know of a good cycle route website? I've had a look at Bikely that links from this site, but I've found it difficult to search. Interestingly it appears someone has done a London to Rustington (nr. Littlehampton) using the same via Brighton bodge I was thinking of.

rubertoe

I remember reading about some guy climbing all 4 ascents of Mont Ventoux on a FG

Here is the article

http://www.bicycletimesmag.com/content/ ... four-times

Edit - he did it 4 times in one day.

rjsterry

Should I point out that all the early Tours were strictly no gears?

davis

I really wouldn't go via Brighton. I've done a few rides down to Rustington from mid-Sussex, and the A29 is navigationally easy. About the only significant hill is Bury Hill. The route's not very scenic and has fairly unpleasant traffic though. For routing I quite often take a look at http://maps.cloudmade.com/ or http://cyclestreets.net but given I know the area I don't really bother for that! Further afield and the truly wonderful http://bikehike.co.uk/ comes into play.

unclejimbo1983

davis wrote:

I really wouldn't go via Brighton. I've done a few rides down to Rustington from mid-Sussex, and the A29 is navigationally easy. About the only significant hill is Bury Hill. The route's not very scenic and has fairly unpleasant traffic though. For routing I quite often take a look at http://maps.cloudmade.com/ or http://cyclestreets.net but given I know the area I don't really bother for that! Further afield and the truly wonderful http://bikehike.co.uk/ comes into play.

Thanks for the links. I think I'll just have to set myself up in front of the computer one day and try to put something together that doesn't involve any terrifying roads! I stuck to the dirt when I lived on the coast and London cycling has spoiled me with cycle superhighways and slow traffic!

unclejimbo1983

rubertoe wrote:

I remember reading about some guy climbing all 4 ascents of Mont Ventoux on a FG

Here is the article

http://www.bicycletimesmag.com/content/ ... four-times

Edit - he did it 4 times in one day.

Blimey! His gearing was only slightly lower than what I ride in the city!

davis

It's worth the effort to seek out decent routes round here IME.
But then I quite liking taking the opportunity to cruise down a country lane and sneak into a pub on the way. Other people might not. Seeing as SW London to Rustington via a fairly direct route takes you vaguely close to my patch post your route (anonymize the start/end points if I were you) up here and see if anyone tells you it's bonkers.

il_principe

Thanks for the links. I think I'll just have to set myself up in front of the computer one day and try to put something together that doesn't involve any terrifying roads! I stuck to the dirt when I lived on the coast and London cycling has spoiled me with cycle superhighways and slow traffic![/quote]

I use bikeroutetoaster for route planning and find it works very well. My tip would be to leave early in the morning as getting out of London is the worst part.