Bromley to Brighton - route advice please

daddy0

I'm going to ride to Brighton tomorrow to visit my brother, stay over and ride back on Sunday. Never done this before so I am just looking at routes. Seems the easiest way to get there is ride to South Croydon then go down the A23 all the way. Is this any good or is the A23 particularly bad for cyclists? Are there any nice country road routes that are easy enough to remember? I don't have a GPS computer, and I don't want to rely on my phone having reception, plus I want to stop as little as possible so I can apply teh power awesome. I'd prefer a flatter route if possible, want to save some energy back for the evenings drinking session and return journey the next day.

Cheers in advance!

el_presidente

Don't go near the A23, it's mainly motorway-standard dual carriageway. From Bromley just plot a route on the B-roads, something like Biggin Hill - Oxted - East Grinstead - Haywards Heath - Ditcling - Brighton

daddy0

Thanks EP - its been years since I've driven down the A23 so couldn't remember what it was like. I'll try to remember a route then. Any particularly nasty hills on the way? I know about as far as East Grinstead.

greg66_tri_v2.0

A23 is awful, and I like riding on A roads.

I'd head to Keston, head down past Biggin Hill to Westerham, then take a right onto the A25. Left onto the A22 at Godstone, then south of East Grinstead take the A275 at the fork to Lewes. Right at Lewes onto the A27 to Brighton.

phy2sll2

Bit indirect (I was meeting a friend in Fulham, first) but here's the route that I've taken in the past. Probably complete with some wrong turns along the way!

Best to navigate across to Sutton and start there, I think.

http://app.strava.com/activities/3950428

daddy0

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

A23 is awful, and I like riding on A roads.

I'd head to Keston, head down past Biggin Hill to Westerham, then take a right onto the A25. Left onto the A22 at Godstone, then south of East Grinstead take the A275 at the fork to Lewes. Right at Lewes onto the A27 to Brighton.

Thanks dude. Thats the sort of route I like. Just plotted it on the map, about 57 miles - Google reckons it will take about 6 and a half hours... :roll: I should be able to do it in around 3 8)

phy2sll2 - that Strava link is from Oz mate!

il_principe

I'd stay well cleat of the A27. Not a road for cycling. I'd go E Grinstead over to H Heath via Ardingly, then Wivelsfield, Ditchling, over the Beacon and zoom down into Brighton

http://goo.gl/maps/59Jaa

It's pretty flat aside from the Beacon, but it's a short climb and the descent off it is great.

daddy0

Il Principe wrote:

I'd stay well cleat of the A27. Not a road for cycling. I'd go E Grinstead over to H Heath via Ardingly, then Wivelsfield, Ditchling, over the Beacon and zoom down into Brighton

http://goo.gl/maps/59Jaa

It's pretty flat aside from the Beacon, but it's a short climb and the descent off it is great.

Thanks IP. However, there are a few road names with "Hill" in the title on that route. You're not playing a nasty trick on me are you? :P

Thanks everybody for all your help. I feel a lot better about tomorrows outing now.

il_principe

There are what, 2 hills - neither are big and you have overnight to recover. Plenty of people ride LBL in a day with no probs so there's nothing for you to worry about (assuming you are in reasonable shape). Ditchling is the only real Hill.

Edit - you will have a lovely tailwind on Sat. The stretch through Ardingly is flat and you can get some great speed up.

daddy0

Oh don't worry about me getting there, I can do that distance, with hills, without stopping. I just want to get there as fast as possible so as to maximise on the drinking time I get. And of course to show off to my riding buddies "look how fast I got to Brighton".

Getting home the next day might be a bit tough, but I did 55 miles the other day after a late boozy night in London (was randomly drinking with Johnny Depp, pretty messy) and, apart from the water in my bidon tasting of JD and coke, I was fine.

il_principe

Daddy0 wrote:

Oh don't worry about me getting there, I can do that distance, with hills, without stopping. I just want to get there as fast as possible so as to maximise on the drinking time I get. And of course to show off to my riding buddies "look how fast I got to Brighton".

Getting home the next day might be a bit tough, but I did 55 miles the other day after a late boozy night in London (was randomly drinking with Johnny Depp, pretty messy) and, apart from the water in my bidon tasting of JD and coke, I was fine.

Yeah, sorry wrote that then saw the bikes in your sig and figured "oops."

kelsen

Il Principe wrote:

Daddy0 wrote:

Oh don't worry about me getting there, I can do that distance, with hills, without stopping. I just want to get there as fast as possible so as to maximise on the drinking time I get. And of course to show off to my riding buddies "look how fast I got to Brighton".

Getting home the next day might be a bit tough, but I did 55 miles the other day after a late boozy night in London (was randomly drinking with Johnny Depp, pretty messy) and, apart from the water in my bidon tasting of JD and coke, I was fine.

Yeah, sorry wrote that then saw the bikes in your sig and figured "oops."

Yeah, but it's not about the bike though, is it?

---

Off road
On road

Gazzaputt

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Sh ... -Sea-front

daddy0

Il Principe wrote:

Yeah, sorry wrote that then saw the bikes in your sig and figured "oops."

kelsen wrote:

Yeah, but it's not about the bike though, is it?

You're both right. I got the Scott second hand last year and had trouble doing my 7 mile commute on it for ages. Got the Felt as a bonus through work, and when I got that I think the furthest I'd ridden since getting back in the saddle was 15 miles. But because I got such a nice bike it encouraged me, and allowed me (the Scott was a bit knackered and relatively heavy), to ride further and faster. Now I am pretty fit and its because of the bike.

Gazzaputt wrote:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Shop-front-to-Sea-front

Thanks for the link. Are you a Bigfooter then? I keep meaning to come along and have a go.

Back on topic - that route looks like it incorporates a couple of detours to some hills. Is that so, or is it pretty flat?

Stevo_666

Try this one:
Biggin Hill - Westerham - pick up the B2026 which takes you all the way to Maresfield - A272 - A275 - B2116 - then over Ditchling Beacon, which isn't that bad.

daddy0

Stevo 666 wrote:

Try this one:
Biggin Hill - Westerham - pick up the B2026 which takes you all the way to Maresfield - A272 - A275 - B2116 - then over Ditchling Beacon, which isn't that bad.

Cheers for that, will give it a go next time.

In the end I opted for as simple a route as possible:
Biggin Hill
Westerham
A25 to Godstone
A22 to Wych Cross
A275 to Lewes

And from Lewes I opted to head to Newhaven via Piddinghoe and then ride along the coast. Only, I got to Newhaven and my chain gave out. Luckily I was just down the road from the train station...

The chain had come off earlier in the ride and I must've bent it without realising. I managed to ride over 20 miles until a pin popped out and it wrapped itself around my back wheel, stalling it. Luckily the wheel and frame are OK and I managed to unclip and not crash whilst applying powerawesome uphill.

Ride felt good, could've kept going. Managed a decent average speed (for me) of 18.8mph.
http://app.strava.com/activities/56145315

Gazzaputt

Daddy0 wrote:

Gazzaputt wrote:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Shop-front-to-Sea-front

Thanks for the link. Are you a Bigfooter then? I keep meaning to come along and have a go.

I am infrequent rider with them at the mo. Not bad club at all friendly bunch (which is very large).

memsley89

Il Principe wrote:

I'd stay well cleat of the A27. Not a road for cycling. I'd go E Grinstead over to H Heath via Ardingly, then Wivelsfield, Ditchling, over the Beacon and zoom down into Brighton

http://goo.gl/maps/59Jaa

My normal route too, s'good un!
Although, if you fancy a challenge go Via 'West Hoathly' before Ardingly, to take on the infamous Cob Lane!

daddy0

Stevo 666 wrote:

Try this one:
Biggin Hill - Westerham - pick up the B2026 which takes you all the way to Maresfield - A272 - A275 - B2116 - then over Ditchling Beacon, which isn't that bad.

I took this route on Sunday and, apart from my riding buddy acting like a moody teenager all the way, it was great. I will certainly give it another go on my own at full speed :-)

Stevo_666

Daddy0 wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

Try this one:
Biggin Hill - Westerham - pick up the B2026 which takes you all the way to Maresfield - A272 - A275 - B2116 - then over Ditchling Beacon, which isn't that bad.

I took this route on Sunday and, apart from my riding buddy acting like a moody teenager all the way, it was great. I will certainly give it another go on my own at full speed :-)

Nice one, glad you liked it. I hadn't ridden it myself BTW but it looked quite good on the map Might give it a pop as a part of training for next years ride 100.

daddy0

Stevo 666 wrote:

Nice one, glad you liked it. I hadn't ridden it myself BTW but it looked quite good on the map Might give it a pop as a part of training for next years ride 100.

You hadn't done it before!!!!!? You're lucky that it was pretty flat, if it had been full of hills I would've been mad at you! :P

We actually avoided the Beacon at the end - I didn't think my friend could've made it over in his frame of mind (I almost left him to it a few times because he was being so flipping moody). Instead we got to Lewes and went straight over at the lights, got to Newhaven and turned right at the one way system then headed down the A259, which is a lovely series of bumps with a decent bus lane and cycle path to keep you out of the way of traffic for the most part of it. Don't know if its nicer than the Beacon, will have to give that a go next time.

The highlight was the top of the south downs (I think thats what it is) just before Maresfield, saw a sign that said "Number of Deer collisions in the past year: 247". Really nice downhill just after there.

If you want to see elevation data then heres the Strava link. Don't laugh at the speed, I was riding with someone who was purposefully dragging his heels:

http://www.strava.com/activities/77486516

Stevo_666

Daddy0 wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

Nice one, glad you liked it. I hadn't ridden it myself BTW but it looked quite good on the map Might give it a pop as a part of training for next years ride 100.

You hadn't done it before!!!!!? You're lucky that it was pretty flat, if it had been full of hills I would've been mad at you! :P

In my defence I never said that I had done it :P although as I'm a caring soul I looked at a map with contours and checked there wasn't anything too nasty before recommending it...

May give it a shot myself now you've checked it out for me