Wiggle South Downs Sportive ?

Donkeywings

Hi
Looking for some opinions on the Wiggle South Downs Sportive in a couple of weeks. Mainly how hard the Standard (73 miler) is? I read a thread here a while back where people who had done the Epic (100 miles) said it was a killer, but I can't find it now.

I did my first sportive on Sunday - Wiggle New Forest, 70 mile standard. Beautiful sunny day and great scenery, and got around in 4:20, but to be fair it's mostly flat and was pretty easy (certainly a lot easier than the Basingstoke Big Wheel 100km I did last month)

The South Downs has twice as much climbing, and hills are my weak point at the moment. And the weather is sure to be a lot worse. Just wondering how anyone else found it?

cheers!

slowbike

I ride the area quite a bit - most of the hills can just be grinds - there's only one that I know of that may stop ppl riding as it reaches 13% ..

Just looking at the Std:
Kennel hill is just a drag. There is also a bit of uphill towards the A285, but nothing steep.
The drop down into Duncton is fun ... ie fast!
Graffham through to Cocking is "undulating"
Out of Cocking it's a narrow road - it does climb, but it's not steep
you get a bit of respite on the Bepton road - there's 1 little bump in it - the rest is downhill.
I don't know the road through to Milland and back to Rogate - but it's certainly got some hills in it.
Rogate to South Harting is deceptive - there is a good climb just before you hit SH - and then you're onto the 13% "killer" It's a very quiet road though. Once at the top you get the easy way out (I normally turn left and carry on climbing for another 2-300 meters!) but it's a steep twisty descent with a mainroad junction at the end.
The run out to Nursted is "rolling" again.
I don't know the roads out to East Meon and back to Finchdean - but it's another not very steep climb up to Forestside.
Down past Standsted house is a nice run - a bit rough on the road, but you've got time to recover!
The last run in along the common road is easy - a few little humps between East Ashling and West Broyle, but if you've got speed up you can just roll over them.
Sherbourne Road is full of speed bumps ... !

Rating of that to the NF one? The NF one had steep climbs, but not the same as the one up from SH - that's the main killer that I know of. The rest of it is just leg sapping,
If I was going to do it I'd try the 100 though!

Donkeywings

Wow - that's a detailed reply - thanks :-)

slowbike

As I said - I ride the area quite a bit - one bit is part of my commute ...