King of the Downs

goonz

Hey there im looking to take on the King of the Downs sportive in June as prep for the Pyrenees but am a bit confused with the logistics. Its a sunday ride and need to be in Gatwick by 6. Checked the Gatwick Express for that day (June 1st) and there are some planned engineering works on the line so could be delays. In addition when speaking to the customer services they advised allowing a bike on the train is at the discretion of the train guards so no guarantee I would get on anyway from Victoria.

My question I guess is

1. Has anyone done it before and travelled from London minus a car? How did you do it?

2. Is anyone doing it this year and perhaps driving down and wouldnt mind a +1? Obviously costs of petrol etc would be reimbursed.

Is this a possibility?

goonz

Anyone else going?

bikergirl17

yes, done it two times and never had an issue with taking my bike on the train from victoria. also note there is the regular line to gatwick, which is a bit slower but cheaper. it sounds like it could be faster if some stations are closed due to the road works. also bake in at least 20 minutes from the train to the start ... takes some time to get through the train station (which lets you out in the airport) and then ride about 1 mile.

you don't need to be there by 6 am; i try to get there to start by 7 only because i am really slow. but i think they don't really shut down until 6 pm or so, so even with a 9 am start one should get around. the first half is like 1,000 m of climbing if that, and most notable for the endless drag after doing box hill back to gatwick -- someone really fit should be able to do the first 50 miles in under 3 hours.

also i wouldn't consider this ride ideal training for the pryenees as the climbs are really short (although in full disclosure i am also going there about two weeks later and know i will be seriously struggling).

goonz

Thats great, i thought I had to be registered and ready by 6.30-7 so in that case will not rush so much.

Might hopefully have a ride up to the event though so may not need to worry about it.

Are you riding again this year? Does not seem many forumengers are taking part?

goonz

This is very nearly upon us and now I am dreading having applied for the 115mile route. Anyone else going?

Forecast is looking grim. Character building at its finest.

slowbike

goonz wrote:

This is very nearly upon us and now I am dreading having applied for the 115mile route. Anyone else going?

Forecast is looking grim. Character building at its finest.

Which forecast are you looking at?!
http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/UK/Crawley.htm
has it as cloudy with some sunshine.... seems good to me.

Course - doesn't seem too bad - I did the little lumpy as my first ever 100 and that was a similar amount of climbing (published 7300', measured 8700') - having signed up very late I had no time to do any training and the furthest ridden prior to that this year was 66 miles with 4000' - at a much lower pace too.
I did listen to and heed advice from others - don't go out like a bull in a china shop, drop down a gear lower than you normally would on climbs and ensure you eat & drink regularly.

The only thing I found, which was a little disappointing, was that there was no large groups to get in - but to be fair, it was never really flat enough to gain much benefit of group riding and the size of the roads would've made it tricky anyway - even so, I joined up with a few guys along the route which was nice.

In the last 10 miles or so I saw a few people who'd blown up - bit harder for them as the last bit was up hill >10% - but following the advice above I had enough left in the tank to not only do that, but also sprint for the line... (like it makes a difference to my time!! - but it felt good to finish "strong").

KotD looks to be a good ride - have fun with it

goonz

Thanks thats definitely helped!

I really need to heed the advice of not coming out the blocks too hard but hoping I can listen to my training program and keep in HR 2 as much as possible.

slowbike

goonz wrote:

Thanks thats definitely helped!

I really need to heed the advice of not coming out the blocks too hard but hoping I can listen to my training program and keep in HR 2 as much as possible.

Ah - yes, my aim for the bulk of the LL was to stay below 150bpm - my 10mile TT effort is normally ~165. Bar a couple of peaks I managed to stay below that level - and that probably helped significantly.
I did let a couple of speedies go a the start - one of those I reeled in later when he blew up. I rode with a gent for some miles before letting him go as his pace was just a little too keen for me - in the end he was just ~20 minutes faster.
The last 15 miles I did let myself open the taps a little as it started a bit flatter so drafting a faster group was helpful, but once it went up again I let them go. Incidentally, one of them blew up on the climb and got off to walk, so it's apparent that you still have to pace yourself.

All in all I don't think there was anything I could've done differently to go faster - other than train more - descents were a bit tricky for me as there was a lot of gravel about and with bright sunlight through trees it wasn't always obvious where it was so I was probably over cautious - all the braking did hurt the soft pad inbetween thumb and forefinger though

bikergirl17

this is actually a surprisingly large amount of flat and is a course for a strong, powerful guy -- not a climber. the start is flat faffing until leith ... then the usual surrey little climbs--and they turn off pitch right before the 1 in 8 too...after box it is just endless flat/rolls until gatwick that are just mind numbing ... and then you have a few scary steep things in the kent half (and i am on a double, so just don't have the gearing for them. on a compact with a 11-28 i am sure one can just spin up)... and flat until the end. and it is only about 7,000 feet despite being advertised as 9,000.

the one thing to watch is water, particularly if it is hot. 2012 was just boiling, and the stations are about 35 miles apart so i had to stop at pubs several times along the route.

56mph

Am riding this Sunday (for the third time); this one is seriously tough with a real sting in the tail as the killer climbs come near the end, also there is quite a lot of flat out and back from/to Gatwick so it's worth trying to ride those bits in a group if you can. Good luck to all!

writethatd0wn

second time for me - last year was my first 100 miler so I was just pleased to get round.

Its a good route and well run by Evans, it's on a slightly bigger scale than a lot of the other sportives I have done and doing things like registration took longer than usual due to the volume of riders.

If it's like last year they label the climbs (of which there were 10) which did add to the experience but be warned that a couple on the first loop seemed easier than some of the 'uncategorised' hills on the second loop.

As previously mentioned the bit after Box Hill back to Gatwick is predominantly flat and would be ideal to grab a wheel and get some free kms in.

Yorks Hill and White Lane although not long were brutal after 140 kms, I also seem to recall that due to the tree cover the narrow road was quite uneven and still a bit wet, I havent been up them this year so no idea if that is still the case.

According to my Garmin it was 2500 Meters of elevation and the nature of it being all in short steep hills really took it out of my legs. I will be riding with my 12-29 and will definitely be thankful of the 29 on some of those last hills.

Link to last years ride

http://www.strava.com/activities/57835773

goonz

Errr you guys are not filling me with confidence!

Longest ride of the year so far, predominantly flat was 90 odd miles and I was cooked in the last 10.

Im going to have to really keep myself disciplined to not shoot off to try to catch every wheel that flies past.

Tiesetrotter

It is fine, you can easily do 2000m in 100km around the North Downs and Surrey hills, but this isn't near that. The hills do tend to be short and sharp two thirds of the way in, if you google Yorks Hill and Catford you'll see one of the steepest. But there are much easier ones like Box for example. The longer ones will be things like Lieth and Ide (there is a Cafe at the top, it's worth pausing for the view alone).

Personally I'd always use a compact because some of the little snorters are better with them unless you are young and strong.

bikergirl17

will second that .... other than the last two hills -- which i doubt i can get up on a standard -- the rest is not particularly challenging unless you are doing this to get in 6-7 hour range. in fact, you may be better off if you do get on a wheel and draft vs. slog around by yourself, which i will inevitably do. i do the first half regularly -- and would watch out on combe lane (second climb) only because the little turn is steep and narrow and i have had people clip out around me, which can be dangerous.

goonz

Done it, great day out weather was spot on. Tough ride and the climbs only got tougher to the end! Sneaky of them to throw in hill 10.5!

7.30 moving time on garmin but Evans timed it as 9hrs as had to stop a number of times for mechanicals and cramping in my group. Still, a great day out and just glad to get my first century ride this year out the way.

slowbike

Nice

bikergirl17

At least evans got you a time. I was one of the many whose time they listed as dnf.

When I emailed them as instructed & I mentioned I got in before 3:45 by my watch. So my time in the updated list? 3:44 on the half (I did the full) -- no response from him when I asked how that was possible. Rather they just admit they lost the times than make it up.

Anyhow was a good day out. But I found the ditching devil, which has a bit more climbing, much more fun.