South Downs or New Forest

jpower

I was planning on booking my first longer distance ride before the weather turns. I am trying to decide between South Downs 72 miles or New Forest 81 mile, I have done 45 miles with 2000ft elevation gain to date and that was totally fine, could have gone on, in 3 hours.

The South Downs has more elevation then New Forest, so trying to figure out which would be better as my first organised ride.

Any help in choicing much appreciated.

jpower

Oh forgot to mention, I am siding with less elevation for my start ride, so New Forest is current favourite.

ugo.santalucia

I have been around Burley in the New Forest recently.... the off road is very nice, but the roads are pretty congested and narrow and you have to avoid at all cost the A 31/A35, as they are deadly. There aren't that many tarmac roads I would want to cycle on, to be honest...

jpower

That doesn't sound too good. Has anyone that's been on both these rides care to voice there thoughts please.

ravenvrider

Well just to balance things up, i live in Bournemouth so ride in the New Forest and especially Burley and surrounding areas all the time, the only road that could be classed as "congested" is the road that goes through Burley at peak holiday traffic times, the rest of the areas local lanes are all relatively quiet, and frankly you will not need to ride on the A31 and at worst just cross the A35.

jpower

1-1

So this is the wiggle organized sportive ride so route is pre-determined.

Bar Shaker

One of my favourite rides is Bournmouth to Brighton, which goes through both. The New Forest is the easier part and is very pretty. The climbs on the Downs are not to be underestimated if you think your endurance could let you down.

I am doing the Wiggle 100 mile NF route this year.

ravenvrider

Ok, i have not done the wiggle event but i just looked up the route on strava for the 81 mile route, (if you look it up on strava make sure you find the recent ones that start in Matchams this year as the starting point has changed).

From just my experience of riding those roads, the first 5 odd miles is on more (country) main roads and is a bit busier but thereafter it is only when nearing the main towns/villages that traffic will be a bit more mainly (Burley although it cuts across it as opposed to goes through it) and Brockenhurst, then you will have the last 5 miles back on the same start roads. And as i thought you do not go on the A31 and only cross the A35, the vast bulk of it will be quiet country lanes...although obviously a bit busier with 3000 riders on the day.

Perhaps someone could comment who has done it.

jpower

Thanks for that, also trying to figure out if I have only done 2000ft elevation, is it better to go for the longer 81 miles with 3000ft elevation, or the shorter 72 miles but 4000ft elevation?

iron-clover

My parental home is in Portsmouth, so I've ridden pretty much every road in the South Downs between Alresford and Petworth, and I've had a couple of trips to the New Forest this year as well.

The South Downs do have lots of quiet and scenic routes, probably the best area I've been in stretching from Alresford, down to the Meon Valley and across to Petersfield. If you look on Bing's OS map you will see loads of country lanes to choose from, especially around Hambledon.
However, as you get towards Petersfield and between Petersfield and Midhurst the road surface does disintegrate a fair bit, and the quiet lanes can be a little too narrow and twisty for comfort.
Also, you can't really escape the lumps, and I'd expect to do around 2400-3300ft of climbing in a decent ride, so it might be a little bit much.

However, I loved the New Forest when I was down there. The lanes south of Beaulieu and down to Lymington I found were all marble smooth, and almost desterted, even on a sunny weekend in May. The Beaulieu road from Lyndhurst wasn't too bad traffic wise, and you can always take a long cut past ferney Crofts by the station which will take you across the heath. Heading North past Brockenhurst and up to Nomansland was quite nice too, and there are well maintained gravel cycle paths crossing the forest if you feel like getting off the beaten track.

In all, I'd say the New Forest is the better place to go and explore- most of the roads are quiet enough to just head down whichever you fancy and get yourself lost. It's also pretty flat, with the only lumps being up in the North (which is also a nice place to cycle around).

jpower

Thanks for that, maybe New Forest is the better option, as I mentioned at the start the route has a little less elevation compared to the South Downs route, so guessing might be a better introduction for me.

davep1

jpower wrote:

Thanks for that, also trying to figure out if I have only done 2000ft elevation, is it better to go for the longer 81 miles with 3000ft elevation, or the shorter 72 miles but 4000ft elevation?

I live in the South Downs, near Steyning; I haven't ridden in the New Forest so can't really compare the two. However, it sounds like you are new-ish to distance riding and on that basis I would say do the New Forest ride; it's only 9 miles further but much less climbing, and that is what takes it out of you, especially at the end of a long ride. Pace yourself really carefully, especially at the start, don't be tempted to keep up with the quick guys. In fact, if you can, ride slower than you would normally at the start and then you'll feel better for longer.

jpower

Thanks for the advice. I think New Forest it is, going to go for a long ride tommorrow as final test before sign up, thinks it's time to hit my first 100k ride.

Bar Shaker

The New Forest route has changed dramatically this year. You can see it on the Wiggle site.

jpower

Bar Shaker wrote:

The New Forest route has changed dramatically this year. You can see it on the Wiggle site.

Is that for the good?

Tiesetrotter

I did the South Downs last year .......... boy did it rain!

It is for the most part a very pretty route. I can only remember one major climb about two thirds in, although it was very undulating. However I ride the north downs and Kent/Sussex Weald so it is normal for me to do 1,500m on a 100km ride.

With the exception of the King of The Downs, which is down right tough whom ever you are, Wiggle's rides are pretty sensible well planned routes.

curto80

Great question, love it.

I'm from Winchester which means I'm slap bang in the middle of the two. When I fancy a chilled, fairly easy ride I head south into the forest. When I'm in the mood for a slightly more challenging ride or training for something hilly I go east onto the downs. Both are beautiful and inspiring places to ride. Be guided by how fit and confident you feel and what you want to get out of the day.

Twelly

New Forest - Mostly flat, Northern half of the forest has some quite poor road surfaces but the area around Sway and Brokenhurst is so smooth you will forget you are on a push bike. Nice scenery but watch out for the anti-bike brigade.

South Downs - A few impressive climbs and lots of undulating roads, some very pretty quiet roads but overall a more challenging place to ride.

Stick to the New Forest one if its your first sportive. I made the mistake of pushing myself too hard on my first long sportive and it was not an enjoyable experience.

I used to live in Waterlooville and now live in the NF, I have done the Wiggle South Downs 100 and the New Forest Spring 61.

matt-h

Hi JP,
I ride both.
I live near and my club often ride the South Downs and a couple of friends live near the New Forest.
The NF is great for fast flatter rides. Some nice flowing climbs can be found near the Boulderwood area to keep you challenged. but it's nice to get into a fast position and get a great average speed. Watch out for a headwind though, It can be quite punishing. Beware of the locals in 4x4s - they can be unpredictable.
I would recommend getting out as early as possible to avoid the traffic and take in the morning scents.

My preference is the downs. The views atop of the climbs never get boring and take on a new view depending on which time of the day - early evening with a low sun can be quite spectacular.
The climbs range from short and punchy, to a couple of kms long with a 4-5% average gradient.
Low traffic and some nice villages such as East Meon are very nice

Enjoy both

Matt

jpower

Ok signing up for NF when I get near a PC.

So I'm well chuffed today, done my first 100k ride this morning and feel pretty good.

So 101km with 2700ft elevation in 4h 17mins with no stops, I think I could go quicker but being solo I found I hit some lows only to be woken up when a rider went passed then realized u could maintain that pace and more, would have really benefitted with a buddy rider. All the same I'm well pleased did target 4 hours in my head so little off.

How is that pace? Does that put me as a beginner? Just curious.

Yes I will attempt to leave in the very first batch for NF I prefer early rides to be honest.

So question above about what I wanted to achieve, one just to show myself I can do it, I've actually lost 3 stones in weight since beginning of the year and feel great about it, so it's partly doing things I would never have thought off, secondly I love riding and I do have the pleasure of riding in the chiltern area but all the same a new place is always good, I'm almost always solo so be pleased to be riding with others an yes I've read how it's not the usual friendly bike hello's an cheeky drafting, all good I will try keep etiquette although having never done group rides not I'm not versed on the manners, so I apologise in advance, I promise to take my turn in the front if my legs can manage :-) and lastly I want to continue to do more events, it gives extra motivation when training you feel like there a target, at least I do. Oh decent time, prob not but as little over 5 hours as possible will be in my head.

curto80

You're a breath of fresh air mate, I like your attitude. Best of luck with it all.

jpower

Curto80 wrote:

You're a breath of fresh air mate, I like your attitude. Best of luck with it all.

Many thanks. Can't wait.

jpower

So completed the New Forest Standard yesterday and felt great about it, so didn't really see the negatives I had read about, people were nice and friendly, didn't feel like I was riding alone at all. Learnt some today signs and words to shout out was great fun and perfect weather too. Definitely will do some more.

The kicker I complete in 4h58m according to garmin moving time, however event time does take into account the lights, junctions and feed stations, the gold time was 5h13m and i got 5h13m AND 10 SECONDS, you can tell I'm not sore about those 10 seconds.

il sole

jpower wrote:

So completed the New Forest Standard yesterday and felt great about it, so didn't really see the negatives I had read about, people were nice and friendly, didn't feel like I was riding alone at all. Learnt some today signs and words to shout out was great fun and perfect weather too. Definitely will do some more.

The kicker I complete in 4h58m according to garmin moving time, however event time does take into account the lights, junctions and feed stations, the gold time was 5h13m and i got 5h13m AND 10 SECONDS, you can tell I'm not sore about those 10 seconds.

Well done!!

I did the epic, just outside my target time of 5 1/2 hours, but it was a brilliant day out and as ever with these events, very well organised. There were some very fast chain gangs going on around the route which was great for the mile or so I was able to keep up, and the standard of riding was excellent, APART from the complete to$$er who sailed through the red lights at the bottom of Lode hill in Downton. Tw%t! Still, karma struck, when at the top of the climb he had a mechanical issue!!

jpower

Wow that sounds like a quick time indeed to me. Yeah there were some quick chain gangs, loved the whistling sounds that there bikes were making as they sailed by. One day :-)

Bar Shaker

I did the epic on Saturday. No great times as one of our (normally fast) girls was having an off day and we didn't want to drop her. It mattered not as we had an excellent day, despite the weather.

More hilly than I was expecting and some 'out of the saddle' climbs in there made it good. A really nice mix of roads. Well organised and very pretty scenery.

il sole

Bar Shaker wrote:

I did the epic on Saturday. No great times as one of our (normally fast) girls was having an off day and we didn't want to drop her. It mattered not as we had an excellent day, despite the weather.

More hilly than I was expecting and some 'out of the saddle' climbs in there made it good. A really nice mix of roads. Well organised and very pretty scenery.

most of the roads are my regular training roads, so there weren't too many surprises! A more challenging local sportive is the 'wiltshire wildcat' in march - twice the climbing :-)

Anonymous

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I have been around Burley in the New Forest recently.... the off road is very nice, but the roads are pretty congested and narrow and you have to avoid at all cost the A 31/A35, as they are deadly. There aren't that many tarmac roads I would want to cycle on, to be honest...

Get a bit lost did we? I live IN Burley and its not really like that at all. Avoiding the A31/35 is as easy as avoiding the A3/M25 if you're heading to Surrey from SW London. There are plenty of over and under-passes.

The off road is amazing, I'll give you that.

Can highly recommend the NF sportive, a really good ride. Only downside are the NIMBY saboteurs (tacks last time I was there).