Anyone in the Edenbridge area?

OnTheRopes

I have reason to stay in the Edenbridge area for a few days, are there any decent (lets say fairly safe) roads to train on after dark and probably in the 1800 - 1930 pm rush hour rat run? Its always tricky when staying away from home.

mick_cornick

It's a bit out in the sticks so fast roads with blind bends. If your lights are good should be ok plenty of climbing at Crockham Hill and around Chartwell.

joe_totale-2

I often cycle around there, it's not too bad and there's some good hills nearby.
If you fancy some hill reps (and who doesn't?!?) then you can go up Toys Hill from Four Elms, go across to Ide Hill using Emmetts Lane, down Ide Hill and before the bottom turn across to go up Yorks Hill.
All those roads aren't usually too busy.

OnTheRopes

Thanks for the info, I will probably be staying near Toys Hill so I will try and get a circuit worked out.

kingdav

I live in the area and enjoy the cycling, though admittedly rarely in the dark. A loop with Toys and Yorks on it will be tough but good. Flatter routes are available taking in your pick of Lingfield, Crowhurst, Cowden, Penshurst, Chiddingstone, Hever

OnTheRopes

Thanks for additional info kingdav, hopefully I will get a chance to drive a circuit first (always preferable in my experience when training on dark roads in a new area) only there for a couple or threenights but a mix of flat and hills could be good.

term1te

I was visiting in the area last week, cycled through Edenbridge and over most of the hills mentioned. Yorks hill is a monster, more mud than tarmac this time of year, at least the mud helps to fill in some of the potholes. Riding around there in the dark I'd want some good lights and heavy duty tyres. If you like hill climb TTs, then after you've done Catford CC's climb up Yorks hill, try Brasted Hill, used in the 1931 national championship.

OnTheRopes

Brasted Hill eh? I bet that has an alternative name. Im thinking it may be safer to take the turbo to setup in the accommodation tbh just in case its grim at night

cruff

The roads of NW Kent have even more gammons on them than Essex, so training on them at night in winter probably isn't the best idea. If you can get out in daylight on a weekday, there are some lovely rides to be had. Starting a bit further North in Croydon I used to go up Layhams and down Clarks into Westerham, then up Hosey and down the South face towards Four Elms, then back up Ide Hill and down into Bessels Green, round to Brasted and up the North face of Toys and down to finish through Oxted and Caterham. Lots of nice hills round there - none particularly savage, although lots of them have sections reaching 12-16%, none of them are overly long

term1te

OnTheRopes wrote:

Brasted Hill eh? I bet that has an alternative name. Im thinking it may be safer to take the turbo to setup in the accommodation tbh just in case its grim at night

I used to live at the top of Brasted Hill. In the early days of Strava, as an early adopter, I briefly had the KoM, that's long gone now.

OnTheRopes

Cruff wrote:

The roads of NW Kent have even more gammons on them than Essex, so training on them at night in winter probably isn't the best idea. If you can get out in daylight on a weekday, there are some lovely rides to be had. Starting a bit further North in Croydon I used to go up Layhams and down Clarks into Westerham, then up Hosey and down the South face towards Four Elms, then back up Ide Hill and down into Bessels Green, round to Brasted and up the North face of Toys and down to finish through Oxted and Caterham. Lots of nice hills round there - none particularly savage, although lots of them have sections reaching 12-16%, none of them are overly long

Well Im here right now but managed to get a self catering establishment and brought the Turbo and Zwift on a laptop as well as outdoor kit and bike. Having driven the roads now there is no way I would try riding (by which I mean training) on them after dark unless I knew them really well, I thought this was a well off area but the roads are worse than Derbyshire for potholes and poor surfacing and being blinded by oncoming traffic is not my idea of safe.
I have to agree though that there would be some lovely rides round here on a nice day. Roll on British Summer Time