Myself and two friends, Neil and Jon had got this ride planned for some months. Allegedly this is a difficult ride to get registered on as it's so popular but we seemed to manage ok- lucky I guess. PLUS we got a total bargain on overnight accommodation- £29 per twin room for the night before: 12 miles to the start line, but hey... easy ride!
Our allotted start time was 0830 so we set off at 0700. We got there in plenty of time and actually crossed the start line, getting our cards stamped at 10 past. We were off. Well, sort of. With so many riders it was just mental! The journey from the hotel to the start took just under the hour. The first 10 miles took over an hour! The roads were bottlenecked. And with that many riders, it was actually quite dangerous.
Rides such as this bring out the 'one day a year riders'... you know, the ones that think it'll be a giggle etc. Fine.. that's fine... that is what it's about- encourage people to ride and all that jazz BUT the majority of these
Then you have the 'Black Spot' zones... Now, to me that would mean maybe slow down or maybe be a bit more cautious. No. Apparently not. To the 'Day Tripper' it means LEG IT...Can't see anything round the corners but it's downward sloping so let's bloody go for it! Three words.... Blue Flashing Lights. I'm pretty sure the St Johns Ambulence crews must have run out of TicTacs and Extra Strong Mints on this event!
One guy had hit a fence on a corner because he couldn't/didn't brake and his bike stopped- he flipped over the fence and was out cold. They were dropping left right and centre. Like I said..it was actually quite scary. I've posted a video on here at the end. Have a look. It actually doesn't do the crowds justice but gives you an idea.
Don't get me wrong, it was ace fun and a great atmosphere with people certainly getting into the spirit of it (Team Lard were a personal favourite) with all sorts of bikes and fancy dress. One guy was on a beautiful 1970's vintage Chopper and there were lots of tandems. A big hello to the guys on the tandem in full drag as Emily & Florence from little Britain..inspired and very funny!... people just needed to be a bit more careful.
Anyway, we had a few water stops on the way and eventually arrived at a rather large hill known as Ditchling Beacon. Narrow and steep (2k with an average gradient of 9.7%). The only words that can describe it. Now I'm no pro cyclist (as you all know) but I know how to tackle a steep hill. Steady and slow pace- total concentration on your own movements and everyone around you. One false move and you're in trouble. On the left of this road, riders were dismounting and walking the hill. Fair enough. In the middle, riders were giving it their best but alot were having to dismount. On the far right (or maybe this was just my take on it) were the riders that could cope and had the legs for riding this hill. I've got a steady pace going, happy with what I'm doing...Jon's gone on in front and he's riding it well...Neil's somewhere behind and again, he's good on hills too. HOWEVER Mr gangly legs in front of me is swerving all over and two thirds up decides it's time for a little drink. On a hill. Cycling. CAN'T YOU WAIT TIL YOU GET TO THE TOP??? Apparently not. And what happens when one starts fidgeting about for bottles... concentration goes and so does his speed.... My front wheel touches his back wheel and BAM...I'm on the bloody floor. By this point my vocab has turned a nice shade of blue as I mutter under my breath. but I got up pretty sharpish, straighten my wheel and after a few paces, remounted and carried on. Very unimpressed and even more unimpressed that all video footage after this point is unusable due to the jolt and the GoPro camera is now facing downwards for the rest of the ride.
I'm glad to say I overtook Mr gangly legs about 5 mins later and yes I was still muttering as I made my approach to sunny and windy Brighton. Again, as we all approached the city, riders bottlenecked and ground to a halt- a combination of traffic lights and shear numbers of cyclists but once on Brighton front for the finish, it was wonderful. Very atmospheric with a huge crowd to cheer us all across the finish line. And so that was the L2B ride. I crossed the finish line at about 1300 with Jon and Neil coming in about 15 mins later, but this ride was never going to be about times- it was about being part of possibly the largest organised ride in the UK.
"How did you get back to that London" I hear you cry! Coach and lorry: bikes stowed into a lorry and us collapsing into the coach back to Clapham Common. Once unloaded we had our lovely 12 mile ride back to the car and an even more lovely drive home. So a total of 78 miles clocked up... a long ol day. But, as always, fun!
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| start & finish, we got this stamped |
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