London to Brighton this weekend

[agentnomad]

Well I am doing the L2B this weekend with a group from work.

We are travelling down from the Grimsby area Saturday afternoon, staying overnight and riding the L2B Sunday morning and staying over in Brighton Sunday night and travelling back to work Monday.

We have a start time of 08:00 I am hopping for some clean air and a free ride to Brighton.

Anyone from here doing it?

[MadDad]

Yup, I am doing it - 07.30 start for me - rider number 11980! See you there........

[ccr32]

Yep, though friend who booked us on it got us the 9:30 slot so I expect to be down there by sometime on Monday...

Hope the weather improves anyway!

[Shuttle Cock]

Yep, i'm there too, 7am start for me, rider number 7854.

[nessiemac]

Yep,15 of us doing it in a "relaxed" style with a 06:30 start.
Hoprfully on the new bike if it ever turns up!

[BPC7]

Me too, 7am start with number 7820. Weather looks good for Saturday, NOT, hopefully Sunday will improve!!

[DarrenL]

first time in 3 years iäm not doing it, as a result I havent trained and but it 5kgs

The good thing about Austria however is you are never short of a mountain or two to climb!

[Cookie172]

6am start, number 155. I was a bit keen

[blueheron]

Did it in 2003 with no training. Then again I was 17 and much fitter than I am now! Didn't manage Ditchling Beacon though.

Remember it being a very hot day, got sunburnt on both forearms

[Snowman23]

Yep, 6.30 start number 5593

Looking forward to it, any advice on food for the day before, loads of carbs?

[walm]

agentnomad said:

We have a start time of 08:00 I am hoping for some clean air and a free ride to Brighton.

Just to help manage your expectations; it's going to be VERY VERY busy at 8am.
2 years ago I left at 730am (slowly on MTB with the wife) and we were swamped the whole way down.
Last year left as close to the starting gun as possible in maybe one of the first 10 waves and it was still dangerously busy for a good 30-45 mins.

[Silver940]

Started at 630 last year, was busy already. We stopped a couple of times on the way for a bacon buttie and drinks. I don't reckon many more got up Ditchling after me as it just became jam packed!

enjoy it though the experience is amazing!

[MadDad]

Silver940 said:

Started at 630 last year, was busy already. We stopped a couple of times on the way for a bacon buttie and drinks. I don't reckon many more got up Ditchling after me as it just became jam packed!

enjoy it though the experience is amazing!

Well, I guess at least I will have an excuse for a slow average speed!!

[buccal]

6am start time for me and the lads from work.

Praying the last few days rain doesn't come back!

[stongle]

7:30 off, not looking good for breaking 3 hrs due to crowds and weather though. ;-(

[SaTTaN]

6am start for me, Black/White Scott Speedster and PH cycle jersey.

Just incase there is any confusion, I'm the one who ate all the pies.

[louiebaby]

I went off in wave 3 last year, and it was very busy for the first half hour or so. Look out for some kind of bike counter coming into Brighton, I think it counts the number of bikes per day past it. It said about 157 or so when I went past.

I only stopped to open a bag of Jelly Babies, then ate them out of my back pocket as I went along.

There were a few people going up Ditchling at the same time as me, but it wasn't too busy. I'd hate to be in one of the later runs, as I prefer the open road and to be able to make progress at my own pace.

Have fun all, and stay safe!

[TKF]

Our team has an 8:30 start time. Not expecting any Strava records to be beaten...

[Silver940]

TKF said:

Our team has an 8:30 start time. Not expecting any Strava records to be beaten...

Records aren't what it's about to be honest, it's a great atmosphere with more going on along the route than you'll see on any other ride, kids out serving cakes and stuff by their houses, high fiving as you go by. It's a brilliant day and one I want to do again. I was amazed how quick it went by.

If the logistics of get to the start and picked up from the finish weren't such a pain I'd have done it again this year, I'll definately be doing it again though!

[Hackney]

Too late to tag along to this?

I was thinking of going to Brighton and back (from Islington) this weekend as part of my training but then I remembered seeing this thread.

May have to change plans if it's going to be L2B riders only or if it will be too busy.