Any tips for London to Brighton?

[Paradiddle]

I'm planning on riding down from London to Brighton for the first time this weekend. Looking for any tips that may be helpful or make the ride more pleasant e.g. things to carry, places to look out for etc

There will be 3 of us and we're planning on following the BHF London-Brighton route from Clapham common, then taking the train back from Brighton. This will be the longest ride we would have done previously having ridden 25-30 miles comfortably. We'll be on road bikes with 25mm tires.

I'm planning to use a medium seat pack and small frame bag to carry spares, pump, small first aid kit, power bank, and snacks. Will have 2 water bottles on the bike. Once we cross the M25 we'll be looking to have a lunch break in the Redhill area.

My main concern is navigation, especially getting out of London, as we only have a Garmin edge 130 on my bike. Thinking of removing my cadence sensor to save battery and charging it with the power bank during the ride to make sure it has enough juice.

So yeah, any tips the forum may have would be welcome

[smcknighty]

Haven’t done that for a long time, there’s a couple of newsagents and a few pubs along the way. The Garmin should be fine, maybe review the route on Google Earth first so you recognise the turns. Pack a mask! The hill over the downs at the end is tough if your not used to riding that far.


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

[iandusud]

I'm planning on riding down from London to Brighton for the first time this weekend. Looking for any tips that may be helpful or make the ride more pleasant e.g. things to carry, places to look out for etc

There will be 3 of us and we're planning on following the BHF London-Brighton route from Clapham common, then taking the train back from Brighton. This will be the longest ride we would have done previously having ridden 25-30 miles comfortably. We'll be on road bikes with 25mm tires.

I'm planning to use a medium seat pack and small frame bag to carry spares, pump, small first aid kit, power bank, and snacks. Will have 2 water bottles on the bike. Once we cross the M25 we'll be looking to have a lunch break in the Redhill area.

My main concern is navigation, especially getting out of London, as we only have a Garmin edge 130 on my bike. Thinking of removing my cadence sensor to save battery and charging it with the power bank during the ride to make sure it has enough juice.

So yeah, any tips the forum may have would be welcome

My best tip would be to take your time and enjoy it. If you have ridden 25-30 previously you'll have no problems at all. Take it easy on the hills. Be sure to eat and drink enough. This last point is crucial. I have ridden with people who have regularly done rides of x number of miles who struggle to do more simply because they haven't eaten enough. They seem surprised at how much I eat at tea/lunch stops but you will be burning 500-600 calories an hour. The first couple of hours, more or less, will be covered by your body's glycogen reserves but after that if you're not replacing calories at the same rate that you're burning them then you will grind to a halt. Unfortunately a lot of people when they experience this think along the lines of, "I'm not fit enough, I didn't train enough, I'm not strong enough" whereas the real answer is "I didn't eat enough". I have taken kids from 11 years up carrying loaded panniers cycling around the Brecon Beacons who have never done anything like that sort of effort on a bike, doing up to 60 miles a day, and they have no problem if they are allowed to go at a pace that suits them and are fed and watered.

As for navigation I've never used a Garmin or suchlike. I suggest you carefully study the route you're planning to take using a map (paper or online) and try and visualise the bits that look like they might be problematic. If you're carrying a smartphone you can always refer to Googlemaps. You can also plot the route on Googlemaps and refer to that if you think you may have wandered off route. This gives you a good excuse to stop for a minute or two.

It sounds like a great plan if you haven't done this sort of thing before and with a bit of decent weather you'll have a wonderful day that could be the start of many more longer rides. I have ridden a lot in that part of the England and despite the density of population there is a lot of really nice cycling to be had south of London on the North and South Downs. I'm now fortunate enough to live on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.

Ian

[Paradiddle]

Haven’t done that for a long time, there’s a couple of newsagents and a few pubs along the way. The Garmin should be fine, maybe review the route on Google Earth first so you recognise the turns. Pack a mask! The hill over the downs at the end is tough if your not used to riding that far.

Yes, I've heard about the hills towards the end. Will take it easy.
I'll also be reviewing the route on Streetview these few days before the ride. Definitely going to be packing a mask for the shops and the train ride back.
Thanks

My best tip would be to take your time and enjoy it. If you have ridden 25-30 previously you'll have no problems at all. Take it easy on the hills. Be sure to eat and drink enough. This last point is crucial. I have ridden with people who have regularly done rides of x number of miles who struggle to do more simply because they haven't eaten enough. They seem surprised at how much I eat at tea/lunch stops but you will be burning 500-600 calories an hour. The first couple of hours, more or less, will be covered by your body's glycogen reserves but after that if you're not replacing calories at the same rate that you're burning them then you will grind to a halt. Unfortunately a lot of people when they experience this think along the lines of, "I'm not fit enough, I didn't train enough, I'm not strong enough" whereas the real answer is "I didn't eat enough". I have taken kids from 11 years up carrying loaded panniers cycling around the Brecon Beacons who have never done anything like that sort of effort on a bike, doing up to 60 miles a day, and they have no problem if they are allowed to go at a pace that suits them and are fed and watered.

As for navigation I've never used a Garmin or suchlike. I suggest you carefully study the route you're planning to take using a map (paper or online) and try and visualise the bits that look like they might be problematic. If you're carrying a smartphone you can always refer to Googlemaps. You can also plot the route on Googlemaps and refer to that if you think you may have wandered off route. This gives you a good excuse to stop for a minute or two.

It sounds like a great plan if you haven't done this sort of thing before and with a bit of decent weather you'll have a wonderful day that could be the start of many more longer rides. I have ridden a lot in that part of the England and despite the density of population there is a lot of really nice cycling to be had south of London on the North and South Downs. I'm now fortunate enough to live on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.

Ian

Thanks Ian. Good point on making sure we eat and drink enough, especially since I had not been on a ride above 2 hours.
I'll pack sweets, bars, and an isotonic drink. Will pick up some more food and drinks along the way.

We'll have our phones with the GPX uploaded on both Googlemaps and Komoot. However having a printout is a pretty good idea as well. More convenient than having to load up the map each time we stop to check. I'd rather not use a phone mount on a long ride.

[Richard Fairhurst]

With apologies for stating the obvious: the BHF route is designed for the BHF event, for which they close (many of) the roads. That means that it spends a fair amount of time on roads that, at any other time of the year, are quite busy.

That might be the sort of cycling you like, of course, in which case: enjoy! But personally I'd choose a route on quieter roads.

[ANTONISH]

With apologies for stating the obvious: the BHF route is designed for the BHF event, for which they close (many of) the roads. That means that it spends a fair amount of time on roads that, at any other time of the year, are quite busy.

That might be the sort of cycling you like, of course, in which case: enjoy! But personally I'd choose a route on quieter roads.

+1

I first did this ride from Bexley SE London ( there and back in the day) in 1955 when I was 14.
Traffic then was very light and much slower.
I've done audax rides in that area in recent times and some of the roads are very heavily trafficked - you would be advised to research the route.
You may have to encounter hills and some poor surfaces to get a reasonably quiet ride.

[Paradiddle]

With apologies for stating the obvious: the BHF route is designed for the BHF event, for which they close (many of) the roads. That means that it spends a fair amount of time on roads that, at any other time of the year, are quite busy.

That might be the sort of cycling you like, of course, in which case: enjoy! But personally I'd choose a route on quieter roads.

+1

I first did this ride from Bexley SE London ( there and back in the day) in 1955 when I was 14.
Traffic then was very light and much slower.
I've done audax rides in that area in recent times and some of the roads are very heavily trafficked - you would be advised to research the route.
You may have to encounter hills and some poor surfaces to get a reasonably quiet ride.

I understand that. I've checked out a couple of routes from independent cycling websites and google maps, however the BHF one seems to be on of the most straightforward. My main concern with the route is the way out of London. The second half seems to be mainly on B-roads. However I've made some minor tweaks to the route and will continue to review it over the next day or two.

Is there a quieter route that you would recommend instead? It's not too late for us to change the route. If you could call out the areas that you think we should avoid that would be much appreciated too.

[Paradiddle]

I've also just found this
https://detourblog.co.uk/2014/09/22/lon ... irst-time/
Route: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Old+Str ... 72!1m0!3e1

Will be using this to alter the route within London as it seems to pick quieter roads and paths.

[Richard Fairhurst]

I understand that. I've checked out a couple of routes from independent cycling websites and google maps, however the BHF one seems to be on of the most straightforward. My main concern with the route is the way out of London. The second half seems to be mainly on B-roads. However I've made some minor tweaks to the route and will continue to review it over the next day or two.

If you've checked out independent websites you've probably seen my preferred route, because it's the one on cycle.travel.

Speaking entirely personally, it'd be the rural B-roads I'd try to avoid, because the cars there will be mostly bombing round fast corners at 60mph. London is busier but by and large the traffic will be moving slowly. For example, I don't mind spending a couple of miles on the A237 into Coulsdon because it's a 30mph limit, but I'd try and avoid the rural B2028 around Ardingly just because the traffic's so much faster. I'd prefer smaller roads with less traffic. But each to their own - you might be more confident in that sort of traffic than I am!

[Paradiddle]

I understand that. I've checked out a couple of routes from independent cycling websites and google maps, however the BHF one seems to be on of the most straightforward. My main concern with the route is the way out of London. The second half seems to be mainly on B-roads. However I've made some minor tweaks to the route and will continue to review it over the next day or two.

If you've checked out independent websites you've probably seen my preferred route, because it's the one on cycle.travel.

Speaking entirely personally, it'd be the rural B-roads I'd try to avoid, because the cars there will be mostly bombing round fast corners at 60mph. London is busier but by and large the traffic will be moving slowly. For example, I don't mind spending a couple of miles on the A237 into Coulsdon because it's a 30mph limit, but I'd try and avoid the rural B2028 around Ardingly just because the traffic's so much faster. I'd prefer smaller roads with less traffic. But each to their own - you might be more confident in that sort of traffic than I am!

The route on cycle.travel is the first one I saw

Will do a compare of the routes outside London then and adjust accordingly. I'm ok with car traffic but wouldn't mind a few extra miles on quieter roads.

Thanks for the tips!

[mjr]

however the BHF one seems to be on of the most straightforward.

The BHF one is for masochists who want to go over a clanking great hill (Ditchling Beacon) just before the end instead of using route 20 / former route 20 through Pyecombe pass with the railway and A23.

[Mick F]

Ditchling Beacon?
Is that worth writing home about?
It's only got one chevron according to OS.
What is the climb over what distance?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditchling_Beacon

How far is L to B?

[Paradiddle]

The BHF one is for masochists who want to go over a clanking great hill (Ditchling Beacon) just before the end instead of using route 20 / former route 20 through Pyecombe pass with the railway and A23.

I don't mind the climb. Maybe I am a bit of a masochist
I'll keep in mind the alternative route nonetheless. Might feel different on the day

Edit: Having looked up the A23 and Pyecombe, I think I'd rather have a bit of a climb on the quieter roads rather than be on flatter A roads. Unless I'm not looking up the right route.

Ditchling Beacon?
Is that worth writing home about?
It's only got one chevron according to OS.
What is the climb over what distance?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditchling_Beacon

How far is L to B?

L to B is about 52-60 miles (85-100km) depending where you start from in London.
Looks like that Ditchling Beacon climb is about 150m climb over 1.6km. A part of it has a 20% incline.

[mjr]

Route 20 is alongside the A23 not on it, but enjoy your climb and the view if you'd rather.

[iandusud]

I would agree with those who advise against the BHF route for the same reasons. The last time I rode to Brighton and back from London this is the route I used starting in Forest Hill.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/5297245
Ian