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SubscribeOur London to Brighton bike ride and route
This past Sunday Julie and I, for an alternative wedding anniversary (3 years) decided that we would ride the London to Brighton for the British Heart Foundation.
It was an amazing day, and thankfully, the months before hand we had been spinning 3 times a week and this definitely paid off.
The day
We set out at 8:30am (getting past the start line around 8:45am). We hadn't slept too well that night because of ropy sleeping conditions and not being used to all the bloody police sirens going through Clapham. We may have even been able to start at 6:30!
We hit pretty serious congestion throughout our ride, it took us an hour to get to Mitcham, only 4 miles from our starting point.
Further down the route, we came to entire standstill and all you could see was helmet after helmet after helmet. It didn't turn out to be an accident (as we thought it might be) - it was just a tight bend where everyone was forced off their bikes to walk.
We took our first break at 12:30 at the half way mark for a rather nasty burger and set off again.
We rode pretty solidly for the rest of the journey taking one stop off for a quick bit of water, then a stop just before Ditchling Beacon to load up on Lucozade and bananas.
Julie made it to the top of the beacon, I broke off half over half way. The vast majority walked the beacon, so I guess I can be half proud 
We finally pulled in to Brighton around 4:15pm. A total of 7 1/2 hours to ride 54 miles. At the start they said it was an average 7 hour bike ride, but the delays that we encountered throughout the day must have had a big impact on that time. Julie had made the journey in 5 hours 4 years ago and said that she hadn't gone at much of a different pace to ours that day.
All in all, Julie and I raised almost £600 for British Heart Foundation, I hit a top speed of 35-40mph (peak) and we had a pretty amazing day.
Pictures
Although my photography was limited to either when we stopped, or when we were going slow, I managed to take a fair few (I've linked a few to points on the route map too).
View the set of pictures from the ride
Video clips
I managed to capture some video during the bike ride, when I didn't feel I needed my breaks too much(!), and I quickly concatenated them together with a bit of music that I remember listening too whilst bombing along.
Route
I managed to plot the London to Brighton route on Google maps. It took me almost two hours to plot the damn thing, but it's fairly accurate.
Dashboard Widget
I wrote a little widget to keep track of how much I had raised for BHF. It was based on the 2007 sponsor pages, but this year (2008) it still works. You just flip it over and enter your sponsorship page on the other side and it will tell you how much you've raised in total.
Well done guys. I took part too for the first time. managed to get away at 06:50, no delays, & the pace was pretty fast once London was out of the way.
(Also managed 1/2 of Ditchling Beacon).
3 hrs & 41 mins. Got flashed by a speed camera on the way into Brighton!!!!!
[...] London to Brighton. I moved (back) down to Brighton about 3 years ago now, and it was the first time that I rode the London to Brighton. It took a grand 7 hours, mostly due to congestion, but it’s spurred us both on to want to the do the London to Paris in 2008 for charity. [...]
Thanks for your insight into the LtoB. I am going to be riding it for the first time this year (2008) and I feel better after seeing your clip. Are you riding again this year?
Many thanks, been looiking for a route map all over the web, so you're 2 hour investment has made two people happy. We were going to stay with our daughter in Clapham the night before, not so sure now.
Are you riding again this year?
TRhanks
Dermot and Karin
ps
Nice touch the music
@Scouser101 + @Dermot - yep, both my wife and I are riding again this year. Though this time we're leaving at 6am in an attempted to avoid the queues.
We recently completed a 4 day cycle from Clapham to Paris - so riding to Brighton (1/4 of the distance we rode) seemed to be an easy decision
This time round: Ditchling Beacon will be mine!
Remy: Thanks for all the useful stuff: routes, pictures & video clips. Doing my first L2B this year....All very inspiring.... Good luck to you two.
Hi,interesting comments.Am doing the London to Brighton this year and have been training hard since Sept last.Do you possibly know where the half way mark approxiamately is,would Ardingly be a good stopping point?
Thanks
@Amy - Turner's Hill is a good stopping point, but it'll be damn busy - but if you do stop there, try the shop across from the pub, you're more likely to grab a bite to eat.
Otherwise, there's a bunch of stops throughout the route, specifically set up to grab a bite to eat (usually run by Scouts, Cubs and Brownies!).
Get yourself a bag of Jelly Babies, great source for energy during long bike rides (I kid you not!)
Good luck everyone.
Hi Thanks for the tips! i am also doing the ride for the first time, but going as a team (some of which have done it b4) getting a bit nervous now! Have been doing 10 miles daily & the odd 28+ cycle at Weekends! Just wanted to ask, whats the best route to come back? as i guess were still not allowed to take bikes on the trains??
@Seng - best route: I can't really comment, I'm a Brightonite so I get to relax in my home city all afternoon over a beer near the sea before a 10 ride back home
However, you're right, trains don't let you back on - however, there may be a carriage dedicated to bikes - I'd recommend giving the train line a ring. I know there are coaches that take you back, but I'm sure it needs to be organised in advance. Check with BHF (or you info pack) - I'm sure there's a number on there.
Otherwise, if you intend on cycling back, I'd recommend taking the route you took down. Plus, if you finish early enough, you get to be all smug as you pass the stragglers!
Remy - I did think about giving the trains a call & will do that! Dont think I can possibly cycle back after - but it would be nice! Just hope it isnt this hot next week! Good luck with your cycle & thanks
hi i am doing the cycle ride this sunday with 2 friends having done it in 1982 when i was only 18, i can not remember much about the race then, but now beginning to panic not done enough training we are setting off at 6.00am so hope to arrive before dark. looking forward to it jjust hope i finish it
HI Its 3 am and getting ready for my 5th London Brighton
We have always done it as team with son and daughter and some colleagues
We have always managed a 6am start and this year plan to cycle back to London too. Weve done it once before
Its a great day insnt it!
Tip from the team
Keep in the highest gear possible at all times especially when going up hill
Are we mad or what?
See you at Brighton pier at 11.30!
Or back in London at around 5.30!
Great Blog and enjoyed reading it - first did the bike ride in 1986 and this was about my 15th London to Brighton ride - always seem to enjoy it though this year (2008) felt hard going on the old legs (45 year old legs that is) but guess i will be back for more - hope you all enjoyed it.
Loved the blog Remy.... 2008 is my 10 or 11th ride and I have to say this year was my longest in terms of time 6hrs 13mins. This did include a leaking rear valve, so a new tube was in order and then there was the delay due to the "accident"...... gears not allowing me to go past 7th.......oh the beauty of cruising down a hill with your chain just dangling and then the fun of getting bloody grease everywhere.
A young lady later on gave me a wet wipe for helping her with her chain ...so thank you if you read this!
Oh what else happened, cramp in both legs...now that was a killer and basically ended anychance of me bombing it into Brighton and then Ditchling...to me that always reminds me of Devils Tower from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"..its just there and I have never been able to ride up it..one day...this year though I could hardly walk up it as my legs went back into cramp mode aand i had to take a break about 50 feet from the top as my legs went rigid.....
But the ride across the top of the Beacon is fantastic and you can really pick up some speed (even with aching legs) and then the drop down the other side into Brighton...60mph before the barriers loom and the stewards shouting to slow down.....This year it was such a relief to see the sea and relaxx before the journey home..
Roll on 2009!!!
And of course £300.00 for meningitus.
PS: One wish...that British Rail (or whoever) would allow bikes back onto the trains.
great going gents, just trawling through the net looking for updates and peoples stories from the day.
was my first L2B and had a great day out with the missus and a team who seemed to be scattered throughout the pack - after all the little stops and accident black slots i think we made it in for about 4pm from a 9am start so not bad on a first try.
glad we stayed for the evening and were able to cheer on the last groups -
well done to everyone, - see you next year : )
Mark - nds team08
Great to hear everyone's story. My wife and I set off at 6:30am (though we were penned in for the 6am start) and arrive in Brighton at 11:32.
We both got up Ditchling Beacon, and the rest of the ride from there was at 20+mph, and we both managed top speeds of 48mph - the quickest I've been on a bike!
Nice to see the page, and read the comments which followed. Like others, I came across it through Googling this year's event.
This was my first London to Brighton, having been persuaded to do it by a friend who last did it in his twenties in 1986! Oddly, I found Ditchling Beacon (as a walk) less horrible than I'd imagined it'd be - maybe it was my Northern childhood, living at the top of a similar, but shorter hill, paying off - but the first twelve miles largely made up of a small gradient over a very long distance made me wonder whether I was cut out for it!
Now I've broken my duck, I'm looking forward to doing it again next year. We're talking about getting a team together. In the meantime, I think I'm going to invest in a set of road tyres - the mountain bike tyres currently on my bike made the hills unnecessarily difficult at times. And I think I'll pack sandwiches next time. And choose an earlier start time!
My speed down the other side of the Beacon was 38.8mph - I kept my brakes on at first, but when I realised there was nobody in sight and that I could see for miles, I let them off until I started to feel a bit scared.
Great fun, and nice to see so many happy people doing something for a good cause.
i to was doing this for the 1st time
starting out at 3.30am for a proposed start time of 7.30am we eventually made the start line at 9.15am
slowly making our way out of london only to be held up by the accident that happened hours earlier, as luck would have it there was a watering hole closeby and a welcome bacon roll at the stop by the rugby field opposite , my friend and his 15yr old son and i continued on for a few hours witnessing a few show off youths doing wheelies , untill 1 of them crashed , there was also an annoying lad with a small sound machine on his handlebars and i always caught up with ( after water and leak stops) 2 chinese ladies who never stopped chatting
we made our way to the beacon
my freind and his son left me to preserve my energy for the climb and sped off into the distance
there i was looking for those extra gears as i kept to the right still pedalling away
.
i made it to the top , i did get a bit emotional milking the applause and freewheeled most of the way down hoping my heartbeat rate was getting back to normality .
the final 5k through brighton was a bit tedious but the bloke on his chopper bike and a man in his car listening to his dad rocks cd at 100watts with his window down broke the monotany ( by the way golden earings radar love bought back some great memories of the early 80s) thanks mate . we crossed the finish line eventually at 5.23pm
This was my first L2B. Having lived near Brighton most of my life, it was always the place to avoid on Fathers Day because of the race, now it was nice to actually be able to come into Brighton without the worry of the traffic, because, for once, bikes rule the road !!
I now live in Northampton, so we left at 4am to get to Clapham for the 6am start, which I'm glad about as it avoids all the congestion the previous posts mention. I stocked up with just about every necessity, but all I needed was a couple of Boost bars and a packet of energy sweets.
I managed the whole bike ride without any breaks and got all the way up the Beacon which is the one thing I really wanted to do. I have to say its one pig of a hill - it just kept going and going and getting steeper and steeper. I was so glad to get to the top, have to admit I had a little cry as I was so overwhelmed at the effort I had just put in. Unfortunately, I was not brave enough to go at the speeds of passing bikes down into Brighton. I kept my hands firmly on the brakes (what a wimp!). Max speed 28.5 mph. That said, I did manage to finish in 4hrs 10mins so I was really pleased.
I would love to do it again next year!
(A couple of accidents have been mentioned on here, but does anyone know what happened to an older guy who came off his bike in the first half of the ride? I'm not exactly sure where it was but it was just after one of the first big hills. As the road started to downhill there was a bend and he was lying face-down in the road, with bits of bike everywhere. It must have been between 7-8am? I feel bad as I never stopped. He seemed to be out cold.)