BHF London 2 Brighton Night Ride 26/27 May

[Red Light]

Found a map of the route for those that want to get up at 2AM to cheer me on my way

 

[dellzeqq]

Found a map of the route for those that want to get up at 2AM to cheer me on my way

are you sure?

 

[Red Light]

Where do you expect to be at 2:00?

About halfway which should have me on schedule for arriving in Brighton at sunrise (@ 04:59)

 

[Tim Hall]

As I have plans to take Mrs. Hall and the tandem to East Croydon that morning, I do hope it has.

 

[dellzeqq]

Which bits do you doubt? The Caterham dog leg, the Burgess Hill ring road?

that and the schlepp west to Devil's Dyke. Have these people not heard of the Warninglid Variation?

RedLight - do please let us know if this is indeed the route - but, to be honest, I can't think that it will be.

 

[Red Light]

that and the schlepp west to Devil's Dyke. Have these people not heard of the Warninglid Variation?

RedLight - do please let us know if this is indeed the route - but, to be honest, I can't think that it will be.

It is definitely the route and is linked to from the BHF website page on the ride (find it under "Getting ready for the big day/The route"). If you think there is a serious problem with it then they give an email contact address of nightride@bhf.org.uk

 

[Tim Hall]

That says no bikes on trains on Sunday, which does potentially alter things a little for people.

Hmm. I asked the nice man at Redhill station today. He hadn't heard anything about it.

 

[Red Light]

Hmm. I asked the nice man at Redhill station today. He hadn't heard anything about it.

Nothing I could find on the Southern Trains website either.

 

[Tim Hall]

Just spoken to Southern enquiries. Although they have no policy on charity rides (?) and bikes are let on at the train manager's discretion, there is a no bikes policy on Sunday. It would be handy if they put this on their website.

 

[dellzeqq]

I think that they are terrified of two things. The M23 slip road at Hooley, hence the Caterham diversion and the A23 and A27 junction after Clayton, hence the dog leg to Devils Dyke. Staying further west throughout would avoid all that.

There are four big considerations when organising an L2B route

1. How do you traverse the North Downs?
2. How do you avoid the traffic?
3. Are the roads fit for purpose?
3. How do you traverse the South Downs?

and the answers depend on the kind of ride and the time of ride. Running a night ride gives you choices you wouldn't otherwise have, because, in all seriousness, there are very few roads on which the traffic presents any kind of worry. As Adrian says - the A23/M23 slip is dodgy, the A272 should be treated with care, the A23 in to Brighton is not for the faint-hearted and Devil's Dyke Road is dangerous unless it is closed.

The North Downs question has defeated the BHF. They've slung in a wild diversion that still takes you to Shepherds Hill. That's not in the same league of terrifying as Pebblecombe, but, given the overshadowing and the narrowness of the road it's no less a risk than Reigate Hill, which makes it, in my book, unsuitable for a ride that size. In the good old bad old days the L2B used to run down Markedge Lane (which goes left off our 'standard route' just past Chipstead) and that could and did turn out very nasty - Shepherds Hill could be just as bad. It would have been far, far better to take the A24, which has little traffic past Colliers Wood, and next to no traffic past Epsom - the average cyclist might get passed by three cars between the M25 and Dorking. I appreciate the descent south of Leatherhead is fast, but the road is broad and well-surfaced. One could then go over to Newdigate, Rusper, Faygate, Pease Pottage, Cuckfield and south, and wind up with a shorter, flatter, safer, simpler, nicer run

The rest of it is just eccentric. Nutfield Road could be interesting (as in bloody), but there's nothing wrong with the roads down to The Edifice. It's the west turn back to the B2036 that is surprising, and I can't for the life of me get my head around the Burgess Hill bypass thing (if you're reading this, RL, I'd steam straight through). Where one is bound to worry is Devil's Dyke. I'm not taking the FNRttC back there, but, then again, we don't get to close roads. If the road is open then cars will be passing at 70mph, blind summits notwithstanding. And, if the road is closed, then how come they couldn't get the Beacon closed, which is, let's be honest, what the L2B is all about?

Pray for dry weather. Susie and I will be on our way to York, on what will, hopefully, be a dry run for LonJoG, but, if it's raining, I'll be fearing the worst.

 

[Red Light]

There are four big considerations when organising an L2B route

1. How do you traverse the North Downs?
2. How do you avoid the traffic?
3. Are the roads fit for purpose?
3. How do you traverse the South Downs?

and the answers depend on the kind of ride and the time of ride. Running a night ride gives you choices you wouldn't otherwise have, because, in all seriousness, there are very few roads on which the traffic presents any kind of worry. As Adrian says - the A23/M23 slip is dodgy, the A272 should be treated with care, the A23 in to Brighton is not for the faint-hearted and Devil's Dyke Road is dangerous unless it is closed.

The North Downs question has defeated the BHF. They've slung in a wild diversion that still takes you to Shepherds Hill. That's not in the same league of terrifying as Pebblecombe, but, given the overshadowing and the narrowness of the road it's no less a risk than Reigate Hill, which makes it, in my book, unsuitable for a ride that size. In the good old bad old days the L2B used to run down Markedge Lane (which goes left off our 'standard route' just past Chipstead) and that could and did turn out very nasty - Shepherds Hill could be just as bad. It would have been far, far better to take the A24, which has little traffic past Colliers Wood, and next to no traffic past Epsom - the average cyclist might get passed by three cars between the M25 and Dorking. I appreciate the descent south of Leatherhead is fast, but the road is broad and well-surfaced. One could then go over to Newdigate, Rusper, Faygate, Pease Pottage, Cuckfield and south, and wind up with a shorter, flatter, safer, simpler, nicer run

The rest of it is just eccentric. Nutfield Road could be interesting (as in bloody), but there's nothing wrong with the roads down to The Edifice. It's the west turn back to the B2036 that is surprising, and I can't for the life of me get my head around the Burgess Hill bypass thing (if you're reading this, RL, I'd steam straight through). Where one is bound to worry is Devil's Dyke. I'm not taking the FNRttC back there, but, then again, we don't get to close roads. If the road is open then cars will be passing at 70mph, blind summits notwithstanding. And, if the road is closed, then how come they couldn't get the Beacon closed, which is, let's be honest, what the L2B is all about?

Pray for dry weather. Susie and I will be on our way to York, on what will, hopefully, be a dry run for LonJoG, but, if it's raining, I'll be fearing the worst.

Weather forecast looks excellent at the moment - sunny day and clear night on Saturday. The only thing I would say is that with 5,000 riders on the route, cars doing 70mph along Devil's Dyke will be near impossible although I can see it as being a potential problem if you have a small group. The greater danger I suspect is frustrated motorists trying to pass a long string of cyclists and taking chances through frustration.

 

[Andrew_P]

Just looked at that map, I know zero about group riding at night, but I have commuted once on some of that route and it was not too good solo, let alone 5k. Hilly and pot hole ridden. Merstham through Nutfield will be awful if they have not arranged road closures, just one car Northbound could cause a massive problem Also every sign up until this weekend just gone was showing Midnight 26th of May, someone has had to re-label them the 27th all over the weekend!

I spoke to someone taking part and they seem to want everyone lit up like Blackpool tower, I would have thought some instruction on low power and definitely no flashing rears, would be awful with a few hundred rear lights on full with flashers!

 

[Tim Hall]

Is it blanket or relaxed north of 3 Bridges after mid-day?

It's unclear. Later I called FCC customer services. Yes there's a ban. It runs until 12. It runs all day. Could have been the time zone between here and Bangalore that caused the mix up.

At as guess (and my cunning plan) trains up from Bognor/Pompey/Horsham should be OK. We shall see.

 

[dellzeqq]

Just looked at that map, I know zero about group riding at night, but I have commuted once on some of that route and it was not too good solo, let alone 5k. Hilly and pot hole ridden. Merstham through Nutfield will be awful if they have not arranged road closures, just one car Northbound could cause a massive problem Also every sign up until this weekend just gone was showing Midnight 26th of May, someone has had to re-label them the 27th all over the weekend!

I spoke to someone taking part and they seem to want everyone lit up like Blackpool tower, I would have thought some instruction on low power and definitely no flashing rears, would be awful with a few hundred rear lights on full with flashers!

it's the reverse that you have to worry about. Not a few riders turned up to the second Martlets L2B charity ride without lights. Big red flashers tend to be the preserve of regular cyclists, and they're not difficult to deal with - you just ask the owner to rotate them downwards.

 

[dellzeqq]

Weather forecast looks excellent at the moment - sunny day and clear night on Saturday. The only thing I would say is that with 5,000 riders on the route, cars doing 70mph along Devil's Dyke will be near impossible although I can see it as being a potential problem if you have a small group. The greater danger I suspect is frustrated motorists trying to pass a long string of cyclists and taking chances through frustration.

that's part of it, but the slope up from the A281 is a bit of a grind and not very wide. There'll be lots of overtaking and some of that overtaking will be sketchy - particularly toward the rear of the ride. None of this will matter if the road is closed, though.

The drop of the A23 at Merstham is tricky. I doubt there will be one car coming the other way between the hours of one and four, but the slope increases, there are parked cars to the left, the road surface last time I looked was pants, and the turn just after the railway bridge is 'open to interpretation'.