How hard is Ditchling?

[RedRider]

in one respect, very well. Cars do 60mph on Devil's Dyke.

Devil's Dyke is a completely different thing - a straightish modern road that has a consistent grade. The Beacon is an hold horse and cart track, and has sharpish turns, and also platforms where they used to rest the horses by putting wooden chocks behind the wheels. It's the short, sharp rises before the platforms that make it the bastard that it is. They might be no more than ten or twelve yards long, and go up about six feet, but they call upon you to get out of the saddle, and if you're not a practiced climber then you'll find that difficult.

What Ditchling does give you is a view. On a misty morning it is one of cycling's great moments. Scroll down to the Brighton and Martlets pages on the link below and you'll get some idea.........

Cheers for that, I wrestled my 8-speed hub gear up Devil's Dyke earlier this year but the Beacon sounds and looks (some gorgeous pics on your link) more romantic.

 

[dellzeqq]

Cheers for that, I wrestled my 8-speed hub gear up Devil's Dyke earlier this year but the Beacon sounds and looks (some gorgeous pics on your link) more romantic.

to be fair - if you go up Devil's Dyke but turn right for the golf course (this is a dangerous right turn!) then you get great views over Brighton, and toward the Weald - but, no, nothing as wonderful as the views from the Beacon.

 

[marinyork]

indeed - and it's a pretty speedy ascent. As for comparisons with other parts of the country - it's a bigger climb than Berriedale, which is the toughest ascent on LEJoG and it's way tougher than anything we came across in the West Pennines going from Bury to Blackburn. It's not as tough as Winnats, which has a rise of 180 as opposed to 130 metres, but it's certainly not a great deal easier. So, by UK standards, pimple it is not.

The standard 'peak district' hill is about 600ft. There are so many hills of around 500ft (ascent) in the north of England it's hard to name them. The question is how steep they are. I have a medium sized hill (the same as the beacon) on the way back from town. People either avoid them and go the long way round at a much lower gradient or do them from time to time. As the beacon has some nice bends and is a lot higher than some of the surrounding countryside you get a better view. Now the Beacon is harder than making my way back from town a particular route, but there's not that much in it it is after all the same hill classification. Some people might even prefer the steep stuff, I can think of several long hills that drive people a bit nuts.

Actually I think I'd probably compare the beacon to 3 hills in very close succession when I'd just started cycling and use to come back off some long rides and it was right at the end after 40 or 50 miles .

 

[Chris.IOW]

I've not done an FNRttC, but there's a youtube vid here of Ditchling: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=SIuqsH2XkFo
I also watched a L2B ride up it, but the hardest thing would seem to be finding a way through the walkers

I've watched a couple of videos and it didn't look too bad, but then Alp D'Huez doesn't look too bad when I'm sat on my Sofa watching the Tour Du France so I always take video evidence with a pince of salt!

 

[ceepeebee]

It beat me all ends up on my first attempt back in May (walked from 2/3 the way up but stopped a lot), but then I'm carrying about 6 stone too many and am still pretty unfit, despite doing longish length rides for over a year now (I was starting from a really really low level and have improved vastly since Whitstable last August).

But, I can see how it would be completely doable once I've got to where I want to be in terms of fitness, as you're going up the notable ramps are pretty short and a standing burst is definitely the way to go...... just have to confirm that with my #shitelegs.

 

[marinyork]

I've watched a couple of videos and it didn't look too bad, but then Alp D'Huez doesn't look too bad when I'm sat on my Sofa watching the Tour Du France so I always take video evidence with a pince of salt!

Just find your nearest standard 500ft hill and do 4 reps of it in one go? I can't see why someone hugely faster than me (and quite a few other people) who does sportives would worry about it.

 

[frank9755]

It's a nice hill in a part of the country where there is nothing of comparable quality. The curves are very pleasing and the summit comes suddenly. Fascinating to hear about the cart-horse platforms, but I'm also surprised that there are any bits of 18% - I must have had momentum when I hit them.

The views are superb, on the way up as well as at the top.

I thought I'd try to get up it in 39x28 last weekend but it wasn't comfortable on the last bit (I like to keep my cadence close to normal ranges when climbing) so I flipped into the small ring towards the end.

A friend who watched the Tour peloton go over it a couple of years ago said they hardly seemed to slow down for it.

Rimas made it look easy when he passed me on the early stages of it at 20mph+ and a cadence of about 100.


Des makes it look comfortable on fixed. I'd like to try that next time. I think it would be easier than some of the sharp climbs in the North Downs (that I had to walk up a couple of weeks ago...)

 

[ColinJ]

I think it looks a very nice climb, one more suited to me than the steep b*st*rds I climb round here.

We have lots of nasty climbs in this area which would make DB seem fairly benign. Just look at the OS map ...

If you want a tough little English climb to compare DB to, take a look at the one on the centre left of that map. It starts in Church Lane but a lot of people refer to the higher part as 'Mytholm Steeps'.

The steepest part is 1:4 or 25% for about 100 metres. The first part of the climb from the church to the top of the 25% section rises about 125 m in 700 m so it averages about 18%. It slackens off above that to 10% for about another 650 m; that actually feels easy after what has gone before!

I've posted this link many times before but here it is again - a Slideshow showing the climb from Church Lane to Mytholm Steeps and on towards Blackshaw Head.

NB I loaded the photos in the wrong order - click the Pause button (bottom left), scroll to the last picture in the slideshow, click on it, click Options (top right) and check the Play Backwards box, then click the Play button (bottom left).

The climb is so hard that you can see an elderly pedestrian vomiting over a wall from the strain of his walk! (Photo number 9 of the sequence.)

 

[perplexed]

I was just wondering how DB compares to the climb up to surprise view from Hathersage, or the one from Baslow up to Owler Bar just outside Sheffield?

Come to that, how about the climb up East Bank Road in Sheffield itself?

 

[marinyork]

I was just wondering how DB compares to the climb up to surprise view from Hathersage, or the one from Baslow up to Owler Bar just outside Sheffield?

Come to that, how about the climb up East Bank Road in Sheffield itself?

See above .

Surprise view is not quite as big and not as steep. Baslow hill is a different hill classification to the beacon, it isn't that steep though.

 

[TheBoyBilly]

The AMEX Community Stadium for instance.

+1 Superb isn't it?

 

[dellzeqq]

Rimas made it look easy when he passed me on the early stages of it at 20mph+ and a cadence of about 100.

but he is not as mortal men.....

Des makes it look comfortable on fixed.

but Des makes anything look comfortable, because he has that easy Hugo Koblet charm. It's a little galling to be asked 'why can't you be more like Des - he looks so stylish' all the time, but I'm sublimating my resentment in to jersey design.......

I think it would be easier than some of the sharp climbs in the North Downs (that I had to walk up a couple of weeks ago...)

White Downs is steeper, but do-able. Friday Street is just wrong - I've never made it up that sucker.

 

[Glover Fan]

So what are the actual figures? How long does the hill go for?

 

[marinyork]

So what are the actual figures? How long does the hill go for?

What I'd call the hill is 0.90miles ±0.05 miles.From the middle of the village is 1.8 miles. From Nye Lane is about 1.25 miles.

 

[Russell Allen]

After taking a fully loaded tourer with 25kg of kit over the top of dartmoor to near bodmin, (crockernwell, chagford, postbrige, two bridges, princetown, tavistock, gunnislake, cardinham, st mabyn) 130km with 2800m of climbing, I think Ditchling beacon looks like a breeze on an unloaded racer. It all depends on how well prepared you are and what you are used to. In all honesty I was totally blown to pieces by the day detailed above, but I did make it, and it has totally recalibrated what I now consider possible.

Get in a comfortable gear and winch yourself up

Russell