London to Brighton on a Brompton?

[jay clock]

I'm going to share this again. This is me arriving in Brighton after having cycled 98km, my longest ride at that point. You can't see my pink sandals or bike shorts.

And I scalped a couple of roadies on the way.

View attachment 387865

You clearly cheated.. You are wearing cycling glasses!

Well done!

 

[topcat1]

Meet @CharlieB cigarette smoking, shorts wearing in the middle of winter Brompton owner on his way to brighton (sorry on his way to Whitstable)

 

[lazybloke]

My main concern if attempting to ride that distance on ANY sort of bike would be how comfortable the saddle is over a long period and how sore my backside would be at the end of it.

+1
I never saw any need for padded cycling shorts until I peeled my undercarriage raw on the London to Brighton.
That was over 20 years ago and I'm still squirming at the memory.
Be comfortable!

A fab ride otherwise.

 

[andrew_s]

Doing it on a BMX wouldn't be sensible either.

I saw a chap do the Elenith 300 km audax on a BMX one time (Kidderminster to Tregaron & back).

 

[Fab Foodie]

Penny farthings and unicycles have also done L2B.

 

[Adeola]

+1
I never saw any need for padded cycling shorts until I peeled my undercarriage raw on the London to Brighton.
That was over 20 years ago and I'm still squirming at the memory.
Be comfortable!

A fab ride otherwise.

I bought myself a pair of padded cycling leggings a few weeks ago.
I can’t believe the difference it makes.

 

[swansonj]

I'm going to share this again. This is me arriving in Brighton after having cycled 98km, my longest ride at that point. You can't see my pink sandals or bike shorts.

And I scalped a couple of roadies on the way.

View attachment 387865

So I read your original thread via the link ... and discovered that far from being the only person maladroit enough to end up in that garage and that garden centre while trying to follow the A23 cycle path (in my case cycling home from a Brighton Fridays), I am in fact in the best of company....

 

[buzzy-beans]

For most it's a bimble not a race (due to sheer number of cyclists).

From my experience quite some years ago, I would say that at least the first 1 or 2 thousand entrants (like me) were trying to do the ride as fast as they possibly could [and in my case, a significant amount of money had been bet on me that I couldn't do it in less than 2 hrs. 30 mins.].
Of these early departing cyclists a lot of them were wearing club shirts.

 

[vickster]

Good for you. For the other many thousands including the OP it isn't

 

[TheDoctor]

From my experience quite some years ago, I would say that at least the first 1 or 2 thousand entrants (like me) were trying to do the ride as fast as they possibly could [and in my case, a significant amount of money had been bet on me that I couldn't do it in less than 2 hrs. 30 mins.].
Of these early departing cyclists a lot of them were wearing club shirts.

It's always gratifying to see club riders "beating" someone who a) wasn't competing and b) is dressed as a llama or some such.
Ride whatever you like and enjoy the day

 

[srw]

There will be two tricky bits riding to Brighton on a Brommie. The first is getting to the top of Ditchling Beacon - it's steep, and the Brompton's bottom gear isn't all that bottom. On the other hand, if you're doing the mass participation event it's reported that most people are walking by that stage. The second is getting from the top of the Beacon to the seafront. It's quite a long, steep hill down, and the Brompton can be twitchy.

 

[Cycleops]

That reminds me watch out when climbing Ditcling Beacon you’ll often hear the cry ‘coming through’ accompanied by gasping and heavy breathing in an attempt to get to the top without dismounting.

 

[Dan B]

I did the L2B event once on roller skates (had to take them off and walk down a couple of the hills, thobut). I felt awful the next day but that was because we spent longer in the pub in Brighton afterwards than we had done on the ride itself.

A Brompton should present no problems.

 

[buzzy-beans]

That reminds me watch out when climbing Ditcling Beacon you’ll often hear the cry ‘coming through’ accompanied by gasping and heavy breathing in an attempt to get to the top without dismounting.

I can well recall cycling down the road immediately to the North of the start of the dreaded Dithcling Beacon and your view ahead looses the skyline because of the South Downs, you can't actually see the start of the climb because the road bends slightly to the left and a pub on the left hand side, but then you turn the corner and booooooooooooooooing, bloooooody hell the road immmediately goes skywards at what must be something like 1 in 3 !!

 

[Tim Hall]

I can well recall cycling down the road immediately to the North of the start of the dreaded Dithcling Beacon and your view ahead looses the skyline because of the South Downs, you can't actually see the start of the climb because the road bends slightly to the left and a pub on the left hand side, but then you turn the corner and booooooooooooooooing, bloooooody hell the road immmediately goes skywards at what must be something like 1 in 3 !!

It's not 1 in 3. The average gradient is 1 in 11 (9%) with short bursts of 1 in 6 (16%). The nearest pub is back in the village, about a mile back from the start.