So, this Ditchling Beacon...

[StuartG]

As said - its a psycho thing really. Its steep, but not ridiculously so, It is long but not that long. For the novice it has two real problems:

1) The ride to Brighton is fairly flat until this point. You have been going well and are almost there. But you have been worrying about the big one all the way ... you have doubled its height and incline in your mind.

2) It is a twisty road, you only see a bit at a time. This is good to begin with but after a while you turn another corner and it goes - on. You just don't know when its going to end and its hard to push hard when you don't know for how long.

My advice? Enjoy the ride to DB. Then into the lowest gear you have in very good time. Think about something really nice and just grind on as slow as you can while remaining stable. It gets better as you pass people who get off - you are now better than them and if you can get half way up slowly - the second half is no worse so its just a matter of keep going.

Have some cake/drink for the top. First time is like any first time but better. You will want savour the achievement and the view.

Last time I went up (March FNRttc) I was feeling quite proud till a lass on a 3 speed sit-up-and-beg resplendent with a basket and a smile glided past me.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

+1 to what stuartg says, apart from getting passed by the girl on the shopping bike when, to be fair, honour demanded he hurl himself off the hill.

Remember the road sign warning of equestrians is the sign you've nearly cracked it, the only sign that matters, all else is false hope.

 

[Fab Foodie]

It has a reputation mainly because of the amount of novices who tackle it on the London to Brighton ride (and good on them for it), these same novices go on to regail their friends of what a brute it was.
It really does pale into insignificance when compared with other climbs in the UK.
But as a test for a novice, it's a great climb.

Agreed.
On the L2B the challenge is to find enough road space among the walkers and those that stop dead in front of you to keep moving!
But it's a mile of undulating 10% ish and so a fair effort on any day, especially for novices who've just ridden 50 odd miles, most of them further than they've ever been before.
These days being older and fatter and in possesion of a dodgy ticker I wind up there sedately on 30 x 25, but it wasn't long ago I'd ride it on the L2B on a 42 x 15 fixed with a fully loaded saddle-bag. There are those that positively scream up there.
As a benchmark, it's a good start!

The L2B route down is great, dare to keep off the brakes under the bridge and 50 to 60 mph is easily available. My pal followed bentmikey's skating mate at 42mph down there on blades! Chapeau!

 

[HeyWayne]

60mph!?!

Wholly Croist!

I got meself to 31mph t'other day on a little section of downhill and felt proud.

 

[PpPete]

You'll be after the 40mph next....

Wear some wrap-around glasses to keep bugs out of your eyes and to stop them watering.

 

[PK99]

Is it as bad as they say?

not at all - more of a psychological challenge because of its reputation than a physical one

Best to think of it as 6 hills not 1, as it is a mix of steeper sections and easier grades (in the days of horse drawn traffic the shallower graded sections were in fact level as resting platforms for horses pulling heavy loads, they were graded when motorised traffic took over)

Treat the shallower graded sections as "rest" and don't be tempted to speed up through them.

 

[HeyWayne]

You'll be after the 40mph next....

Wear some wrap-around glasses to keep bugs out of your eyes and to stop them watering.

Is there anything for ears?

'Flying' along the other night and some bee or something twatted me in the ear. Frickin hurt it did!

 

[ChrisKH]

True! iLB describes a London-Brighton run involving only one ascent of Ditchling as a "rest day".

Still waiting for him to do LTB on my son's BMX bike though. I have put an extended seat post on it 'specially.

 

[iLB]

Still waiting for him to do LTB on my son's BMX bike though. I have put an extended seat post on it 'specially.

funnily enough i have still been considering this, but i fear it could do significant damage to either my knees or my back

 

[Fab Foodie]

Is there anything for ears?

'Flying' along the other night and some bee or something twatted me in the ear. Frickin hurt it did!

If you wear a Buff like I do you can use it to keep flying bugs out of your earholes...

 

[BLAKEY063]

Mmmm The Dreaded Beacon. I failed to climb this twice but made it on my third attempt. You get fooled half way up, this is where the trees are less dense and it opens up and you feel you are at the last bend before the top. You then turn that corner, the trees close in again and you realise you still have a few more turns to go. Still, I made it by standing up in the saddle and it felt like I was climbing a ladder.
I am only a fair weather cyclist, and even then thats if I can be bothered, I do try to train for the L2B so if I can get up there anyone can.

 

[BLAKEY063]

Just to add, 47mph freewheeling past the speed camera on the way down the other side. (put your rider number on your front) to be on the safe side.

 

[nosherduke996]

Just to add, 47mph freewheeling past the speed camera on the way down the other side. (put your rider number on your front) to be on the safe side.

The old bill can,t do anything anyway can they? You havn,t got a factory fitted speedometer and driving license.

 

[HeyWayne]

If I hit 47mph and get snapped by the camera's I'm fricking waving at the bassterd! I want proof I was going that fast!

 

[joanna]

The best advice I was given was to start off in the lowest gears as soon as you approach it, and look straight in front of your bike, not ahead. I've managed it twice now, and hoping to get up it again on the London to Brighton. Practise going up lots of hills beforehand and you'll find it easy I'm sure. Good luck!