Fantastic day out. I caught the train up from home and then cycled with Ianrauk up Chipstead Valley to the top of Pebblecombe Hilll. I have cycled down the valley before, which is a delight, but even going up it is very pleasant and the surface is pristine. We arrived at Pebblecombe about 2 hours earlier than planned, so we did two circuits of the Olympic road route. It was great to see so many cyclists out on the road, there were hundreds of riders doing a 75 mile Bikeathon ride, which also involved them doing a couple of loops of the circuit. For some of the riders this didn't appear to be much of a challenge, but there were plenty of people who were clearly earning their sponsorship money, so well done to them!
We waited on Dorking High Street for the ride to come through. The atmosphere was great and the the crowd was 2 or 3 deep in places. Loads of cyclists were there as well and before the road closed they were all getting cheered as they went past. After all the build up, the lead group and the peloton went by in a flash, but we quickly jumped back on our bikes to follow the broom wagon and get our own cheering from the crowds and also lots of banter about how slow we were going.
We then headed up to Ranmore Common. Wow that is a beast of a hill! Far worse than Box Hill. We then parked up on Crocknorth Hill, which was a really good spot as the riders came past fairly slowly. There were several hundred people on the hill, so the atmosphere was brilliant. The Peleton were clearly catching the break away, as there was only a gap of a couple of minutes.
We then headed back home over Box Hill, for the third time, then it was near enough down hill all the way via Chipstead Valley Road.