I enjoyed the ride, there was a good atmosphere and it was fun cycling with a big group of other cyclists and it was great to have no cars on the sections completely closed to traffic (which was quite a lot of the way, there were also sections which were half-closed to traffic, so no cars on one side of the road). The start was a little drizzly, but not too bad, and it did clear up later, even a little bit of sun before Ditchling Beacon. Was quite a mix of bikes, mostly aluminium or carbon road bikes and touring bikes, but also mountain bikes, hybrids, quite a few Bromptons, a few tandems and fatbikes, the odd recumbent and even a penny farthing(!).
I was with my wife and some (mosly) not-hardcore cyclist friends, so we took it at a fairly easy pace, and took, I think, 3 or 4 stops for coffee/bacon baps etc. We started just after 7:30pm and got to the finish line after 2pm, though actual riding time was about 4 hours 45 mins, averaging just under 12mph. None of us got off and walked up any of the hills, though - was slightly shocked to see that probably 90% (or more!) of the riders (including a large number on expensive-looking carbon race bikes) didn't seem to even attempt to ride up Ditchling Beacon and walked from the start - it's quite long, but not ridiculously steep (compared to say
Kop Hill, near Oxford). Having said, that, my knees were glad I had a triple and not a compact, though one of my friends did it on a 39T chainring all the way \o/
Also noticed quite a few riders (even ones on road bikes) getting of to walk right at the start of pretty much *any* hill, even very minor ones that you could've done on a fixie, although it looked like most had plenty of gears! I guess it is an event for the more casual cyclist, though.
