Wow, what a cracking ride! Thanks Martin et al for the faultless organization
The ride out from London was swift and nice. I woke up at 3h45, and after much breakfast and a last mental check of "Do I really want to do that..." (you bet!) I set off at 4h20. I rolled into the HQ 3 hours and 76km later. Nice ride with patches of fog here and there and daybreak at the end.
After 1h10 of rest and much tea and biscuits the Audaxes started (I was riding the Hillier). The start was beautiful, with the rising sun piercing through trees (now with full-blown autumn colours) and misty fields left and right, auguring a most beautiful day ahead. I rolled quickly to the first checkpoint 20km in but then the early start and extra km started taking their toll and I was much more reasonable for the rest of the ride. Had an excellent jam doughnut at a lovely bakery in Ardingly, followed by an also excellent hotdog at Staplefield (all those hills weren't gonna climb themselves). I started again after some time and kept on rolling through the sun, grinding slowly up the most benign hills, enjoying the descents and overall just taking in the sun and the scenery. Then Ditchling Beacon loomed larger and larger over the horizon, and soon enough I found myself on my way up there. The view delivered, as always, and after collecting the info control from another rider who arrived shortly before me it was time for the descent, only this time not towards Brighton as I normally do (normally I find this long roll down to the sea to be the best reward for getting up the Beacon, but there will be other times!). After that it was only a matter of 10 km or so to get back to HQ.
Then after 30 min of rest and much tea and food, I took off to London again, motivated by the promises of gentle gradients and a hot shower at the end of it all. And indeed apart from a few stings here and there, the ride back was rolling, despite the earlier tailwind having now become a headwind - but one of a tame kind. Until Coulsdon it was a joy, after it much less so as a solid 30km of traffic-laden London A roads still needed to be dealt with before that shower.
So that's it, overall just a shade under
260km in 13h11. What a day