Ditchling Beacon - What Category ?

[hatler]

Does anyone happen to know what Category Ditchling Beacon was assigned when it was on the TdF route (back in the 70s ?)  ?

Thanks.

[PaulF]

This article suggests that it's a category 4.

Ditchling Beacon, near Brighton, comes at the end of the first day's racing and the ascent to the 813ft summit is probably the best-known hill climb for cyclists in southern Britain. The riders are expected to take about four minutes to get to the top and the steepness of the hill will mean they are likely to spread out to take the climb rather than flash past in a group.

Brighton is also the venue for another hill climb - as well as the finish at about 4pm in the afternoon. Elm Grove, a a Category 3 climb, one category above Ditchling Beacon, is tackled twice as it is on the town's finishing circuit. Spectators are advised to take their places at noon ready for the race to go past at about 3.30pm.

But that may not be what it was assigned in the Tour.

[hatler]

Mini-hatler will be most disappointed.

He's sure it's at least a 1 !

[DrMekon]

Elm Grove? I used to ride up that on a BMX!

[Redlight]

It was actually back in 1994 and IIRC the Beacon was not given a category.  I do recall Phil Liggett commenting that it was the high point of the London to Brighton ride but that the TdF riders probably wouldn't even notice it!

[Wowbagger]

ISTR that Farthing Common was a 3 and I'd have thought that Ditchling is a bit tougher than that. Ditchling has a chevron and it seems to climb over 100m in not much distance at all.

[Martin]

find out on Oct 24th

Bicycle Path - hillier 09 at Bikely.com

makes it a little over 100m in 1.6km

[Riggers]

I think they should give certain climbs a more understandable rating with words, like: "Bastard climb"

[Riggers]

Oh, and bytheway, I would much rather ride up Elm Grove than the Beacon, given a choice.

[Martin]

Elm Grove is horrible; all those buses (he says having organised a ride up the Beacon on a Sat pm without even checking if it's a Seagulls match day)

edit; oh bolleaux, home to Oldham 

[little miss mac]

Mini-hatler will be most disappointed.

He's sure it's at least a 1 !

I agree! What constitutes a 1 - totally vertical? 

[Seineseeker]

I'm pretty sure it's a cat. 4. To think there was a time I considered it a major challenge.

[gonzo]

It's based on a combination of distance and grade (nowt to do with car gears any more)

An average 1st cat is probably about 8 km long and 7 or 8%.

[David Martin]

I've compared Ditchling to the minor lumps and bumps we ride over round here. Our evening road race takes in the climb of Tullbaccart - twice the height of Ditchling beacon at the same grade - on every lap. It is a reasonable bump but not more than a cat 3 if it came late in the race..

Sure, I'd get dropped going up DB, but I tend to get dropped going over a humpbacked bridge anyhow..
So 4 seems reasonable.

..d

[perpetual dan]

Oh, and bytheway, I would much rather ride up Elm Grove than the Beacon, given a choice.

Indeed, I rode up Elm Grove earlier today. Nearing the top I went up a couple of gears and pushed on. I don't recall ever doing that at the top of Ditching Beacon ... stop and look for the ice cream van is more like it 

[Redlight]

Ditchling is a slog all right but there are many harder climbs in Sussex and Kent.  The biggest hassle is traffic - on a normal day it prevents you from using the road effectively; if you do it on the London-Brighton ride your biggest problem is hordes of mtb-riding accountants in corporate t-shirts walking all over the road, making it almost impossible to ride up without resorting to verbal abuse. 

[teethgrinder]

I think they should give certain climbs a more understandable rating with words, like: "Bastard climb"

In that case, I'd call Ditchling a "Pussy"
There are a lot more climbs in Britain that are much tougher.
If it even is worth a category rating, it would only be 4th.

[gonzo]

I think they should give certain climbs a more understandable rating with words, like: "Bastard climb"

In that case, I'd call Ditchling a "Pussy"
There are a lot more climbs in Britain that are much tougher.
If it even is worth a category rating, it would only be 4th.

There were much easier hills in Le Tour when it last visited Kent that got a cat 4! Personally I'd say it was a cat4, borderline cat 3.

[giropaul]

Ditchling Beacon doesn't even merit a mention here:



Climbbybike.com - All cols and climbs -  

[David Martin]

I think they should give certain climbs a more understandable rating with words, like: "Bastard climb"

In that case, I'd call Ditchling a "Pussy"
There are a lot more climbs in Britain that are much tougher.
If it even is worth a category rating, it would only be 4th.

There were much easier hills in Le Tour when it last visited Kent that got a cat 4! Personally I'd say it was a cat4, borderline cat 3.

Hahahahaha.. Barely cat4.
It is half the size of the wee bumps that we use for training round here, and they barely merit categorising.

..d

[TimO]

Ditchling has always seemed a bit daunting when I've hit it, but that's because it's always been at the end of a FNRttC, so you're tired (sleepy) and a little knackered.  I've also mostly tried to go up it with a single-speed, which admittedly has easier gearing than most of the people who I've seen ride it on fixed, but it still doesn't make it fun.

The one time I've actually cycled all the way up (the last Brighton FNRttC, I think this was the easy ride, the day before the Dun Run), I was using gears on the Kaffenback, and didn't actually find it too bad at all.  I'm not saying I would want to cycle down and do it again, but compared to the hills out of Cheltenham that I used to cycle when I lived there, it's quite short, and not excessively steep.

It's marked as a single chevron on the OS maps, but I think it's possibly only just in the range to qualify for that.

Of course, after living in London for a few years, it's a lot steeper than pretty much everything around here.  These days I consider some of the Thames bridges to be hills.

[clarion]

...Of course, after living in London for a few years, it's a lot steeper than pretty much everything around here.  These days I consider some of the Thames bridges to be hills.

Hmm.  I have to keep reminding myself that it's not three hills to home, but three rises.

My new mantra:

Balham Hill is not a hill.  Balham Hill is not a hill.  Balham Hill is not a hill.  Balham Hill is not a hill.  Balham Hill is not a hill.  Balham Hill is not a hill. 

[Salvatore]

I think they should give certain climbs a more understandable rating with words, like: "Bastard climb"

In that case, I'd call Ditchling a "Pussy"
There are a lot more climbs in Britain that are much tougher.
If it even is worth a category rating, it would only be 4th.

There were much easier hills in Le Tour when it last visited Kent that got a cat 4! Personally I'd say it was a cat4, borderline cat 3.

Surely the point of categorised climbs in early stages is so that they can award the jersey at the end of the stage. Later on in the tour they wouldn't rate a mention.

There was a Cat 4 "climb" on stage 2 of the Vuelta (at Drenthe in the Netherlands) earlier this week, which reached the dizzy height of 15 m asl.

[gonzo]

Hahahahaha.. Barely cat4.
It is half the size of the wee bumps that we use for training round here, and they barely merit categorising.

From this site:

Here's how Tour de France organizers rate climbs:

Category 4 – Typically shorter than two kilometers and with about a five percent grade or as long a five kilometers with a two or three percent grade.

Category 3 — Can be as short as 1.5 kilometers with a steep grade of up to 10 percent. Can also be as long as 10 kilometers with an average grade of less than five percent.

Category 2 — Can be as five kilometers with an eight percent grade or as long as 15 kilometers at four percent.

Category 1 — Can be eight kilometers at eight percent to as long as 20 kilometers at five percent.

1.6km with an average grade of 10%. So that'd be cat 3 or 4 then! If the organisers felt hat way, they could even call it a Cat 2.

[Seineseeker]

I'm sure Ditchling can't have an average of 10%.