Author Topic: The London Ditchling Devil 200km  (Read 4687 times)

Manotea

  • Where there is doubt...
The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« on: 15 May, 2018, 01:31:03 pm »
Heads Up Londoners, it's almost time for the 8th edition of ...



The Ditchling Devil is supported by voluntary groups and cycling clubs who support the controls at Highbrook Village Hall (nr Ardingley), Upper Beeding (nr Steyning) and Chiddingfold (nr Haslemere) , providing the home-made refreshments included in the entry fee, and as this is an Audax we are talking real food: bacon rolls, pasta and lashings of tea and cake! Event veterans will know what to expect!

Click on the event flyer above for entry details... and enjoy this video diary from Matthew Ives


Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #1 on: 16 May, 2018, 04:08:29 pm »
Cake was awesome last time I did it. I had like 4 helpings of 4 different cakes!  8) ;D

Wycombewheeler

  • PBP-2019 LEL-2022
Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #2 on: 16 May, 2018, 04:59:08 pm »
I thought all the stops were excellent last year. A group of riders from my club seems to be forming. Hopefully they will see the light  and take up more audaxes afterwards.

Eddington  127miles, 170km

thing1

  • aka Joth
    • TandemThings
Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #3 on: 21 May, 2018, 08:18:31 am »
Entered! We did the first two editions of this fine ride, so looking forward to seeing how it has grown in the half decade since then :)

αdαmsκι

  • Instagram @ucfaaay Strava @ucfaaay
  • Look haggard. It sells.
Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #4 on: 21 May, 2018, 06:57:49 pm »
Entered! We did the first two editions of this fine ride, so looking forward to seeing how it has grown in the half decade since then :)
Snap. So looking forward to seeing you both.
What on earth am I doing here on this beautiful day?! This is the only life I've got!!

https://tyredandhungry.wordpress.com/

Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #5 on: 21 May, 2018, 09:59:51 pm »
Signed up now too.

Manotea

  • Where there is doubt...
Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #6 on: 26 May, 2018, 06:54:41 am »
Shaping up to be another great event with around 400 on the road...but where are all the AUKs? They cannot all be in Wales!

3/4 of entries are from non-AUKs and about half of all entries are from riders who have not previously ridden one of the events I organise.

With my Arts Administrator hat on, this is called 'building a new audience' :)

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #7 on: 26 May, 2018, 09:07:20 am »
Shaping up to be another great event with around 400 on the road...but where are all the AUKs? They cannot all be in Wales!
I've lost track of the numbers, but there are indeed a shitload of us riding the TINAT welsh events that weekend. (well, entered, anyway!).

Not really the same audience of course;
welsh mountains (involving a non-trivial commute from London), mainly 300-600k rides, gravel and strong hints about self-sufficiency
vs
a day out in Surrey/Sussex from the doorstep of London.

If you're getting 400+, I'd say things have worked out pretty well for you and Blacksheep :)
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #8 on: 26 May, 2018, 05:57:21 pm »
Weather looks cool and shite too! Hopefully it’ll do a complete flip in the next 7 days.

Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #9 on: 29 May, 2018, 11:55:37 am »
Entered. Heard a lot about the controls. Really looking forward to it! I've not done Ditchling Beacon for ages either, so that'll be nice.

Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #10 on: 29 May, 2018, 04:27:50 pm »
So the hanger snapped off my bike! I can't find a 2mm drill bit right now so I'll probably be on the winter bike for Sunday which is possibly a good thing as it's fully mudguarded.

Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #11 on: 29 May, 2018, 04:53:07 pm »
So the hanger snapped off my bike! I can't find a 2mm drill bit right now so I'll probably be on the winter bike for Sunday which is possibly a good thing as it's fully mudguarded.

Where are you looking for forecasts?  All the sites I use say warm, dry and probably sunny.
The sound of one pannier flapping

Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #12 on: 29 May, 2018, 05:07:17 pm »
So the hanger snapped off my bike! I can't find a 2mm drill bit right now so I'll probably be on the winter bike for Sunday which is possibly a good thing as it's fully mudguarded.

Where are you looking for forecasts?  All the sites I use say warm, dry and probably sunny.

Accuweather says thunderstorms or two. They also said that about today!

Manotea

  • Where there is doubt...
Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #13 on: 29 May, 2018, 10:28:40 pm »
We are very much constrained on the total number of riders we can accomodate and the event is rapidly filling up.

Expect entries to close either tomorrow (Wednesday) or Thursday at the latest.

As for the weather, cautious optimism seems in order (anything more than that risks instant retribution....)


bhoot

  • MemSec (ex-Mrs RRtY)
Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #14 on: 30 May, 2018, 10:07:55 pm »
We're in... so does that make it at least two tandems?  Have greatly enjoyed this ride before and even got round it surprisingly quickly for people that don't do hills. We are hoping to finish the ride this year with functional steering. Last year it was getting increasingly difficult to negotiate any 90 degree bends as the ride progressed (later diagnosed as a cracked steerer tube) but by the time it was really bad we had got to the "we could push it to the finish and be in time" stage and so weren't going to give up our two hard won points.
Will be taking what someone described one year as a full "stationery set" in order to hand out pens and pencils for the infos!
@Adamski - might see you on the road from East London..

αdαmsκι

  • Instagram @ucfaaay Strava @ucfaaay
  • Look haggard. It sells.
Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #15 on: 31 May, 2018, 10:09:29 am »
@Adamski - might see you on the road from East London..

Will you be going via Greenwich if (should that be if?) the foot tunnel lifts are working? If so PM me and we can arrange to meet at Island Gardens
What on earth am I doing here on this beautiful day?! This is the only life I've got!!

https://tyredandhungry.wordpress.com/

Manotea

  • Where there is doubt...
Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #16 on: 31 May, 2018, 01:42:04 pm »
Entries closed... Supplies ordered... next up is to get Stickering.

Hope there's something good on TV tonight, this might take a while...


Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #17 on: 02 June, 2018, 02:15:51 pm »
I've done this last year and did quite enjoy the route, cassette and chain cleaned, now looking forward to riding this tomorrow!

Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #18 on: 02 June, 2018, 02:23:59 pm »

Where are you looking for forecasts?  All the sites I use say warm, dry and probably sunny.

Accuweather says thunderstorms or two. They also said that about today!

Which reminds me why I stopped using Accuweather for UK forecasts  ;D
The sound of one pannier flapping

Manotea

  • Where there is doubt...
Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #19 on: 02 June, 2018, 03:52:02 pm »
Thunderclouds looming menacingly over Ditching Beacon today...


Martin

Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #20 on: 03 June, 2018, 12:07:39 am »
Infos in place; a bloody hard Meridian Hills perm also ticked off;

the Ditchling one is next to the huge "Keep Calm and take your litter home" the Dyke one wrapped around the usual bridleway post overlooking the Weald (which according to legend the Devil tried to dig a dyke to the sea and flood and drown all its God Fearing people, but he was foiled when a woman lit a light and the Devil ran away thinking it was the sun rising)

see you all at Checkpoint Highbrook; PLEASE REMEMBER YOUR NUMBER and get in the correct queue (as last year the card check will be a short distance before the control to free up space at the food stop)

Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #21 on: 03 June, 2018, 07:42:29 pm »
Fantastic day's cycling in perfect weather (for me at least - don't mind the heat!).  Superb hospitality and food at the controls.  It's easy to see why this event keeps growing and people come back year after year.  Thanks to all the volunteers and organisers!

The traditional steel-frame / route sheet on bar bag / mudguards fitted in spite of clear forecast audaxers were well and truly outnumbered by club cyclists on bling machines, many with tri bars and deep-section carbon wheels.

I don't do as many audaxes as I used to, but events like this are always going to entice me out and, along with Audax Club Hackney, things are looking up for us Londoners  ;D
The sound of one pannier flapping

Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #22 on: 03 June, 2018, 08:59:20 pm »
Super day out! I am actually quite beaten now by the heat!! Glad I trusted the weather and didn’t carry any stupid rain clothes.

I also hope Sen from India got round ok. As hard I tried, I couldn’t get the route synced from her iPhone to Wahoo Bolt.

αdαmsκι

  • Instagram @ucfaaay Strava @ucfaaay
  • Look haggard. It sells.
Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #23 on: 03 June, 2018, 09:43:37 pm »
Another cracking audax eating tour. I had the pleasure of the bhoot tandem to the start of the ride and then rode with the Thing tandem until their naughty Wahoo decided it didn't fancy heading up Ditchling Beacon and started taking them northwards. After that I had a fantastic solo ride (I've clearly spent too long riding fixed) over the Beacon, into Brighton (who put all those wind turbines in the sea?), over the Devil's Dyke and back to London. I arrived at Chiddingfold control at 14h05, which my brevet card tells me exactly the same time as last year. Thanks to Paul and all the helpers. This is a great event. Hopefully most of the 400 riders who set off this morning finished.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1615319750



What on earth am I doing here on this beautiful day?! This is the only life I've got!!

https://tyredandhungry.wordpress.com/

Re: The London Ditchling Devil 200km
« Reply #24 on: 04 June, 2018, 06:38:08 am »
My memories:

1.The two dogs eating lots of doughnuts at the start!

2. Some people left early and we overtook them shortly after?!

3. Incredible cake selection!!

4. This year I came back at 15:33, last year I was back at 16:59 - a nice improvement!

Thanks for a great ride!