Team EMD Conquers Ditchling Beacon to Reach Brighton

Thursday, 25th October, 2007

Team EMD left Halstead at 03.45 on Sunday morning to be ready on a grey and overcast Clapham Common in London for their 06.00 start time. Due to the sheer numbers of cyclists, the start line was not crossed until 06.30 and we did not start cycling until a few minutes later.

The ride was 54 miles along mostly closed roads with the exception of London & Brighton. However, with the large number of cyclists travelling at a wide range of speeds along sometimes narrow roads, it was very difficult to remain in contact.

The route has well organised refreshment & toilet stops available for those of us mortals who needed to stop. One super-hero member of the team got to 45 miles without realising how far he had gone and so carried on to the end non-stop!

Apart from the 54 miles distance, there are 2 major challenges:

Avoiding bike accidents

The 06.00 start time ensured that most of the 27,000 riders were behind us but the rearguard contingent saw plenty of accidents and just avoided major involvement in a pile-up that caused an innocent lady to fly over her handlebars and lacerate her arm very badly.

Ditchling Beacon

The final climb over the South Downs to get to Brighton involves a 1 mile bendy climb to an ancient fortress at Ditchling Beacon. Only 4 members of Team EMD got to the summit without getting off - luckily including me as I had additional sponsorship pledged if I got to the summit still riding.

The early riders got up Ditchling Beacon in cool and overcast conditions. Later, the sun burnt through and then the climb was less easy due to the heat.

After the summit it is downhill all the way to Brighton, including an extremely steep hill into the town centre. One intrepid member cycled hard down this hill, was flashed by a speed camera and registered an uncalibrated 63.5 mph on his speedo!

The team gathered in a local park and relaxed with hot-dogs and bacon rolls before our drivers had to chauffeur the team back to Halstead.