Confessions of a Marathon Runner: BHF London to Brighton Bike Ride

On Sunday I took part in one of my favourite cycling events – the London to Brighton Bike Ride organised by the British Heart Foundation. It’s the second year I’ve ridden the 54 mile route, and is a great event, fun and well organised.

There were four of us this year, and because we’d raised over £150 for the charity last year, we were entitled to the 6am start time, the earliest set off from Clapham Common in London. Perhaps not the most sociable hour, but if you want any chance at all of getting a good time, the earlier the better. Otherwise the roads become too busy, you get caught up at traffic lights, and the sheer number of other cyclists (27,000) make it very crowded and congested, especially up the hills. We got to Clapham around 5.30am (this involved a 3am wake up call, and a 4.20am set off from St Albans in the car!!) and joined the queue in front of the 6am starting line. It was already busy! There were going to be several waves, every half-hour, until 9am (I think). No way would I have wanted to be in the 9am start, it would probably have taken us hours just to get out of London! Mind you most people do take the day quite leisurely and as it’s a ride, not a race, and all for charity – plus the number of pubs along the route make it tempting to stop off several times for a quite drink or lunch!

My aim was to beat last year’s time of 4.08, and hopefully get in under 4 hours. I just prayed I wouldn’t get a puncture! We set off, and the first few miles were very easy – it was all flat and downhill and not too crowded so it was a gentle warm up. There were quite a few traffic lights but we didn’t get held up for too long. The weather was good, chilly at the start but fine when we set off, although the week’s heatwave had certainly come to an end. I was wearing my long-distance trisuit (mainly as a test ride before the half iron), along with a sleeveless jersey and arm warmers. I didn’t work very hard in these first miles, and my times for each mile were quite fast without much effort. Knew it would not last though!

At about 12km, we came to the first hill in Sutton, a grade 3 listed climb. It was fine – although it did warm me up a lot so I took off my arm sleeves when I got to the top! That certainly got the blood pumping and heart rate going, so now there was no excuse for any more gentle riding, it was time to get a bit more serious. The next 20km or so we quite undulating, with some short sharp climbs and fast descents. I am not too experienced on either hills or descents so I was huffing and puffing on the up-hills, and then freaking out and hands over the brakes on the downhills! There was a good mixture of riders though, with many faster club riders coming through and overtaking, and myself overtaking others. I did a lot of bike-watching, and if anyone overtook me I would check out their bike! If they were riding a mountain bike I was a bit annoyed that they were going faster than I was! The other thing I noticed was it was mostly men around me. If another women went by, I noticed, and we usually said hello.

There were plenty of official refreshment/check-in points along the way, all offering a good choice of drinks, food, bike equipment, energy gels, and I believe they all had mechanics on board as well to help fix minor repairs, free of charge. I didn’t stop at any of these in the end, as I wanted to try and beat my time, and by sipping water and taking energy gels I had no need to stop. Plenty of people stop regularly though, and it is all part of the fun! Especially when you reach the top of a hill and there’s a pub with a beer garden!

The second part of the ride is quite fast, there are loads of flat and downhills where you can get the pace going. Although I was separated from the rest of our group, I joined a few other groups of riders and tried to stick with them rather than being on my own. It was much better motivation and gave me a reason to push on and not be lazy on the flats. There really are some quite steep descents with sharp turns, and I dread to think what the roads are like a few hours later when thousands of people are coming down them, many of them with little road/group experience. I was nervous of them, and that was with plenty of space around me! Sadly there were two quite serious accidents that day, two crashes both resulting in quite serious injuries for the riders. The ride is very well organised, with hundreds of marshals, but I am surprised there are not more accidents. A huge pile up round a steep corner almost seems inevitable. I guess they trust the earlier fast/club riders to look after themselves and know what they are doing, but I imagine that they are extremely strict after 9am when the later start masses are coming through.

The famous part of the ride that everyone talks about is the absolute beast that is Ditchling Beacon. It is about 10km from the finish and is about 4 times as long as any previous hill on the ride and steep, too. You can see it looking about an hour beforehand stretching out over the horizon and wonder how on earth you will manage to get up it! Last year I had to walk up it all, but this year I was determined to try and cycle as much of it as I could. I took the flat few miles before Ditchling village easy, and had my energy gels and some water, ready for the climb. Every few minutes, round every corner, I’d wonder if this was it! Soon I was slowing right down, and was the lowest granny gear possible, but I did not actually realise I was cycling up it due to a weird optical illusion with the hill in front, that makes you think you are still on the flat and not at the hill yet! I even had to stop as I assumed I had a puncture, but hadn’t! Then I realised this was definitely the start of the Beacon. So I went for it, for as long as I could. There was still plenty of space around me, and I over took people walking, and other faster riders over took me. I can’t believe how easy some –people made it look! The cleats on my shoes certainly made it much easier than last year, but sadly I did not manage to make it up all the way. I wasn’t really making any progress and was weaving left and right to try and make the gradient less steep, but it was very tough. I had to get off and walk the rest of the way, I was totally spent.

Getting to the top is still a great part of the route though, when you walk or ride, or a bit of both. The views across the Downs and on to Brighton and the sea are amazing. It’s a real treat to get there and many people take advantage of the final refreshment stop to relax and take in the view and sea air. Not for me though – it was back on the bike, a swig of water and no more excuses – onwards to Brighton! Luckily the combination of recovering quickly and the downhills meant for a fun last few miles. You really do feel like a bit of a pro as you come in at speeds of around 30mph, riding alongside others but without the huge crowds to worry about, when else am I going to be able to hit those speeds for that amount of time!! Again the down hills are risky, with a clear road and fewer sharp turns they were just pure fun, but I do wonder how much you could enjoy them and hour or two later with hundreds of other riders next to you! The final part coming into the city centre and out onto the sea front was great, it was well under 4 hours, the crowds were brilliant and it reminded me of the Brighton Marathon which finishes in the same place. The guy on the PA was great and the atmosphere was electric coming over the finish line. I looked at my Garmin – 3.48! Well within 4 hours and 20 minutes off last year’s time so a massive PB!

After collecting my medal and drink, I rested my bike down and ate a huge breakfast roll and piece of chocolate, and chatted to some other riders. It was pretty cool to think that it wasn’t even 10am and here we were in Brighton already when many people were only just getting up! It wasn’t too warm, so I pulled on the jacket and leg warmers I had brought with me. I then went to meet up with the others and had a nice mug of hot chocolate and slice of cake at a beachside café. We spent a few hours there, while Ray came in at around 12.30pm, just relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere.

Took the coach back to London and finally got home at about 5.20pm, so a very long day and was exhausted by the time I got in, but well worth it! Just enough time for a shower and lie on the sofa before I headed off to the pub with family to celebrate Father’s Day.

Next year – to try and cycle up all (or at least more!) of Ditchling Beacon, so I can buy a “I beat the Beacon” tee-shirt!

I suggest if you do want to do this, do everything you can to get an early start, get at the front of your wave, or just take the day easy and have the odd stop at a pub - as it does get really overcrowded even from 6.30am which means a heck of a lot of hold-ups and you could still be out there after 7+ hours. But it's a good fun day though, well worth it!

5.45am at Clapham Common - an early start!