4.4 miles, 980 feet of climbing in total:
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I was very dismissive of Box Hill but Ditchling Beacon was tough, the 6/10 rating was probably fair in 100 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs. It was hard work without any warm up at all. The descent was very fast and the road narrow with some quite sharp turns (or sharp at 30+mph), so with traffic it was not possible to really get up to much speed.
On the first descent I rode along for a further couple of hundred meters or so before turning round, dropping onto the 34 ring and selecting the 19 gear on the cassette. I shifted up to the 21 gear and got most of the way up before using the 24. I think I managed to avoid the 28 on the first climb.
On the 2nd climb I needed a gear lower in most places (legs felling pretty lactic acid laden and puffing and panting a bit due to no warm up) and needed the 28 for the last 100m or so. I was thwarted a bit on the 2nd climb as two cars struggled to get past a couple of cyclists and I felt I lost about 5 seconds max.
On both ascents I passed a couple of other riders and again was not passed. However there were very few riders compared to Box Hill.
Its a pretty constant 7-8% gradient, and the road seemed to have been been recently resurfaced as it was very smooth and even making worrying about dodging the potholes unnecessary.
My wife even took a few photos of me (breaking rule Rule #17)
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| Holding the traffic up! |
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| Almost at the top |
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