White Lane (#16) and Chalkpit Lane (#117) - Again

I was at my parents for a weekend in mid November and so planned a shorter trip to repeat a couple of the hills listed in the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs book (and in fact the Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs book as well). Feeling a little tired after a lot of miles this year so far I planned to do only White Lane (#16) and Chalkpit Lane (#117) again, both of which I have only done once. I also planned to do a fairly basic "there and back" route as well, although this would mean doing a new route back - although on roads I have used but only in the opposite direction.

I plotted the route (using Strava) and made a few small changes to the normal route, so the ride onto the Hawley Road was different, as was the return leg when almost back. Here's the full route:

I also planned to ride across the ridge/escarpment that is the top of White Lane, on past the top of Chalkpit Lane and past and then climb Chalkpit Lane again, and then on the way back drop 1/2 way down Titsey Hill and climb White Lane from there, rather than from the bottom of the Hill in the village of Limspfield. This plan is here:

The first problem I realised after about 1/2hr was that I forgotten a water bottle. I though I might get away with it but after about 45 minutes knew I'd be in a bad way without anything to drink. I stopped in Halstead at a newsagent and got a bottle of orange juice that fitted in my jersey pocket. I also took my gilet and cap off as it was a lot warmer than I expected. I'd felt pretty unfit up until that point - grovelling up a slight incline the first time I crossed under the M25 heading into Shoreham but I felt better after the drink. I still didn't feel great though and was already thinking about skipping at least on of the hills. When I descended (what I later learned was) Sundridge Hill I was even more sure I was not in a fit state for the 2 big climbs. Sundridge Hill - which I have descended several times but never climbed before was now on the return route an I felt it was probably going to be at least as hard as White Lane and Chalkpit Lane. However the right turn near the bottom of the hill takes you onto the Pilgrims Way which is reasonably flat and this allowed me to get more into a rhythm and feel a lot better. After a number of miles I turned right off Pilgrims Way onto Chalk Lane and the B2024 which climbed up to the top of White Lane as planned.

Once you finally climb to the top of the escarpment its relatively flat and after a few miles I passed the top of Chalkpit Lane and started the descent down to get to the bottom.This road (Grangers Hill) was not nice to descend - it was quite a poor surface and was covered in loose gravel and leaves. I descended very gingerly and was passed easily but someone I hope was local given the rate he dropped me! I was also saving myself for what might be the only climb of the day. Once at the bottom it was a few miles to the bottom of Chalkpit Lane proper. You turn off and pass some houses and under a railway bridge. Shortly after that you pass under the M25 and the road starts to rise properly from that point. 

The gradient gets to 10% or so pretty quickly. Its tough to climb past the two entrances to the chalkpit (hence the name) and the road continues to steepen especially as it swings sharp to the right and the gradient kicks up again to 17-18% according to my Garmin. This section is the steepest and is relatively straight before curving gently to the left to reach the top. I found it very hard work. I was in the 34-28 gear which gave me a sensible cadence and I could plod out the climb while remaining seated, and while it was hard it was not quite as hard as I expected.

I stopped at the top to have a gel and some more to drink and felt confidant enough to go for White Lane as well. I enjoyed the descent of Titsey Hill but slowed quite a bit to make sure I made the left turn up White Lane. The first thing I noticed was that the climb felt easier than the other time I had ridden it with my son earlier in the year. The second thing was how smooth and clean the surface was and I guessed this was because it was used for the Becc CC Hill Climb a few weeks before when David Millar rode it as a final pro ride. Given the improved surface, the fact that I approached the climb from a descent rather than another climb I was hoping to make an improved time compared to last time.

From here it was pretty much ride back the exact same route as I'd come out on. The climb up Sundridge Hill was every bit as bad a I expected - a long drag with some pretty steep parts - although once over that the ride was relatively easy. I stopped at Eynsford for a gel and to finish the drink and took a couple of photos:

Then I was back and it was all done: 50 miles exactly, 3600ft climbing, 3:16 time and an average of 15.3mph - not great but given 3 tough climbs I was happy.

I was also slower on both the 2 climbs than before - disappointed but not too bothered as its late in the year and I have done a lot of miles.

The ride on Strava is here: http://www.strava.com/activities/219771684

100 Climbs Progress

Given that I went out recently with the explicit intention of doing some of the climbs in the South East from the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs book I thought I'd put together a summary of the paltry number I have achieved so far. 10 out of a possible 200 so its only a small subset so far, plenty to do still!

( 11 May - Tables are not easy in Blogger - and i have just tested the links and they don't work either - will address soon)

No	Name	Best Time	Strava Link
1	Cheddar Gorge	14:17	http://app.strava.com/segments/6665302
14	Box Hill	07:50	http://app.strava.com/segments/6695759
15	Yorks Hill	04:20	http://www.strava.com/segments/6691251
20	Toys Hill	10:50	http://www.strava.com/segments/6691062
22	Ditchling Beacon	06:47	http://app.strava.com/segments/6691384
98	Rhigos	unknown	Ride not meeting 100 Climbs segment
99	The Bwlch	unknown	Ride not meeting 100 Climbs segment
117	Chalkpit Lane	08:03	http://www.strava.com/segments/2659930
132	Gun Hill	10:24	http://app.strava.com/segments/2376214
136	Edge Hill	06:16	http://app.strava.com/segments/781198

4 of the South East's Greatest Cycling Climbs in 1 day

I recently found this Google Maps Site showing all the climbs from Books 1 and 2 of the 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs in the UK:

They are all nicely identified and you can zoom and and see where they are. When I saw this a few months ago I had not realised how many of the climbs in the South East were relatively close to my parents house in Dartford. I am travelling to Dartford reasonably often at the moment and take my bike most times. Over the Bank Holiday weekend we'd been at Exeter initially, but I had planned a route to take on some of the hills in cycling distance from Dartford. I ended up with this route:

This was about 64 miles and I estimated around 4hrs ride time at 16mph.

The plan was to do White Lane (#16), then Chalkpit Lane (#117), then Toys Hill (#20) and finally York's Hill (#15).

I started off at about 7.15 on the Bank Holiday morning and followed a route that I have done a few times now, off past Eynsford and then past Lullingstone and south westwards. I joined the Pilgrims Way and rode towards Westerham which was basically the foot of what I thought was White Lane.

Climb #16 - White Lane
I made a mistake and did not look at the map properly. I happily ground up what I thought was White Lane. The confusion was it was also referred to Titsey Hill and this is what I rode up instead of White Lane (although I did not realise this until I got back and uploaded the ride to Strava). It was classed as a Strava Cat 4. The longest segment was 2 miles, 5% average gradient and 518ft of climbing. My time was 11:16 and I was 207th out of 964. I was pretty pleased with this. I then rode along The Ridge and past the top of Chalkpit Lane in order to loop round a few miles further along to get to the bottom of Chalkpit Lane.

Climb #117 - Chalkpit Lane

A much smaller road that Titsey Hill, and I only saw 2 cars during the ascent, both coming down nearer the top. There was a gentle (easy) climb under the motorway and then it gently got steeper as it climbed past the 2 entrances to the quarry. It kept getting steeper and then curved round to the right where it remained at around 16% (according to my Garmin) to the top. It was very hard and I needed the 34-28 gearing and took it steady all the way up. There are several Strava segments on the climb -the most similar segment on Strava seems to be "Passo della Chalkpit" - 1 mile long, 430ft of ascent and 8% average. My time was 8:03 - this compares vert favourably to the suggested time of 8 minutes. I came 354th out of 981. Not too shabby.


The climb was tough and is 7/10 in the book.

Climb #20 - Toys Hill

There was then a transition ride of about 10 miles to get to the bottom of Toys Hill. To be honest I had not realised I was actually on the climb until about 500yards or so as I'd turned off the road with a sign pointing to Toys Hill (I assume now that this was the village). One of the signs that I might be on the climb was that there were 2 other cyclists in front of me and a couple coming down. I caught the cyclist ahead of me but did not have enough in the tank to risk a pass as I knew I'd never pull away - and he had a triple so had a much better choice of gears (and I was again in the 34-28). I plodded away and after what seemed like an eternity I reached what seemed to be the top at the crossroads, only to see a few yards further on the climb continuing - it turns out there was still about 0.3-0.4 miles to the top. It was a really hard climb. The sgement is hereand the data is 1.6 miles long, 595ft of ascent at 7% average. My time was 10:50 and I came 574 of 1879, so comfortably in the top 1/3rd (my general aspiration). The books target time is 8 minutes but I couldn't see me getting close to that, or not after 40 miles. The climb was tough and is 7/10 in the book.

Climb #15 - York's Hill

I got a bit confused (or my Garmin did) riding from Toys Hill to Yorks Hill. I got to the top of Ide Hill but each way I went I seemed to be off course. In the end  it seemed to sort out self out and after descending (what I now know is) Ide Hill I turned left onto some very quiet roads. I did not really quite know where I was (the trouble with being somewhere you don't know, with only a line to follow on an electronic device (with a very small area of map) and not having a printed map. The Garmin seemed happy enough for another mile or so, and soon I Was climbing. It was fairly gentle at first buts started getting quite steep - at least steep enough for me to start hoping that this was actually York Hill. After a bit further I saw a tiny handmade sign saying something like Farm, Yorks Hill so was slightly relieved. However the hill was getting steeper and steeper. The Garmin had been showing 16-18% for some time and then it reached 20 an 21%. At this point I was really feeling the gradient as was weaving a bit across the road. Fortunately this gradient lasted only 100 yards or so before it reached the top. This climb (after the other 3) was really hard. The segment is here. The data is 0.4 miles long, 268ft of ascent at an average 13%. My time was 4:20 and I was 687 of 1796 - not as good as hoped but I'd done over 45 miles by that point and a fair amount of climbing as well, so it was OK. my 4:20 compares with a 3 minute typical time in the book. I am OK with being a lot slower for this as Toys Hill was so tough a few miles earlier.  The climb was tough and is 6/10 in the book

Overview
A fantastic route. 64 miles and 5000ft of climbing so pretty tough, but not quite at the magic 100ft/mile. A lot of descending as well and some of the roads were narrow, had a poor surface and the pile of debris in the middle so I used a lot of brake pad on the ride as well. Some minor issues with the Garmin routing again which is irritating. Will definitely do again, and hopefully get White Lane in (only a minor detour) and, knowing the route I'll be able to pace myself better and push a bit harder on the climbs. The only poor part was a couple of miles on the A25 - this was OK at 8am on a Sunday but I'd be nervous about busier times.

There are some more hills in the area to do as well (The Wall is one) so another route beckons.

The final route is here.