south downs – Page 2 – the man from icon

I should have stayed in bed

It’s dark when the alarm goes off. I think to myself “I can’t be bothered today” and doze off again thinking about getting the train to work a bit later. […]

cyclocross

Farewell White Chalk Hills Ultracross

Since 2012 there has been the annual tradition of the stupid cyclocross ride across the South Downs, usually on the Saturday between Christmas and New Year. I missed the middle […]

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The Lanes – Gorham’s Lane

Starting in the Ouse Valley Gorham’s Lane is essentially a dead end, you’re unlikely to ride up it unless you live in the tiny village of Telscombe hiding in a […]

cycling

The Sussex Spring Classic

A couple of years ago I planned a ride for the Sunday of Paris-Roubaix incorporating some inappropriate sections for road bikes on skinny tyres. There are no cobbles or secteurs […]

cyclocross

White Chalk Hills Ultracross 2015

Stretched out along the fence line, the peloton splinters into clumps of riders. Shadows tumbling down hillsides. Pedalling not against the gradient but the wind. Silhouettes scattered along the next […]

audax

Greenwich Mean Climb 300km [Brevet des Grimpeur du Sud ride #6]

04:29, Dyke Road, Brighton, heading for London. Underworld are played […]

audax

Mid Sussex Hilly [Brevet des Grimpeur du Sud ride #7]

Sat in a village hall, with a slices of cake […]

audax

AAA Milne (Brevet des Grimpeurs du Sud ride #5)

Yesterday I completed my series of Brevet Des Grimpeurs Du […]

cyclocross

London X League team champs

Wrapping up warm, and packing a saddlebag with a bigger coat, a bobble hat, a cow bell, and a flask of hot whisky mac I headed north into a relentless […]

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The Lanes – Bo Peep Bostal

You won’t find yourself here by accident, you seek this place out. Maybe when you set off from home you didn’t plan to come here but somewhere along the way […]

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The Lanes – Along the Cuckmere Valley

It has three names – Litlington Road, Chapel Hill and The Street (either side of Chapel Hill) – but is one continuous strip of tarmac. Running along the Cuckmere River […]

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The Lanes – Spithandle Lane

On a late summers evening I’ve chased my shadow home along here. In the depths of winter I’ve entered one end of the lane in drizzle with a bunch of […]

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The Lanes – Spronketts Lane

This is less about a single lane than a network of lanes that transport you from the chalk downland hills to the clay lands of the weald, quiet narrow lanes […]

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The Lanes – Bostal Road

In 2013 and 2014 I wrote a series of pieces about Sussex lanes for Nowhere Fast CC. The old NWFCC site has been replaced by a new Tumblr site and […]

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White Chalk Hills Ultracross 2014

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Remember, remember, the fifth of November

Sat on the side of a hill with friends watching the fire lit processions in the town below. Baked potatoes and sausages appear from backpacks and panniers. The air is […]

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