by huw williams » Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:14 am
It's a charity event rather than a 'cycists' event so gets absolutely rammed to the gunnels with non-cyclists err... cycling.
The roads get so full you'll hardly be able to move.
Far better to do what a small band of ACC renegades does every year - namely, meet at an undisclosed location just outside Coulsdon South station at an ill-advisedly early hour - join the official route at Merstham before the masses arrive, jump in and leather it down to the coast amongst the fastest riders benefiting from the closed roads and copious tea stops en route.
We did this last year, had lunch, rode back, and there were hundreds of cyclists still passing through Merstham on the way down to Brighton! they'd taken about four hours to get that far from Clapham, that's a long day in the saddle.