King of the Downs - West loop (09/04/10)

95 mile Road Ride - Saturday 9 April

Camberwell to Sutton

It was an early start and I had arranged to meet Inaki at Clapham Common at 8.45am. Then a rather uneventful journey through the sprawl of South West London, via Colliers Wood. We met Raph at Sutton station and then headed towards Dorking where we were going to start the route. Raph had decided to take the soft option on the train, though I was hell bent on persuading him to join us on the cycle back - think of the miles Raph :))))

The Climbs

The Western Loop heads north west straight into the Surrey Hills before tackling the North Downs.  Climbing 4,800ft this loop takes in the following climbs:

• Leith Hill (451ft climbing in 2.1 miles)
• Pitch Hill (559ft climbing in 2.1 miles)
• Combe Bottom (422ft climbing in 2 miles)
• Ranmore Common West (271ft climbing in 1.5 miles)
• Box Hill (567ft climbing 2.6 miles)

The Profile

Jibbering.com have detailed some of the profiles below.

http://www.jibbering.com/hills/#Coombe_Bottom

The Route

The Riders

Raph

Inaki

Andy

Inaki all perky at the start as I met him at Clapham Common.

We were following the west part of the Evans 'King of the Downs' route (53 miles), which would take us over some fairly steep climbs and through some beautiful countryside. We cycled down from Sutton to start near Dorking.

The first climb was Leith Hill. We normally attack it from the other side so we did not know what to expect.

Leith Hill (451ft climbing in 2.1 miles)

 - Come on Raph - nearly there.

Combe Bottom (422ft climbing in 2 miles)

Ranmore Common West (271ft climbing in 1.5 miles)

At the top of the climb we took a quick stop next to a rather amusing sign,though on further inspection the '0' of Focks had been tampered with.

Give way to frogs - No not the french, the little slimey creatures that live in ponds - No not the........ FROGS. Never seen a sign like that before.

The climb up Box Hill was something I had been looking forward to. The climb up Zig Zag road is not particularly taxing and you can hit it with some speed, though do be careful to look out for cars and cyclist coming fast on the descent.

The Gradient - Box Hill 

Average Gradient: 5.0%; Max Gradient: 14.6%

 

The National Trust Coffee shop.

There was a long queue at the cafe, but it wasn't going to deter us, as we were absolutley starving.

A good selection of cakes to be had and the cafe is usually packed with cyclists all resplendent in their lycra gear and shiny helmets.

Raph tucking into a nice healthy salad? I just had still water.