A Group Ride 22 May, Dorking. 10.30 Start. Challenging Ride Warning.

I was set the task of leading a challenging ride for those wishing to do a longer/hillier  and/or faster ride.This is a temporary departure only from the usual A group rides and  there will only be 5 or 6 such rides for the whole of this year, all taking place during  the summer months. It will be necessary to leave Dorking11s by 10.30 to ease the timings  for the rest of the day. I’m conscious that my ride for Wednesday won’t be for everyone and hopefully by giving  a few days notice all necessary arrangements can be made. So that you can decide and  to give you a rough idea, when I reccie’d the route starting and finishing in Epsom, the ride  was further than usual (98 miles), hillier (just over 5,000 feet) and of necessity at a good  average speed to enable lunch to be eaten at lunchtime, afternoon tea to be taken  before the cafes close and for me to be home by dinner time. It is without a doubt a stunningly beautiful route with a couple of off-road sections. I first rode  it with Cheam & Morden in 2014 and it made a big impression on me then and I was reminded  why when I reccie’d it yesterday. I’d say that to enjoy the ride you need to be comfortable cycling at an average pace of 13.5mph+  over 75 miles (on the basis that we can all grit our teeth and put our heads down once on the  home stretch). Strava is especially helpful to look at average speeds over a total ride, as is a  Garmin or a good old fashioned bike computer. It’s important to be able to make this average  speed comfortably even if you intend getting a train back from lunch or later. Otherwise any  slower pace as a group will mean those who are cycling the whole route will risk finding that lunch is very late, the afternoon tea stop is closed and they get home unreasonably late. So I hope you’ll be happy to join me on this stunning ride on little used roads (by either us or  indeed other people) but if you’re unsure what are the alternatives? They might include taking  the ride at a slower pace and getting the train back from Worthing/Horsham/Dorking; however,  you’ll need to have a copy of the route, a map or a sat nav and hopefully the company of others  who are like minded. You’ll find a map of the route if you look on my Strava for the ride titled ‘Dorking to Tanhouse  via Goring by Sea’ on 18 May. If you’d like to upload the route to a Garmin, the file can be found at: http://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/24457874 In outline, from Dorking we’ll head to Rusper, Warnham, Broadbridge Heath and Barns Green.  Our ascent of the South Downs will be made using the somewhat brutal Chantry Lane which at  the top meets the South Downs Way. The first mile or so of our descent will be slow as it’s on a  stony and rough bridleway through Angmering Park Estate.Those who know me will know that I’m  not keen on off-road (and on my new bike too). However, even I would concede that it was justified  by the sheer beauty of the surroundings. Finally, after 37 miles and 2,092ft of climbing since leaving Dorking we’ll arrive at the Bull pub in Goring by Sea. I was assured I don’t need to book numbers so I’ll keep my fingers crossed that’s  right on the day. Lunch was medium to pricy but excellent quality and sandwiches include chips or  salad (I doubt anyone needs to know that last option). Post lunch we’ll cycle along the seafront to Worthing and after an unpleasant 1/2 mile on the A27,  we’ll leave the noise and chaos behind and turn left into the calm of Church Lane and climb Titch Hill  (so it can’t be that big given its name, can it). More stunning South Downs scenery and big views.  Once the descent has started it’s important not to go shooting ahead as we’ll be taking the 1st left,  otherwise if you overshoot it’s a very steep hill to climb back up in the wrong gear as I discovered  on the reccie. From the bottom of the Downs we pass through Steyning, Dial Post and aim for the delightful  surroundings of the cafe stop at Southwater which is open til 5. This is 23 miles and approximately  1,150ft climbing from lunch. (There is an earlier stop at the Old Barn nurseries just before Dial Post  but there’s still a long way home at that point so it’s probably best avoided). After Southwater we’ll head to Horsham via Lovers Lane, the second gloriously quiet off road track of the day.From Horsham to Rusper we take a quiet but steep climb at the side of Holbrook Park.  After Rusper the route ends at Tanhouse Farm which will have long closed by then. The totals for  Dorking to Tanhouse are 72 miles and 3,881ft elevation. I made my way back to Epsom by backtracking the outward route so home via Dorking and the A24 cycle track to Leatherhead. Annoyingly I was a couple of miles short of 100 and so of course  I had to do a loop at the end. Posted by Janice NB Let me know if you plan to attend this ride - so that arrangements may be made to cater for those joining a more-than-normal B Group Ride. Also it would be a good idea to bring  snacks/energy bars for eating on route.