Bicycle Icycle - West Surrey Cycling Club

The Bicycle Icycle 2017

By Mark Waters on 22 March, 2017 / Blog posts

West Surrey’s first event of the year took place on 19 March in mild, cloudy conditions. The roads were dry for a change and the turnout was excellent – 18 people, including two guests. The riders were:

Angela Byrne, Marion and Nick Davison, Julian Allen, Chris Boggon, Clive Richardson, Chris Jeggo, Peter Hackman, Martin and Heidi Vinson, Bob McLeod, Chris Juden, Matt Carolan, Dave King, Paul Taylor and Mark Waters. Chris Wright (Alton CTC) and Andrew Grundy (East Surrey CTC) were guest riders.

The Bicycle Icycle, which as mentioned above did not live up to its name thankfully, is a lumpy ride – 3,535ft of climbing in 42.5 miles. For those who rode the Phil Hampton Memorial Ride the previous day, it must have been especially challenging: hero of the day must surely be young Bobby McLeod who rode both in fine style; a couple of others found it all too much and did the sensible thing by retiring gracefully.

The route, for anyone wanting to ride it, just for the hell of it, may be found in GPX form on the Events page of our website – follow the instructions to download. You’ll not be disappointed by the quality of the ride – it really is fabulous from start to finish.

Here then are some photos taken on the ride, starting with several taken at the start.

The route starts by heading south out of Godalming to Thorncombe Street and then continues south to wind back past Gate Street Barn to cross the A281 just south of Bramley.

Turning quickly off the 281 on the Cranleigh road, the route makes straight for the Surrey Hills and climbs the nearest one it can find – Winterfold. And it’s no doddle!

Peaslake is reached after 14 miles, and there’s a shop here which sells the most delicious homemade cheese straws. Normally we stop but not this time – there were a few hundred mountain bikers around and some felt disinclined to queue, so on we continued up the appallingly steep Radnor Road and so past Holmbury Hill to cross the B2126 at Holmbury St Mary.

The next climb takes one towards Leith Hill and is surprisingly gentle – once the initial lumps are negotiated (and these aren’t gentle at all). The final section of this ascent takes one past the turning that we’ll be going down, once the Info Control answer is obtained at the Rhodedendron Woods car park; getting to it involves a steep descent followed by the re-ascent of the steep descent. Many lesser mortals have been tempted to wait at the turning for their pals and then bribe them for the answer. None of us had the temerity to do this today – not with the organiser keeping an eagle eye on proceedings!

Here are some of us at the Info Control point:

Once back at the turning, we make the turn and head for Friday Street and its pretty lake.

And then it’s just a question of heading back westwards without anything overly strenuous to contend with, other than perhaps Hoe Lane. Here are Clive and Pat climbing the lane:

We continue west along Pursers Lane and Hook Lane; in the old days, we then used to descend to Shere for refreshments, but this doesn’t seem to happen much these days, because it adds another climb. Instead we stay high and continue through Little London, Albury Heath, Brook and Farley Green to eventually reach the flatlands of Shamley Green at 31.5 miles – another village shop passed by – followed by Wonersh. Here are some photos of this section:

After Wonersh, we continue over the A281 at Bramley and up Snowdenham Lane to Thorncombe Street once again, this time traversing it east to west, to ride past David Shepherd’s (old?) house on the Hascombe Road. There are two more hills remaining, the first being the killer Mare Lane which reaches the near vertical right at the top. Below are a couple of shots of afforementioned lane.

The descent down the other side is well deserved, but then comes the final short but steep climb on Salt Lane before the fast descent towards Milford Station and the last short section along the A3001 and up Hawthorn Ridge to finish at Quarry Hill. Phew, all over for another year apart from making lots of tea for everyone.

Owing to the lack of refreshment stops, the fastest chaps got round in 3 hours 39 minutes. Well done, them, and all who rode the event, including those who rolled in well over an hour later having enjoyed lots of refreshment stops – sensible people!

Look out for an extended version of the ride in the autumn.

The Bicycle Icycle

By Julian Allen on 14 February, 2016 / Blog posts

Civilised start time for Goldalming and the promise(?) of croissant is an added bonus. Even the weather forecast had improved so no excuses – the ride is on. A warm welcome from Mark accompanied by tea and biscuits is forthcoming on arrival and some new faces – we are going to be joined by two Fleet cyclists. The regulars slowly arrive but it does take some serious prodding to get the second cuppa and to make the croissant appear requires feats of which I am barely capable at that time of Sunday morning – but I am rewarded for my efforts. Then the prodding is the other way – you lot should get going. Yes Mr Chairman – anything you say!

It should be noted that Clive is remodelling himself – he was early! Yup, I will repeat that just in case you missed it. Clive was early. Even Bob’s wife commented on it and she just came for the croissants (wise woman). Then Clive was telling our new friends that the Alderbrook Road climb was the easiest on the route. Not in my books it isn’t, it’s one of the worst. And when we got back he suggested that the two who hadn’t cycled with us had arrived back way before us. No chance – we went at a reasonable lick and only one solo cyclist overtook us and he didn’t like it when I caught up with him and overtook him on Leith Hill Road.

Who says lightening doesn’t strike twice? When we reached Rooks Hill, Steve of Fleet Cycles reported that his freehub was seriously playing up and he was very concerned. The pawls weren’t engaging properly. So he bailed out and headed for his car and home. Ann had the same problem the week before and had to bail out and get the train home from Farnham. Surrey roads taking their toll on our wheels? My front wheel bearings are beginning to make ominous noises. Anyone know if Mavic sealed hubs can be serviced easily?

The rest of the outbound journey was uneventful though bad memories at the top of Leith Hill – took it very carefully. At the control point the thought did occur to me that I should take a photograph of the notice board – actually that’s what a pair of walkers was doing – and then I would not need to go there again. But that would defeat the whole thing. The return leg was going very well too and Clive’s puncture on Thorncombe Street was amenable to a few pumpings up to get us back rather than an inner tube change. Mare Lane is a tough one – need serious gears for that one. The Sturmey Archer was not quite up that challenge but you must have amazing knees Paul to cope as well as you did.

4 hours and 5 mins after setting out we rang the doorbell only to be told we were early! Tea please and more biscuits. Only this year we did not demolish the whole tin. In fact we were almost in danger of sitting down and watching the whole of the England-Italy match in Rome in the 6 Nations. (Personally I find watching England too painful but I hear that they did very well this time).

For those of you who decided not to come because of the weather – you missed a really good ride and the weather was very kind to us. It was sunny and almost warm. It did cool down in the last hour and threaten rain but it held off and I was able to get home and wash the bike down and it still hadn’t rained.

The ride is through some of the loveliest parts of the Surrey Hills and along some roads with wonderful views which we don’t do at any other time but some of those roads do have some of the worst surfaces. But it could be glorious in summer. Mark says he is looking to extend the route to 100km. Yes please, let’s do in the summer and you will also have to find a new name for it. (Bicycle popsicle? No? Well that’s the other part of the challenge – a new name for a summer version.)

Now, if only the ride came with a complementary bike wash at the end as I still have the chain and cassette to do but my hands were so cold.

The Bicycle Icycle 2015

By Mark Waters on 15 March, 2015 / Blog posts

The ride took place on 15 March, starting at 09.30 although everyone was enjoying their tea and biscuits so much they actually didn’t leave the warmth of my new conservatory until 09.45. This disappointing level of enthusiasm for getting out into the fresh air wasn’t helped by the weather being significantly more dismal than on previous days: a very fine drizzle had started falling and it was decidedly un-warm.

Nevertheless, the following West Surrey folk set off: Martin & Heidi Vinson, Peter Hackman, Chris Jeggo, Julian Allen, Pat Daffern and Clive Richardson (7 riders). This year I didn’t join the ride sadly since I was getting over a cough and cold – a feeble excuse, I know.

The first rider back was Chris who admitted to taking a couple of shortcuts, so he’ll not be getting his points. The others rolled in not much later in a single group, at a little after 2pm, with Pat bringing up the rear a few minutes later. More refreshments were enjoyed before the group headed homeward.

I suppose, considering the weather, a turnout of seven is reasonable – the same number turned out last year and it was a much better day. The G&G Wayfarers were out for a half day ride at the same time but probably didn’t fancy a ride quite this long and hard. There were no riders from other local groups from further afield this time which was probably as a result of us not submitting this, or any of our other ‘flagship’ events up on the CTC’s main website or registering them as Touring Competition events. These errors have now been corrected. Our Audax events do get advertised better on the AUK website but for Touring Competition rides, we have to do the work ourselves. Perhaps next year we should attempt to do some additional promotion of our major events.

The Bicycle Icycle 2014

By Mark Waters on 8 April, 2014 / Blog posts

The ride, which took place on Sunday 6 April, attracted 7 people (including the organiser and your scribe), five of whom were West Surrey riders. These were Claire Hooper, Peter Hackman, Clive Richardson, Chris Boggon and a friend of his, Andrew Grundy from Tadworth; and finally Trevor Strudwick, who used to be one of us but moved to south Wales a few years back. Trevor was here to remind himself how grotty and awful our local lanes can be; he was not to be disappointed!

The forecast was poor and it rained gently on the morning of the ride, leading up to the start. In fact, although most wore waterproofs during the ride, what rain there was was light. The weather could best be described as mild and dank. A thick mist surrounded Leith Hill and the higher parts of the Surrey Hills. It was not the kind of day that many would have wished to ride on, which doubtless accounts for the poor turnout.

Despite the weather having been relatively dry for ten or more days prior to the event, such little rain as had fallen during the hours prior to the ride was very much in evidence on the roads, which were in a generally dreadful condition, notably the lane which led south from Thorncombe Street. Mare Lane too was as bad as ever and it was exceptional that no fewer than four cars were passed on that lane as we rode it – three coming the other way. Another mysteriously turned round at the top and returned the way it came; was it something we said?

All completed the course and, as has become customary, we rode round together, getting to the finish at 14.25 hours, thus completing the course in a tad under five hours, a good hour later than in previous years; this despite not stopping at the shop in Peaslake or dropping down to Shere. However, two people had punctures and all waited while they were repaired.

Many hands make light work

Despite the weather, which wasn’t really that bad, it was, as always, an enjoyable ride through superb scenery. A lengthier article will appear in the Magazine in due course.

To view the course in detail click on this link

And here’s an image of the route and gradient profile.

Yours truly at the first Info Control, gathering Q&As for future years

Mare Lane summit

Nearing Hascombe

Wonersh

Claire storming along

The short sharp climb after the lake at Friday Street

Peter setting the pace (as usual!)

South of Thorncombe Street

Climbing Winterfold

Trevor going well

All Chris needs is a Rapha top to complete ‘the look’!