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Box Hill Ride
15 May 2010

Hill - (noun) The bit of road that is really slow and hard to pedal up, but you can coast down really fast afterwards.

On a sunny Saturday morning, seven of us set off from the Hayes Railway Station towards Box Hill. Right from the start, we started climbing hills away from Hayes towards Keston. The climbs were gentle in the beginning but got quite sharp rather quickly. My legs cramped up a couple of times during the ride, but the fantastic scenery kept me pushing on.

This ride was called a "hilly ride", that's a bit of a misnomer really, should be called a ride on hills! Out in the countryside, there were no shops in the early parts of this ride. So, about an hour in to the ride, we stopped for a roadside picnic in Woldingham.

A long stretch of pretty rolling hills from here on, and then it was a slow, slow slog up Gravelly Hill. Not much to say except to keep your head down and pedal! Eventually, we passed the peak, and it was time for the descent. I hope you don't brake during descents because you will destroy your brakes, and after all that hard work coming up, it's time to recover lost momentum. A long downhill straight with good road surface, just let go and enjoy the ride!

A few more lesser hills after that and we reached Fanny's Farm Shop. Their Savoury Tea is fantastic. Consisting of cheese scones, cream cheese, clotted cream, jam, and chutney. Oh, and carrot sticks too, so it's healthy.

The sun decided to hide behind some clouds towards the end of lunch, and a few light showers on this stretch, but the worst of the climbing was over. We did some off road cycling along the bridle path before joining the roads. Our path took us close to the M25 and M23.

"It is flat! But why is it taking so much effort?" We approached Box Hill from the north-east, it was a gentle but unending climb up to the peak. After what seemed to be an eternity to me, I was up at the peak! The views up here is worth every bit of effort put in the climb.

With the weather not looking so good, a decision was made to head towards Dorking for a train back to London. The descent is even better here -- instead of a straight road down, we have a set of hairpins to navigate. Gaining speed on the straight, seeing the turn loom closer, braking late to maximise momentum, make the turn, repeat.The speed incurred and control needed made for an exhilarating ride going down.

All in all, a fantastic ride on a great day out. It was approximately 31 miles for the route from Hayes to Dorking via Box Hill. Another ten miles or so for those that rode down from Island Gardens or Camberwell.

Bob

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