There were times during yesterday’s London to Brighton bike ride that I thought I was on the cycling equivalent of driving round the M25 on a Friday afternoon before a bank holiday weekend. I expected it to be a bit busy at the start, but I wasn’t prepared for the hordes of cyclists that had the potential to ruin what was gearing up to be an excellent event.

The start itself was pretty well organised and there was a pang of excitement seeing so many cyclists congregate on Clapham Common. We started in waves - having been alloted the 9.00 slot (the earliest was 6.00) - I was thankful for the good weather. Hanging around in the pouring rain wouldn’t have been fun.

The first mile or so were ok, but we were soon sharing the road with London traffic, which meant spending a lot of time at traffic lights, even walking the bikes at some point. As we reached the countryside I was hopeful that that was it, but within a few more miles it all started again. The congestion seemed to be caused by a combination of people stopping for rest stations (where you could use toilets, get some food etc) and occassionally at junctions, where at one point it took us half an hour to get about half a mile.

After that it was plain sailing for 20 or so miles and some of the villages had made a real effort to make people welcome. The atmosphere amongst cyclists was pretty good too and it was by far the most accessible event I’ve done (to the point where I wondered whether some pople had ever been on a bike before). Some people had made an effort to get dressed up while others were just riding unusual bikes (top marks to the chap that rode the whole way on a BMX).

Cycling the 54 mile course itself was reasonably easy going, apart from the notorious Ditchling Beacon, a seriously gnarly hill which basically take you over the South Downs. After that it was a five mile blast to the coast, where I managed to free wheel at over 42 mph. The hill was worth it.

The feeling of ‘actually this event has been pretty good after all’ wore off quickly, however, on the run in to Brighton, where it was queuing a traffic lights time. I think the problem was a combination of the police not shutting off enough roads and the organisers letting too many people take part. It’s a shame really, because the previous 20 or so miles had been great cycling.

The transfer back was, thankfully, better organised. Bikes were bubblewrapped and stacked in TNT lorries, while we all piled on coaches. But by the time the coach got back and I cycled back to West Hampstead it was 11pm - an exceptionally long day and 73 miles of cycling - but I think it was worth it. But maybe just the once.