The new RaphaCondorRecycling.co.uk team will ride the first Sportive of the 2008
season

2007 action

The new RaphaCondorRecycling.co.uk team must rate the Hell of the Ashdown’s
tough new route, as they are using this winter sportive as training. It now
includes a total of over 2,000 metres of climbing, justifying its fearsome reputation!

In addition to the regular series of daunting hills that makes up the Catford reliability, the club has thrown in a climb commonly known as
‘The Wall’. This ‘Killer Climb’ takes the riders
up the steep gradient from Coleman’s Hatch up Kidds Hill to Gills Lap then
on to the heights of Ashdown Forest’s wild moorland at Kingstanding.

The Ashdown Forest has a formidable reputation; this season officials cut it out of
the Junior Tour of Sussex because of the "treacherous conditions in the
Ashdown Forest area. Due to heavy rain it was decided it was too dangerous to
risk sending the riders over the proposed course".

The new way-marked course starts at Knockholt Pound and winds its way through
Kent, Surrey and Sussex on quiet country lanes. There is only one set of traffic lights
on the whole 65 mile route.

On the way the riders
tackle:

Toys Hill – Hollow Lane (Dormansland) – Kidds Hill (The Wall) – Groombridge Hill
– Ide Hill – Star Hill (the sting in the tail).

Those who find this a bit daunting will no doubt choose to ride the Devil’s
deTour Challenge which covers 30 miles of the route but cuts out the most southerly
climbs although it still tackles the ascents of Toys, Ide and Star.

Entry
– £8 to Register in advance on www.catfordcc.co.uk
and get a guaranteed ride with a
– FREE invitation to the Pre-Hell Party in ‘BROMLEYS’ function room at Bromley,
Kent
on the previous evening
– £10 Entry on the day, signing on from 8am (come early)

Organiser
Bryan Stout, 8 Belcroft Close, Hope Park, Bromley, Kent BR1 3TL
Tel: 020 8464 8124 – Email: [email protected]