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news
strava_rgb_boxed_logotypeStrava times tumble on Ditchling Beacon – Tour of Britain rider is new KOM
Ditchling Beacon, one of the most iconic climbs in the south now has a new Strava KOM leader, Omega Pharma Quick Step rider Michal Kwiatkowski, who finished 2nd overall in the Tour of Britain as it concluded in London yesterday.
Stage seven of the Tour of Britain produced an exciting finale and the 1.5km climb with an average gradient of 9%, but spiking to 16% in places, proved a decisive climb for some explosive racing all the way to the finish in Brighton.
More importantly to local cyclists, and for anyone doing the London to Brighton charity ride, there is now a new leader at the top of the Ditchling Beacon leaderboard on Strava. Michal Kwiatkowski - an active Strava user - posted a time of 3 minutes 59 seconds. He ticked off the 1.5km climb at an average speed of 22.1km/h, a pace requiring an average power output of 507 watts and a maximum of 998 watts!
You can view his Strava activity here. Of course, Michal might not have been the fastest professional up Ditchling Beacon during the race, he's simply the fastest person who has uploaded his ride to Strava - there are many pros that don't use a GPS device while racing so we'll never know who truly is the quickest up such climbs.
The title of Alex Dowsett's Strava activity, "TOB Stage 7, i said go, legs said no," tells the tale of how his day went, as he slipped out of the overall lead with the ascent of Ditchling Beacon proving too much for the young rider, he was gapped by about 50 seconds over the summit and wasn't able to close the gap before the finish.
Have you ridden Ditchling Beacon and posted a time on Strava? The fastest time in the road.cc Strava club is a distant 5 minutes 16 seconds by Stravanator- Maison Du Velo - have a look at that leaderboard here.
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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14 comments
I believe the 1995 hill climb was longer than the Strava segment so even more impressive.
I think a fixed gear with the correct ratios would be an advantage over a geared bike as it is more efficient. You really notice each turn of the cranks moving you forward. However the weight of steel would be a disadvantage!
I love riding up the Beacon but it is not a difficult climb. The changes in gradient make it difficult to maintain a good rhythm.
All this talk of 24%, 25%, 40% (!) is nonsense if you ask me - or extremely misleading at least. I cycle the Beacon at least twice a week and as DaveO says, it's no beast. If the gradient gets anywhere near these scary numbers (and trust me, it doesn't when it comes to the last one) it only does so for a few metres. The 9.6% average sounds about right - my Garmin usually hovers between 8-9% or 11-13% on the steeper bits. FWIW, I absolutely love it
Just want to say the fastest recorded time up Ditchling Beacon is before the era of Strava.
It was recorded by the extremely talented Stuart Dangerfield in the National Hill Climb Championships in 1995.
Mr Dangerfield rode up the Beacon climb 14sec faster than Michal Kwiatowski.
Agreed that Mical did do some very hilly miles beforehand going up the climb although on the other hand Stuart was riding a fixed gear 531 bike on a cold October day in 1995.
How many seconds faster would Stuart had done it on a modern day bike and how fast could Michal Kwiatowski ride the climb with fresh legs ? I'd really like to know.
Also they didn't start at the bottom, London to Brighton comes from Ditchling village, Tour of Britain came out from Westmeston turning left on to the climb which had already started to rise before that point.
Thanks Tour of Britain for knocking me even further down the rankings. And damn you Michal Kwiatkowski! He may have youth, skill and a work ethic, but one day he'll know what it's like to be fat, unfit and lazy...
I'm very pleased with my 6:32 now. I thought they'd do it at twice my speed at least.
Strava shows the first steep part of the segment at between 25% and 40%. That can't be right?
http://www.strava.com/segments/7295251?filter=overall
How steep is it really?
didn't feel like that. Avg 9.6% over 1.5km (max about 24%)
http://veloviewer.com/segments/6691384
the hardest bit to get your head round is you think you've topped out and then you go back into the tree line, but at least the gradient eases.
Quite a few false flats to disrupt the rhythm throughout but it's not a beast.
Not to mention the 209km they had to cycle to get to the foot of Ditchling!
They were simply warming up for the climb. We don't all get to benefit from such a thorough warm up...
they had it much easier.
- closed road
- no cars
- cut corners
- crowds shouting 'positive' things
I reckon i'd chip 4 minutes off my time with those benefits!
Yeah, my 10,000th-odd place taken during this year's London to Brighton ride was never in any jeopardy...
Well yes, because you are now 10,001st.
I think I can live with that. Well, 10,611th to be precise...