When people talk of the 'Surrey Hills' they naturally think of Box Hill, famed for its zig zags and the nine ascents during the 2012 Olympic Men's Road Race. It's easy to get to and relatively easy to get up, but there is a higher hill to climb no more than 10 miles away.
The prize for highest point in Surrey goes to Leith Hill, but it's a bit more off the beaten track. There's no coffee shop or visitor centre at the top, no Biker's café or busy, four-lane A-road at the bottom. It's also a popular route for cyclists and many local sportives use it. What many people do not know, however, is that there are at least eight different ways of climbing it - which would have made for a much more challenging, if not chaotic, Olympic route.
Local cyclist John Leitch hit on the idea of basing a sportive around the Hill; concerned at the cost of an organised day, he devised the Octopus - named for the event's eight 'legs', each taking a different route up Leith Hill - as a reliability trial for charity rather than a sportive. Entry is open to teams of four riders, with the £20 per rider entry fees donated to Room To Read, a charity promoting literacy among children.
'Rather than spend money on signage, support and first aid,' said John, 'it seemed more sensible to appeal to the more adventurous cyclist and try and raise money for a good cause at the same time.'
John is the kind of wily, wiry cyclist who is distinctly in the 'Old School' department. Steel-framed bike, down tube shifters and an unflappable modest confidence that hints at effortless climbing in the Alps and Dolomites. Words like 'Stelvio' and 'Marmotte' are dropped in to the conversation without a pause to check for widened eyes or nods of approval. From a modest creator, comes the modest start - the car park of Dorking's Swimming Pool, where we met up with John.
Myself, Dale, Nick and Simon had teamed together for the day. I felt a little like the wheezy, tubby kid who had got to pick the sports day line-up. Dale, who traveled over from Southampton, is a diesel of a cyclist and had recently completed a 24-hour Manchester-London ride. Simon, the youngest and lightest of us had just got his 3rd Cat and had cycled over to Dorking from home in Crawley. Nick, my regular cycling partner, was fresh from frequently disappearing off into the distance on holiday with me in France. With little pomp or fanfare, we exited the car park and headed for the Hill.
First Leg
Coldharbour Lane is long and straight and hard enough to be included as one of Simon Warren's 100 Great Climbs (Book 2), and had been thoughtfully micro dressed, it seems, just for us. The crunching of gears was drowned out by the crunching of tyres on the shifting surface until we reached the village of Coldharbour for the first time that day. It was tantalising to see the that the pub was firing up an oil drum BBQ and we knew that the smell of firelighters this time would be replaced with burgers and sausages the next time we came through.
Many of the ascents don't actually finish until the high point of the hill, and thankfully Nick had parked his car there, stocked with food and drink, essential for the day. It was also thanks to Nick we managed to find the start to the second climb, as he is a notoriously bad navigator and had printed off the course map and obsessively marked all the relevant points on it. I also had a copy of John's excellent turn-by-turn directions, but relied on them less as the day went on as Nick's directional confidence went from 'shonky' to 'epic'.
Second Leg
After a juddery and potentially ruinous descent of Hollow Lane, we turned on to the A25 and headed west towards Holmby St Mary and a less demanding climb up Felday Road, passing through Sutton Abinger and past the Belmont Prep School in Pasture Wood Lane. It was here that disaster struck for Dale, as an effort to climb a short incline resulted in a frightening cacophony of clangs from his rear wheel. Closer inspection revealed a sheared spoke, and the wheel now wobbled like the South African batting order in a one-day semi-final. Dale's day was done and we called up for some support from our photographer for the day, Dan, who could thankfully save him from a wretched walk back to the start in cleated shoes.
The roads had started to fill up with local roadies and mountain bikers, and so began an inordinate amount of nodding, waving and greetings as we hurtled down towards Ockley for the start of the next ascent.
Third & Fourth Leg
Along the A29 north of Ockley there are two starts and we were to take on Broomehall Lane, a favourite of sportives. The unshaded start is relatively placid until you approach Broomehall itself, when it deceptively ramps up and continues in a similar fashion until you get to the shady relief of the last third. Each corner presented a soul-sapping slight incline until the sting in the tail at the church at the north end of Coldharbour when you have to double back left and get out of the saddle for 20 metres on to the road that traverses the lower part of the summit past Windy Gap. Lots of bunny-hopping is required on the poor road surface between here and the summit slog up to the car park for the third crossover.
The third descent of the day was a hairy one through Abinger Hammer, past another tantalising pub, the Abinger Hatch, and down a twisty, shaded, high-banked single-track lane. It was at this point our progress was impeded by the sudden appearance of a convoy of vintage MGs on their way to the coast for a rally. Heaving a collective sigh of relief at the end of Raikes Lane we turned away from the start of the infamous White Down Lane Climb - one for another day, that - and along a short section east along the A25 to the bottom of the frame-shattering Hollow Lane; from there it was back up to the summit car park, and an opportunity to take a break and refill bidons.
Fifth Leg
Suitably refreshed, we careered back across Abinger Road and the assault course-like potholes and then past the delicious-smelling BBQ well under way at the Plough Inn to descend towards Dorking on the day's first climb, Coldharbour Lane. Bearing off left to Logmore Lane it was time for more single-track bomb-crater dodging all the way down to Westcott and another smooth sortie along the A25, west towards Wooton and up the day's fifth climb.
The early gradient on Sheephouse Lane lulled us into a false calm, only to be cruelly shattered by the steepest slope of the day, made all the more worse for the fact I was finding hard to climb out of the saddle due to a rib injury. Swaying from side to side, dangerously close to the gutter, the worst was conquered and we appeared once more on the car park road and zoomed through back down towards Ockley, passing the splendidly walled farm selling free-range eggs and jams.
Sixth Leg
Back along Stane Street (A29) and past the start of Broomehall, we pressed on to Henhurst Lane and the blessed relief of a glass smooth, recently resurfaced road. Thankfully not as tough as Sheephouse, but challenging nonetheless we trundled to the top. My energy was sapped by the appearance of three hitch-hiking flies, sucking blood from my right calf. I wasn't aware of any doping control so I flicked them off before they could take a B-Sample. Cruelly back past the ever more mouthwatering BBQ at the Plough and through the 'Jeux Sans Frontieres' Fil Rouge section past Windy Gap and on to the last two climbs of the challenge.
Seventh Leg
The penultimate climb included revisiting the road that did for Dale several hours before, and a blast along the road south of Holmbury St Mary to the bottom of Abinger Common to a second favourite of Simon Warren and a return past the produce-selling walled farm, only at a considerably slower speed. After four hours, this felt like (and probably was) the longest climb of the day, made worse by being at the hottest part of the afternoon. The patched tarmac was bubbling and popping under our tyres and what wind was there was no longer felt refreshing, but stifling.
A final stop at the car park to take on more fluids and suck on some energy gels and we were off on the final climb of the day.
Eighth & Final Leg
Out of all of the climbs of the day, this is the one we'll all recall with least fondness. After traversing Pasture Wood Road and blasting once more south of Holmbury St Mary, we turned into Tanhurst Lane and were met with a road surface that could be charitably described as 'testing' - like Frodo and Sam being guided through the Dead Marshes by Gollum, there seemed to be one route only up the pitted and potholed road, which under normal circumstances would have been challenging in itself. After nearly 90km and seven hills (plus all of the mini climbs that aren't officially 'up' the hill) it was a wonder we stayed upright as the gradient ramped and the pedals turned slower and slower. Improving, in the loosest sense of the word, the further up we went, we were rewarded with a respite of a couple of hundred metres of flatness past Tanhurst House before a final effort up to the car park and the relief associated with pressing 'Save Ride' on the cycle computer.
Dotty Jumper of the day went to Simon, Dossard Rouge for most Combative to Nick and Lanterne Rouge to me as, despite crossing the line together, it was only achieved with a helpful and much-needed push from the team.
Lessons learnt - if you're going to do a 90km climbing challenge you need several things:
- Plentiful supplies of food and water
- It not to be 25 degrees in the shade
- Not to have a broken rib.
Other than that, it was a doddle!
Seriously, though, this is a major test for the legs and the stamina - not quite up to the Fred Whitton in the Lake District, but I imagine it comes some way close to preparing you for a serious hilly sportive. There is no break from the climbs, really - as soon as you finish one you're on to another and another and another. 1,800 metres of climbing doesn't sound like much compared to some of the hillier events you can do but its compactness means you're never too far away from the next climb.
Still - if you don't fancy completing the whole ride, you can get in your car at the summit any time. Unless you parked in Dorking like I did.
A version of this article was subsequently published on the Cycling Active website 22/11/2013: http://www.cyclingactive.com/riding/leith-hill-octopus
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