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Portsmouth and Back: 700 km and 20,000 km for the Year
Two rides, one there and one back. Between just after half past midnight on Saturday 10 October and just after seven on Monday morning I rode from home to Portsmouth and back the long way, for a total of 706.3 km and 6,401 m of climbing, with 33 hours and 39 minutes on the move. On the way home the year passed 20,000 km. The day posts tell each ride’s story; this one puts them on one map.
Where I rode
Hover over a day to pick out its route; tap a route for its post. Each ride’s first and last 800 m are trimmed for privacy.
The ride out on the Saturday was as indirect as I could make it: east to Tenterden first, then west over the Weald and the Surrey Hills to Winchester, and down through the New Forest to Lymington. It took my best distance from 305.6 km to 353.3 km and got me to Portsmouth just before nine that evening. After about twelve and a half hours off the bike, the ride home set off on Sunday morning with the sea on my right and covered the entire coastline of Hampshire, Sussex and Kent, past Brighton, Beachy Head, Hastings, Dungeness, Dover and Margate. It had nearly 1,500 m less climbing and ran on through Sunday night, finishing just 246 m short of the record I’d set the day before.
The other number came near the end. Just past Bredgar on the North Downs, at about 06:18 on Monday morning and with 19 km still to ride, the year ticked over 20,000 km. Strava had handed out 169 PRs by the time I got home, 117 of them on the way back. I was in just after seven, with 20,019 km on the year’s total.
From the road
Day by day
| Day | Date | Ride | Distance | Climbing | Garmin climbs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 Oct | The Long Way to Portsmouth | 353.3 km | 3,941 m | 30 (4 Cat 4) |
| 2 | 11–12 Oct | The Long Way Home | 353.0 km | 2,460 m | 10 (2 Cat 3, 3 Cat 4) |
| Total | 2 rides | 706.3 km | 6,401 m | 40 |
The numbers
- Rides: #1112 and #1113 on Strava, rides 241 and 242 of 2026, days 121 and 122 of the streak
- Distance: 706.3 km
- Moving time: 33:38:43 (41:56:51 elapsed)
- Elevation: 6,401 m
- Climbs: 40 Garmin ClimbPro climbs: 2 Cat 3, 7 Cat 4, 31 uncategorised
- Biggest climb: The Bourne, Hastings, Cat 3 – 3.75 km, 171 m, 17:24 at 182 W (day 2)
- Longest day: 353.3 km and 3,941 m (day 1, a new distance best)
- Calories: 15,557 kcal
- Year to date: Distance 20,019 km, Elevation Gain 205,494 m
Every town, café, beach and landmark from my rides is collected on the Links page.
The Long Way Home
The morning after The Long Way to Portsmouth I had almost exactly the same distance to ride again, but a very different day in mind. Saturday’s 353 km had gone inland over the Surrey Hills and the New Forest. For the way home I kept the sea on my right and set out to follow the coastline of Hampshire, Sussex and Kent in one go.
It was cloudy and about 11°C with next to no wind as I left Portsmouth along the Havant Road for Emsworth, Chichester and Bognor. At Littlehampton the River Arun lay flat and green under a big sky, with a red inflatable out among the moored boats.
Then came the seafronts, one after another. On Worthing’s front I followed a cream Ford Cortina towards the lights, and at Shoreham the river was dotted with small boats.
Brighton’s seafront cycle lane ran straight at the Brighton i360, a tower that takes some looking up at from the saddle, with a long line of roadworks barriers fencing off the front beside it. Further on, under the arches towards Black Rock, I passed the Blackrock Subway Studios mural, all singers, guitars and skulls.
Rottingdean, Saltdean and Peacehaven followed along the cliff-top road, then the drop to Newhaven. The cloud had finally broken by the time I leaned the bike against a bench near Tide Mills, under a proper blue sky.
Almost everything so far had been flat, and the Seven Sisters put an end to that with the first climb Garmin thought worth a category, up from Exceat. At Birling Gap I stopped for a selfie on the steps above the beach, the chalk cliffs stretching off behind me. Under the orange jacket I was in the purple of the Maglia Ciclamino, the Giro’s jersey for the leading sprinter, which was ambitious for a day averaging 100 W.
Beachy Head came straight after, with the sun dropping low over the sea from the top. Neither of Garmin’s favourite segments here troubled my best: 5th of my 5 goes on Seven Sisters Full and, with a pause for the view, 4th of 5 on Birling Gap to Beachy Head.
Eastbourne, Pevensey Bay and Bexhill went by as the light faded, with Galley Hill, all 16 m of it, the only bump. It was dark by St Leonards, where I stopped for another selfie among the metal figures on the seafront, and Hastings’ promenade was lit up ahead. Then came the biggest climb of the ride, up the Bourne out of Hastings, 171 m over 3.7 km by Garmin’s reckoning, followed by Pett Level, Winchelsea and Dumb Woman’s Lane on the way to Rye.
Beyond Rye the land flattens into Romney Marsh. A lake near Lydd held a faint glow on the horizon, Go Sing’s window was about the brightest thing in town, and out on the shingle Dungeness power station showed as a line of lights across the dark.
From there the coast turned north through Dymchurch and Hythe to Folkestone, and the climbing came back: up Dover Hill out of Folkestone, then out of Dover on Old Charlton Road. After Deal and Sandwich came Pegwell Bay, Ramsgate and Margate, then Reculver, Herne Bay and Whitstable. By Graveney the coast had run out, so I turned inland by Faversham and Bredgar, over the North Downs and down Hollingbourne Hill for the run home. Strava handed out 117 PRs along the way. That made 700 km and 6,400 m of climbing in two days, and took the year past 20,000 km: not bad for a trip home from seeing my son.
The numbers
- Ride: #1113 on Strava, ride 242 of 2026, day 122 of the streak
- Distance: 353.0 km
- Moving time: 16:55:51
- Elevation: 2,460 m
- Average power: 100 W
- Heart rate: 93 bpm average, 132 max
- Cadence: 80 rpm average
- Calories: 7,464 kcal
- Highlight: The Bourne, Hastings – 3.75 km, 171 m, 17:24 at 182 W
- Conditions: cloudy at the start, 11°C, 86% humidity, barely a breath of northerly wind
- Year to date: Distance 20,019 km, Elevation Gain 205,494 m
The route
● Favourite Garmin segment The numbers match the Segments table below. Hover over a segment for its time and rank; click or tap for a link to it on Garmin Connect.
Download the GPX (start and finish trimmed for privacy)
The profile and climbs
10 climbs: 2 Cat 3, 3 Cat 4, 5 uncategorised. Biggest: 3.7 km at 4.6%, 171 m of climbing (Cat 3, from km 144). Together the climbs account for 857 m of the ride’s ascent.
● Cat 3 ● Cat 4 ● Uncategorised Pins mark where each Garmin ClimbPro climb starts. Hover or tap a pin for details.
Climbs table
| # | Starts at km | Length | Ascent | Avg grade | Time | Avg power | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 101.0 | 2.55 km | 108 m | 4.2% | 10:55 | 185 W | Cat 4 |
| 2 | 109.4 | 2.72 km | 112 m | 4.1% | 16:17 | 168 W | Cat 4 |
| 3 | 143.7 | 3.75 km | 171 m | 4.6% | 17:24 | 182 W | Cat 3 |
| 4 | 160.7 | 0.90 km | 49 m | 5.4% | 4:20 | 208 W | Uncategorised |
| 5 | 212.7 | 2.63 km | 166 m | 6.3% | 27:53 | 207 W | Cat 3 |
| 6 | 224.4 | 1.86 km | 131 m | 7% | 14:49 | 212 W | Cat 4 |
| 7 | 258.7 | 1.06 km | 34 m | 3.3% | 4:14 | 162 W | Uncategorised |
| 8 | 311.4 | 0.56 km | 19 m | 3.4% | 2:08 | 181 W | Uncategorised |
| 9 | 332.7 | 1.08 km | 33 m | 3.1% | 4:02 | 183 W | Uncategorised |
| 10 | 342.2 | 0.91 km | 34 m | 3.7% | 3:27 | 202 W | Uncategorised |
4 favourite Garmin segments. Best placed: Birling Gap to Beachy Head, 4.13 km at 1.0%, 4th of my 5 goes (from km 108). Time and power are from this ride; My rank places this ride among all my own goes at that segment. The numbers match the map, and each segment name links to Garmin Connect, where you can save it (you’ll need a Garmin account).
Segments table
| # | Segment | Starts at km | Length | Ascent | Avg grade | Time | Avg speed | Avg power | My rank | My best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seven Sisters Full | 101.1 | 3.60 km | 114 m | 0.9% | 13:51 | 15.6 km/h | 194 W | 5 of 5 | 10:11 |
| 2 | Birling Gap to Beachy Head | 107.7 | 4.13 km | 194 m | 1.0% | 27:05 | 9.2 km/h | 175 W | 4 of 5 | 12:50 |
| 3 | Head Hill Climb | 311.2 | 0.80 km | 19 m | 2.0% | 2:48 | 17.2 km/h | 202 W | 15 of 16 | 1:54 |
| 4 | Cock to lights | 348.9 | 1.86 km | 10 m | 0.6% | 5:07 | 21.7 km/h | 162 W | 183 of 215 | 3:06 |
Every town, café, beach and landmark from my rides is collected on the Links page.
The Long Way to Portsmouth
It was just after half past midnight when I rolled out, only an hour and a half after getting off the bike from an evening spin to Marden. I was off to visit my son at the University of Portsmouth, which was a good enough reason to ride there, and with my best distance stuck at 305.6 km since my Kent coastline ride in June 2025, I took the long way. A very long way: my first move was east.
It was clear and about 10°C with next to no wind as I went through Headcorn and Biddenden to Tenterden, where my shadow kept me company along the High Street. I was 29 km in and further from Portsmouth than when I’d started.
Then I finally turned west, through Benenden, Tunbridge Wells, Groombridge and Hartfield, picking up personal bests in the dark. After a pause in East Grinstead just before five came Turners Hill and Handcross, and the first light of the day found me beside one of the Hammer Ponds in St Leonard’s Forest, the sky turning orange behind perfectly still water.
By half past seven I was in Dorking, where I stopped for just over half an hour before setting off past St Martin’s Church under a clear blue sky. From there it was into the Surrey Hills: under the railway at Gomshall, past the war memorial near Albury and up Newlands Corner, the first climb of the day that Garmin thought worth a category.
Guildford and the Hog’s Back followed, with a blaze of red creeper at Compton and heathland through Puttenham to Seale, and then Farnham on a Saturday morning.
Alton was the next real stop, nearly 50 minutes just before noon. Straight after it came the biggest climb of the ride, the long drag up Medstead Road, 104 m over 2.6 km by Garmin’s reckoning. It isn’t steep, but 200 km into a day it didn’t need to be.
The lanes beyond it were lovely, through Bighton and Ovington to Avington under big skies. At half past one I reached Winchester, and the Guildhall was the backdrop to another half-hour stop.
The afternoon took me past Stockbridge and the church at King’s Somborne, up Furzedown Hill and on through Braishfield and Romsey into the New Forest. I went through Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst and right down to Lymington, 291 km in, with the old record now close enough to count down.
Ponies were out on Beaulieu Heath as the sun dropped, and I passed my old best at about six, around the cattle grid and roadworks at Dibden Purlieu. Someone near Hythe already had a skeleton up for Halloween. Dusk came quickly after that: boats at Eling, then the docks lit up across the Test from Totton.
I stopped on the Itchen Bridge to look over Southampton’s lights, then Bursledon, Titchfield, Fareham and Portchester ticked by, and I reached Portsmouth just before nine in the evening, 20 hours and 16 minutes after leaving home.
That made 353 km, with about the same climbing as Forty-Three Climbs, my 263 km day in the Algarve a month earlier. 1,104 vehicles passed me and Strava handed out 52 PRs along the way. That beat my old best by 47.7 km, with 16 hours and 43 minutes of it on the move. It was a new record, and the only way home was to do it all again in the morning.
The numbers
- Ride: #1112 on Strava, ride 241 of 2026, day 121 of the streak
- Distance: 353.3 km
- Moving time: 16:42:52 (20:16:05 elapsed)
- Elevation: 3,941 m
- Average power: 112 W
- Heart rate: 109 bpm average, 159 max
- Cadence: 85 rpm average
- Calories: 8,093 kcal
- Highlight: Medstead Rd Climb – 2.13 km, 90 m, 9:26 at 186 W
- Conditions: clear and dark at the start, 10.5°C, 88% humidity, light westerly wind
- Year to date: Distance 19,666 km, Elevation Gain 203,034 m
The route
Download the GPX (start and finish trimmed for privacy)
The profile and climbs
30 climbs: 4 Cat 4, 26 uncategorised. Biggest: 2.6 km at 3.9%, 104 m of climbing (Cat 4, from km 201). Together the climbs account for 1,412 m of the ride’s ascent.
● Cat 4 ● Uncategorised Pins mark where each Garmin ClimbPro climb starts. Hover or tap a pin for details.
Climbs table
| # | Starts at km | Length | Ascent | Avg grade | Time | Avg power | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30.7 | 1.55 km | 54 m | 3.5% | 5:03 | 224 W | Uncategorised |
| 2 | 33.5 | 0.59 km | 16 m | 2.8% | 1:53 | 204 W | Uncategorised |
| 3 | 42.1 | 0.86 km | 27 m | 3.2% | 3:09 | 210 W | Uncategorised |
| 4 | 51.3 | 1.43 km | 72 m | 5.1% | 5:47 | 239 W | Uncategorised |
| 5 | 54.6 | 0.87 km | 34 m | 3.9% | 3:11 | 219 W | Uncategorised |
| 6 | 60.6 | 0.80 km | 39 m | 4.9% | 3:30 | 202 W | Uncategorised |
| 7 | 78.1 | 1.39 km | 44 m | 3.1% | 4:49 | 216 W | Uncategorised |
| 8 | 82.8 | 1.05 km | 38 m | 3.6% | 3:54 | 207 W | Uncategorised |
| 9 | 90.0 | 0.85 km | 66 m | 7.7% | 4:52 | 226 W | Uncategorised |
| 10 | 95.3 | 0.95 km | 44 m | 4.6% | 6:44 | 249 W | Uncategorised |
| 11 | 99.8 | 1.22 km | 33 m | 2.8% | 4:18 | 189 W | Uncategorised |
| 12 | 125.7 | 0.64 km | 51 m | 8% | 3:33 | 243 W | Uncategorised |
| 13 | 141.1 | 0.98 km | 44 m | 4.5% | 4:21 | 197 W | Uncategorised |
| 14 | 147.4 | 0.78 km | 57 m | 7.3% | 3:56 | 243 W | Uncategorised |
| 15 | 155.6 | 2.05 km | 96 m | 4.7% | 8:32 | 203 W | Cat 4 |
| 16 | 164.2 | 2.31 km | 92 m | 4% | 9:23 | 198 W | Cat 4 |
| 17 | 168.7 | 0.94 km | 32 m | 3.4% | 4:03 | 159 W | Uncategorised |
| 18 | 184.5 | 0.71 km | 26 m | 3.6% | 2:42 | 191 W | Uncategorised |
| 19 | 189.5 | 1.37 km | 61 m | 4.5% | 6:09 | 175 W | Uncategorised |
| 20 | 201.5 | 2.63 km | 104 m | 3.9% | 11:09 | 185 W | Cat 4 |
| 21 | 217.3 | 0.59 km | 23 m | 3.9% | 2:46 | 148 W | Uncategorised |
| 22 | 224.6 | 0.92 km | 30 m | 3.2% | 3:58 | 153 W | Uncategorised |
| 23 | 231.0 | 0.78 km | 35 m | 4.5% | 38:27 | 137 W | Uncategorised |
| 24 | 232.1 | 0.63 km | 29 m | 4.7% | 2:50 | 196 W | Uncategorised |
| 25 | 248.3 | 1.15 km | 44 m | 3.8% | 13:19 | 153 W | Uncategorised |
| 26 | 250.0 | 2.34 km | 92 m | 3.9% | 9:24 | 180 W | Cat 4 |
| 27 | 292.5 | 0.72 km | 25 m | 3.5% | 3:01 | 167 W | Uncategorised |
| 28 | 302.4 | 1.14 km | 36 m | 3.1% | 4:33 | 150 W | Uncategorised |
| 29 | 336.5 | 1.06 km | 43 m | 4.1% | 4:28 | 169 W | Uncategorised |
| 30 | 342.6 | 0.59 km | 25 m | 4.1% | 1:55 | 197 W | Uncategorised |
Every town, café, beach and landmark from my rides is collected on the Links page.