XXV.NINE/AEIGHTRACERBLOG – STONECIRCLECHILTERNSSUSSEX
- eightbikeco5
- Jul 27
- 5 min read
Traka, Unbound, Badlands,....boring! It’s all about the Stone Circle, Glorious Gravel, and the SSX - the real hardman’s events! Okay, not quite, but they are three brilliant rides and definitely worth putting in the diary for next year - here’s how they went down for me this year!...
Stone Circle is a 220km loop around Wiltshire and Salisbury Plain, but it features so much more than the normal boring army access roads. Karin, Droid, and I set off a couple of hours after the riders to “sweep” the course - basically, if you see us, you’re out of time for the feed stations, so you can either cut the ride short, or carry on without support. This year we only caught 15-20 riders, most of whom continued on to finish on their own, so the riders and organisers did a great job.
The 220km route is about 80% off-road (with the remaining 20% on very small roads) and our mate, Dan, has done a fantastic with mixing in a bit of everything - we start off with some great rolling farmland to get to Stonehenge, before blasting the army roads to the first feed. After this you descend off the plain into the rolling downs on a mix singletrack, fire road, and quiet farm roads. After another feed you can up the average pace on some faster trails and backroads, before heading back onto the plain and rolling through some stunning farmland estates to finish with a beer at the fort!
My favourite section was the climb up to Berwick Down and then Monk’s Down - a narrow singletrack chalk climb which magnifies the sun reflecting off the ground into your face, as well as it hitting your back, warming you like a fan oven. My legs felt light and my mood was almost as high as the climb, as we flew up it. All three of us were working hard, but at this point, you know the hard work is done and you can relax, all the way back home through the beautiful country estates and a fast section on the Ridgeway.
Next up I headed to a Glorious Gravel Ride in the Chilterns, with a couple of my clubmates, Henry and Simon. These aren’t high pressure events and no one’s racing - they’re simply well-thought-out rides in great locations, and I always think they’re a great way of getting a taste for a region which you may want to go back to and explore a bit more.
The Chilterns ride was typical of this - 100km, run almost totally off-road, it was a beautiful mix of steep sided valleys, rough farm tracks, and big beech woodlands. The ride out from the start was smothered in deep ruts and it became a bit like playing Mario Kart, weaving your way through slower riders and picking the rut which wasn’t full of mud! There was one excellent section where you ride up a wide rooty climb, and us three enjoyed laying down our ‘cross skills to navigate the chaos of wobbly riders sprawled all over the place - this was then followed by some absolutely premium floaty singletrack which we hit as hard as we dared.
After a couple of brilliant feed stops (including proper cups of tea), we headed into some cracking climbs, and super steep descents. You had to be thoughtful about your lines on the gravel bike, and float the bigger drops, whilst avoiding the sharpest flints!
The final piece of my little gravel block was the SSX Mystery Tour - Liam Yates’ own event based 5km down the road from our workshop in Sweet Sussex. I sponsor his brother Jesse, and often get the chance to spin the spanners on Liam’s and Sean’s bikes too, so there’s always some nice kit to play with in the workshop. We linked up earlier in the year to host one of the Social Rides, connected to this event, and if you’re interested we have another similar ride on the 24th of August - get in touch for details.
For the SSX I set my alarm for a 3:30am breakfast, before heading down the track to Forest Row Skate Park for the start. Henry was looking eager, John and Jamie were ready to punch it, Liam was his normal chilled out self, Pip and Nicky were locked in, and Jesse had already found his own unique way to get the blood flowing! About 150 of us headed off into the dawn and because the start loop is on familiar trails a few of us were able to go a bit faster on the downhills. The route then headed through Rotherfield, and Heathfield and down to Butts Brow for the first spin up onto the Downs.
Once we dropped down to Alfriston I stopped for some snacks, and shortly after was joined by Henry, Jesse, Liam and Dru. We all rolled together through the Downs, from 90km to 125km and the Lunch Checkpoint. Following that was six brutal ascents of virtually the same hill, which was about as enjoyable as it sounds, but once that was over, the final 75km was absolutely brilliant. The little Sussex bridleways that bookended this years route (which changes every year), were my favourite bits. Finishing in the daylight, before the rain hit was another big win!
Riding on some new (to me) trails has reignited my love of Sussex and I’m planning some smaller routes to go and explore them properly. It was great to ride with a heap of nice folk through the day, catching up with old friends and making new ones. Well done to Annabel and Liam for organising another great edition of the annual SSX!
Photos by Glen Whittington, Matt Buckley, Glorious Gravel, and Henry Weaver.
2025.RIDERS - GLENWHITTINGTON
#aeightracer – Bike Rider / Framebuilder / Mechanic - Glen started racing in 1998, initially specialising in XCO and Solo 24-Hour Mountain Bike. He became a mechanic in 2002, working in shops and also for professional race teams. During this time he spent more time racing ‘Cross and Road, and then also TT. In 2013 he built his first bespoke frame and then spent several years at Roberts learning the art. Since then he’s designed, tested and now sells his own frames/bikes to the public as part of his ÆIGHT brand - you can find his business Instagram account here.
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