I was cursing my luck this morning – the shower had started to leak and it was another glorious day. Well some hours later I had re-sealed the shower (fingers crossed), taken Charly to test drive a car and was at last heading to the Downs.
The car park at Ditchling Beacon was grid locked so I did an about turn and parked at the foot of said hill just off Underhill Lane.
The first part of my ride was a slow consistent climb up the Beacon (a nice warm up). From the top I headed east and the down towards Falmer before turning back towards Blackcap and the SDW. The views were glorious – I could see the white cliffs over by Seaford (a far cry from the visibilty earlier in the week). 
From Blackcap back to Ditchling Beacon I caught up with some other cyclists which helped me keep my momentum for the last couple of miles. Finally I took the steep and challenging off-road descent from the junction of the SDW and the Beacon road down to Underhill Lane and back to the car.
A nice 10.5 mile, 1350 feet ascent workout at just under 8mph. making 106miles on knobblies in 8 days. So still someway to go to reach the fitness I need but I am getting to the point where I will feel comfortable planning some rides invoving multiple climbs up the north face of the South Downs.
Tomorrow I may take a rest.
