Chalkpit Lane

Difficulty - 8
Target time A: 5:30 minutes
Target time B: 6:20 minutes
Target time C: 9 minutes
Target D: cycle all the way up, no getting off the bike

One of the tougher ways to get back up the ridge.

From Oxted, you’ll spot it looming ahead. After ducking under a railway bridge and rolling through a quiet residential stretch, the road tilts up fast. The gradient bites right from the M25 overpass, and just when you hope the corner ahead is the top, but once you got around it you see another.

By now, your legs are burning, and you’re just hitting the steepest gradient. Tree cover closes in, the air feels thinner, and if it’s wet, your rear wheel is probably skipping every time you stand up. One last cruel bend and finally, the road eases off. A few more pedal strokes and you spill onto the main road, lungs pumping, legs shaking—grinning as you wait for the rest of the group to crawl in behind you.