Kentish Killer 2020
There’s an oft used phrase ‘third time lucky’ and for us, my brother and I, after snow in 2018 and stolen bikes in 2019 we awoke to bright sunshine and finally a chance to complete the infamous Kentish Killer. Inspired to take on this ridiculous challenge by Mr Kelly W we met up with Kelly and three other willing victims, his brother, son Isaac and Issac’s friend from university in the bar of Brands Hatch race circuit at 7.30 on the morning of the event. Following a quick coffee, it was with nervous anticipation that we all made our way to the start of the challenge. Leaving the circuit, it quickly became apparent why the word Killer is part of the event’s name as we undertook the first of many long steady climb away from Brands Hatch. The one notable thing about this area of Kent it doesn’t do flat.
All seemed to be going quite smoothly along undulating roads with more potholes than I could possibly count until about 12 miles in when looking up a very steep sided hill Kelly pointed to a house at the top and announced ‘that is where we are heading’. At this point we embarked on a what I can best describe as SAVAGE climb threading its way up through the beautiful Kent countryside to the top of the hill using every gear, mostly the highest one, on our bikes. Of course, what goes up must come down, so we then embarked on a fast descent dodging potholes, gravel and surface water to the bottom of the valley. This became a common feature of the ride as we made our way through the very undulating Kent countryside. Although the climbs to come didn’t prove as brutal or as leg sapping, they were nevertheless still challenging as we made our way through the Forest of Ashdown and past Hever Castle, the family home of Anne Boleyn. We made steady progress during this section of the ride only interrupted by a short stop to fix a puncture and the shock of seeing Kelly make his way to the front of our group and lead for at least 30 seconds!
Following a second rest stop and with only, as Kelly optimistically announced, a mere 15 miles to go we encountered the second ridiculously savage climb. The hill was so steep that at one point my Wahoo Bike Computer went into Auto Stop mode as I struggled up yet another lung busting, leg sapping climb. Reaching the top, we then descended for an easy last part of the ride back into Brands Hatch.
All in all a very challenging ride made slightly easier by a road closure that shortened the route by a few miles, a nice bright sunny, relatively warm day and excellent company. Would I recommend it, probably, would it be the same in inclement weather, probably not, would I do it again, maybe.
Stats:
Distance Travelled 104.97 km
Moving Time 4.53.45 hrs
Average speed 21.4 km/h