This route gives you the chance to pit your strength and stamina against Olympians: it is the most testing section of the road race cycling event in London 2012
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Distance 8 miles (12.8km)
Classification Moderate?difficult, depending on number of circuits
Start/finish Junction of Old London Road and The Zig Zag, Box Hill, RH5
Duration 1 hour
Route NCN routes 22 and 17
Map OS Explorer 146
Route notes
This loop, which has been popular with cyclists since the 1880s, gives you the chance to pit your strength and stamina against Olympians: it is the most testing section of the road race cycling event in London 2012. The Zig Zag Road, which has been likened to Alpe d'Huez in the French Alps, climbs 120m over 1.6 miles from the Mole Gap to the National Trust visitor centre at the summit before the route levels out with panoramic views, which have attracted crowds even before Jane Austen's heroine Emma had an unhappy picnic there.
Terrain and gradients
The Zig Zag Road has an average gradient of 4.9%, which you can feel in your legs by the top, where it levels out. It's on-road all the way, with good tarmac surface.
How to get there/away
The route is circular. Trains run to London Victoria at least once an hour every day from Boxhill and Westhumble or to Redhill and Guildford from Betchworth. Bikes can be taken on board free of charge, but only folding bikes are allowed during rush hour.
What to see
In the Olympic race a slightly extended version of this circuit (here we have cut out the busy A roads closed during the race) will be lapped nine times by male riders on their 155-mile race and twice by the women (87 miles) on the weekend of 28-29 July. It will form more than half the race for the men and, since much of the rest of the race is flat, the medals will be won or lost on the hairpin bends of the Zig Zag Road. The steady climb allows good cyclists to blast their way up and down. But nine times in the July heat will be a gruelling challenge even for Olympic athletes.
For the mere human beings among us, the attractions are the wonderful views, rolling chalk downs and serene beechwoods.
Watering holes
The cafe in the Box Hill Centre at the top of the hill serves light lunches. The Stepping Stones pub (Westhumble Street, Dorking), next to Boxhill & Westhumble station, has good pub grub and great ales.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2012/may/06/bike-ride-box-hill-circuit
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