Current Record Holder: Rob Lee 20h 55m 51s.
For thousands of years, people have been crossing the South Downs using nothing but the power of their own two legs. And in all that time, every traveller has been looking for the easiest route: what's the quickest way over the next hill - around it, over it, or across its flanks? Eventually, out of all those small, individual decisions a trail emerged, worn into the chalk over countless journeys.
The end result of all those collective decisions and knowledge is the South Downs Way.
Of course, of all those people over all those years, someone's got to have made the quickest journey, there-and-back. Nowadays, that's going to be someone riding a bike.
200 miles (there and back). 24 hours to do it in. It's that simple.
The history page covers the background to the Double and explains how it came to be. A special mention must always go to Ian Butler, who is widely acknowledged as the first person to do the full 200 miles in under 24 hours - thanks for showing the way, Ian!
Back in 2006, Sharon Laws (Team GB) and George Budd (Salsa Factory Racing) rode the South Downs Way both ways, supported by Thetford MTB, in around 30 hours. George has sent in a report and photos of their ride - one of the pictures shows an unusual choice of bikes!
On 22nd July 2008 Neil Newell set out to attempt the South Downs Double on a rigid singlespeed, and completed the ride in 23 hours 20 minutes 32 seconds. More on Bikemagic here and here.
We've collected a bunch of interesting and informative links about the South Downs Way on this page - if you have any others you think should be featured, please let us know via the feedback page - thanks.
Read Rob's amazing tale of his record-breaking Double, in his own words here on BikeMagic (the same story is also here on the IronHorse-Extreme website).
Rob Lee, leader of the elite IronHorse Extreme endurance team, has broken the record - and entirely unsupported to boot! He carried absolutely everything he needed bar water (which he got from public taps along the way), and carried every last food wrapper and bit of rubbish back with him. You can read more about his ride on this page - during his ride it reported his current position along with the latest pictures in real time, and has several links where you can find out more about his extraordinary ride. His final time was 20h 55m 51s, and there has been a good deal of media coverage as a result - see the links here for a selection.
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