Fancy a trip out on Sunday with the roadie, can anyone recommend a nice route in accordance with the thread title?

Don’t want ludicrous climbing
Avoiding big roads where possible

Ta

Derbyshire Dales/Charnwood area?

Charnwood is my usual haunt along with Ticknall etc in the opposite direction, but I’m on the mtb round there tomorow, I imagine there is some good stuff around Ilam as that’s easy to get to.

Any specific gpx files for that area would be great

http://www.greatbritishbikerides.co.uk/about-the-book.html

Rutland and the Lake

Download GPX file?

A route around the Charnwood forest, put it together for a sportive a year or two back. All quiet lanes and some lovely bits of countryside. May be a bit hilly?? – https://www.strava.com/activities/46941518

Out to Rutland? Good mix of easy/steep climbs and pretty villages

How many hours/miles and how many cafe stops? I’m thining park at Calke Abbey, a flat-ish 90min to Repton and back, followed by a more undulating 90min arround Breedon/Donnington/Melbourne.

[edit] you’re local to Ticknall so you probably already know all those lanes.

Don’t ride to Rutland. The special magnet at Windmill Wheels will drag you in by your fillings….

Cheers for the suggestions chaps but I ride Charnwood, Calke Abbey, Breedon, Staunton Harold etc most weeks, and it’s actually lovely road riding but fancy a little trip.

Plus I’m off over to Calke Abbey on the Bike in about 1 hour 😆

A route around the Charnwood forest

Don’t trust this mans routes. He loves hills far too much.

Don’t trust this mans routes. He loves hills far too much

When I look at a map for a road route the only “points of interest” on it are climbs, clearly the more there are the more “interesting” the route is 😉

Created this in the end, looks to have some nice roads and good scenery along with obligatory cafe stop.

https://www.strava.com/routes/2060566

Driveable? Surely if you can drive on the road, you’d ride on the road from house? 😉 😛

Created this in the end

Yer gonna *love* that climb out of Longnor/Crowdecote 😉

If you wanted to extend that ride a bit, and not drive quite so far, you could park in Ashbourne (eg. Stepping Stones pub) and ride up to Thorpe which will get you warmed up…

Off over that way today myself as it happens. No rain or wind forecast, that’ll jinx it 🙂

People put their bike in their car to drive somewhere to ride on the road? Unless it’s an event then that’s odd.

I think the OP just fancies a change of scene by the sound of it? If he lives in Leicestershire and fancies riding in the Peak (two different propositions I’d say) then he’s looking at an extra c.50 miles on his ride if he didn’t drive there… That’s 50 boring and potentially unnecessarily hazardous miles (if he didn’t go the back roads) that he might’ve been riding in nice Peak District lanes. Makes sense to me 😉

Look at the Cycle Derby spring sportive routes and do one of them, maps are on the website so easy to follow

Really?

Why is it any more odd than doing it off road? I fancy a ride somewhere different, different views, different climbs, Im amazed any cyclist doesnt comprehend such a simple suggestion.

Odd

Longnor and Crowdecote?

Only ridden that once, on the return leg of an audax. It’s one of my few proud moments on a bike.

Vale of Belvoir.

Some cracking roads round the vale of Belvoir and over Charnwood way

Have never driven anywhere with a road bike, but have taken my mtb with semi-slick tyres in the car to Mickleover and cycled the Pennine Bridleway (sustrans 68?) to Ashbourne. It starts with a 3 mile ride along an old railway line and then country lanes the rest of the way. It probably depends on what your road bike is like as to whether it’s rideable or not. I wouldn’t do it on something racey, but something like a Specialized Roubaix would be fine. You don’t see much traffic. It is out and back though.

Are you Coalville area? From there we used to do Heather – Market Bosworth – Twycross – Packington and back. I think that was about 30 miles. Also, Belton – Hathern – Sutton Bonnington – Kegworth then out to Sawley via Long Lane – Castle Donington and then back via Diseworth. That is a pretty flat route.

See if you can find a gpx or on line route for derby Mercury’s china tea pot audax route, a great 100k loop sw Derbyshire / Burton to King’s Bromley etc,fradley. Lovely route that was, and you can obviously join at the easiest point on the loop.

Thanks all, ill check those suggestions out.

Is the Longnor crowdecote really that hellish?

Is the Longnor crowdecote really that hellish?

Nah not at all. It’s only short but it is steep 😉

Surely driving to a road ride defeats the object!

The object of what?

It allows me to ride somewhere new, shock horror at cyclist in riding somewhere new.

Drive out to Norfolk way, park up and ride a guesstimate loop unless you have a Garmin/phone with mapping….some of my best road rides have been to mental list some villages and just follow the road signs and take any hills as they come.
Wherever you end up have a good one!

I can ride my MTB 200 yards out the village and be on bridleways for miles. It’s great.

But sometimes I put the bike in the car to go to a trail centre to ride somewhere different. Why would a road cyclist not feel the same way?

Cycle Derby spring routes
Long – http://www.plotaroute.com/map/31826
Middle – http://www.plotaroute.com/map/31822

Summer routes
Long – http://ridewithgps.com/trips/3480711
Middle – http://ridewithgps.com/trips/3480708

More details here – http://www.cyclederbysportive.co.uk/#springroutes

Surely driving to a road ride defeats the object!

Bugger. Looks like I’ll have to cancel that group trip to Dumfries & Galloway, and that last trip up to Aviemore was also a waste of time too. Good God, that means riding the Col de Tourmalet must have actually not been a fantastic day out. Gutted 🙄

If you get a sunny day, the back lanes east of Leicester can offer some surprisingly ‘big skies’. There are loads of winding lanes around the likes of Somerby, Tilton, Skeffington, Rolleston and the like. Old sandstone buildings and some really nice villages.

Sounds good Danny, get yourself a road bike and come join me 😆

Fair enough, suppose it depends how you view road riding, for me it’s just a way of getting out for a quick spin without having to clean bikes and prep an MTB and camelbak etc. If it’s something you enjoy more I can see it’s no different than me driving to Scotland or the Alps to ride my MTB. I probably also take for granted having some of the best road riding in the UK on my doorstep!

Sounds good Danny, get yourself a road bike and come join me

Can’t I just pump the tyres up really hard on my 456 and lock the fork out?