Road rides not in the SE

[simonfrench]

Hi chaps

I fancy getting out of he south east for a few weekend rides. Recipe would be to take train or car somewhere Friday night. Stay in B&B. Ride Saturday & Sunday. Go home.

Thinking to start up near peak district.

Question you might be able to help with - are there any decent sites/guides to day road rides any of you can point me towards. My google searches just seem to come up with 10 mile circles on sustrans. Yawn.

Cycling plus mag do a few I know - might start with my back copies....

Cheers in advance.

Simon

[Jon H]

A good ride to do in the Peak District would be the route taken by the CTC "Phil & Friends" Challenge ride. Starts on the western outskirts of Sheffield somewhere and goes over some big (ie Holme Moss) and steep (ie Whinnats Pass) climbs - you might be able to find the route on the CTC site.

[David Lombari]

Hi Simon, How's it going?
There are a few routes on the C+ website.
When the weather improves I quite fancy doing the Isle of Wight. Though you could possibly do it as a day trip, a la the French clubrun, may be nice to stay overnight there.
http://www.cyclingplus.co.uk/routes.asp

[Maria David]

Talking of Peak District, there are a few well known rides in the Peak District - Phil and Friends, that just got mentioned - there's also the Polka Dot Challenge, and Alfie's Cat and Fiddle Challenge.

They all take in well known climbs in that area - cat and fiddle, axe edge, gun hill, winnats, holme moss etc.

I can give descriptions of the cat and fiddle challenge, and also polka dot if you want. I also made up some interesting routes in the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District. Perhaps this could be a forum for sharing info on interesting routes.

A good way to get to know the climbs in those areas is by turning up and doing an audax - then you just follow the other riders and you don't need to bother with thinking where to go.
The other way is to arrange to join in the club run of one of the local cycle clubs. If you're going to the ones up North you generally don't ride that far without climbing, and there'll usually be a challenging pass to go up at some point.

[simonfrench]

Thanks for all the tips.

Maria - if you've got time to describe a couple of the peak routes that's be fab - just the basics as I'll buy a map! Cheers.

David - hi, doing well thanks. Got married in November hence no appearances on the club run for a few months preparing everything at the weekends instead. I say the Isle of Wight route - looks good. I agree staying over would be better then doing it the next day. Keep me posted and I might be able to join you if you like.

Jon - cheers will explore the CTC site. When I joined it was down but there are lots of routes I know.

Ta. See you on the CR soon...