Flat(tish) route around Leicester?

[Damo78]

Hi All,

Newbie here

I may have left it a bit late to ask this as I'm planning on going out on my bike early tomorrow morning, but I'm just wondering if there is anyone here who knows of any decent, flattish routes around Leicestershire which are ridable on a road bike?

I've got a few big rides coming up, including a Peaks Tour in 2 weeks time (about as far from flat as you can get ), and then a couple of weeks after that I'm doing the LOROS Leicester to Skegness ride.

Unfortunately I've been struck down with a bad cold for the last few days, which has also affected my chest and Asthma, which in turn has prevented me from training just as I was getting my fitness up and building my confidence for the peaks ride. Being in the middle of a great spell of weather and a bank holiday, the timing could have been better, and I don't want to waste the opportunity completely so would like to get out on the bike on a fairly simple route that won't take too much effort (just get my legs spinning a bit). I'm looking for 40-50 miles, with as few hills as possible.

Unfortunately from where I live, which is around the Bradgate/Charnwood area, every direction is hilly, especially if I want scenic, quiet and picturesque rather than City Centre.

I did find the Grand Union Canal route this evening which apparently goes all the way from Leicester to London, however looking at a few reviews (including on here) it looks like it's not suitable for a road bike (or certainly sections of it aren't). I do have a mountain bike, but would prefer to use the road bike.

So I'm considering driving out somewhere, parking up, then doing a ride. I considered Carsington Water, but I believe that's quite hilly in places and some sections aren't suitable for a road bike? I know Rutland Water can be done on a road bike, but it's also got a couple of nasty hills that wouldn't do my chest any good at the moment. Is there anywhere else like these places where it's fairly flat and passable on a road bike, even if I have to do a couple of laps to get the miles up?

I'm going to see how I'm feeling in the morning before I do go out, I might not bother at all if I'm not feeling up to it as I'll just end up extending the recovery period, but it would still be useful to know of routes for the future (including for when I take the family out, as they don't like hills at all ).

Thanks in advance.

Damian

[tim-b]

Hi
Depends how flat. Reservoirs seem obvious, but short. Thornton Res is only a 2 1/2 mile circuit, Pitsford in Northants is 7 1/2, most others are footpath only
HTH
tim-b

[Damo78]

Thanks Tim.

Thornton is actually a regular of mine, though I tend to only go past it rather than around.

I think I'll be able to manage a few short hills, just nothing to strenuous until I've done a couple of rides again and completely over the chest cold. Annoyingly I was getting quite used to the hills (I need to for the Peaks!), and actually did one 5 times in a week which I tend to only usually do occasionally usually (Beacon Hill in Woodhouse Eaves if anyone knows it), little chance of me managing it with my chest as it is now though.

[tim-b]

Hi
I'd search for a route out to the National Memorial Arboretum near Alrewas. Cycle Travel Map (link) works well
There are two cafes nearby, the Beehive at Rosliston and Fradley Junction, and one at the Arboretum as well.
If the route's a bit long (I don't know where you live) try driving out to Thornton and starting from there
Regards
tim-b

[Annoying Twit]

Leicestershire is really flat.My route from Leicester to Lincoln only has one decent hill, though on the way back that's a really massive hill that I walk up.

I'm familiar with the Bradgate/Charnwood area. It's a place I cycle to if I want to find a decent hill. E.g. up Beacon Hill passing Woodhouse Eaves.

Riding around Bradgate Park through Anstey is quite a big circuit. It's only Warren Hill that is a decent hill if you go the up Warren Hill direction, and it's followed by downhill riding all the way to Newton Linford. If you're tired, it wouldn't be hard to walk up that hill, and then you get about 6 1/2 miles of downhill, flat, or gentle uphill cycling before you have to walk it again.

[Damo78]

Thanks both.

I think Thornton is going to be my best bet, I can go from home that way, and my usual route would be about 35 miles. Depending how I'm feeling I might then extend it out to Market Bosworth. If I do it in reverse I don't think the hills are actually as bad.

If I do get out of breath on any of the hills I'll just have to stop for a breather - something I've been trying not to do of late as I wanted to try and do Winnats Pass in the Peaks without stopping (this is my third attempt). At the moment I don't really care though as long as I get out on the bike in this magnificent weather

[Annoying Twit]

Thanks both.

I think Thornton is going to be my best bet, I can go from home that way, and my usual route would be about 35 miles. Depending how I'm feeling I might then extend it out to Market Bosworth. If I do it in reverse I don't think the hills are actually as bad.

If I do get out of breath on any of the hills I'll just have to stop for a breather - something I've been trying not to do of late as I wanted to try and do Winnats Pass in the Peaks without stopping (this is my third attempt). At the moment I don't really care though as long as I get out on the bike in this magnificent weather

It's pretty flat from Market Bosworth to Atherstone too, and I found there were some nice roads from Bosworth to there.

Not for today: But I found that going out to Oakham wasn't too bad. On my route there are some hills though.

[Damo78]

It's pretty flat from Market Bosworth to Atherstone too, and I found there were some nice roads from Bosworth to there.

Not for today: But I found that going out to Oakham wasn't too bad. On my route there are some hills though.

Ah cool, might give that a go too if I'm feeling ok. The first few times I felt one of my chest infections coming on I'd go out on the bike for a good ride and it seemed to kill it off before it took hold, so maybe it's what I need. Unfortunately the last time I tried it it didn't work though.

You mentioned the Leicester to Lincoln route. I've done Nottingham to Lincoln a couple of times, cracking ride. Last year a few mates and I actually did Nottingham to Skegness and back in a day, plus some added on to make it 200 miles (keeping a promise I made a year earlier to try and get more donations to charity for a ride I was doing) - won't be doing that again I was hurting and drained after 170 of those miles, then had to go out again.

[Annoying Twit]

I've never done 200miles in a day. The most I've done is 200 kilometres in a day. (I'm metric.) That was Leicester to Lincoln return, with a number of loops of King Lear's Lake added in to make 200km. I went through Bottesford, as I prefer to avoid big cities and roads.

I was hoping to do a long cycle today, but the front of my right knee is feeling slightly tender.

I was thinking I'd ride Leicester to The Wash to repeat the ride by suffragette Alice Hawkins. However, not only has it been impossible so far to find her route, but it appears possible that the ride never happened at all. EDIT: I just emailed an expert on Alice Hawkins.

[Damo78]

If she's used Strava it would have made it easier to find her route

So much for my flat ride anyway. Decided just to ride around and explore some new roads, found some quite nice ones. Plenty of damn hills too though! Ended up doing 2,500ft over 42 miles. Chest wasn't good to start, Asthma was playing up and out of breath with the slightest of hills. Ended up chewing on a fisherman's friend sweet which I'd taken with me to see if the menthol would help - did the trick straight away! I think I've found a new riding buddy - a packet of these things will help me up any hill

Also met a couple of friends (an ex colleague and his wife) who I've not seen in years so tagged along with them for a while. All on all a cracking ride, but so hot!

[honesty]

From Charnwood you could head out to Shepshed then Belton, across to Osgathorpe, drop down into Worthington then pick up the cloud trail for a flat ride all the way to Derby.

[honesty]

Doh. Just read the thread properly. Hope you had a good ride today!

[Damo78]

From Charnwood you could head out to Shepshed then Belton, across to Osgathorpe, drop down into Worthington then pick up the cloud trail for a flat ride all the way to Derby.

Doh. Just read the thread properly. Hope you had a good ride today!

Thanks.

I did try that route a couple of weeks ago, with a plan to go out to Calke Abbey and back. However, managed to take a wrong turning somewhere along the way and ended up at East Midlands Airport instead - not quite what I was expecting

In the end I don't think the hills I rode yesterday did me any harm anyway, chest feels no worse than before, if anything it feels a bit better. But from time to time it's nice to get some flat routes in anyway, just to try and get the average speed up, so I'm making a mental note of these routes for once the mountainous sportive is out of the way in a couple of weeks.