Good road bike ride routes around Bath?

[mattie]

Hi all

I've bought a lean'n'mean road bike to get in shape on, which has caused a few problems in that I don't know many decent routes that are road only - my last bike was a mountain bike, so my favourite rides involve trails or other off-road sections.

Does anyone have any decent rides that they could let me know about? I'm amazed just how high the gearing is on road bikes, so I'm trying to avoid the huge hills that seem to be everywhere around bath (i.e. Lansdown or, to a lesser extent, Bathwick Hill/Widcombe Hill/North Road).

I've been out through Box, but the road gets quite twisty and I've almost been run off the road by overtaking cars who have had to pull in suddenly. I assume there are other decent rides out this way that are a little safer?

All advice gratefully accepted.

Matt

[fractionMan]

The tow path along the canal is good in both directions, but going towards bradford on avon is best. There's a pub stop at bathhampton and another at avoncliff. I walked it the otherday, but cycling should be a doddle.

[mattie]

I've ridden that a few times, mostly out to Dundas viaduct and back for a quick drink at the George at Bathampton.

The only problem is that my road bike can't go along tow paths, the road has to be reasonably flat tarmac - a royal pain in terms of finding relatively sedate and manageable rides around Bath. A friend of mine in Cambridge raved about the rides he goes on along peaceful country roads so I thought I'd try it. I failed to take into account the somewhat differing gradients in Bath - the only decent roads I can find involve quite a few nasty, protracted hills. I didn't much like tackling the hills on my mountain bike, but at least there were some reasonably flat trails/towpaths to ride on my mountain bike!

[inks]

Tricky. You want roads that aren't busy main roads with screaming executive cars, heavy trucks brushing past and psychotic junctions. And you also want minimal hills.

That's a tough demand. Not unreasonable but it might not be easy.

I'd say head west and explore the minor roads along the way towards the Mendips. Either side of the A39 / A368 towards Burrington Coombe and Cheddar. Interesting countryside, small towns, churches, and unexpected stuff. But you'll be exploring so don't expect to find a good route the first few times. Loop round Burrington Coombe and Cheddar Gorge and then head home. For a ride starting from Bath that's a day out.

And hey, hills are fun. You get views and stuff. If you've cycled across the Somerset levels for a couple of hours you'll know what I mean. Going up hills is as much fun as going down them. Maybe buy a smaller set of chainrings though.

[mattie]

Tricky. You want roads that aren't busy main roads with screaming executive cars, heavy trucks brushing past and psychotic junctions. And you also want minimal hills.

That's a tough demand. Not unreasonable but it might not be easy.

I'd say head west and explore the minor roads along the way towards the Mendips. Either side of the A39 / A368 towards Burrington Coombe and Cheddar. Interesting countryside, small towns, churches, and unexpected stuff. But you'll be exploring so don't expect to find a good route the first few times. Loop round Burrington Coombe and Cheddar Gorge and then head home. For a ride starting from Bath that's a day out.

And hey, hills are fun. You get views and stuff. If you've cycled across the Somerset levels for a couple of hours you'll know what I mean. Going up hills is as much fun as going down them. Maybe buy a smaller set of chainrings though.


Many thanks for that, if the weather holds I might head out this weekend.

The chainring problem is pretty difficult to sort. I've got a double (only 2 front chainrings, with no granny ring) and to switch to a triple would involve changing shifter, front mech, chainset and bottom bracket - the shifters are around £80 by themselves. I've put a mountain bike cassette on the back, with a mountain bike mech, so the gearing has dropped a bit, but it's as low as I can get it without spending quite a bit of cash. The bike was made up by a shop from spares, so I got a bargain but didn't get to specify a triple, which would be pretty useful in this neck of the woods!

[felixthecat]

Whichever way you go, getting out of Bath on a proper road is going to involve a hill of death. Theres just no way around it unfortunately. The least steep is probably Beckford Rd, but that just takes you onto the A36 - not exactly a quiet country road (altho it does lead to some). I cycle into Bath from Bradford-on-Avon quite often, but only along the towpath cos I don't do hills of any sort and I ride a mountain bike (and there are lots of nice pub stops :) .

[inks]

"The chainring problem is pretty difficult to sort. I've got a double (only 2 front chainrings, with no granny ring)"

Ah - when you said lean and mean you really meant it.

Some of the roads I mentioned might be a bit trundling for you, although you could certainly have a lot of fun in the open, rural areas around the top of the Cheddar Gorge.

I take it the larger of your two chain rings is an absolute giant that only makes sense at super-high speed? The A38 heading south-west past Bristol has some fantastic hills where you can really let fly on a high-geared racer.