England : Cambridgeshire Cycling routes/clubs in Cambridge?

[XiShT]

Hi all,

Does anyone know of relaxed road cycling groups that cycle in Cambridge in the morning on weekends? I've only been able to find the CTC which does riding nearly every day, but I'm not sure I'd fancy a café stop on every weekend ride....

Been mainly experimenting with routes via trial and error from searching on Strava, but having difficulty finding short-ish routes (about 30km in length) that avoid main, busy roads. Any thought from anyone in the area?

 

[mjr]

Look at the Cam Audax routes? I also remember Ely and District CC and Sustrans St Neots which may have relaxed rides or at least routes, although it seems they have café stops too.

http://www.camaudax.uk/
http://www.elycyclingclub.com/
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/events/st-neots-led-rides-cambridgeshire

But what's wrong with a nice café stop?

 

[mjr]

Finding routes that avoid main roads as much as possible: http://cycle.travel/map and put in or click a start place, click "Suggest a Ride" and move the slider to get a distance. Click for more suggestions.

 

[XiShT]

The CamAudax routes are the only ones that are near me, but man they are far! The most I've done was a 60-ish km ride at one go, but hopefully a 100km milestone will come soon.....

I usually like to go out on a ride, and ride continuously until I get back, so I feel like a café stop somewhat breaks the rhythm of riding that I have when riding alone (which I'm aware may be the reason for it in the first place, to take a break and socialize). Maybe I'll take up a café stop one day and see what the hype is all about!

I'll try that link out and see how I get on with it, thanks!

 

[dim]

I don't normally post here anymore, but still lurk often, and no one has answered your question properly...

here is a route south of Shelford ..... I do this one often, and will be riding it most mornings as soon as it gets light early .... very quiet roads .... 33km loop from Shelford with 230 meters of climbing (and 230 meters of downhills) .... do this one on a regular basis, and you will get superfit .... it's a loop, so no matter which way the wind blows, 1/2 of the ride will be easy, and the other half will be tougher. I've done it several times, and it takes an hour and a bit (from Great Shelford)

I've named it as Route 7 (on ridewithgps):
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19216816

I worked out this route out using Strava heatmaps..... check the roads by dragging the little yellow google man onto the roads .... I have loads more:

 

[XiShT]

That looks good, thanks!

It seems like of all the routes I've looked at/tried, you've got to cycle a good 30 mins to really get out of town and into the quiet country lanes - I usually start my rides from around Cambridge town as that's where I live

 

[Elybazza61]

Look at the Cam Audax routes? I also remember Ely and District CC and Sustrans St Neots which may have relaxed rides or at least routes, although it seems they have café stops too.

http://www.camaudax.uk/
http://www.elycyclingclub.com/
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/events/st-neots-led-rides-cambridgeshire

But what's wrong with a nice café stop?

The Ely club rides usually have two groups,easy and moderate; easy does what it says but the moderate can get a bit friskier especially on the return legs.

Deffo have a cafe stop though.

 

[Dave 123]

That looks good, thanks!

It seems like of all the routes I've looked at/tried, you've got to cycle a good 30 mins to really get out of town and into the quiet country lanes - I usually start my rides from around Cambridge town as that's where I live

Take the Coton cycle path , go through Coton, up Madingley Hill, head for Hardwick, take a left down Long Road, turn right at the bottom.
Go through Comberton and Toft then take a left to go to Kingston.
Next go to Little, then Great Eversden, over A603 and in to Harlton, then Haslingfield.
Either return to town via Barton/Barton road with a left turn
Or go right that will take you to Newton and the Shelfords.

 

[robjh]

That looks good, thanks!

It seems like of all the routes I've looked at/tried, you've got to cycle a good 30 mins to really get out of town and into the quiet country lanes - I usually start my rides from around Cambridge town as that's where I live

If you want to avoid the 30 minutes riding out from/back to Cambridge and get straight out to the country bits, then you could always get a return train ticket to a station such as Audley End (£7 return) or Newport (£7.20) and start from there. There is some great cycling country around there though it is a lot hillier than the immediate surroundings of Cambridge. Or on another line, Newmarket is also £7.20 day return. All these trains will take bikes with no restrictions outside peak hours.

 

[XiShT]

Take the Coton cycle path , go through Coton, up Madingley Hill, head for Hardwick, take a left down Long Road, turn right at the bottom.
Go through Comberton and Toft then take a left to go to Kingston.
Next go to Little, then Great Eversden, over A603 and in to Harlton, then Haslingfield.
Either return to town via Barton/Barton road with a left turn
Or go right that will take you to Newton and the Shelfords.

I will try this, thanks!

 

[jamieb158]

Hi, had my road bike a couple of years but only recently been really getting into building up my rides, I have been cycling along the guided bus way as it's a good surface and the odd road crossing. I have done cambridge to Ely and back a couple of times on a Sunday and to be honest found cars on the a10 quite polite. I hadn't thought about taking the train out and cycling in as Cambridge traffic and the road surfaces are the worst