In praise of cyclists who live in South Devon

[nickyboy]

I live in the Peak District. It is hard cycling, much harder than most of you have on a day to day.

But fair play to those who live in South Devon. We've just come back from Brixham and I did a few rides from there last week. Off the main roads it's even hillier than the Peak District (we usually average 100ft/mile climbing, 120-130ft/mile is more normal there). But the killer is the descents. They're narrow, steep, terrible sight lines, mud from farm vehicles. So you have to scrub off the speed all the way down, hitting the inevitable next climb with no speed

Lovely area around Dartmouth, Totnes, Slapton etc, but not what you'd call relaxing holiday cycling

 

[13 rider]

Having holidayed and rode in both Cornwall and the peaks around Matlock this year . Both areas averaged 100ft per mile . The peaks felt easier , In Cornwall there seems to constant short sharp punchy climbs were in the peaks there longer steady if steep climbs and the descents in the peaks are so much better than Cornish lanes

 

[All uphill]

I live in the Peak District. It is hard cycling, much harder than most of you have on a day to day.

But fair play to those who live in South Devon. We've just come back from Brixham and I did a few rides from there last week. Off the main roads it's even hillier than the Peak District (we usually average 100ft/mile climbing, 120-130ft/mile is more normal there). But the killer is the descents. They're narrow, steep, terrible sight lines, mud from farm vehicles. So you have to scrub off the speed all the way down, hitting the inevitable next climb with no speed

Lovely area around Dartmouth, Totnes, Slapton etc, but not what you'd call relaxing holiday cycling

I only venture over the border into Devon after a good night's sleep, a double breakfast and with a large stock of bananas and energy bars.

They be tough over there!

 

[ColinJ]

Lovely area around Dartmouth, Totnes, Slapton etc, but not what you'd call relaxing holiday cycling

My sister's new home is only about 45 km north of there so I will probably pop down from time to time on my future Devon holidays.

I enjoyed a cycling holiday in the Newton Abbot/Bovey Tracey area a couple of years ago.

 

[HLaB]

Our ex local pro won the ToB KOM and its relatively flat here , he's from and went back to Cornwall though, that explains it

 

[Pikey]

I grew up cycling around in south Devon on my el cheapo mtb, back then I’d probably have laughed at the hills around where I currently live.
That was 20 years ago though

I did go back for an audax about six years ago, reminded me how lucky I was back then...

 

[nickyboy]

Having holidayed and rode in both Cornwall and the peaks around Matlock this year . Both areas averaged 100ft per mile . The peaks felt easier , In Cornwall there seems to constant short sharp punchy climbs were in the peaks there longer steady if steep climbs and the descents in the peaks are so much better than Cornish lanes

I didn't mind the climbs. They're shorter but steeper than I'm used to but they were manageable. The pain was the descents. In the Peaks they tend to be a bit shallower but most importantly they have decent sight lines. Those Devon unclassified lanes are a nightmare; steep descents and no idea what's round the corner

I even got off the bike and walked the last bit of a descent as it was 25% and ended in a T junction that I couldn't see. I had visions of being unable to stop and careering into a tractor at the bottom

 

[13 rider]

I didn't mind the climbs. They're shorter but steeper than I'm used to but they were manageable. The pain was the descents. In the Peaks they tend to be a bit shallower but most importantly they have decent sight lines. Those Devon unclassified lanes are a nightmare; steep descents and no idea what's round the corner

I even got off the bike and walked the last bit of a descent as it was 25% and ended in a T junction that I couldn't see. I had visions of being unable to stop and careering into a tractor at the bottom

Cornish lanes are the same . I take the descents very carefully . My problem with the climbs because there short I punch over them in a high gear which is ok until about the 5th hill then it's . ,But in the peaks as the climbs were longer I used lower gears to spin up which overall is less tiring

 

[snorri]

The killer hills of south west England caused my proposed two week tour there to morph into a LeJog....... an altogether more relaxing experience.

 

[fossyant]

It's hard enough driving round there.

 

[OldShep]

I found it was similar in Dorset. Lots of lovely lanes with plenty of climbing then having to brake on the descents really goes against my style of riding.

 

[gavroche]

Same in North Devon where our daughter lives. Loads of small twisting lanes, up and down, with potholes, mud, high edges so you can't see well ahead, certainly not designed for cyclists.

 

[Toshiba Boy]

Yep, same here in West Somerset and over the border into that there North Devon, lumpy to say the least, steep and twisty most of the time. Character building as my old dad used to say.

 

[DCBassman]

I remember @heltorchasca (has he left us?) doing Devon C2C a couple of years back, that was hillier than he expected.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Those Devon unclassified lanes are a nightmare; steep descents and no idea what's round the corner

A 1:50,000 map is your friend. Any road which is shown as a narrow yellow is likely to have this issue in a downhill direction. 'Devon Banks' kill the sight lines and the roads are quite often that narrow that you can't rely on squeezing past a vehicle coming up. I tend to stay off them. The roads shown as wide yellow are fine: you can be confident that there'll be space to pass.

I remember @heltorchasca (has he left us?) doing Devon C2C a couple of years back, that was hillier than he expected.

Last seen in February. Has been spotted in another place.