Maximum elevation in a flat county...

[mattobrien]

On of my goals for 2021 is to undertake a 100 mile ride with 5,000 feet of climbing, the challenge being is that it all has to take place in Suffolk, we can't ride on the same road twice and we start and finish at the same point. Ideally the start/finish will be around Hadleigh(isn).

I have been playing with the Strava route planner and the best I have managed id around 4,700 feet, so still a bit short for the challenge.

Normally round here we average 30 feet of climbing per mile and a Suffolk lumpy route might be as much as 40 feet per mile. 50 feet per mile is achievable but it isn't something I've managed on much over 20 miles.

Any thoughts on how to better plan this route / ride?


opps, wrong forum, can one of the mods please move to general cycling discussions please?

 

[MichaelW2]

Find a river like the Waveny and ride the many roads heading into the river valley.

 

[Daninplymouth]

My flattish route is about 70ft per mile I guess that’s the joy of living in Devon. I wish i could get numbers like that my average mph would go through the roof

 

[T4tomo]

So its rare I have a ride out near me in Herts near the end of the chilterns that's under 50ft/mi, normally its 50odd - 60dd and those near 50 are considered flat-ish routes.

If we go after a bit of hill climbing then you're in the 70-80+ category. Did a weekend in Mallorca with a mate where did a 100mile and a 50mile day for a total of 14500ft. The 50mile day was the harder one, nearly 6000ft and the wind got up. We'd planned the 100mile to be relatively flat in the afternoon, after we'd gone over the Puig Major.

In response to your question have no idea as never ridden in suffolk, I didn't realise it was quite that flat. although your route planning software and your garmin or whatever will undoubtable read differently - ascent measurement is a dark art and most devices /software do it a bit differently.

 

[Tigerbiten]

I normally do it the other way around to miss the hills.
I start with a coloured topological map of the area so I can easily see where the high/low points are.
This will show me where the hills are likely to be and the valleys between them.
Googled a good one here -> http://gis-flopez.com/suffolk
Then it's just a case of plugging each high/low point of interest into a route planner (I use bike hike) to find out how you can maximize/minimize your climbs along your route.
Hope this helps.

Luck .........

 

[Ming the Merciless]

You need to find some valleys with multiple roads going down to the valley then up the other side. Spending as little time as possible in the bottom. I did something similar in Hertfordshire and came up with 9,000 feet in 100 miles. So 5,000 ft in 100 miles should be poss in Suffolk.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Have a look at this topo map
https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/maps/b9/England/
Here's a screenshot:

 

[Jenkins]

You may need to head to te west of the county. Last time I rode to Newmarket I think the maximum elevation was around 400ft somewehere in the Stradishall area. Althernatively there's the various roads into & out of Ipswich and the surrounding area which sits in a dip, Kersey, 3 short sharp rises from Felixstowe seafront, Stowmarket also sits in a bit of a dip and, er that's about it as I tend to avoid what lumpy bits we have around here.