Bolsover & District Cycling Club

We have now started using the marvel of modern technology that is map my ride to communicate our road ride routes. You can find the clubs page by clicking the link below

http://www.mapmyride.com/community/groups/557124927755941046

the routes are a first stab , and we would appreciate any feedback on improving them

I like the concept, but I do think that the routes need more descriptive names that would be easier to ‘sell’ to potential riders, even if these were just the name of the furthest point on the route (or café stop). I’ll go away and have a think…

For starters, here are my suggested amendments to the routes that have been proposed so far. Apologies for what may appear to be major re-routes. I’ve tried to include some interesting laney alternatives as is my wont when designing Audax routes.

North (Ulley)

OK, but a bit main-roady in places. I tend to prefer roads with grass growing up the middle, but not everyone does…

North East (Drakeholes)

I would head out via Clowne / de Rhodes / Harthill / Kiveton Park / Todwick (A57) / Laughton en le Morthern / Kings Wood / Firbeck to the A634 and then use a lane past Thornbury Hill to cut across the A60 north of Oldcotes towards Styrrup / Harworth. I would also avoid the A631 by heading SE from Harworth through Serlby to Ranskill, then via Mattersey to Drakeholes and then to Clayworth. Otherwise fine. A stop at Tom Simpson’s grave in Harworth would of course be mandatory.

East

I can’t open this one as it is ‘private’. Looks like a short route via Clumber to Stan’s, which is fine for a quick leg stretch or gentle pootle.

South East (Tuxford?)

Between 35 and 40 miles, the route is very similar to other routes, so I would return via Glapwell / Palterton rather than heading further west for another blast up the Tibby Ramper. I would be tempted to head further east, e.g. Budby – Thoresby – Bothamsall – Bevercotes – Tuxford (café stop at Tuxford Windmill) – Egmanton – Laxton – A6075 – Wellow – Rufford – Edwinstowe, then back via Clipstone – Forest Town – Mansfield Woodhouse. Perhaps this should be an ‘East’ route rather than ‘South East’.

For a ‘South East’ route you’d have to head off towards Southwell or somewhere in that direction.

South (Teversal)

This looks like a good short route. There is a new road south of Pleasley which isn’t shown on the map, so to avoid this I’d head from Pleasley to Skegby then to Teversal using the back lanes – the one between Skegby and Teversal is fab.

For a longer ride I’d look at heading to Denby or Shipley Country Park, both of which have a café. For either you could head out via Ambergate and back via Codnor Gate / Somercotes / South Normanton – probably 45-50 miles – bit long for a morning ride, so even Ambergate would be good – back via Heage / Pentrich / Somercotes / South Normanton

South West (Crich?)

I would head via Newton rather than Huthwiate, which cuts off a corner. I’d also be tempted to extend this to Crich: out via Wessington and back via Brackenfield.

West (Beeley Moor)

I would head via Glapwell / Stainsby Mill / Astwith rather than Rylah Hill / J29 as it is a much nicer / safer route, then head straight through Pilsley to Stonebroom, even though this is used on other routes. Otherwise the route is fine. A café stop would be good (as ever), but there isn’t an obvious one.

North West (Curbar)

I’d do this the other way round as it works better (and not just to avoid the climb up to Curbar Gap). I guess all the routes can be ridden either way.

A couple of other tweaks:

1. An alternative route to avoid Whittington Moor Roundabout (or the underpass) is to use the cut through from Station Road, Brimington via Wheeldon Mill Lock to Whittington Hill. You then head through Sheepbridge to Dunston Lane. As an alternative to this alternative you could proceed as per suggested route and use the underpass on Pottery Lane East to ‘cross’ the A61 and pick up Sheffield Road. You then take the first left at the roundabout, which is a bit shorter.

2. I would use the main road between Owler Bar and Holmesfield rather than descending into the Cordwell Valley just to climb back out again.

3. I would use Cowley Lane to link Holmesfield into the back of Dronfield – there is a back road route through Dronfield that drops you onto Cemetery Road and then onto the B6057

There are café stops at Curbar (Outside Café or Derbyshire Craft Centre), but you could also change the route to climb through Grindleford to Fox House and call in at Grindleford Station Café en route or extend it to Hathersage.

Other Routes / options

I suspect that there are numerous possible variations that would keep the routes fresh.

I could probably dream up a few more routes, but these are good for starters.

If we were to publicise these routes in a book / series of leaflets, we’d have to mindful of including places to visit / interesting things to see as well as cafés / shops / other facilities en route. Starting and finishing in Bolsover would obviously help as it would bring ‘tourists’ into the area.

I also have a ‘Tour of Bolsover’ route which I will upload; it’s about 60 miles, so fine for a long day ride or it could be ridden as two shorter loops from Bolsover. The full route passes 34 places of interest, so there is plenty to see.

I will also include my Audax routes (Beast of Bolsover (105km), Dovedale and Beyond (153km), Nemesis (203km) and Wortley Wander (100km)) as well as the Cleethorpes and Skeggy routes. I will also upload the routesheets for these as pdfs.

Finally

Is there a way of allowing members of the group to print maps at no cost if the group subscribed to mapmyride? This is really my main gripe as I feel strongly that we should be providing routes via a free web based system or investing in a mapping programme that allows us to upload routes to the web.

Matt (and evryone else) , its easy to transfer your routes or anyone elses from www.mapmyride.com into any other software

by downloading the route into a .gpx file and saving this somewhere on your machine , you can then easily  reverse the operation and upload the same file into your favourite software , or indeed a GPS unit if you are lucky enough to own one.

the printing facilities from www.mapmyride.com are exceptionally good , and ok its £2 , but that gives unlimited prints of that particular route.

Each to your own i suppose , but ill explore a club membership option

Matt

any chance you could add the detail of your routes to one of the sites and let me know the details