Good hills in leicester?

KMC1993

is there any?

thistle_

Leicester city or Leicestershire?

There's some reasonable ones towards the north of the county - Beacon Hill and the like.

smidsy

Your not local are you :-)

Not far from Leicester - Get yourself around Bradgate Park area (Quarn, Woodhouse Eave, Newtown Linford, Markfield etc etc )

Like the bloomin Alps it is (well it feel like it to me).

KMC1993

I've lived in leicester for the past 5 years but only just started cycling. Should have thought about Bradgate park though, do you ride through the park or just the surrounding areas?

themekon

you are no longer allowed to cycle through Bradgate. The surrounding roads are quite hilly, nothing too long though.

Avit5

themekon wrote:

you are no longer allowed to cycle through Bradgate. The surrounding roads are quite hilly, nothing too long though.

Yes you are as I bike through most Sunday mornings.
For hills try Polly Botts Lane and Priory Lane
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=google ... CAoQ_AUoAA

Also as already mentioned Beacon Hill is a good long climb from Woodhouse Eve's end.

markmod

Avit5 wrote:

themekon wrote:

you are no longer allowed to cycle through Bradgate. The surrounding roads are quite hilly, nothing too long though.

Yes you are as I bike through most Sunday mornings.
For hills try Polly Botts Lane and Priory Lane
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=google ... CAoQ_AUoAA

Also as already mentioned Beacon Hill is a good long climb from Woodhouse Eve's end.

These are about as good as it gets in Leicester... You could try reps of them to increase the length of the climb... But Alps it ain't!

smidsy

I was joking about the Alps.

Beacon hill (from Quorn up through Woodhouse and keep going) is 3.5 miles of constant climb though.

Loads of up and down stuff if you stay in the square of A512/A5/A50/M1.

Priory Lane (from Markfield past Ulverscroft) is a good one. Also Deans Lane (from Woodhouse Lane upto the B5330)

CiB

There's a few good climbs around Woodhouse Eaves going out to Markfield and then working out to the east of town past Oadby there are places with On The Hill in the place name - Tilton, Houghton, Ilston. There's plenty of climbing out that side. If you can get hold of the route for the Tour Of Leicestershire from 2 weeks ago and assuming it was the same route as last year, there was a lot of climbing on that in the second half of the route from past Lutterworth back up through Tilton etc back towards Sutton Bonnington.

If you're down at God's Own End of the county treat yourself to a blast up Smocky [Smockington] Hollow to Magna Park at Lutterworth on the A5. That has some good up & down bits.

supermurph09

Beacon hill is a cat 4. The easiest way to find climbs is go onto Strava and do a segment search in the area you want to ride. Beacon hill is on this ride here http://app.strava.com/activities/52478324

smidsy

Check out Quorn to Beacon Hill segment on here too (that is the 3.5 mile climb) which takes in Beacon Hill too.

http://app.strava.com/activities/57923827

KMC1993

smidsy wrote:

Check out Quorn to Beacon Hill segment on here too (that is the 3.5 mile climb) which takes in Beacon Hill too.

http://app.strava.com/activities/57923827

Cheers for all the ideas. Will try this one tomorrow, my current routes have a fair bit of up and down but I want the constant climb to really improve fitness.

Emphursis

There are some pretty big hills to the north - Beacon Hill, the one on the road heading West out of Loughborough, several around the back of Bradgate Park and a good one on Polly Bott's Lane near Newtown Linford.

There isn't much to the south of the city, at least nothing I've been able to find, apart from quite a long one going up to Ashby Magna towards the wind turbines, but it isn't very steep. If you like short hill sprints, there is a U shaped road between Willoughby Waterleys and Peatling Parva, and another nice hill sprint in Glen Parva, on the Great Central Way.

Out towards Rutland, there are quite a few, near Tilton on the Hill and through the park near Marefield (over the cattlegrids). Leaving Oakham on Brooke Road, through Braunston, down The Wisp then Oakham Road to Tilton on the Hill has quite a few steep hills, I've only done that road east to west, but it should be pretty similar in either direction.

As for the west, I've not really been out of the city in that direction, at least not past Leicester Forest East.

smidsy

Emphursis wrote:

the one on the road heading West out of Loughborough

The one out of Nanpantan I presume. If you use that you can turn left at the top and head towards the others mentioned in earlier posts.

Emphursis

That's the one. It was at the start of the Tour of the National Forest sportive last month.

laurentian

Leave Leicester on the A5199 heading south - turn left to Kibworth Harcourt then turn right at the roundabout in KH, then left to Hallaton there is a good hill going down into Hallaton (obviously you'd go up it travelling the other way!). Turn right in Hallaton towards Medbourne and then go to Market Harborough through Weston by Welland big hill here. In Harborough skirt the town centre and go to East Farndon (hill) turn for Clipston then Sibbertoft. In Sibbertoft head for Theddingworth along the back lane.

Right on the A4304 and then (I think) its first left on to Bunkers Hill (Hill). Keep going - left to Gumley, Smeeton Westerby then head back to A5199 to get back to Leicester.

That should do you for hills.

Pinnacle

Great routes mentioned here, thanks.
For the Kibworth area, Glooston / Goadby are worth a visit.

hoojamaflip

Out Market Harborough way, there's Foxton - home to the longest staircase of canal locks in the country. From there you can go to Gumley or Theddingworth.

Around Tilton on the Hill, there's the climb at Launde Abbey, which isn't particularly long, but is steep.

StillGoing

Leicestershire has plenty to get the heart and lungs going and if you're prepared to extend your rides into Northamptonshire and Rutland, even better. The Charnwood area has plenty of steep gradients as do the roads around Eyebrook to the east of the county. No, it isn't the Peak District with long gradual climbs or 22% plus shorter ones, but it isn't the Fenlands either. The road from Market Harborough through East Farndon, Clipston and on to Naseby is nicely undulating.

supermurph09

Just do a segment explore on strava, set the category to 3 and 4 and it should pick any up.