Long Hills Near St Ives

fatdaz

I'm training for Tourmalet in July and have persuaded the wife that it's a good idea to take my bike when the family go to St Ives for a week at Whitsun. My memories of Cornwall from childhood holidays are of loads of short, horribly steep, tiny roads whereas ideally I'd like long, medium gradient climbs. Is there anywhere suitable near St Ives?

Cheers

Monty Dog

The road west from St Ives to St Just is one of the best cycling roads in the UK IMO- it climbs for a mile or so out of St Ives and then rolls all the way along the coast - there are a couple of steep pitches too. I visit Cornwall regularly regularly ride a loop - from St Just head towards Sennen, Treen, Lamorna, Mousehole and then around the top of Penzance via Heamoor, Nancledra back towards St Ives - takes about 2.5 hours, has very little flat, quite a few, longish drags, lovely swoopy descents and great views on a clear day. The chip and seal roads are pretty 'heavy' maintain 20mph and you're doing well. Detour from St Just down to Cape Cornwall and enjoy the climb back up too!
Otherwise, spend a day finding the short steep stuff and you'll be laughing up the Tourmalet. The North Atlantic Highway east from St Ives through Hale, Portreath etc. is nice too - carry on to St Agnes, past St Agnes Beacon and make sure you drop down into Chapel Porth and enjoy the climb out - I've ridden the coast path from Portreath to St Agnes on a CX bike - glorious, but there are quite a few sets of steep steps to negotiate and some pretty steep descents - confident bike handlers only otherwise it's a long drop to the sea!

fatdaz

Thanks for the response. I'm an awful descender so I'll need to think about that, my technical bike handling is actually good but my head f*cks with me when I descend. I'll try the loop you describe though - if the weather holds it could be glorious

Monty Dog

If you don't fancy steep, narrow descents stay on the BB3315 after Treen rather than dropping down and having to climb-out of Lamorna Cove or into Mousehole, both which are quite narrow.

Mikey23

http://www.tempusleisure.org.uk/default.aspx?page=802

Check out the routes above from the landsend 100. It's what monty dog was referring to. I've done this for the last two years and don't like fast descents either!

whoof

The longest climb you can do near St. Ives is as stated head West toward St.Just/Lands end. To get the full length start at the library on the corner of Tregenna place/Tregenna Hill and head up the Stennack. This will give you ~5km of climbing to the top of Rosewall hill with varying gradients. You can also try Mill Hill, this start a the roundabout the Penzance/Hayle side of Lelent. Go up toward Trink and Balnoon to meet the B3111. Again about 5 km with some flatter sections, try to stay in the saddle start in a smaller gear and move to a higher gears as you climb. When you get to the B3111 you can turn left and head up again toward the Engine Inn and Cripplesease for a steeper section. Then drop down toward Nancledra and take first right toward Towendack. Then right on to the coast road back over Rosewall Hill into St. Ives

fatdaz

Thanks for all the responses guys. Will plan some rides Thursday before heading off at the weekend

fatdaz

Thanks to all for the advice. I had a fantastic break, clocking up over 250 miles in 6 days and even managed a couple of sunny rides. Fantastic ride out to Lands end and enjoyed some of the back roads round Mousehole way. Also thoroughly enjoyed the ride through Portreath and into St Ives from the East (apart from the road surface in some places).

Thanks again for the advice, really helped me plan some fantastic rides

Mikey23

You're very welcome... I assume the roads were a fair bit busier this week being half term. They certainly were around here in the east of the county. There is a lovely long one out of boscastle at a steady 8% next time you are down!

balthazar

fatdaz wrote:

Also thoroughly enjoyed the ride through Portreath and into St Ives from the East (apart from the road surface in some places).

That's a fun road! The hill up from Portreath looks worse than it is, and allows you to feel a bit heroic. And the descent from the St Agnes headland down into the dip by Porthtowan is woooosh..! Gotta pay for it of course the other side. And I agree with everything Monty said- especially about the St Ives/St Just road, one of my favourite rides ever.

Mikey23

Hope the weather is good again for the tempus sportive in October!

fatdaz

I'm doing that one, based purely on my recent rides there