Solent route recommendations?

[seiben]

Morning all,

Not sure if this is best here or the local sub-forum, but I'm pretty sure there are some regular posters who are around the south coast in here! I'm heading down to West Wittering for a week or so soon and would like to spend a bit of time out on the road bike while I'm there. While I'm happy to give Strava's route finder a go, I wonder if there are any recommendations for routes/destinations I could try?

Up to 50 miles is probably my comfortable limit. Sealed surfaces for preference, but I'll happily bimble along a tow-path or two

[BrundanBianchi]

https://www.strava.com/routes/12121123

I plotted and rode this a while back.

It’s the abandoned ‘Velo South’ sportive route from a while back, but cut in half ( about 50 miles) It starts and finishes from Goodwood Motor circuit, which isn’t too far from where you are staying, and takes in some lovely scenery, and country type pub / restaurants en route.

https://www.strava.com/routes/14132088

This is the ‘full’ version, but it’s a hundred miler

[seiben]

Thank you! I'd say that looks lovely, but the elevation gain is about double what I'm used to

That said, if I give myself plenty of time and plan in some lunch/coffee stops there's no reason I can't manage it.... right?

[BrundanBianchi]

seiben said:

Thank you! I'd say that looks lovely, but the elevation gain is about double what I'm used to

That said, if I give myself plenty of time and plan in some lunch/coffee stops there's no reason I can't manage it.... right?

Absolutely. Take it steady, stop in the country pubs, you won’t notice the hills so much, except for the cat 2 South Harting climb near Petersfield, that’s a bugger, but take it steady, and it’s not too bad really.

[seiben]

Thanks for the tip BB - completed this last week with a bit extra getting up to Chichester and back. It was a bit of a struggle, I'm not going to lie, but enjoyable nonetheless! I need to think about how I can up my endurance for these longer rides I think.

[BrundanBianchi]

seiben said:

Thanks for the tip BB - completed this last week with a bit extra getting up to Chichester and back. It was a bit of a struggle, I'm not going to lie, but enjoyable nonetheless! I need to think about how I can up my endurance for these longer rides I think.

Good effort there. If you want to up your endurance, just ride more, that’s really as simple as it is. ‘Best practice’ is to measure your functional threshold power ( what power can you put out for an hour, and have nothing left at the end ) and work on zonal interval efforts. However, that’s the scientific ‘best practice’ approach. Riding your bike, and making sure you include a fair bit of terrain variation often, will have largely the same effect.