From this Bear to where?

The sportive that never was…

For a few years now we’ve been doing a little early season ride from Uttoxeter called Spring Forward. The ride would take place on the weekend closest to the clocks changing (hence the Spring Forward name). In 2020 the ride didn’t happen as lock down kicked in a couple of weeks before we were due to go ahead.

For the 2020 ride we’d planned to tweak the format of the ride a bit, breaking it down into 2 laps, each beginning and ending in Uttoxeter, so basically, that’s 2 all new routes for a sportive that didn’t get used.

Having planned and ridden the routes, It’d be a shame not to share them and give you the chance to ride them, so that’s what I’m doing. Whether you do them as separate rides or tackle both on the same day (with a spot of lunch at Bear in the middle?), I hope you enjoy!

Getting Started:

If you’re not local to Uttoxeter, there’s a station with links to Stoke and Derby. If you’re arriving by car there are a number of car parks in the town centre too.

Our routes start and finish at Bear Coffee at the north end of Uttoxeter high street. If you’re there during opening hours we highly recommend dropping in for a pre/post ride coffee and cake.

Depending on the time of day you undertake your ride, you may need to walk your bike to the top end of the high street as it’s in a pedestrianised area and subject to traffic restrictions.

Lap 1 – All points west:

The ride gets underway with 5 miles of flatish roads, giving you plenty of time to be sure that everything is in working order before the road begins to rise. And while there’s a little bit of A & B-road in the first couple of miles to get out of town, when you turn off the B5030 after just under 2 miles, you’re done with the busy stuff for a good while.

The first landmark of the ride is a little ford just before the 4 mile point and once safely navigated you’ll be quickly onto the rolling road that takes you on towards English Heritage site of Croxden Abbey which comes just before the 6 mile point. After that it’s the hamlet of Greatgate that marks the start of the first significant test of your climbing legs on this ride – the climb of the Raddle.

The Raddle gets its name from the pub that can be found half way up the climb (or perhaps it’s the other way round) and it’s a lovely, if early, place to stop for a drink and look back across at the Abbey from an elevated position. If you do stop, beware, the climbing isn’t done yet when you get back in the saddle and while there’s nothing as tough as the 25% max of the lower slopes, it’s still just over 2 miles before you get the opportunity to descend.

That descent is a mile or so long and takes you down into the village of Tean where once more you’ll start to climb.

In contrast to the climb of the Raddle, the next segment of the ride isn’t a single definitive climb but consists of a number steps, each with it’s own mini descent as you gradually ascend to the literal high point of the ride as you cross the B5066 above the village of Moddershall. Your high point is also just about the halfway point of the ride too and you can take a breather over the next 3 miles as you drop down through Knenhall and on past the Boar Inn pub with its picturesque duck pond in the middle of Moddershall.

Once you hit the 19 mile point and turn off Hayes Bank and into Whitehouse Lane make a mental note that you’re onto the last chunk of climbing and once you reach the top of Hall Lane at 23 miles after passing through Hilderstone it’s more or less all downhill back to Uttoxeter via Bramshall.

To see the route for this ride in more detail click here

Lap 2 – The beautiful south:

What with it being shorter and with a little less climbing, on paper this looks like a more benign proposition than its counterpart above. But there’s still plenty of interest in this route and I’ve woven in a few interesting additions for this tweaked version of the original Spring Forward sportive route.

Getting out of Uttoxeter to the south means climbing and it’s a bit of a slog through the first couple of miles before the route hits a plateau that sees you into the lanes and on to the village of Kingstone at 5 miles. This is followed by rolling roads through the hamlets of The Blythe, Dapple Heath and Newton before you join the B5013 for the short drag up to Admaston.

I included this section in the route because if you’ve never ridden across it, it’d be a shame to come this far and not experience the beautiful road across the reservoir, on a sunny day it’s worth stopping for a photo in the middle before you take a right onto the appropriately named watery lane, a little belgian style concrete road that sneaks you around to a local hotspot for Staffordshire cyclists at Cobwebs Cafe.

On this route, Cobwebs is found after 12.7 miles at High Ash Farm and the reason to stop there is for the cake. All baked in house and with a selection that’s rarely below double figures, you can justify anything you fancy here based on your calorific output on the way home.

From Cobwebs to the half way point of the ride at Hoar Cross, you’ve nothing too taxing to overcome while you digest your cake and that’s followed by a further descent to the most southerly point of the route at Woodmill and the long grind up to the high point of the ride at Marchington Cliff.

The view north across the plain from Marchington Cliff is wonderful, you can see all the way to Ashbourne and on into the peak district on a clear day. At least you would be able to if you weren’t going so fast and concentrating on braking for the corners – so you’ll just have to take my word for it. Also, depending on how much value you place on the thrill of going fast, you’ll either be delighted or disappointed to learn that you lose every bit of altitude you’ve worked hard to gain in the last 6 miles in less than 1 mile of descending, such is the life of the thrill seeker!

From the bottom of the cliff you can just take the B-road all the way back to Uttoxeter and if you’re pushed for time or scraping the bottom of the form barrel this is something you can do to shave a couple of miles off the route. But rather than do that I’ve sought a more interesting return to town with a couple of rollers and some quiet lanes to ensure you’ve got the most from your time on the road.

TO view this route on a more detailed map, click here

Conclusion: All together or separate instalments.
The answer to the question of whether you take these 2 rides on as one big wonky figure 8 or 2 discrete days out will depend on a number of factors. Your own fitness will of course play a part in that decision, but then there’s also the potential for filling your time along the route too. With a great selection of places on or near the route to eat and drink, either of these routes could form the basis of a whole day of gastro-ciclismo with Bear coffee a great bookend for food, drink (and depending on time of day and how you’re getting home – cocktails!

However you choose to enjoy these rides, have a great day out and if you enjoy the ride, you can support to make more by tipping the price of a coffee in my Ko-fi hat