Читать книгу Cycling in the Cotswolds. 21 half and full-day cycle routes, and a 4-day 200km Tour of the Cotswolds онлайн

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‘Moderate’ routes can be longer (14km to 45km), have steeper ascents and more hills in general (cumulative ascent no more than 500m); they may also have very steep downhills. They may tackle short sections of A-road (sometimes outside of urban areas) where needed to join up parts of a good circular route, and may encounter rougher terrain on a more frequent basis or for a longer duration (eg lumpy but solid surfaces, mud and loose stones). These more challenging sections will never last too long, but again, short sections may seem unrideable if you have limited experience of off-road cycling.

Everyone has their own opinion on what makes a route hard – here the off-road climb is tough but short (Route 2)

‘Challenging’ routes may feel noticeably harder than the other routes in the book. They are the longer routes (35km to 60km) and typically have more than 500m of cumulative ascent. Although they’re likely to include short sections of technical mountain biking (Routes 21 and 17 in particular), they are never out-and-out technical off-road routes. However, they may contain short sections that many riders will consider unrideable on an otherwise great route.