The Eden Project classic road ride by Gordon Seabright

Gordon Seabright is a former Chief Executive CTC and he is now Chief Executive of the Eden Project in Cornwall. 

Just before I moved west a cycling friend, glint in eye, said to me, “Oh, those Cornish hills!  If you can cycle there, you can cycle anywhere.”  No kidding!  Wherever you are in this long, skinny county with the coastline to die for, you’re never short of a lung-busting incline. But the incredible views make it all worth it. I promise.

When I joined the Eden Project from Cycling UK  I worked with the team to devise a sportive, the Eden Classic. Four years on and the short route, a lasso-shaped  36-miler to and from Eden, has become a firm favourite of mine and thousands of others.

We dub it the sportive with splash because along the south Cornwall coast there’s an excellent chance you’ll get a bracing faceful of sea spray or at the very least some of the liquid sunshine for which Cornwall is rightly famous.

I ride a special bike – one made of bamboo grown at Eden project and made with the help of the Bamboo Bicycle Club.

You reach the first of a few decent climbs before Mevagissey. This charming fishing village used to be called Porthilly –  you’ll  know why as you inch up the narrow, vertiginous road out, admiring handsome houses peeping down on the harbour as you go.  

Within a mile or so is little Portmellon and you just have time to drink in the cove’s  timeless beauty before meeting the beastliest hill on the route. A real twisty calf-stretcher, this one.

Further along is delightful Porthluney Cove, with romantic, Nash-designed Caerhays Castle nestled behind it. Yet another treat for the eyes.

On the return route lies arguably the finest 'feed station' in the world, the café at our sister garden The Lost Gardens of Heligan. Time to forget your personal best and settle in for a traditional Cornish cream tea (jam first). The perfect set up for the country route home to Eden.