And no, my title doesn't refer to the pop song by Yaz (I think) although that tune is now firmly embedded in my brain. It actually refers to 2 key aspects of today's ride.
Number 1. Lots of people asked me why we were riding from South to North as everybody's instinct is to ride the other way (downhill all the way innit). Smarty pants here always replied "well on average, the prevailing winds are from the south west. Next time, let me tell you, I'll listen to everyone else - as we've had North Easterly wind blowing in our faces all day.
Number 2. The guy who wrote the guide book we are following said that Day 1 was a fairly gentle introduction to Cornwall. I beg to differ. This was probably the biggest climbing day I have had on the bike. I’ll wait to see what the Mapping software says later – but our Garmin says around 4,700 feet which is a lot more than we expected.
Number 1. Lots of people asked me why we were riding from South to North as everybody's instinct is to ride the other way (downhill all the way innit). Smarty pants here always replied "well on average, the prevailing winds are from the south west. Next time, let me tell you, I'll listen to everyone else - as we've had North Easterly wind blowing in our faces all day.
Number 2. The guy who wrote the guide book we are following said that Day 1 was a fairly gentle introduction to Cornwall. I beg to differ. This was probably the biggest climbing day I have had on the bike. I’ll wait to see what the Mapping software says later – but our Garmin says around 4,700 feet which is a lot more than we expected.
Today started well. After a serious breakfast, we headed to Land’s End and got the obligatory photo taken. We bade farewell to star man Rob and set off. We took the optional route along the B3315 which was scenic but very hilly. It also seemed to have a plague of big black hover flies.
We picked up Paul at Penzance and the three amigos were on their way. Paul had the Zidane shirt on, and I realised for the first time that he was a bit of a ringer for the famous footballer. We’ll wait and see if he head butts anyone later.
We stopped at Helston for stop number 1, and Ian’s knee had just reminded him that it wasn’t happy. This made the rest of the day tough for Ian (alongside the non stop hills and the adverse wind of course) but he plugged away and battled through the discomfort.
Paul was riding like a good-un. I thought I was old, but he has 4 years on me and with limited training he’s obviously pretty fit.
As we went through Par, I amused myself by trying to set off the speed cameras which were on the downhill sections and feeling good that we only had 4-5 miles to go. Then of course, we had 2 more monster climbs to contend with. We sailed down a 17% hill into Lostwithiel and went straight past our B&B. It had been raining for a while, and with wet shades on, plus trying not to bin the bike at high speed downhill on slippery corners I guess that was predictable.
The B&B, the Penrose, is lovely and the owners are very pleasant and helpful. They’ve already given Ian an ice pack.
So, that is day 1 done. Harder than I expected – but fun. Off for a bite and a beer now.
Paul was riding like a good-un. I thought I was old, but he has 4 years on me and with limited training he’s obviously pretty fit.
As we went through Par, I amused myself by trying to set off the speed cameras which were on the downhill sections and feeling good that we only had 4-5 miles to go. Then of course, we had 2 more monster climbs to contend with. We sailed down a 17% hill into Lostwithiel and went straight past our B&B. It had been raining for a while, and with wet shades on, plus trying not to bin the bike at high speed downhill on slippery corners I guess that was predictable.
The B&B, the Penrose, is lovely and the owners are very pleasant and helpful. They’ve already given Ian an ice pack.
So, that is day 1 done. Harder than I expected – but fun. Off for a bite and a beer now.