Punctures: 0
Accidents: 1
What a day. We woke to the sound of rain against the window pane. Not the kind of sound we wanted to hear. Despite thoughts of heading down the pub and blowing the whole thing off, we donned our new Legal & General Investment Management jerseys, arm warmers, leg warmers, overshoes, gillets, rain jackets...and for some, brand new £140 Assos shorts! We tucked into a good breakfast before the faff began. Despite comments the night before there was still plenty to do before the 'off' and our ambition to leave the hotel by 8.00 was always in doubt. Tyres needed to be inflated, cleats put on and water bottles filled. After much comedy and larking around the journey down to Land's End began.
By the time we departed it was raining heavily. This did not put off a few hardy souls who chose to brave the weather and ride the 10 or so miles west to Land's End. Those less foolish leapt in the back of the van for the 15 minute journey down to the coast. After further faffing and the obligatory photo we departed from Lands End. The terrible weather and appalling visability was not enough to damped the spirits of the group. It wasn't the romantic view we had envisioned but we departed we strong legs and a good pace.
The good pace lasted five miles! The roads were slippery and greasy from the rain and as Hannah came round a corner her wheels slipped on a drain cover. This took her down along with Crawford who had nowhere to go as Hannah crashed to floor. For those not involved it sounded awful. The sound of bikes and bodies on tarmac had everyone reaching for their brakes and turning back to assess the damage. Fortunately, there was more damage to Hannah and Crawford's pride than anything serious - although Crawford has tonight been parading some class A 'gravel rash' on his backside. If he can be persuaded perhaps we'll post a photo in a later entry. It does need to be seen to believed.
Concerned that a crash in the first five miles was not a good omen, we pushed on more gingerly. Occasionally stopping to regroup and check our wearabouts. Our planned tea stop was at Redruth and we were some way behind schedule. We decided to make the stop regardless as we were soaked through and in need of hot coffee and cake. Despite some miscommunication on where we were meeting - as the group had split - we were soon warming ourselves on poor coffee but good cake.
The group is of a mix ability and this presents some challenges. We can easily get split by many miles and part of the challenge is keeping everyone on the right route. Throught the day we had several wrong turns and lost each other but learnt useful lessons. One of which is not to deviate from our route to stop in towns in the hunt for food - regardless of how good their pasties might be ;-) This was particular bad in Newquay (surely one of the chaviest towns in the West Country) where we spent nearly an hour chasing down rougue elements of the group who had 1) got lost. 2) not listened. 3) 1 & 2 combined.
After a lunch of pasties and soft drinks we pushed on. It was 2.30 we had almost 60 miles still to cycle and time was pushing on. We fearfully discussed the fact that we could be facing 12 hours in the saddle and a 8pm arrival at Holsworthy might be on the cards. Eek.
With our stomachs full of meat and potato we made good time. Members of the group paired up and worked together to cover the ground more quickly and we were soon looking at signs for Bude...knowing that this was not a million miles from our final destination of the day - Holsworthy. At this point, Marek and Matt - the two strongest riders in the group - came flying past us. This wasn't particularly unusual but on this occasion they were drafting a girl on a moped. The group laughed out load and cheered as the two of them rapidly disappeared into the distance hot on the tail of this attractive young motorcyclist. We never saw them again before we arrived at the hotel but the story goes that Marek had managed to keep up with her the longest. Or so he says :-)
Before long we were making the turn off to Holswothy safe in the knowledge that our dinner and beds for the night were a mere 15 miles away. What we didn't know was that these 15 miles were steeply rolling and included a 14% hill some 5 miles from the end. As we ground our way up these final climbs we cursed under our (short) breaths and willed our legs to carry us to the end.
Finally, we arrived. 115 miles under our belts. Happy. Content. One accident, no punctures but sore limbs and a little tired. As we ate our dinner, some contemplated that it had been a tough day and that there were eight more still to go. Tommorrow, 115 miles - Holsworthy to Bath.
Well done all of you
ReplyDeleteDorothy