footloose crow
Veteran
- Location
- Cornwall. UK
Points west and south
There has to be a first time for every virgin and my first 200k audax ride happened yesterday. I am unsure if I want to repeat the experience but losing your virginity can be painful. I have been intimidated by the distance (and the amount of uphill) and been avoiding this challenge but if you are going to do a relatively long ride, then the stretched days of June are the best time to do it. Not a perfect weather forecast; there would be light winds in the morning behind me and a much stronger block headwind on the way back. But it wasn't going to rain, the temperature was a benign 18-20c and the sky was blue. A cool blue that left me feeling red at the end of the day where the suncream didn't reach.
Feeling a little sick with anxiety, I logged the ride with Audax HQ and set off for my audacious challenge. I know that it is not a long ride in audax terms but for anyone who has a ride they want to do but is just a bit further than they have been before, maybe my experience can help. Or maybe not....
Cycling is about turning pedals and avoiding hitting things whilst simultaneously admiring the scenery and ignoring pain signals from different parts of the body. There you are, cycling summed up in twenty short words. But if you want more words.....
The north coast of Cornwall is lovely and today, very quiet. Th sea sparkled, the cliffs and bays looked inviting, the drops down into the valleys are steep and the climbs out even steeper. The road between St Ives (now a Covid-19 hotspot but nothing to do with the G7 conference according to HM Govt) and Sennen lies between granite topped moorlands, dusky and shadowed, hazy in the sunshine and the widespread Atlantic on the other side, its blue merging into the sky so that the horizon is lost. There is just an arc of blue to my right and an arc of green to my left. The road dips up and down, twisting between old granite farmhouses and cottages with place names that speak of the ancient Celtic tongue that once everyone in these island spoke. I was expecting the road to be busy. It is billed as one of the ten great driving roads of the world. But there are almost as many bikes as cars and not many of either. A joyful ride, I almost managed not to resent the steep gradients that popped up every few miles.
Lands End was busy however and I didn't stay for a photograph, just touched the 'Start' line painted across the road (next to the "Finish' line) and turned around, glad to be away from the coach parties and tourists. I liked it better here in the pandemic when it was deserted and I could sit by the famous sign post undisturbed and stare across the sea towards America.
Not the usual view of Lands End. This is the commercialisation of a landscape icon. You can walk in on a footpath for free but cars cost £7.
Now the route follows the south coast through the famous villages of Lamorna and Mousehole and down into the fishing town of Newlyn before the be-flagged promenade and glaring white Lido of Penzance. There is a partially built cycle track from Penzance to Marazion that avoids the busy A30 and gives wide views across the Bay to St Michaels Mount and the Lizard. It is slow going with gravel sections, some diversions onto the beach and plenty of tourists but I was not in a hurry. I had plenty of time in hand. I only wanted an ice cream but the queues were too long.
Mousehole - of Stargazy Pie fame. Pronounced 'Mowze -ell' locally.
Mousehole harbour
Penzance's new "cycle trail" and St Michaels Mount
The next section is along an A road for 10k and it isn't worth describing except for the sense of relief when I left it for the cool shaded green between over hanging tree on a back lane. It wandered further and was hillier than the A road, but was at least quiet.
Through Helston (busy) and along the road to the Lizard (busy) was just head down, no nonsense, mindless cycling. There are views but I was now 130km into the journey and looking forward to the end a bit. Lizard Village was busy so I just freewheeled down to the viewpoint where I could see the lighthouse and the offshore reef that marks the most southerly point of the UK and headed north for home, straight into a block headwind. This is the point where your backside and legs remind you that you have been on the bike for almost eight hours and I confess to making a few stops here and there to stretch and rest. I was still ahead of time to finish by the deadline, mainly became I never stopped for food or drink but just snarked down some bites here and there as I was going along.
This last 30 km felt the hardest and I bitterly resented the long Cat 4 hill out of the quaint creek head village of Gweek, despite the way that views opened up left and right as I gained height until I could see both north and south coasts and far across to the east, the St Austell Alps. Three more steep, double gradient hills and then a long, cool downhill almost into Truro. Outside Truro 200km clicks over on the Wahoo and I am officially a randonneur.
What did I learn:
There has to be a first time for every virgin and my first 200k audax ride happened yesterday. I am unsure if I want to repeat the experience but losing your virginity can be painful. I have been intimidated by the distance (and the amount of uphill) and been avoiding this challenge but if you are going to do a relatively long ride, then the stretched days of June are the best time to do it. Not a perfect weather forecast; there would be light winds in the morning behind me and a much stronger block headwind on the way back. But it wasn't going to rain, the temperature was a benign 18-20c and the sky was blue. A cool blue that left me feeling red at the end of the day where the suncream didn't reach.
Feeling a little sick with anxiety, I logged the ride with Audax HQ and set off for my audacious challenge. I know that it is not a long ride in audax terms but for anyone who has a ride they want to do but is just a bit further than they have been before, maybe my experience can help. Or maybe not....
Cycling is about turning pedals and avoiding hitting things whilst simultaneously admiring the scenery and ignoring pain signals from different parts of the body. There you are, cycling summed up in twenty short words. But if you want more words.....
The north coast of Cornwall is lovely and today, very quiet. Th sea sparkled, the cliffs and bays looked inviting, the drops down into the valleys are steep and the climbs out even steeper. The road between St Ives (now a Covid-19 hotspot but nothing to do with the G7 conference according to HM Govt) and Sennen lies between granite topped moorlands, dusky and shadowed, hazy in the sunshine and the widespread Atlantic on the other side, its blue merging into the sky so that the horizon is lost. There is just an arc of blue to my right and an arc of green to my left. The road dips up and down, twisting between old granite farmhouses and cottages with place names that speak of the ancient Celtic tongue that once everyone in these island spoke. I was expecting the road to be busy. It is billed as one of the ten great driving roads of the world. But there are almost as many bikes as cars and not many of either. A joyful ride, I almost managed not to resent the steep gradients that popped up every few miles.
Lands End was busy however and I didn't stay for a photograph, just touched the 'Start' line painted across the road (next to the "Finish' line) and turned around, glad to be away from the coach parties and tourists. I liked it better here in the pandemic when it was deserted and I could sit by the famous sign post undisturbed and stare across the sea towards America.
Not the usual view of Lands End. This is the commercialisation of a landscape icon. You can walk in on a footpath for free but cars cost £7.
Now the route follows the south coast through the famous villages of Lamorna and Mousehole and down into the fishing town of Newlyn before the be-flagged promenade and glaring white Lido of Penzance. There is a partially built cycle track from Penzance to Marazion that avoids the busy A30 and gives wide views across the Bay to St Michaels Mount and the Lizard. It is slow going with gravel sections, some diversions onto the beach and plenty of tourists but I was not in a hurry. I had plenty of time in hand. I only wanted an ice cream but the queues were too long.
Mousehole - of Stargazy Pie fame. Pronounced 'Mowze -ell' locally.
Mousehole harbour
Penzance's new "cycle trail" and St Michaels Mount
The next section is along an A road for 10k and it isn't worth describing except for the sense of relief when I left it for the cool shaded green between over hanging tree on a back lane. It wandered further and was hillier than the A road, but was at least quiet.
Through Helston (busy) and along the road to the Lizard (busy) was just head down, no nonsense, mindless cycling. There are views but I was now 130km into the journey and looking forward to the end a bit. Lizard Village was busy so I just freewheeled down to the viewpoint where I could see the lighthouse and the offshore reef that marks the most southerly point of the UK and headed north for home, straight into a block headwind. This is the point where your backside and legs remind you that you have been on the bike for almost eight hours and I confess to making a few stops here and there to stretch and rest. I was still ahead of time to finish by the deadline, mainly became I never stopped for food or drink but just snarked down some bites here and there as I was going along.
This last 30 km felt the hardest and I bitterly resented the long Cat 4 hill out of the quaint creek head village of Gweek, despite the way that views opened up left and right as I gained height until I could see both north and south coasts and far across to the east, the St Austell Alps. Three more steep, double gradient hills and then a long, cool downhill almost into Truro. Outside Truro 200km clicks over on the Wahoo and I am officially a randonneur.
What did I learn:
That a distance is just a number. I thought 50k was a long way two years ago. Then I thought 150k was almost impossible. I feel more confident now of trying another 200.
That I carry too much 'just in case' stuff that I don't use.
That cycling alone is quite hard psychologically. After ten hours of not talking, it took a while to regain the power of speech. It is also harder physically when you can't share the workload in a headwind.
That I am probably never going to do Paris-Brest-Paris or London-Edinburgh-London.....but then I thought that I would never be able to do a century ride. The next goal is 300km, but not in Cornwall!
200km in Cornwall is an epic ride . Mind you I thought you had only done 2700ft of upness then realised it was metres . I have done 1 imperial ton in Cornwall it's was for a long while my hilliest ride now only bettered by a stupid Welsh mountain ride
After plodding back up to the A49 I found it busier than expected given that the match was still ongoing. Fortunately though all the traffic was headed away from Shrewsbury while I was headed towards, so it was no bother at all.
