With the 9 hour drive from Scotland behind us, we landed in Penzance with a couple of hours to spare. What else to do than “build up our energy” with some local produce (pasties, in case that alluded you).
After meeting Mel and Pete from their train, there was but one thing to do – get on with the ride and head out to the start, assuming we could actually find it, as a thick misty rain blanketed the land. One thing I’ve learnt over the past few months is the bewildering amount of gear you can get for cycling, so the wrap around glasses kept the rain from my eyes, the hi-vis vest kept cars away from me, and the waterproof overshoes, well they kept me looking like a bit of a tool… I’ve also re-learnt that wet brakes are pathetic, although that was after tanking along at 39mph! 🙂
Lands End itself was a bustle of activity, mostly cyclists starting or finishing country-long rides (copycats!), so with the obligatory photos taken we headed back the 9 miles to Penzance to rest, and “build up our energy” even more, may the rest of the rides be like this!
P.S 4 cyclists in one room is not a good idea for our noses, and seeing as I get to write this, I’ll blame it on everyone else 😉
Glad to see you’ve got off to a good start!
My own “long distance” pedal ended in disaster. Planned a nice 60 mile ride down to the coast and along around the New Forest, got as far as the sea at Lepe and jumped the chain off the cassette on the wheel side.
2 spokes broke, 3 bent, and me left wondering how I was going to do the 25 miles back to camp.
On the other hand, the good news is I figured out why we couldn’t get the gears working. Guess who bought a 9 speed cassette for an 8 speed shifter… *ahem*. And I don’t believe the price of shifters! The lens is further away than ever.
To cap it off, I decided to fix the little wobble in the work bike wheel. To find that the rim is cracked around one of the spoke (funnily enough the one around the wobble) *sobs*. We should think about buying some shares in Wiggle.
Chris.