Thanks goodness for the "granny gear"
Summary of the day: up and down, up and down, up and up and up.
Lands End to St Mawgen (next to Newquay airport): 61 miles
The day started off with a really ugly climb from our B&B back up onto the main coast road. Having to do it without much in the way of warming up didn't help either. Struggled to the top of the hill only to turn around to see that most of the rest of the group having dismounted and walking up. This feat of not getting off I would like to say is due to my vastly superior fitness, but it's actually due to the chap at the bike shop who fitted the lowest gear he could lay his hands on - basically he nicked it off of a mountain bike, which has much lower gearing than road bikes. This really low gear was later referred to as a "granny gear" (i.e. a gear that your granny would use) but hey, granny didn't need to walk up the hills...
The next 20 miles were relatively easy, cycling along the old coast road, being pushed along by the sea breeze. Fantastic scenery.
Alas after 20 miles we turned inland and the next 40 miles were not nice, loads of granny gear long slogs up hills, then down, then all the way back up again. Didn't stop and walk up and of the hills so I am smugly happy about choosing to put such a low gear on.
Stats for the day:
Miles covered: 61
Time taken (actual time cycling time): 4hr 55mins
Average speed 12.5pmh (average speed on most rides at home 14 to 17mph by comparison)
Max speed 37mph
Min speed 3.4mph (sub walking pace...)
A shorter day tomorrow at 42 miles. Feeling pretty fit but also very happy that I went for the 3 week tour that averages 50 miles a day rather than the 2 week tour that averages 75 miles a day, think 75 miles today would have been OK as fresh legs, but getting up and doing it again tomorrow on tired legs would have been really tough.
Lands End to St Mawgen (next to Newquay airport): 61 miles
The day started off with a really ugly climb from our B&B back up onto the main coast road. Having to do it without much in the way of warming up didn't help either. Struggled to the top of the hill only to turn around to see that most of the rest of the group having dismounted and walking up. This feat of not getting off I would like to say is due to my vastly superior fitness, but it's actually due to the chap at the bike shop who fitted the lowest gear he could lay his hands on - basically he nicked it off of a mountain bike, which has much lower gearing than road bikes. This really low gear was later referred to as a "granny gear" (i.e. a gear that your granny would use) but hey, granny didn't need to walk up the hills...
The next 20 miles were relatively easy, cycling along the old coast road, being pushed along by the sea breeze. Fantastic scenery.
Alas after 20 miles we turned inland and the next 40 miles were not nice, loads of granny gear long slogs up hills, then down, then all the way back up again. Didn't stop and walk up and of the hills so I am smugly happy about choosing to put such a low gear on.
Stats for the day:
Miles covered: 61
Time taken (actual time cycling time): 4hr 55mins
Average speed 12.5pmh (average speed on most rides at home 14 to 17mph by comparison)
Max speed 37mph
Min speed 3.4mph (sub walking pace...)
A shorter day tomorrow at 42 miles. Feeling pretty fit but also very happy that I went for the 3 week tour that averages 50 miles a day rather than the 2 week tour that averages 75 miles a day, think 75 miles today would have been OK as fresh legs, but getting up and doing it again tomorrow on tired legs would have been really tough.
posted by Chris Pugh at 5:17 pm
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