The Cafe Ride

I want to talk about cycling in a town/city. I've had the pleasure of living in some wonderful places; Truro, Bristol, Leeds, Somerset and Plymouth. When I first moved to these cities I felt paralysed to cycle because of not knowing routes in, around and out of town. I would arrive to these places by car or train, and so I'd only know these routes. When I was a beginner long distance cyclist in Plymouth I would run and cycle along the main road from the centre out of town to the A38. Now that I've gained experience I've learnt to always ride with local clubs or study maps to find the safest ways around town. Sometimes these are sustrans national cycle network cycle paths, they may be quiet country lanes or they may be main roads that run parallel alongside an even busier route. Personally I like to buy old maps and look at them, but you you can also use strava heatmaps, garmin connect popular routes, kamoot maps, and sustrans uses an OS powered map to show ...

I think there must have been rocket fuel in the coffee I had in Porthleven. My Sunday café ride with Truro CC started out as a gentle pace. Almost direct out and back route, imagine a slim oval shaped loop. This wasn't as hill free as Jerry's Penzance highway express, but we did take the northern route around Stithian Reservoir. There's a cracking strava segment along the bridge which looks like a segment and feels like a flamme rouge. Our route along the B3297 was uneventful and there weren't many cars. Sometimes that's what you want as a cyclist, it's quiet and you can relax into your ride. Once we arrived into Porthleven it was really spectacular. Apparently during massive storms the village tower is a popular photo opportunity. The clock tower is frequently hit by giant waves. We had a debate about which café to go to. Which featured a discussion around what people look for in cafés. Cathy said that she can tolerate a poor quality tea more than s...

Cornwall is really hilly. There aren't many, if any depending on your definition, mountains in the county. I was quite surprised when we cruised to marizon at an above average pace, even climbing up Chacewater hill. I thought that our rider leader Jerry had found a secret valley through the rolling terrain. On reflection and looking at the map I think it was one long climb rather than the tumbling repetitive climbs that I've become used to. Cycling in Cornwall is beautiful. If you're in the centre of the county, away from the coasts the range of colours is refreshing. I tend to call these hedge-y, yellowy, overgrown lanes the spine of Cornwall. Whereas the north and south coast brings the eye-catching sea views. Our ride started in Truro, we took the Northern route out of the city towards three mile stone and up chase water hill. The route took a southern pass around Redruth, and its hilarious castle thats foundations is a giant boulder. This wa...