[Cycling] Some Cornish Cycling.

The Beast Of Bude.

Managed to get 3 cycling rides in whilst staying at my parents in Bude, Cornwall.  Didnt take either of my bikes with me, and with my Dad using his new front sus/disc brake MTB, I was relegated to his old [and I mean old, 20+ year] Raleigh Mustang 'ATB' [love it].  Samuel called it the 'Strawberry Bike' because of the faded reddish colours, I called it the "Beast of Bude" due to its substantial bulk.  Dad had had it serviced by the local bike shop and it was actually OK to ride.  I hadnt ridden a non-sus mountain bike in years, and although it was heavy it was nice to be able to get some power down on the uphill without the wobble you get from the suspension on my usual off-roader.  A few things took a while to get used to; the brakes we a bit soft to say the least and the non-indexed gears were a throw-back too.  I fittied on my saddle-bag, bottle cage and mini-pump and took it out.

Ride 1: Wet, short trip.

It was raining a fair bit, so I took the bike out for a quick blast to see how she handled, just down the Stratton Road hill into Bude and out along Kings Hill to the Marhamchurch turning, then along the tracks by my aunts house to Stratton and back to my parents.  Bike held up, even though one of the tracks was basically a river of mud and rain, and I was trying to cycle up it following a lost sheep at the same time.  First time I had been out on a bike since before Mallorca, so my legs felt it after. Only 4.15 Miles in 22mins, including that long up hill off-road section.

Ride 2: Sunny amble with Dad.

Sunnier this time so Dad joined me for a ride out, which was handy as he showed me some new routes, cut throughs and the cycle path by the Canal/River I didn't know about. Was good. Down the road to Bude and meet up at the Crescent car park [I shot down the hill, he coasted], then along the cycle path beside the canal and river to Hele. From there we took the hills up into Marhamchurch and then along to Stratton and up from Stratton back to my parents house. A decent ride, nice and sunny too which helped. A total of 6.38 miles in 40mins, not bad for my Dad at all (was the longest distance he had covered on his bike).

Ride 3: Ride with Dad then quick blast.

Another nice afternoon so Dad and I went out again, this time a different route. Started off up in to Stratton and along a few lanes to get to Poughill without using the main roads, which was good to know for future reference. From Poughill we headed off towards Northcott, turning back towards Flexbury/Crookletts half way along. Then through Bude town centre and then along the canal cycle way to Kings Hills. Through the Kings Hills industrial estate and across the A39 to the lanes, and from there back to Statton. Dad then headed home and I took off for a blast. Down the Atlantic Highway (A39) to Hele, along the cycle route until Lower Upton. Up the hill from the canal to Upton and then along Marine Drive back to Bude. Managed to get up to 30mph down past Upton Meadows, no mean feat on that bike!  Back home up Stratton Road wasn't the best way to round it off, but a very satisfying ride of 11.51 miles in 1hour 5mins, the longest I had done in weeks. Good stuff.

Some nice riding down there, I've got to take my road bike next time as I really fancy a long ride up to Kilkhampton, then down following the A39 to Widemouth and back. Have to see how I can get it on the car...