OGIL ride 16th June 2021
John, Paul, George Phil1, Ringo Steve and myself initially represented the UC crowd congregating by the phantom phone box. We discussed the e-mountain bike rider who overtook some of us up Trescobeas Road at such a pace that we concluded that he must have hacked his bike to remove the speed limitation. That will be us all one day (except for the illegal modification) we concluded. At the last minute Dean arrived, apparently delayed by an unusual mechanical – his chain had jumped off a jockey wheel and jammed in his rear mech, even though he wasn’t moving!
Satisfied that we had reached full complement, we went off to meet up with Amanda, Fred and Simon at TOP, where news came through on the tickertape that Sarah had arrived at UC thinking it was a 9 o’clock start. Once we had decided that today was a Poldhu day (even though the sun wasn’t out – whatever next?), the information was relayed back to her so that she could meet us at the café. Paul and Phil1 showed immense commitment to the forthcoming Triple OGIL ride by electing to head out to Lands End as a training ride (we know they cut the corner from Penzance up to Morvah, thus knocking about 35km off their route, but hey it’s more than we did). Dean, the architect of said forthcoming ride, declared that he preferred to discover on the day that he couldn’t make the distance rather than find out in advance, so declined to accompany them. You can’t argue with such devastating logic.
We took the usual route through Gweek and Mawgan. At the entrance gate to the Trelowarren estate we paused to consider the lockdown sign that was still there – could we regard ourselves as Mawgan parish residents, or in possession of a dog, or even as non-vehicles? We decided that between us we must satisfy one of the conditions for entry, or if not we were justified in ignoring the sign anyway, and proceeded. We were unchallenged, encountering just a few dog walkers and a jovial horse rider on the way, so we were able to enjoy the views and marvel at the new tarmac. Thoughts that our modest pace would continue across Goonhilly Downs were dashed as our speed gradually increased, riders got down on the drops and clicked through the gears. Probably not the fastest team time trial on this particular stretch of road, but enough to get the heart rate up.
Arriving at Poldhu Cove we were met by Sarah, who by means of a judicious mix of road signs, Google and the Fly By GPS app (I may have got that wrong) managed to find her way to the destination ahead of us, despite not really knowing where she was going. Ah, the marvels of modern technology. We enjoyed out baps and coffee/tea (the latter provided by John to celebrate his birthday), managing to spread ourselves out over three tables as the café (and beach) were remarkably un-busy (no sun, you see).
Eventually the time came to depart, and we girded our loins in preparation for the climb out of the cove, taking the usual route past Culdrose and down Muddy Lane (still not swept!). At Wendron school John made a determined attempt to persuade us to carry on up the main road, presumably to return by way of Porkellis, but in a victory for democracy the stick-in-the-muds elected for the tried and tested usual route. This could have turned out to have been a mistake, as on the way to the A394 we encountered a Landrover coming from the opposite direction which just refused to even slow down despite the fact that we were on a single track road, and he almost took out at least one of our number. Such incidents seem to be becoming worryingly frequent, and I don’t think we can even blame tourists for this one.
Still, we survived and continued our way home. Amanda declared deja vu as we again failed to maintain our carefully planned grupetti along the main road (at least we’re consistent), and from Crane Garage onwards we gradually shed riders taking their alternative routes home, leaving just four of us to freewheel (largely) into Falmouth.
A nice ride – 74 km for me.