A long Day - Sat 24 Jul

Tiverton - St Agnes Services (110 Miles)

After some loading my self up with carbs the night before and an early night I planned to get up and leave by 0600.

Everything was going to plan up until about 0615 when I got my bike out of storage and yes, a puncture! and it was on the rear which is a real hassle as you have to take all the gears off.

I checked the tyre and removed the inner tube to find a small bit of glass embedded in the tyre.

Anyhow 45 minutes later and two broken tyre levers I was loaded up and on my way. After much deliberation I decided to take the the main road for ease and less hills. Going across country to Okehampton looks like a good option on the map and was shorter but being a B Road the hills are plenty and fairly steep. So decided to head for Exeter which was about 16 miles.

So leaving at just gone 0700 I headed for Exeter which was a nice run with only a few slight gradients, following the valley most of the way.

Through Exeter and onto the dreaded A30 a road I have driven loads and so knew what to expect; Heavy traffic and lots of long steep hills.

I was assisted most of the way by a slight SW wind which helped immensely and made good time covering the 25 miles to Okehampton in a couple of Hours even with the hills.

The traffic was especially heavy with the School Holidays starting and it being changeover day. I did enjoy overtaking lots of traffic when the traffic backed up and I made some good time over some of the vehicles taking over an hour before the same vehicles I had passed past me again, "Pedal Power!"

Riding on the A30 or any other dual carriage way is an experience. You end up having to ride on the side which is narrow and normally covered with all the debris and glass from the road and the banks.

You need to have the reactions of a fighter pilot when descending at speed as margins are narrow; the lane being about 3ft wide and generally poor quality with reflective cats eyes to the right and drain holes every so often; this with all the debris means you are just concentrating on the road ahead making small adjustments at speed to avoid these obstacles which would end up being messy if you hit at speed. Having the white line to the right as well which is raised to to wake up drivers that sway off the road can also throw you off. All in all it does not make for good or easy cycling.

The day was hard and I was having to keep myself fueled up constantly so my leg muscles would carry on as the hills were never ending and the descents were fairly hair raising touching over 45mph on 16" wheels is quite an experience.

Launceston was the next stop over 17 miles and then onto Bodmin which was another 22 miles.

Time was pushing on and although I could have made St Ives I decided that as I had family visiting my parents in St Ives it would be nice to see them.

I arranged with my dad to RV at St Agnes Services at Chiverton Cross which was about 8 miles away. It took another 40 minutes to cover the final 8 Miles as the road was seriously hilly and my legs after covering 100 miles were starting to tire.

It was now 1620 and I had been on the road for over 9 hours but had covered about 110 miles. taking into account stops it had been a good ride. Pulling into the services I was met by Jane, my sister and my dad which was nice to see.

A quick 30 Minute drive back and it was home at my parents which was great and was especially nice as my Auntie Nancy, Uncle Harry, Sharon and her Husband Nigel were down from Foye visiting for the day.

First things first, a bath and shave of the 10 day old ginger beard! not a nice look and then a nice cuppa.

Only 32 Miles to go to Lands End but that can wait till Sunday.

A little bit of trivia! I found out that you can't break wind and cycle at the same time! you have to stop cycling. Strange but true.