Rose Pedals . . .: Pre-tour Test Ride to Penzance

Saturday, June 3, 2017 Pre-Tour Test Ride to Penzance

24 miles, 1,627 feet of climbing

Today was a day spent preparing to start our LEJOG bike journey. After breakfast, the first order of business was to assemble our bicycles. Art & I are getting to be quite the bike-assembly team, each of us playing an important role based on our special skills. Translation: I'm basically a human bike stand while Art puts the bikes together. It works for us.

Around 1:00, our group gathered for a pre-tour test ride, to make sure our bikes are working properly. The ride would be a loop ride to Penzance (as in, The Pirates of Penzance), a town about 10 miles northeast of Land's End. Our UK guide, Steve, led us on the ride. Steve has done the Land's End to John O'Groats ride many times as owner of a bike touring company. His experience cycling in the UK is vast, but his wit and snarky commentary is probably what I appreciate about him the most. For example, at one point, he lifted my bike, declared me a cheater and said he was going to fill my frame with sand.

The ride to Penzance was pleasant; it was a nice, sunny day, and the terrain was rolling hills on lightly traveled country roads. Steve brought us over a few long, steep climbs on the return trip, I believe, to give us a preview of the type of terrain we'll encounter on this tour. In the early evening, we gathered in the hotel dining room for our riders' meeting, where we talked about tomorrow's route, the predicted weather (rain, all day), and various other tour-related topics. After the meeting, we had a lovely group dinner. Tomorrow, we ride!