Bath to Penzance - autumn Devon and Cornwall coast ride

anyone interested in a two day (or stretched over three day if others prefer) ride from bath to penzance. I'm planning on doing this towards the end of September or early October. there are a couple of non-forum riders interested in coming too.

credit card style, ie prepare packages of required clothes/toiletries/other stuff and post them ahead to pre-booked B&Bs. this means no need to ride with backpack/panniers etc.

if anyone wants to join me I’ll be sorting out all the logistics including finding/booking accommodation, detailed route planning and navigation, travel plans to and from etc.
i'll even arrange the packaging and posting ahead of people's stuff to the B&Bs en-route. guess i'm in the mood for a bit of a project.

just a 1st pass route plan so far which will need refactoring a couple of times.
routes below are for a two day trip.

route is around 250 miles and follows the coast as much as possible, including through exmoor. from what i remember of the north devon roads, the first day will present some pretty challenging riding.

trains back from penzane are direct, fast and leave more or less hourly until 10pm on weeknights or 9pm on Sundays.
spend the night in penzance or catch a train back asap (after a celebratory swim)

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/barnstaple-to-penzance

feedback via other channels suggest tht three days is preferable, over an extended weekend.
same route then, just two stops instead of one. stops tbd.

this sounds rad, but presume the ride is pretty damn hilly? is everyone doing on it on fixed or bikes with whirly gears?
could be good if the weather holds through october.

gears i reckon.
the north devon and cornwall coasts are pretty hilly.
that said, i think a strong rider could handle it fixed or ss. especially as the plan is not to carry anything more than basic repair stuff and fluids/energy foods.
if someone decided to do this fixed i might well sack up and join them.

three interested, three definites.
one determined to do it fixed (not me)

i had trouble getting up some of the hills in exmoor in a car....

sounds like a nice ride though. would be keen but not this time.

Potentially up for this....i'm actually from Cornwall and have been thinking about doing a ride down there at some point. Surprised myself by doing a personal best of 150ish miles this weekend with no troubles, so reckon I could hack it. Apart how far south it is, can I ask why Penzance?

penzance should be pretty convenient for getting a train directly back to london. other destinations are more likely to require that we catch connecting trains to main line stations.

do it west to east. you'll have the wind behind you.

Hi, would love to come. Do you have any firm dates yet? I dont have a geared bike though. Whats everyone else on?

kieron

i was chatting with matt yesterday, if you are a strong rider and can ride in a bunch on a fixed bike it should be fine

including hills etc probably looking at 17mph average speed

just a thought, the prevailing winds are from the south-west. so it might be into the wind for most of it

fred beat you to that

it's hilly in cornwall. IMO expect to walk short sections if you're doing it fixed....

not sure about doing this fixed. i remember one hill in exmoor i had to go up in 1st in my car a few years ago. i've done brighton and back a few times fixed. no problem on the days but riding the next day(s) wasnt an option as your achilles get pretty ripped up spinning down the hills.
so.....hmmm...guess its each rider's call as to what bike they ride but i'm not convinced fixed or ss will allow you to keep up with geared riders and might leave you less able to ride on day two.

I've done London to Devon (last year, with two fixed riders in the group) and Devon to Wiltshire (on a tandem). Furthest west is Exeter though. Some pretty tough hills, but 250 over three days should be do-able. Over two-days would be asking a lot.

I'd be up for this, but really need to do some touring in other parts of the UK.

the wind is likely to be something to contend with. cheers for mentioning it kieron1968 and fred. prolly best that riders are aware.
i guess its kind of the point of the ride though - early autumn is going to be windy, possibly/probably showery, definitely striking/dramatic/beautiful. riding along the north coast will leave us pretty exposed, regardless of which way we ride.
i'm going to grow a beard as part of my training - it will make me feel more rugged and hemingwayesque.

Interested...

been thinking about the whole fixed/ss question for this ride.
daily ascents over two days look like so:
bath to barnstaple - 2460 meters
barnstaple to penzance - 1951 meters

not so bad but i think if you're thinking about riding it fixed its worth asking yourself if you really feel you can keep pace with people running gears who frequently put in 150 miles plus at the weekends. some will have no problem while others might struggle. please just mentally run a realistic assement of your strength/fitness and weekly mileage before commiting to doing this fixed or ss.

The fixed people are likely to excel on the ascents (assuming they're not over-geared). It's the descents (and possibly flats) that they my find themselves struggling.

i did this geared with loaded panniers. it's hard, but doable. with no load on the bikes should be no problem fixed - although there could be difficulties going downhill. and yea, north cornwall is fucking hilly.

Interested...
Same here! If my knee was all good I'd be definately in. As it stands though, I can't really commit to anything that would put this much stress on it, especially with that much climbing.

so this is going ahead as follows:

sat 02/10 early train to bath - ride to barnstaple - approx 120 miles
sun 03/10 - ride barnstaple to penzance - approx 130 miles

LOL! 130 miles / day barnstaple to penzance.

look at the elevation profile.

good luck.

LOL! 130 miles / day barnstaple to penzance.

look at the elevation profile.

good luck.

+1

And the day after a 120 ride.

That being said, I don't know your fitness level, so who knows. Enjoy it.