Cornwall Tour - Day Two - Police Academy

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This morning I got up early and left my house at the beautifully palindromic 7:27 in order to ride up the hill to the start line.  Today was when we pointed our bikes West and left Cambourne.  Destination Swindon.

The main thing I know about Swindon is the few times I have been there by car it has take f-ing ages.  It turns out it takes even longer by bike.  The route followed a familiar pattern for any Cambourne based cyclists in that it started off with a drop through Caxton then heading out through the Gransdens.  Certainly a well trodden path.  At this point the entire squad of 12 riders were in a big (but socially distanced group) along with a few other club members who were joining us for the ride out.

Bullrush Bike Club - Today

As we approached the metropolis of Bedford it was decided to split into two smaller rider groups to make it easier to managed traffic and for traffic to manage us.  This proved to be a great idea and we split into the A-team (my team) and some others.  The standard of driving by our fellow road users was pretty good today, a few dubious manauvers but no close calls, hopefully this will continue as we head down country.

The first stop where we met our support van with in North Crawley.  This stirred up mixed emotions from me, I am from the real Crawley so don't like to see another town stealing our name.  On the other hand North Crawley, at first glance, seems much nicer than South Crawley and now I don't know what to think.  Dan was kind enough to pose for a photo by our first stop.

The Cock - yesterday (and a pub)

From North Crawley we headed for Newport Pagnell, which is home of the UK's first motorway service station, notable for a boob shaped building in the car park, then onwards toward Oxford.  Lunch was in the village of Winslow.  Until 1985 Winslow was known as Lower Horwood, but the villagers were such fans of the 1984 film Police Academy and in particular the character of Corporal Jones they changed the name to honour the actor who played him Michael Winslow.  Lunch was in a coffee shop which was great because they served chips.

Chips

Next up we rode to some other places.  I was particularly impressed when one of the group managed to get a puncture about 50 meters from where the support van happened to be parked.  Certainly saved a lot of time.  Afternoon tea was taken at the Aston Pottery museum which had a splendid cafe that was absolutely crawling with pensioners (always the sign of a good tea room.)  Some coffee and cake gave us the energy to complete the final miles to Swindon.

As we had ridden at a fair pace we were way to early for dinner so had no choice but to get on the outside of some beer.  This may prove to be a bad idea in the morning.  Dinner was a mixed grill with mac n cheese followed by STP with custard and ice-cream.  Normally that may sound glutinous but according to the notoriously inaccurate Strava I have burned over 10,000 calories today so can eat what I like!

The day one route - today

I am a bit sore this evening but not too bad considering the distance covered, but have to remind myself that tomorrow is a few more miles and a lot more hilly.  I expect I will be fine but am worried about the others (or realistically the reverse of that.)

Another early start which I remain undelighted by!












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