Cornish Alpine cycle challenge

Well, that was unbelievably hot!  Who thought it would be a good idea to ride 50 miles offroad, up and down super steep hills, over some pretty loose and knobbly terrain, and mostly on white gravel bouncing all that sun back at you? It turns out the answer is quite a lot of people.

The Rotary Club of St Austell held the 6th edition of the Cornish Alpine Cycle challenge (12, 25 and 50 mile options).  They’ve come to an agreement with Imrey’s to open up a lot of the areas of their clay works where the public don’t normally have access.  This means the route can link a lot of the public trails and back lanes with all this ‘forbidden fruit’.  We’ve all seen the white peaked hills from the A30, but we don’t normally have access. For one day a year we do, and all it costs is a very reasonable entry fee, which goes to charity. Proper Cornish Strada Bianche

Early start, sign on in St Austell and then off by just after 8. Beat the heat (or not).  A fairly easy start up and out towards the Eden project. I bummed into a couple of locals I know from the SW XC races and the three of us rode together for the rest of the day. From Eden, after a brief flat section you then head up on to the tops from the Bugle side (yes, it really is a place, not just a funny trumpet).  This is one of the highest points in Cornwall. Quickly back down and some flat land on Goss Moor and out towards Indian Queens. From there, two more climbs to the top of Cornwall with stunning views out towards both coasts before a well-deserved downhill run back into town, all be it with a couple of nasty, punchy, airless climbs thrown in for good measure.

I did it on my XC race bike but plenty of others had read the briefing, or knew the area, and rode Gravel bikes.  Gravel bike possible, yes, gravel bike enjoyable, that probably depends on your skill level.  If you have low gears, and near MTB width tyres it’s not too bad, but some did struggle.

I think that’s my first Sportive in a few years. Nice not to have a number on for once, nice to have the time to chat with the other riders, great to hear their stories, either form their ride, or how they ended up down here, or on the bike they were on.

This was a great event, very well organised, good safety cover and well worth doing again.