THE sun is shining, I can see the sea and the world is looking pretty good from my view point. The only thing is, I am completely knackered and my backside feels like a public schoolboy’s bum after serious punishment.

You see, we are on our first cycling holiday of 2011 and we have ventured down to Cornwall with a couple of mountain bikes.

I am in my 30s and I cycle every day, but a 20-mile round trip off-road has more or less polished me off.

I am starting to wish I hadn’t let things slip so much over the winter. I think back to the large stodgy dinners and numerous beers I have consumed over the past few months and wonder if I should have given more thought to some serious exercise.

I shouldn’t moan too much, as the holiday has given both my partner and I a chance to try out our new toys.

I must stress, for those of you with naughty minds, I mean bicycle toys.

Dedicated bike time is hard to find with two businesses to run and a weekend on the south-west peninsula seemed a great idea.

His new toy is an Orange Five mountain bike; he’s so impressed by the quality of their bikes, which are hand built in Halifax, he has also decided to stock them in our shop, Walton Street Cycles, because they are so darn good.

It’s a full-suspension beast, equipped with Shimano XT gears, Avid Elixir Brakes, Hope headset and bottom bracket, FSA chainset and wheels and a super lightweight carbon USE Sumo seat post.

Understandably, so far there has been no path, hill or steps he hasn’t been able to sail down.

He took it down the coastal path at Lizard Point and while I shamefully pushed my way through mud and rock he sailed on through with a big grin on his face.

I have to admit boys and their toys can be an awful turn-off sometimes, but man and machine seemed sort of made for each other this time.

I was content on a Muddy Fox hardtail. It’s not as pimped out as the Orange but I have changed everything on it, including the forks.

However, like a typical woman trying too hard to be fashionable, it turned into a very colourful bike.

I am sporting a yellow frame, blue Manitou forks, Fred Salmon stem and Panaracer Fire XC pro tyres, red DX V-brakes and even a red chain stay protector, while everything else was reluctantly left black and silver.

I have to wear sunglasses just to look at the thing.

Luckily we still have a few days left of the holiday and we intend to ride the north to south coast route from Devoran to Portreath and finish with a few nights on Dartmoor.

My backside is certainly not looking forward to it, but the rest of me is.