Prepared my bike the night before. Mainly focused on cleaning, de-greasing and lubricating my chain, rear cassette and front mech. As I have blogged about previously I have started using Muc Off Degreaser. This stuff is fantastic, you just spray and watch the build up of grime, oil and grease just melt away; brilliant stuff that I can not recommend highly enough. I then tried a tip that I had read about on the Muc Off cleaning guide via their website of using Muc Off Bike Spray to help dry and remove moisture from your chain once you had cleaned, degreased and then wiped off any excess. This I tried and it worked really well. Then it was on with some chain lube. Recently I have purchased some Muc Off Dry Lube, so with a clean chain I dripped this thick gloppy lube on my chain as instructed. Again I would highly recommend this lube, chain glided really nicely all ride!
So my bike was fully prepped and I was ready for a high intensity fun ride. Met Ashley at 7:30pm and we joined the Castleman Trail-way at the top of Gravel Hill. This is fast becoming my favorite part of the route as it is a twisty, tight, downhill piece of single track that rolls really nicely and is a great way to get the legs turning. Within a few minutes we reached Broadstone and continued at a good pace through Creekmoor before descending off the trail-way for a quick blast along a straight section that brings us out near Upton Country House. Found a small short cut through that avoids crossing the fast paced roads where the dual carriageway exits, by taking a pathway used by the local farmer to move his cattle. A little overgrown, but fun to ride through at pace.
Then into Upton Country Park, hang a sharp left and then hit the pedals hard as we ride along the great gravel paths through the very picturesque country park. Soon we are out the other side onto Holes Bay. This is a little challenging at first as we are into a head wind. But side by side with good conversation we are soon at the end of Holes Bay and by Asda. Quick discussion of where too next, sees us heading towards Poole Quay and over the lifting bridge, through Hamworthy via Blandford Road. A quick glance at the development site of the new Twin Sails bridge and then on up the hill heading out of Hamworthy.
Finally reach the train arches and then back into Upton Country Park. Still maintaining a good pace, we are soon through and back out on to the Castleman Trail-way. Approaching the big short climb back up and onto the Creekmoor part of the trail-way is always good for a laugh, with granny ring selected we try and shift the body position to keep traction on both front and back wheels to reach the top, which we did!
Fast pace for last blast back to the end of trail-way at Merley by the Willet Arms pub then head for home. Great ride, excellent company and a fast pace.
As per previous blog I now ride with a Polar Heart Rate monitor. My stats were an average heart rate of 73% and maximum heart rate of 83%, so not too bad.
My route, speeds, altitude, distance and Google map of my route last night is on my public profile within Sports Tracker. Last night's route can be viewed by clicking here
- Total route was 15.4 miles
- Average speed was: 10.3 mph
- Max speed was: 21.6 mph
