Pure Bike Degreaser (Weldtite)

Hi all,
A short review of Pure Bike Degreaser from Weldtite.

It is not secret I am a fan of many of the Weldtite products, those who know me a bit better also know that I try to do my bit to not trash the environment too much either when enjoying my riding, around the home or in general day-to-day life.

So finding a degreaser that is made from natural, renewable and biodegradable substances and actually works well is a good find in my book and I have been using it for a couple of years now.

The Pure Bike Degreaser is not only better for the environment it does do a very good job of cleaning the drive train and anything else that get grotty when riding, cleaning and rebuilding bikes.  I have used it to clean bikes after long wet over night rides, where just about everything ends up stuck to the drive train, after races in mud sticky enough it clogs you rear cassette completely (we have all been there).

A simple wetting down of the drive train (or other affected area) a couple of sprays, let it sit and penetrate for a while, agitate the area with brush and let it sit a little longer then scrub of and wash rinse off.  For really thick muck I find going over it twice seems to get a good clean result.  Obviously using a half decent chain/drive train brush which Weldtite produce.

I can highly recommend this degreaser, also works well on clothes and hands.

Gorrick Brass Monkey and Summer Monkey 2016

Hi everyone,
It has been an age, life has been busy, work, house stuff and of course the pitter patter of little feet have arrived in our house, with the birth of a first child Molly, over a year ago now.  She is awesome!

So a quick update.

Brass Monkey Fatbike category was won, without a win, but consistency across all the races including the first round in the Summer Monkey 2015.  Pretty happy considering there was plenty of illness and trip back home in amongst it all.

Next was Battle on the Beach, massively under prepared and I got the hosing I expected to, finishing 12th I think.  Always, a great event.

Then it was back to the a Gorrick race, the Gorrick 100.  It was going OK, not great but OK.  Until it went a little less than OK for a girl racing.  She fell and I assessed her arm to be broken and waited track side with her until help arrived (or in this case a close friend) which I then went to check where the ambulance was (about 100 metres away and heading to her).  I pulled the pin there as many riders had passed me now and there was little time to grab one final lap.  I hope she is recovering well.

Next Summer Monkey 2016, in a depleted field due to other races on the same weekend, saw only one challenger Duncan Hard and if I am honest, whilst I had done more training, certainly not enough to take on Duncan.  Add that to my bars rotating on the 1st lap, as I listened to the Torq settings and I was behind the eight ball.  Having said that, I did my best to ride as hard as I could and tried to make it around to grab one final lap, due to the new timing format.  I missed giving myself enough time to do another, by about 4 minutes.  The course was one of their best yet, with good climbers, fast sections and some very good technical bits. Finishing 2nd in the end in a field of 3 as even other entered on the day to race fat chose skinny instead.  Although, I was about 5th overall in the 3hr Cat. Silver linings and all that. :)

A few things are now planned, which I will update soon on.

I also, had a very fun if wet trip to Bike Park Wales the other weekend and can recommend it, even in the wet.  This was the first time it has rained on me in Wales when I have had a bike there.

 

Giving it the Black Beard snarl at the Summer Monkey 2016

(photo: Kevin Sheldrake)

Also, testing the Alpkit Love Mud Scope carbon bars thoroughly, on a rough technical course.