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On Friday night we went down to Poole Quay and had a a look at the cars on show, a weekly event on a Friday night through the summer, this Friday was the last one for this year. The theme for the night was American cars. There was everything from a WWII Jeep to a road legal dragster and everything in between including a Peterbuilt Truck. Here are a few pictures from the night

Old Ford Pickup

Purple Pickup

6ltr of GM Muscle with added laughing gas for fun!!

Negative pickup, OK I played around with this one, it should be a Red Ford Coca Cola Pickup

Left-hand side of the Peterbuilt engine

The right hand side of the Peterbuilt engine, 16ltrs 6 cylinders of chrome, this Truck is all show

It was an interesting evening but a complete pig to take any pictures because people just wander across in front of you which is why I took the pocket camera rather than my dslr camera. One final shot from Friday night

Looking out across Poole harbour towards Sandbanks

Yesterday was shed painting day, it is only the second time that we have painted the shed in 7 years, one 2.5ltr tub of paint (well wood preservative as it now called) was enough to cover our small shed with enough left over to paint half a fence. So now we have to buy another tub to paint the complete the fence!!

Went out for my normal early Sunday morning ride today, wished I had stayed in bed now. It only took a couple of miles before my back started to complain, it was OK sitting on the bike and riding but when I had to exert a little pressure on the peddles (like going up a hill, even little inclines) or when I ran over a bump (tree root), my back complained. I kept thinking about cutting the ride short and heading for home but I stuck with it and did the full loop for 26 miles (probably not a good idea). Not only did my back feel worse than it did after Friday’s ride I also felt pretty worn out, so maybe my body had still not recovered from the ride on Friday? I had planned to ride tomorrow but I have binned that idea to give my back a rest and won’t look at getting back in the saddle until next Saturday.

So after a relaxing bath this morning I watched, the rescheduled Speedway Grand Prix from Croatia (rained off from Saturday night) and then flicked between the channels to watch the F1 from Belgium. While I am talking TV I have just watched Gee Atherton win the Mens UCI Downhill World Cup. In between the F1 and the Mens downhill I cleaned my bike.

Tomorrow we have the joys of a trip to the tip with all the rubbish I moved from around the shed pre painting. The car will then need to be cleaned ready to go into the bodyshop (2nd attempt) first thing Tuesday morning for the rear bumper replacement. Then we off to the local park to watch some bands play, one of the bands, is made up of the kids of the wife’s niece. By all accounts they are pretty damm good. They are building a web site at present so here is their Facebook Page Finally tomorrow, it weigh in night at Slimming World , I am not holding my breath this week.

After my last thrashing when I visited the Purbeck hills I have been waiting for a return visit and today was that day. But I was not content to just try my hand at the same 5 mile trail that thrashed me last time, oh no, I bit the bullet and took on 16 miles and over 1100ft of climbing…….

I found the route over the Purbeck hills on the Internet just after I started riding again so hung onto the link, so over the weekend I decided the time had come to try it. The route includes two very large hills. I started from the Banks Arms at Studland and then made my way upto old Harry Rock, from there it on and over Ballard Down. Now this was not to bad to start with as this is a gentle climb to 523ft over 3.3 miles with some of the ride along the cliff tops over looking Studland Bay, the English Channel and Swanage Bay and I can honestly say there was only one section I walked. The views are stunning from the cliff tops around Old Harry rock (especially on a sunny day) but the view only got better as I made my way inland, looking to my right I could see Poole harbour entrance and to me left I could look down on Swanage.

As the old saying goes what goes up must come down and come down pretty quick, you drop 220ft in less than half a mile most of that in a long run down to the road. A quarter of a mile later you are looking at the bottom of 9 Barrow hill and grey rock strewn path that disappears up the side of the hill. Now this is where the Purbeck Hills gained its point as I only made it about 150yds up the path before I decided to save myself and walk, I could not compete with a path that climbs over 400ft in under a mile. So after a long walk I was at the top Of Nine Barrow, the view were stunning especially when I got to the Corfe Castle end of the hill and was looking down on the village of Corfe Castle and the remains of the castle. This is where I made my first mistake, I missed the path down to Corfe Castle and decide to find my own route down the side of the hill, not a good idea. I made it, but would of been a better idea to go back and join the correct path.

Once in Corfe Castle the route became like many other routes, running along forest tracks on the Remstone estate before meeting up with the main road back to the Banks Arms. As I headed back to the Banks Arms I remembered a little path (more like a shaded tunnel) that I took the last time I rode in the Purbeck so I shot of down the path only to be confronted by a deer. I stopped some 20ft away from it and it seemed quite happy to stand there eating the greenery while I grabbed a couple of pictures. It only decided to leave when I decide to ride on.

So all in all I think today’s ride was a fair draw, I got the better of it on most of the first climb and the remainder of the ride but I was well and truly beat on the second climb (ok more like submission).

Having seen what the traffic was like in Corfe Castle I decided that once back at the Banks Arms, it was a case of load the bike onto the car and leave.

Finally to round of the bank holiday weekend, it was weight in night tonight and it was a pound and a half off (the same pound and a half I put on last week) so I can go to bed tonight contented and tired.

The bike visits Old Harry Rock

Old Harry Rock (Old Harry is actually hidden behind the other rocks)

Corfe Castle as seen from 9 Barrow hill

The un-shy Deer

Well it was bank holiday weekend and the previous two mornings had been early starts so I had a bit of a lay in this morning, eventually surfaced around 7:15am. Continued with a leisurely breakfast and loading the car eventually hitting the road at 10:15 for the short drive to Moors Valley Country Park. Loading the car I noticed there was a very strong gusty wind and it was cold, so I opted for the Lycra trousers and a heavy top to keep me warm.

Before I go any further I am going to have a little whinge, Moors Valley is a lovely country park, it has a large adventure play area for the kids, numerous trails to follow, a couple of ponds, but I do find the car park fees a complete rip off, at £7 for 4 hours it is not cheap (check the car park prices here). This is why I park in one of the many gated entrances around Ringwood Forest and then ride out from there.

Today my son was joining us for a ride and we were going to take him along a section of the single track cycle trail. He was well impressed to be riding along the old Ringwood railway line at the start but not to sure about having to push the bike up the large hill though. He is only nine and has only been on two wheels for about 6 months so he still and wobbly novice and he found a couple of the slopes a bit hard going but he was keen to succeed. We eventually got to the single tack section and I shot off at speed with our son following mum at a more sedate pace. I was a little concerned he may have found the track a little to tight for him but he thoroughly enjoyed it.

Coming through the trees, the light was bad through here

He also enjoyed going up to “The Look Out” which is a large roofed platform situated on the side of a hill looking over the forest, I think it was the fact that nobody else was there and he could cycle into the building.

View from Moors Valley Look Out

Once we had finished the single track sections the wife and son headed for the park while I headed off to do some more riding. I was keen to cross the road (B3081) into the other section of the forest. Where I enter the forest here it starts with a long drawn out climb of just under a mile that climbs quite hard in the last 300yds. After the previous days problems I wanted to prove to myself I can still climb and climb it I did………….still in the saddle. I was wheezing and panting a bit……….ok a lot then, at the top but I did make it to the top. I then followed my normal route half way and then decided to find a new route back (I normally follow the same route back). This worked out quite well as I rejoined the long hill about a third of the way up the hill which when I rode up the hill earlier I said that would be a good place to come back down.

Once back in the main park area I headed for the visitors centre to meet up with wife and son. After a quick bite to eat it was time to head back to the car. By now dear son was struggling and on one section I had to give him a helping push up a couple of section. I don’t know if anybody else has tried this but I placed on hand on my son back and pushed him along while trying to avoid his wobbles which forced wobbles from me, how we never ended up in a heap I don’t know. WE eventually got back to the big hill where the wife and son walked down the hill and took a couple of photo of me coming down the hill.

Son shot of me coming down the big hill

The day ended on success, it was weigh in night tonight and I lost 3lbs so that finished my day of nicely. bit disappointed that I never made my target I set in January but a lot of things have happened since then but at least my weight is going down if ever so slowly. I now have a short week to look forward to as I am heading up north for a long weekend.