Yesterday was my first ride after having my bikes rear suspension bearings changed – the squeaking has all but stopped  but I still have a gremlin somewhere and the process of elimination continues.

Anyway I picked the same route I had ridden on the 18th to help me compare and monitor my performance  now I am thinking about training regimes and a more measured approach to fitness .  The weather was slightly kinder this time and visibilty much improved. Somehow  I cut some 10 minutes off my time increasing my average speed from 8.3mph to 9.3mph.  I was quite pleased.  I now have to add monitoring of Heart Rate into my statistics as I was concious I was pushing a higher average than normal for a XC bike ride (c +10%).