Castleman Trail West Of Ringwood And A Puncture On A Fat Bike

For a long time now I have wanted to continue my journey along the Castleman Trail - and old disused railway line.

I have all ready completed various sections starting from as far East as I could (Brockenhurst) and have got up to so far Ringwood.

So today I drove to Ringwood, managed to get parked right next to the start of the trail and headed West.

The trail was in pretty good condition, a few puddles, but nothing that would get your feet wet.

I stopped at Ashley Heath Halt, which still has it's platform as you can see below.

Continuing on, I passed through West Moors and headed out towards Ferndown.

I was a bit pushed for time today, so decided at the 13km mark to turn back.

13km happened to be the point where a foot bridge crosses over the A31.

I stopped here for a brew and set off again, which is when I heard the hiss of air and Stan's muck coming out of my front tyre!

I hoped that the Stans would of sealed it, but the thorn that went into the tyre was just to big!

I limped back to West Moors where in a car park I unloaded the bike and set about repairing the puncture.

I should point out that this was only my second puncture in over 3000km so I have been lucky!

I put it all back together, and air was still escaping. I had about 6km to go, so decided rather then messing about I would ride, then pump up the tyre and continue like that till I got back to the car.

Now there are number of things that could of happened.

1. The patch lifted and air was escaping.

2. Due to the amount of thorns in the tyre and sealed by Stans, when I put the tyre and inner tube back together they made fresh holes and caused another puncture.

3. My tyres were covered in mud, and maybe a piece of grit got inside the tyre as I was putting it all back together.

Any how, I just about made it back to the car. I can confirm that running the front at a really low PSI is bloody hard work!

So tomorrow, my plan is to take the tyre and tube off, clean it all properly, repatch if required and see if that solves the problem.

I do have a spare tube, so worst case scenario I'll use that and buy a new tube.

A ride of 26km, 13 of which were with a slow puncture!