Bit of orange juice gets you going
Personally I must have an espresso before an early moring ride but I am watching the fruit of my orange tree near ripeness and looking forward to getting the juicers out.
When I say orange juice I am really referring to orange oil o citris degreaser. Wonderful stuff. On the weekend I took some time to clean up two of my bikes. The Giant OCR2 and the Giant Boulder which I commute to work on and had been a bit neglected of late.

Orange Oil (Derek Purdy
I had got some more orange concentrate in a big bottle and nicked my wifes water spray bottle she uses for ironing and prepped it at 4:1 and then (after covering my bottom bracket in a tip I learnt recently) I began to spray onto my chain while turning the crank anticlockwise. It’s amazing how after only a few full revolutions while soaking the chain you can feel it free up. It’s really satisfying.
I don’t have one of those ‘washing machine’ units – I think I will. Might be easier to do it more often.
It’s funny how these little, but important, tasks make such a big difference… and it’s all natural!