Approaching unnoticed...

Today is certainly my kind of day. Dark, grey and wet. In fact, I'd probably appreciate it if everyday was like this. Having said that, there have been times this week when it has described my mood perfectly. The aforementioned calamity on Springbrook, and $250 later, after all the new parts have been bought (OK, there were a few other things I needed that I got at the same time). Of course, that was followed by my home PC being infected with another virus, one that Norton apparently can't delete. Well, such is life.

Of course, unnoticed among all of this is the impeding Glorious Mee ride this Saturday. I registered some time ago, but seem to have forgotten all about it among all the other things going on. The statistics are impressive. 212km (230 for me riding to the start from Fortitude Valley), climbing Mt Nebo, Mt Glorious and Mt Mee. There are other rolling hills in between just to make things interesting. The good news is that temperatures look like being a bit cooler this year. 32 degrees C by the 6am start last year, reaching 39 during the ride!

This morning I headed out in the rain for a quick blast to Hinze Dam (yes, I know, $250 worth of new components in the rain!). I just love this weather. Once I escaped suburbia I could smell the last of the wattle season perfectly, mixed in with the eucalyptus, and even the lantana wasn't so bad, although that is still a bit of a serial pest in these parts. The effect was quite invigorating, inspiring me to push harder, although I paid for it on the commute to work. Sadly, I'm not expecting this rain to stay long. This is already the "wettest" September we've had since 1999.

Yesterday was a rare outing for the old bike, "the green machine" as I've now taken to calling it. Some conflicting thoughts there -- "this saddle feels funny", "IS that rear wheel alright?", and "How did I get 65,000km out of this thing?". Of course, when the rhythm kicks in and the muscles warm up, these thoughts disappear in the beauty of the ride (yesterday was wet, too). The commute was surprisingly fast at that point, according to my arrival time at work. On the way home I broke the brakes stopping at a red light. Sometimes the slowest traffic lights in the country are a benefit -- I was able to fix it before I got green. It will need to be looked at properly, but that will come in time. There are more important things approaching.