Summer Rain

Incredibly, today was the first genuinely wet imperial century ride I've had for quite some time. There are absolutely no complaints from me on that score, however, as the early humidity (i.e. just before the rain started) was almost totally unbearable. Of course, apart from improving the conditions, rain has other advantages, particularly in relation to some of the shapes the clouds can produce when there are a few mountains around.









I also took the time to explore a couple of side roads that had been tempting me for quite a while (I needed the kilometres to make this into an imperial century). Firstly it was Pocket Road in the Numinbah State Forest. A pleasant enough ride through pleasant forest, before petering out into farmland on a gravel finish. I also discovered a very nice but utterly useless spot for stealth camping.



The second was more interesting. Incredibly, I've already forgotten the name of this road, but it's somewhere on the NSW side of the descent of the Numinbah Gap pass. This one's dirt from the outset, and winds through the forest before coming out to some open country. There are some great mountain views to be had here, and a waterfall that may well be a permanent one (although it's only visible from a distance). I think I'll take this detour more often.



And who can forget the final downpour between Hogan's Rainforest and Bilambil, the one that made cleaning my bike a lot easier than it otherwise would have been had it remained covered in mud. At present all is good.

The project for this week is to dot the i's and cross the t's on February's New Zealand trip.