This time I'm really back!

So I didn't do the planned century ride today. Actually, I probably could have done it, but I really didn't feel up to it this morning. Later in the day, however, the frustration at not riding began to build, so I decided to do something about it. I headed out for an evening ride, starting at 5pm. 12km in, pushing into a headwind while still trying to escape suburbia I was feeling like crap and on the verge of giving up on it. Finally I managed to stick at something long enough to get some rewards! I started feeling better as I headed south, and the two climbs on either side of Bilambil came with a feeling of "Geez, this isn't so hard". I hit the John Hogan rainforest too early to see any glow worms, but it was nice to do the pilgrims' road in twilight for the first time ever.

The main attraction was coming back on Urliup Road. After the initial 2km climb it's narrow, winding and dirt through the rainforest. Actually I was a little excitable initially, and this caused some problems on a couple of corners. I got my wits back, aimed the beam of my super-powered headlight a couple of degrees lower to deal with this section, and started to really enjoy just being alive. I just love this little dirt road. No matter how many times I ride it, I never tire of it. It doesn't matter where else I've been on a ride, I always love coming back this way.

Just after the dirt I saw a weird light coming toward me. I've no idea what it was, or even if it was real, but I actually braced myself for an impact which never came. Weird. I did eat another muesli bar shortly after that. Even riding back through suburbia after the ride seemed enjoyable (apart from that idiot on the scooter at Miami). It really was a beautiful night. Maybe I was just meant to do this ride tonight.

There also seemed to be a lot of animals around tonight. I saw a wallaby, two cats, a big dog that darted out in front of me, and a number of frogs that seem to like running under my front wheel. I think it's time for a public service announcement here -- it's canetoads that I want to kill, not frogs. All in all it's turned into a satisfactory weekend, even if illness initially prevented me from getting all the things done that I wanted to get done. Roll on the Midnight Century!