Downs and Back

There are now just four days left before I actually have to deliver the goods on this possibly stupid undertaking I made to ride 600km in two days. The route is basically from Brisbane to Dalby, via Clifton and Pittworth on the way out, and Goombungee and Toowoomba on the way back. Consequently, I'm currently feeling a variety of emotions about it. For one thing, I'm looking forward to passing through some areas in which I've never been. On the other hand, my longest day on a bike to date was 293km (albeit much hillier than this route is likely to be), and I recall taking two days to recover from it.

Still, I did manage back to back imperial centuries recently, and this will be one of my rare non-solo rides, so there is some cause to believe that I might just bloody do it. I'll take a couple of relatively easy after work rides tonight and tomorrow evening, just to maintain form, and that should just about set me up for it. I have solved the light mounting problem from the weekend, but I still need to get my cycle-computer working again. While I've taken a surprising amount of enjoyment from riding without it for the last three weeks, it may prove to be an extremely useful navigational tool on some of the obsure back roads of the Darling Downs.

It's been a while since I've been right up onto the Downs themselves, given that most of my weekend tours in the last couple of years have stopped just short of that area. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the different colours in the landscape there, and hopefully that will inspire me to press on and put this thing to bed.