Silliness

Some would say that it's silly to ride 173km over two mountains with a total of over 2,400 metres of climbing in the middle of the summer heat in Queensland. After yesterday I'd probably agree with them. That said, I'd probably do it all again exactly the same way. It was obvious fairly early that it was going to be a hot day, and the delay in having to detour around a triathlon course probably didn't help things. Nevertheless, I managed to make reasonable, if not spectacular progress through the gorge to Canungra, and up the old winding road to O'Reillys.



The road winding up the mountain has a gentle gradient for about 15km, and a lot of old-world charm. Personally, I think narrow winding roads like this should be heritage-listed and never altered in anyway beyond basic maintenance. In other words, f*ck the hoons. The fact that a few of them wipe themselves out there isn't necessarily a bad thing, and certainly no reason to destroy a part of our heritage.



Of course, the forest at the top where the gradients steepen has as much charm as the road has character, with all sorts of creatures calling it home. There was mild frustration at the picnic ground at the top -- with "improvements" making water refills difficult. It was virtually all downhill back to Canungra, but the temperature rose by 16 degrees C in little over an hour on that descent.

In Canungra I had a decision, do I ride home the normal way, and possibly forego a century and the back climb of Beechmont on account of the heat (it was 34 degrees C at this stage), or do I just climb it anyway. I opted for the latter option. The western climb of Beechmont is much harder than the front road. It's gradients are steep and it sees little breeze. Early on it wasn't such a problem, but the kick near the Marian Valley monastery was a killer. I made it, just. I've had some great times up on Beechmont Plateau, but I've never been so glad to reach the summit as I was on this sweltering afternoon.



I now had to ride the familiar roads across the plateau to Lower Beechmont, before the descent back to the coast. The trouble was that my legs were toast after the last climb, and with the northerly blowing like crazy on the mountain, I really had to take my time. Fortunately, the scenery provided plenty of compensation for that.



The final descent back to the coast, and even the final 15km from Nerang were strangely quiet. Not that I was complaining about this fact. Somehow I found the power to finish the ride strongly, before heading straight for a cold shower on my return. I know I made plans to destroy summer this year, but it's going to be a little more difficult than I thought. Still, this gives me century number three for the month (and year), and takes my total climbing above 12,000 metres. Next stop, Crows Nest next weekend.