Eden's Garden to the rescue

Today's plan had been one of those challenging but beautiful Tweed Valley rides that I'm so fond of, which would have also provided November's century. I awoke to one of the most humid November morning's in living memory, and a temperature that seemed intent on just rising for the sake of it. Just as I left my cycle-computer decided to stop working. The problem seems to be in the transmitter near the sensor, probably a flat battery, because the temperature and altitude functions continued to work.



I fought my way up the climb of Tomewin and descended into the valley -- only to find it was full of smoke. Evidently a large crop of sugar cane was being burned off near Murwillumbah. After copping the smoke, the heat and the dead computer all in the first two hours, I simply decided that it wasn't worth heading any further into the Tweed Valley. Instead I climbed Tomewin a second time, for the ridgetop Garden of Eden ride.



Some storm damage from earlier in the week made the dirt roads a little more interesting than normal, but this is a stunning ride, passing through rainforests and wildflowers, with sweeping views over the surrounding valleys. I'm still planning to explore some of those tracks at the western end of Garden of Eden road, but those can wait for another day. The slightly cooler temperatures of the mountain were an added advantage.



Glengarrie road leads from Tomewin to Bilambil across the ridgetop. This is a challenging road for the short, steep climbs on the rocks. These require timing and anticipation as well as power bursts. At one point I hit a storm damaged patch and slid sideways quickly. I recovered, but received a nasty crack on the side of my knee from the frame. These things happen in these conditions. Overall, however, it was an extremely pleasant ride, which also provided some physical challenges of it's own.



The final stetch involved a descent to Bilambil village, a chance to absolutely slaughter the climb to Bilambil Heights, before a final suburban ride against the wind. These were mopped up clinically, but somehow the ride didn't feel as substantial as I'd been hoping. It was pretty, it was challenging, but a century was what I really wanted. I might just make up a few of those miles tomorrow.