Ultra vires

Martin and I set off at around 5.45am yesterday morning with the intention of discovering the real Mt Jerusalem. I had spent four years regularly riding over another mountain that I thought was the real one, only to discover at couple of months back that this wasn't the case, and that the real one was off to the south-west. Today would see a definitive answer to that. This time, the real Mt Jerusalem would be found, whatever it took.



As temperatures are now a little cooler, it was decided to start the ride through Urliup rather than finishing it there. I consider this to be the real start of the ride, coming 30km in as it does. It signifies the end of suburbia and the start of the interesting parts. We wound our way through the rainforest here, before descending into Murwillumbah, the negotiating 15km of low, rolling hills to Uki. It was here that the first climb of the day would effectively start, over the range formerly know as Mt Jerusalem, through the national park carrying the same name.



It was the first time I've climbed that range from this side, and the initial grind was tough, a consistent 10% grade on a rough dirt road. The view at the entrance to the national park provided ample reward. We continued to the top of the climb, through the forest, and onto the descent which would dump us 15km from Mullumbimby. For the first time ever, I actually passed Martin on a descent, something I've been trying to do for around five years. I was feeling strong today, and we arrived in Mullumbimby for food around 32 minutes earlier than expected, despite a headwind.



So now it was on to the climb of Wilson's Creek, and on to Huonbrook before taking the unsigned (and almost unmapped) track up the mountain. The Wilson's Creek/Huonbrook area is stunning in it's own right, and well worth the ride in and of itself, passing rushing creeks cloaked in rainforest. We found the turn-off for the climb out of the valley, but didn't see the second turn-off, and came to a dead-end overlooking some mountains. This led to backtracking and finding a different turn-off from Huonbrook road, which also turned out to be a false dawn.





Now it was back to square one. Having come this far, we decided to ask for directions before giving up completely. Here, we were told that we had actually taken the right turn the first time, but there was another turn onto a track in the bush, which was the "road" we needed to take. We found our way back on to Oscars Red Road, as it's known by the locals, and discovered a muddy, overgrown track that was totally unrideable. Having come this far, we decided to walk until it levelled out at the top of the range. Here, we were rewarded with stunning views to the west over the countryside.







Having finally reached the summit, we now faced a long, descent down a bumpy dirt road back into a little-known corner of the Tweed Valley. Hell-hole Falls can be accessed here, but that was a detour for another day. Today we were just enjoying the rolling green hills and the switchbacks on the dirt road as it wound around them on the valley floor. This was the sort of riding I could do forever, but after the delays in getting lost, and Martin suffering two flat tyres, we had to press on.



We found our way back to Uki from the South-west this time, and gorged on food that could be described as a combination of total rubbish. It's amazing what the body will call on for fuel in times like this. I had been having a particularly strong day, so I felt no reluctance to treat my body to whatever it wanted here. We headed back to Murwillumbah to commence the final climb of the day, the 355 metre push over Tomewin. The flowers on this mountain seem to be perpetually in bloom, and that thought inspired me to get over the mountain comfortably and surprisingly quickly so late in the day.



I had started the ride strongly, and was finishing it the same way. We mopped up the remains of Currumbin valley easily, and pushed our way through suburbia in fading light. At the end we both agreed it was one of the rides of the year, and yet at the finish I felt as though I could have easily done it again right away. It was yet another spectacular ride, discovering yet another beautiful corner of the world. I'm already thinking of a trip to Hell-hole falls in the near future. Watch this space.