Darts

For those who missed me on the weekend (there was at least one message on my phone) I have taken advantage of a local long weekend to indulge in my passion for cycle touring. I have seen spectacular coastal scenery, a big waterfall, mountains and rainforests over the course of three days. I'll write up a report and upload some pictures when I get around to sorting through the 102 that I snapped between Friday and Sunday.

There was, however, one interesting observation on Friday morning. Tweed Heads is the Gold Coast suburb most notorious for being the place where the dead are buried *above* the ground (if you ever visit, you'll know what I mean). It became apparent, however, that Tweed Heads is now looking to make a name for itself in the off-beat sport of Darts. Evidently they think they have some talent, and have gone to the trouble of setting up a giant dartboard in the form of a billboard with a picture of Shannon Noll on it.

Pity I didn't think to bring any darts myself.

The Goat Track

I spent last weekend in Brisbane and didn't manage to get as much time to ride as I'd planned. I did manage a quick climb out of Samford over Mt Nebo the "back" way. It's actually an extremely pleasant climb for anyone who can handle a reasonable quality dirt road. In this litigation-crazy society, it wasn't at all surprising to see a heap of warning signs at the bottom of the climb, but they can be quite diligently ignored.



The climb itself has a comfortable gradient, and offers great views over a gorge below, finishing in rainforest at the top. The summit of Mt Nebo is, in fact, a few kilometres closer to the city. The Goat Track actually rejoins Mt Glorious road in a saddle between Mt Nebo and Mt Glorious. This actually provides the option of picking your pass so to speak. As it was, I was short of time on Saturday, and I'd wasted enough of that battling a westerly wind to get here, so I opted for Mt Nebo only. Nonetheless, it made for a pleasant detour on a weekend that was really way too busy.

Coomera Gorge

Last Saturday I set out for one of my ride/hiking expeditions in Lamington National Park with a group of friends. Doing this on a monthly basis this year has enabled me to visit places I hadn't previously known of. Anyone who has been reading this page since 2004 will be aware that walked the Coomera Gorge circuit some time ago, but after a three year gap, it was time to visit it once again. It is truly an amazing part of the world.





The ride to meet the group at the start of the track was almost "against the clock", as I got away a little later than I'd intended. I managed to time my arrival at the summit of Mt Roberts just perfectly as it turned out, meaning that I wasn't waiting around long. Along with the usual guests, today I had the company of a woman who had just cycled from Adelaide to the Gold Coast on a real back-country tour. I may consider something similar myself some day.





There was one minor moment of trepidation on this walk, a minor land slip on the edge of the track after putting my foot too close to the edge caused me to slide down around 10 metres toward a creek bed. No damage was done, but I'm told somebody was quick enough with the camera to snap it. If I see the shot, I'll upload it to this page -- that's a promise.







I was a little tired on the ride home, although I didn't notice that until I'd completed the descent back to the coast. My legs did have some complaints for the next two days, however. All in all, this was a magnificent day among great company. The next epic is Mt Warning (four days after I have three wisdom teeth removed), followed by Mt Barney's Lower Portals walk in October (another long weekend "tour" I think). Sometimes I feel extremely fortunate to have so many areas to explore so close to home.

Shedding wisdom

Ladies and gentlemen, it's now time to announce my next major bike tour. Having enjoyed New Zealand's south island so much in 2006, I've decided to return in November of this year, but this time to do the North Island. I haven't finalised a route yet -- that won't happen until I actually arrive in the country and start riding. However, I intend visiting Auckland, the Coromandel Peninsula, Rotorua, the East Cape, Taupo, Tongariro National Park, Wellington and anything else I get time to do. I'll write a lot more about this in the time leading up to it, three months won't pass quickly enough as far as I'm concerned.

One thing that never changes is the traditional "pre-tour calamity", the thing that always goes wrong just before a tour starts. I won't write a full list now (because there's one in the archives if anyone cares enough to look for it), but in the lead up to previous tours I've had crashes, old injuries flaring up, been hit by cars while riding and several other things that I'm too lazy to list now. None of these have stopped me of course, but I'm not looking forward to having three wisdom teeth removed on September 17. It will leave plenty of time to recover physically (if not financially) for the tour, but I've also agreed to join a group climbing Mt Warning four days later. Interesting times ahead.

Still, it's all worth it for experiences like this.

The headwind 200

It's becoming a familiar pattern of late, a southern ride into NSW commencing with a headwind, then finishing with a headwind after a southerly wind swings around to the north. I can't recall a day with a consistent wind for well over a month. It was the same story last Saturday. While the wind was never strong, it seemed to be just enough to be noticeable for the entire day. This ride opened with a climbs over Bilambil and Hogans rainforest, before settling into a relatively flat run west toward Chillingham. The only thing of note was a slightly more convoluted run taking in Tweed Heads, the place where the the dead are buried above the ground.



Hogans rainforest was a nice way to commence the ride. After Chillingham things got a little hillier on the way to Tyalgum. On one of the descents here, another of the riders finished in Murwillumbah hospital after apparently misjudging a decent and landing hard. Evidently the swelling after the impact was preventing the medical staff from coming up with a conclusive X-ray. This is a shame, because Alan was having a good season, and was lining up a crack at the Great Southern Randonee in October. It probably won't happen now.

I continued from Tyalgum back toward Murwillumbah, taking probably the only tailwind of the day for the 20km stretch here through the gorge. Somewhere is the turn off for Wollumbin forest road, which promises more spectacular riding. For the life of me, however, I can never seem to find it. After this it was a southern detour, taking in Uki, Stokers Siding, Burringbar and finally the checkpoint at Mooball. At this point I was aware of what had been a headwind, but the hills to date had kept me relatively sheltered. Nonetheless, I was looking forward to a tailwind after swinging around the southern end of the Tweed Coast.



The tailwind never eventuated. It was clear after I turned at Wooyung that it would be headwind to finish, and now with a long, flat stretch right up to Tomewin. I basically just decided to grind it out for however long it took. This route takes another strange route to Murwillumbah, taking in the "new" highway, then the old Pacific Highway. It reminded me that freeway cycling is probably about the safest, but most boring form of cycling there is. It's also interesting to note just how efficiently people manage to use freeways as rubbish dumps. It seems odd given the amount of time people apparently spend driving on these things, that they would also see fit to use it in this fashion. Rather like a magpie shitting in it's own nest.



The route detoured around Murwillumbah on Cane road, notorious for it's perpetual headwind, but decided on an irrational tailwind for some reason. I took advantage of it for the 4km or so it was there, then went back to griding out the headwind before starting the climb of Tomewin. I always seem to dread this climb at the end of a long day, but there really is not reason to. I have the gearing to cope with the 2km 11% stretch in the middle, and it's consistency makes it easier than taking the "two small climbs" option of Urliup then Bilambil. It also offers great views. I decended the ride, then hammered the final stretch through Currumbin valley to salvage what I considered a respectable time.

I was astonished just how much this ride tired me out. Maybe I'm just not as fit as I should be right now, or maybe I just overdid things on Thursday night's "training" ride into Tallebudgera Valley. Whatever it was, the final ride back home from the Currumbin finish took a lot longer than usual. On the whole, however, I was happy with the day. Another day of glorious scenery in near-perfect weather. Now if the wind could just make it's mind up...

Moonlit night

We seem to be in the midst of a cold snap in this part of the world. Apparently Coolangatta recorded it's coldest August night ever just 24 hours ago (or at least the coldest in the relatively modest period for which records have actually been kept). This, of course, has not stopped me from riding during the evenings -- even if I did wear leg warmers from the start of an evening ride for the first time ever.

Tonight's jaunt to Little Nerang Dam made it all worthwhile. I had forgotten just how pleasant this ride was with the moonlight illuminating the gorge, within earshot of the rushing stream. Then I reached the dam wall, where the waters and surrounding mountains were perfectly illuminated in the moonlight, as was the gorge below. On a night like this, I feel sorry for the shut-ins who don't get to experience these things, I really do.

Mission not accomplished

Sunday's mission was to find Hell's Hole in Mt Jerusalem National Park. It seems this is going to be harder to track down than I expected. Evidently people I've spoken who have supposedly been there cant' seem to decide whether it's actually a waterfall or a sink hole. Perhaps both are there. I've also heard stories of caves with rock paintings on Mt Chowan in that park, I really need to spend a weekend camping and exploring there. Sunday's epic started early into a strong southerly wind that came out of nowhere. I half-hid from it by heading through Urliup on the journey south, but it was gone by the time I reached Murwillumbah.





I headed south over the climbs of Reserve Creek and Cudgera Creek, taking in the pretty but largely unremarkable climbs. There was a surprising amount of traffic on Cudera Creek Road, probably more than I woud later see on the old Pacific Highway after Burringbar. The southern excursion continued through Billinudgel and Main Arm, before starting the southern climb to reach the National Park. I last climbed this approach on Easter Monday with a full touring load. It didn't feel any easier this time around either.



At the first of the two summits I turned left onto Middle Ridge road, and started climbing again, more steeply this time. Eventually the climb peaked at around 370 metres, and I turned off on the Sand Ridge Firetrail, which I had been told would lead to Hell's Hole. At the end of this trail, there were tracks branching off to the left and right. The left fork was all downhill, eventually leading to an old log bridge and a creek. I didn't see any sign of a waterfall here, so I returned to the top.





I then took the right fork, meeting up with a family of hippies on the way. This was where I heard of the possibility that there may be a sink hole rather than a waterfall. I also found some potentially delightful campsites in the area. As it was, this track led to another section of the same creek I found earlier, and continued on in the rainforest for a short while, but ultimately didn't lead to anything that was either a waterfall or sink hole. I did explore another side track, but it basically just continued to climb, and as it was now late in the day and I had another 90km to ride home, I decided to save that one for another time.



The ride home was very pleasant indeed, as the late afternoon sun caught the forest of Mt Jerusalem National Park (but not Mt Jerusalem itself) at just the right angle. The descent back into Uki was rutted and loose, not enough to cause me serious problems, but enough for me to totally pwn a 4wd on the way down. For the final ride back to the coast I decided to climb over Tomewin in preparation for doing the same thing at the back end of 200km this Saturday. My legs had some complaints about that, but they did the job and I got on with life.

All in all it was a ride that offered more questions than answers, leaving me to find time in a busy schedule over the coming weeks to explore this area more fully. I have a 200k Audax ride next week, followed by a long bushwalk at Lamington National Park the following weekend. Just when I'll make time to complete this project is uncertain, but I'll have to make it happen sooner or later.