Cop that!

I am now officially "back" after a bout of bronchitis followed by a "recovery" time that was longer than I had hoped. I did manage a couple of rides last weekend (which I will write about when I get a few spare minutes), but I had no power. Tonight's ride as a different matter, a final confirmation that I am officially "back".

The original plan had been a ride to Little Nerang Dam, and I did manage a blistering start, but a little further along, some thick bushfire smoke coated the surrounding hills, not something I wanted to ride through. I rode the top of a short 2km climb before turning for home. I still felt strong, so when I saw the turn off for Monaro Road, I decided one more climb might suit things. 3km horizontally and 300 metres of height later, I was "back".

The early part of the climb was easy enough, but later on came the kick. I'm not sure of the gradient, but I felt as though I was on the edge, before the road turned a corner and steepened even further. I had to increase the intensity. The moonlight revealed a climb that seemed to go on forever, at a ridiculous gradient. I maintained the consistency, getting in touch with my inner leech, and just hanging on. In a grim kind of way, I began to enjoy it. I must have been doing alright, because I reached the summit sooner than I'd expected, and took in a spectacular view over the lights of the coast bathed in moonlight. That felt goooood!

The arch

I have to be honest and say that being sick totally sucks. I have basically done NOTHING for the last five days because of a nasty case of bronchitis according to my doctor. I think I would have been better off with swine flu -- at least then I could have seen the doctor for an OINKment. Still it does give me a chance to catch up on some of the posts I haven't made lately (or in other words, crap on about rides I did last week or the week before). When I'm back on the bike, hopefully tomorrow, I'll then have something more interesting to talk about.



The previous weekend I headed for Numinbah Valley again, as I didn't really have the time or inclination for a 200k epic, and I had to back up and ride to Brisbane the next day. This area is always pleasant for a quick 115km, especially when it's combined with a crossing of the Wunburra Range at Springbrook, then a climb out of the Tweed Valley at Tomewin (more on that later). This day was going to be slightly different, however, because I decided to visit the Natural Arch (pictured at the top of the page), hidden away in the rainforest.



Last year there had been speculation in the local tabloid that the Natural Arch was actually closed to the public, due to the fact that the cave roof was about to collapse. Everyone else seemed to think so, because there was nobody there on the morning I visited. Yet there were also no signs indicating any closure of the area. There was nothing to stop me from walking right into the cave itself. It is, of course, entirely possible that the whole story was a media beat-up (it wouldn't be the first time). I doubt the National Parks mob would have allowed anyone to do any work on the cave itself, but either way, it was just as beautiful as I remember it, even if the walking track was/is a little over-developed.



All that was left now was to finish the climb over Numinbah Gap, drop down into the Tweed Valley, and then climb home over Tomewin. Throughout the morning I had been hammered by a southerly wind that forced me to ride through Numinbah Valley at a touring pace, now it was payback time. I responded by setting a fastest ever time for the climb over Tomewin -- 23.15, 45 seconds off my previous best. Once again, I thought I'd blown it on the steep mid-section, and once again I realised in the last kilometre that I had it beaten. I can only assume that the "mid-section" is closer to the summit than the bottom. A great way to spend a morning if ever there was one.

Is this the world's oldest bike?

I saw this machine at a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition in Brisbane earlier today (although this particular picture was nicked from a random flickr account). Apparently Leonardo Da Vinci came up with this design sometime around 1493, although it was probably never built because, being 400 years ahead of it's time (like most of Da Vinci's designs), it was probably greeted with a lot of "that will never work" critiques.

There are some suggestions flying around on the Internet that this may be a hoax. Still, I have to confess that I was wondering how it would ride up Mt Nimmel when I saw it.

My ride up Mt Nimmel in the moonlight on Wednesday was the best I've had since my crash last week. I've been feeling my way back just to make sure my knee is 100%, and it seems to be close after it coped with Mt Nimmel. In the meantime, I've been turning my attetion to other things as, much to my chagrin, I can't go and ride 250km each day. Last night I went to a free concert in Brisbane from local band The Boat People. Those who remember when I used to make the occasional music post on this blog would be aware of them, those who aren't should click on the link and take a listen. They put on a great live show, these guys are the real deal.