Housekeeping - links

I am somewhat guilty of neglecting this blog to a degree in recent months, and it has come to my attention that there are pages linking to this site that have not received any reciprocal links. I intend to rectify this when I return from Mullumbimby on Sunday afternoon. If your site is one of those linking to mine and you would like a reciprocal link (or if I've linked to your site incorrectly), please leave a comment at the bottom of this post, and I'll do something about it on Sunday. Please be aware, however, that the final decision on whether or not I link to you is mine, so if your site is either offensive or just plain crap, you won't get a link.

My mountain

Did you know that I actually own a mountain? I have quite legitimate claims to be the owner of Mt Nimmel in it's entirety. How? As far as I'm aware, I'm the only cyclist to ride up Mt Nimmel (apart from my riding partner Martin, and he only did it after I conned him into it), but more importantly, the wikipedia entry for Mt Nimmel is take almost word for word from a post on this blog that is almost three years old. Look it up, it's true. I only wish I could claim ownership of some of the surrounding areas, such as Little Nerang Dam:



Austinville:





And anything else I might fancy around the place:



For the moment, however, Mt Nimmel remains among my most prized possessions. I promise to take good care of it, and slaughter the 20% grades on the climb on a regular basis.

Restoring the balance

Does anybody in South East Queensland want to know the real reason it has started raining again, after five complete months without it? Some have claimed that it's just that the wet season has started, others have held that a tropical cyclone from Western Australia decided to cross the country instead of just going out to see like they normally do, and consequently gave everyone a good soaking. Other theories have ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous, but how many of you would like to know the REAL reason?



I can reveal that the real reason for the return of the rain is down to me, and only me. Those who have been reading this blog for a while will remember that I had a nasty crash when descending a wet mountain road in July (I can't be bothered to dig up the link, you can search the archives if you want to read about it). Of course, that was the last time it rained here, even if I did get a drenching on the other side of the country in September. So what did I do to make it rain again? I crashed again, of course.



It was while climbing Springbrook, the highest peak in the Gold Coast Hinterland that it happened. I committed the cardinal sin of trying to change gear while pushing up a 15% gradient (instead of just getting into the gear before I hit the hill), causing the chain to slip off, and for some reason, at that moment, I couldn't manage to unclip from the pedals. Of course, the gradient caused the bike to stop and topple over quite quickly, leaving me on the ground. Fortunately this time I wasn't hurt (although I did spill a bit of blood), and was able to get up and slaughter the remainder of the mountain.



It has barely stopped raining since. In fact, some local flood warnings were issued earlier this week. The farmers can send their cheques to me.

Oh my Darling(ton)

A couple of weeks ago it was brought to my attention that there is a mountain range around here that I haven't actually climbed. Astonishing! Even more astonishing was the fact that I have ridden past the turn off to get there many hundreds of times, without ever taking the road. Earlier this month I decided to rectify the situation.



Getting there involved a regulation ride to Canungra, taking a back road out of the town and up the range. Of course, being Canungra, the opening to the climb was mind-buggeringly steep. This wasn't a problem until I hit the dirt section, and some huge corrugations. Looking back in hindsight, perhaps it's just as well that I did this before the recent rain, because this road may well become impassable in the wet. The road flattened momentarily, before opening up into an even steeper climb on narrow, loose gravel. It seemed like a huge effort, but the reward when I reached the plateau at the top was worth the effort, with views opening up in every direction.







Riding across the top of this range was like stepping back in time 100 years, with the old farm houses, the dirt road and cattle wandering around the paddocks unrestrained. A few times I was glad I didn't wear red after catching the sight of the odd bull among the herd. Of course, anything that goes up has to come down again, albeit reluctantly. The descent back to Canungra on the corrugated dirt road was frightening, and I've never been so glad to return to that town after a ride before.







I opted to detour over Beechmont on the way home, another stiff climb, but two mountains in one morning is nothing unusual these days, and I was able to slaughter the climb. The ride across the greenery of the Beechmont Range is always beautiful, and I took my time, trying to delay the descent back to the heat of the coast for as long as possible. It was a great way to cap of a great ride.



For the two people who actually read this blog, I do have some posts to catch up on, but first I have to try to retrieve some pictures from a camera that drowned in the rain of earlier this week. Before that, there is a small matter of a weekend away, starting tomorrow. Bring it on.

Rising above

Some of the people reading this from colder parts of the world may not appreciate the sentiment, but the heatwave engulfing South East Queensland is now almost four months old. Consequently, it was with some relief last Saturday that I was able to spend a couple of glorious hours riding high on the Beechmont Range, and managing to breathe some cool mountain air, while the surrounding lowlands sweltered.



I've been coming here for a number of years, at times when I've needed a quick getaway, when I've been short of time and just wanted a change of scenery. Of course, the climb up the mountain is also a good way to release the frustrations of the week, and there were plenty of those around last week. As it happened, I was climbing the mountain on about two hours' sleep from the night before, but after a slow start, the mountain air woke me up in it's gentle way.



The other thing that's astonishing on the mountain is the enternal greenery. Astonishing because it's now over five months since the last substantial rain. Yet this area never seems to be affected. It was yet another refreshing realisation as I crossed the plateau en route to Binna Burra, where another would opens up in the rainforests of Lamington National Park. On this day, however time was short, so I had to be content with a detour along the often ignored western spur of the range, where I was able to watch the mountains roll away in the distance.



It was a nice escape for a couple of hours, before returning to the coast, and the heat. It's a 7km descent from Lower Beechmont to Advancetown, and I'm fairly certain the temperature rose by at least 7 degrees during that ride. Sometimes I really wonder about the wisdom of coming home at all.