Novelty

33 hours have now elapsed since I got home from yesterday's rather interesting outing, and I am still trying to find a part of my body that doesn't actually hurt. Regular readers of this blog will be aware that I have climbed Springbrook mountain more times than I have taken hot showers over the last 15 years. Yesterday, however, Martin and I found a new and altogether more difficult and painful way to do it -- on a vertical single track that was totally unrideable for the entire length of the climb, which basically meant climbing the mountain on foot while finding a way to haul the bikes up the mountain.



The day had started so promisingly, too. The plan had been to scour the Numinbah State Forest at the bottom of the western slopes of the mountain, with a decent climb on the dirt of Chester's Road. We rode off over the rolling hills of Advancetown in a morning mist, along the various inlets of Advancetown Lake, which becomes Hinze Dam closer to Nerang. Along the way we found a new construction site for a boat ramp on to the lake. I have to admit to mixed feelings about it -- on the one hand, it's nice to open up a view like this, but on the other hand, I know what masses of people are likely to do to the area.



A little further on, I managed to get a flat tyre. This remarkable event (remarkable because it happened while I was riding with GEAX tyres) let to us meeting a group of bushwalkers who gave us some directions to Horseshoe Falls which weren't quite where I thought they should have been. Still, as I hadn't seen a map of the area, I saw no reason to argue with them. Initially we set off on a dirt track that crossed Waterfall Creek several times, this part was actually quite beautiful in and of itself.



It was after this that the mistakes started. Looking back, we may have been more than a little gullible. Just why you would follow a track leading away from waterfall creek when you're looking for a waterfall is anyone's guess, but we did, and it went dead straight up the hill at an unrideable gradient. Eventually we hauled the bikes to the top of this hill, and literally found a fork in the road. One side screamed back down into the valley (a descent I wasn't keen on as I my legs have another project to complete next weekend), and the other appeared to follow the ridge across toward Springbrook. By this stage we'd given up on Horseshoe falls for the day and decided to head for Springbrook instead. The only problem was the "No Entry" sign in front of the Springbrook fork.



What does a scofflaw cyclist do when confronted with a "No Entry" sign? You guessed it. This track also took a sharp descent straight into a creek bed, before climbing out vertically up the side of the mountain. Now we had to press on. I actually thought it would meet the road half way up the mountain on Pine Creek Road, intersecting a track I'd seen branching off when riding that road previously. This wasn't to be, and the track kept climbing steeply and interminably. A few times I pondered just staying there for the day, as it had to be more pleasant than either climbing out or the inevitable return to suburbia that would follow.

At the summit the inevitable happened, a "private property" sign. Fortunately, it was a very small sign, and I didn't see it. Even more fortunately, the owner of the land was a friendly guy, who even offered us some of his home grown plums, before telling us that Chester's Road had, in fact, been the right way to get to Horseshoe Falls, although apparently the track to it is severely overgrown (which won't stop me going and checking it out for myself later of course). There may possibly be another way to the falls, from a land owner at Springbrook near the Fudge Shop.

As it was, we decided to simply descent the mountain the conventional way, before crunching the last few rollers on the way home. Surprisingly, I found a second wind on the ride home for no readily rational reason. It was soon after we parted and I mopped up the last few hills through Robina that I realised I was hurting in places I didn't even know I had. Still, that's a positive thing as it shows that I had a productive weekend. There was a final insult in that I suffered yet another flat tyre (this time the opposite tyre) in the final 500 metres on the way home. I finished the day with two years' worth of GEAX flat tyres, simply incredible.

I am going to find these falls, however. It is now my obsession.