K.O.M

It's my blog and I'll gratuitously post pictures from bike rides if I want to. These were actually from a ride a few weeks ago, but I didn't get around to posting a ride report at the time. Now that I'm trying to get confidence and motivation back after a couple of nasty crashes, it seems like an opportune time to post them now. This particular ride involved a 175km trek through the Gold Coast Hinterland with two major climbs, O'Reillys and Beechmont.



O'Reillys is actually quite unusual for Queensland in that it actually experiences winter. On this particular day, I'm fairly certain the temperature on that particular mountain wouldn't have reached 10 degrees C during the entire day -- despite the bright sunshine. It's also one of my favourite all time climbs on three continents. The switchback road with the steady gradient switches sides of the mountain, offering different views around every corner and oozing character. The higher parts pass through dense world-heritage-listed rainforest.



The descent can be treacherous in wet weather, but on this day that was never going to be a problem. I did, however, manage to pick up a flat tyre in the Canungra valley below, which delayed me from reaching the other climb, the western approach to the Beechmont Range. The gentle scenery at the bottom of the valley gives no indication of what is to come on this climb, and it's long stretches of double-figure gradients. This climb isn't so bad in isolation, but in the latter sections of a long ride with O'Reillys already in your legs, it becomes difficult. Was I especially fatigued this day after a flat tyre? Hardly, but this climb always seems to take a lot out of me.



The rewards come at the top of the range, sweeping views first of the ranges to the west, then after passing through Beechmont village and switching to the other side of the range, the views over Numinbah Valley, Springbrook, Horseshoe falls (after solid rain) and the coast. I was back in the mountain air, and the cooler temperatures helped me recover quickly from the climb. I probably didn't need to stop at the store at Lower Beechmont village, which is followed by a 7km descent, but I had made a promise to myself.



The promise kept, I headed for the descent, and the ups and downs of Gilston before returning to the coast, knowing that I had to recuperate quickly to take some friends out to Dickfos falls the next day. I still had a good couple of hours to savour this ride, however, and after the crash five days later, I had even longer to savour it.

Revenge is a dish best served cold

I'm almost sorry to report that this morning's temperature of three degrees (celsius) in Currumbin Valley is likely to be the coldest I'll ride in all year, but with the scent of spring in the air during the last couple of evenings, it's just a matter of time until I'm writing posts complaining about the blistering heat again. As it happened, this morning I decided to venture back to the scene of the crash I had a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately, nothing was broken in the crash -- although I did hit a road sign with a very good punch shortly after getting back to my feet.

The crash, of course, took place on a descent with a double-figure gradient, so today I decided to turn that into a climb with a double-figure gradient by riding it in reverse, and launching a blistering attack on the hill. My condition isn't what it should be -- the only decent ride I've had in three weeks was Springbrook on Saturday, but revenge is a powerful motivator. About half-way up that hill, I found some other reserves -- probably comprising nothing but anger, and slaughtered what was left of it. I actually didn't even realise I'd reached the summit until about 15 seconds into the descent.

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Another crash

It has been a week now, since I managed to have yet another crash -- the second in a little over a month. I don't need to go into specifics at this time (nor do I have any desire to), but it was another caused by simply trying to take a corner way too fast, this time at around 5am. I suppose I'll learn the lesson eventually. This time there are no serious injuries, although it has kept me off the bike for a week (a situation my doctor has asked me to rectify tomorrow).

I have used the idle time to plan some other adventures. I have a tour of France and Spain coming up in a couple of months (more on that later), and I'm planning some riding in the Toowoomba area when the temperatures rise a little, which won't be far away now. Most of all I've spent the week trying to find another outlet for my cabin fever, and realising just quickly I come to miss being on the bike. I really need to be more careful when I'm descending to avoid having to deal with this situation again.