Settlement

Last weekend I had to confess myself slightly disappointed at the rather poor second half produced by Gold Coast United in Brisbane on Friday night. There was nothing for it other than to get on the bike and find a decent ride somewhere. I set off on Sunday morning for the old fashioned Springbrook/Numinbah/Tomewin circuit. The start was a little slower than I normally like, and I wasn't sure whether that was lethargy or just an early morning westerly wind. Either way, the climb toward Salmons Saddle at Springbrook soon shook that loose.



I was far more concerned with the potentially treacherous descent on the other side. I have ridden up Pine Creek Road a few times and measured 24% gradients there. This sort of thing tends to make one slightly nervous about descending the road -- especially in view of the fact that I hadn't done it since the infamous crash back in July. As it was, the disc brakes on the Salsa Vaya worked beautifully and gave me another of those "what the hell are you worrying about?" moments when I reached the bottom, turned south, and set out on the next part of the ride.







Why did every motor-cyclist on the Gold Coast want to share my ride today? It's enough to make you think disparaging thoughts about people who are too poor to afford a Harley (i.e. all of them) but still want to be "bad dudes". The ride through the southern part of Numinbah valley is indeed, beautiful, but these guys made it a lot noisier than it might have been the day before. A couple of them also saw fit to pass right in the middle of corners on the descent from Numinbah Gap -- again I can thank my disc brakes for making a potentially tricky situation into an easy one. Somewhere near Chillingham I got a little tired of the noise, and decided to head for a dirt road that I've eyed off for a while.



I knew Settlement Road would be quiet. As it was, I didn't see another human along the way. What I didn't realise what just how lovely the switchback dirt road that snaked it's way though Springbrook's southern foothills would be. The forest here was pretty dense for the most part, but it occasionally gave way to some really stunning views. After climbing for a few kilometres, the road deteriorated as it went past a fence line, and I decided to call off the chase here -- but only after admiring the view toward Mt Hobwee and Bald Mountain.

After this, there isn't a lot to tell. The Harley wannabes virtually disappeared after I passed Chillingham (apart from one lot at Crystal Creek). The only thing noticeable out here was the north-easterly wind that had replaced the south-westerly that started the day. Oh well, this bike tends to cope with headwinds better than any other I've had previously, and I still had Tomewin to throw at it. The climb over Tomewin was quite enjoyable, and almost rejuvenating. It left me with plenty of energy for finishing off the ride home, and another 130km racked up.



Another great ride was had. I also now have something to look forward to on the horizon, but I'll reveal that in another post.

The comeback is complete

It seems everyone knows about this except my blog readers, as I have once again been slack in updating. However, 10 days ago, and basically 10 weeks after breaking three bones, being knocked unconscious and all the other crap that went on, I have now officially completed the comeback by successfully riding 190km in a day. I talked my friend Martin into coming with me for a jaunt along the Coolamon Scenic Drive in the hills behind Mullumbimby. Of course, that meant that most of the kilometres would be accumulated in getting there and back, but we can live with that.



We started off by heading south, down along the Tweed Coast with the intention, for me anyway, of a complete change of scenery. Those long weeks I spend cooped up in Suburbia were driving me crazy. I'll never forget the feeling I got immediately south of Pottsville and thinking "Damn, it's good to be here again". The feeling continued and must have had something positive, because it was the first time I've ever broken three hours from my place to Mullumbimby. We were flying!



Making friends is easier in some places than others. While putting on sunscreen at Mullumbimby, a dog from near by decided to go and find a stick to bring back to me. I'd never seen this dog before, but as long as (s)he wasn't chasing my wheels, I wasn't complaining about throwing a stick a few times. We soon set off into the hills, climbing the Coolamon Ridge on the accidentaly discovered Possum Shoot Road, then taking in the sweeping views of the surrounding area, and the surrounding rain.



The rain closed in soon enough, although we missed the thunderstorm to the north, there was rain waiting for us after we passed through Mullumbimby on the return, bound for Burringbar. The rain was actually quite pleasant, and made some of the climbs around Billinudgel and Mooball feel probably easier than they were. The food stop at Burringbar was a little rushed, however, and I didn't take the time to stretch.



I believe the stretch between Burringbar and Murwillumbah on the old highway is one of the most underrated stretches of road in the area, with varying views and a lot of forest to please one's senses, although for some reason I have rarely pulled out the camera here. Nonetheless, we rode on, and negotiated Murwillumbah, with it's usual stop-start traffic (just why it's this way I don't know, it's rarely heavy traffic).



The climb of Tomewin was the final test of the day. I knew that reaching the summit here would give me the "century" I so desperately wanted, and I also knew that there wasn't going to be much difficulty in the final 30km after this. My legs had other ideas, so I cut a deal by simply riding up the climb very slowly. Martin showed the value of regular riding during the previous weeks by taking off on the climb and slaughtering it, I was a little slower. As it was, we got over the top and descended to the coast and suburbia.

I did get a bit of a shock to find that we actually finished the 190km at around 2pm. That was a good hour quicker than I had expected. When I get fit again, anything is possible.

35

Thanks to all who sent me birthday wishes for Saturday, most of them came via facebook which means I really should try actually logging in there one of these days. To be honest, I hadn't expected to be sitting at this particular computer typing this. Had things gone as I had planned them, I would have been in the South of France, but a red light runner put paid to that. Then, of course, I had some bones that needed to heal so I could get back on my feet, so here I am.

It's quite interesting the way a crash like that can change your perspective on the world. There are some things I appreciate more than ever, and there are other things about which I have become even more cynical than before (even though I didn't previously think that was possible). I did manage to buy myself an early birthday present (pictured above), so that is some compensation for the lost time.

Either way, I'm glad to be here, hopefully with many more adventures to come.