Quick Trip

Just a quick trip along Round Mountain Road onto Kanes Road, Cudgera Road then a drag along the Freeway to Clothiers Creek Road. Turning into the wind on Wattie Bishop Road. To my shock and horror Tweed shire Council is about to clear fell "all the trees" along Round Mountain Road for a couple of km. Interesting as there are no trees on the private land right up to the fence lines there will be no shade on that ride any more! I decided to stir so rang council and got Russell Gorry (?), who said they were only clearing the Camphors and Sally Wattles we will see! But then it will be too late! Don't you just love DEVILpment!

Anyway that was today's ride so I am looking forward to the middle of summer and no shade through that section of my rides now, no birds, no insects or shade! ah well the price of progress..... We have a really warped idea of what progress is in our culture, don't we?

A Trip to the Tip

Today after a Training circuit. Joy-ann, kaydee and myself went up to Bills BRS to get the extension gooseneck for joys bike, But Bill didn't have one. suggested a higher pair of bars but J-A said NO!. on the quiet trip home J-A said how about the tip shop?

OK lets Go!

While looking through the bikes I noticed a much unloved Malvern Star Hybrid.

• 21 speed


• 20" Alloy Frame


• Suspension Seat Post


• 700 wheels with good tyres and tubes (still up about 15psi)


• complete brakes


• but


• badly damaged rear de-railer (oh well!)


• a very sun damaged sprung saddle


• most cables were OK


• break pads worn


• good pneumatic front forks

Looked good for emergency repair parts and some transfers to the MTB, thought I would ask how much - Well the Attendant said, ..."hese are much better than those (little kids K-Mart Specials) and so will cost more and they usually cost $10..", Here it come i thought... and then he said "Let's say $15" then I said "Done!" wheeled it to the car, undid all the quick release connectors and put it in the little Daewoo Matiz I drive, but that's another story. Not bad for $15, 2 spare tyres, 2 spare tubes, suspension saddle post, good Shimano selector and break lever units good, 2 near new hand grips, 4 good v-brake arms and front forks and nothing wrong with the frame or the adjustable gooseneck, Yes, all up a good score.

Got home and pulled the saddle post out and put it on the MTB and went for ride down Heath Road, a sand and gravel track right next to my home round trip about 5.5kms with the dogs racing along beside me. Nice!

Flat Ride to Check the Tune up

Started out from home to No wind. Went out along Round Mountain Road to Wattie Bishop Road through to Clothiers Creek Road on to the Freeway up to Chinderah through Wommin Bay Drive onto Marine Parade at Kingscliff. Here I went to Professionals to do a little work. Then rode home via Salt and Casuarina through Bogangar along the Coast Road back to Round Mountain Road and Home!

After the ride I drove back up to BRS, Bill's, again bought a set of front forks for the old "PEAK" MTB ... an Itasia Saddle for the Giant Hybrid and a set of handlebar extensions to see if the numb bum and tingle hands will ease up a bit. And all i went there for was a new taller Goose-neck for Joy-Ann's bike! ah well nice to get a few presents for oneself.

Bike Maintenance Arvo

Well today I was finally able to take the Giant Elwood in for its FREE 3mth maintenance check. A bit late really, but, Bill was OK about it. All the bearings repacked etc. Brakes re-centred.

Bill said the chain and rear sprockets were close to needing replacement.

How could that be? I had managed to clock-up over 7,000kms since I bought it new in early February 2007. (see below XXXX) Doesn't seem like it was possible but after adding up all the trips. A minimum of 20kms/day with only a couple of days off when I "Had to Work" and many of them 40-60kms trips and days with multiples. Aside: It's been strange that even during the wettest part of the year here. We have not had any of those days where it rained solidly all day. Maybe it's the "Climate Change" or just an unusual year.

I looked at getting a new saddle today and it looks as though i might of found one. It will allow me to adjust it back a further 3.5cm. I might not need the full 3.5cm but would like to see what 2.5cm might do for my cadence.

Speaking of cadence I also looked at the possibility of altering the rear gear ratios from 132-12 to 132-11 which will give me a little more top end speed. I cant get the Elwood to pull past 36km on a flat wind free run, (I can push it to 40km for a spurt but can't keep it up for long) and a slightly higher top speed might allow me to feel safer in those tight sections where the traffic gets a little hairy.

Note XXXX: No Punctures, crashes or either tyre worn-out . Just general wear and tear, a few spots of corrosion on both alloy and steel parts but spokes and rims are ok!

Reserve Creek Road - Duranbah Hill loop

Today started early by my standards. 8:00am and I needed a beanie under my helmet. decided to ride Round Mountain Rd on to Reserve Creek Road over to Keil Vale then cross through the Sugar Cane Fields over to Clothiers Creek Road, Nunderi. Rode up the hill to Farrants Road over to Everon and up through to Duranbah School and Tropical Fruit World.

On the Fly decision to go towards Kingscliff and the Coast Road via Plantation Road and then ride to Norries Headland and back home.

Ride Time: 2hr 50min

Ride Distance: 60km

Avg HR: 140bps

Weather: Cool, 15C with a little Southerly Breeze, increasing through the ride.

Training Circuit Ride

Well this is my Training or Standard 1hr Ride, 20km ride. I use it to see how lazy i am being, also it is a simple undulating ride with little traffic over bitumen roads and bike paths. Occasionally my daughter Kaydee will allow me the privilege of accompanying me, usually that turns into a cruise and a stop for an ice-block and a scan over the ocean from Hastings Point headland.

I will plot the route and add comments about possible changes etc as i do the loop.
 

Burringbar Hill - in the old Mooball State Forest

Yesterday Mark Roberts and myself went for a bit of an exploration ride into the old Mooball State Forest. In all it was only a 15km ride. Short in distance but long in hours and endurance. To start Mark came around in his work van to collect me and my bike for a drive to the top of Burringbar Range on the old Pacific Highway or, as it's now called, the Tweed Valley Way. Why? Because we didn't really know how long or difficult the ride was going to be.

As it turned out we still did ride up the range at the end of the trek.



We turned onto the gravel Cooradilla Road for about 2.5km until we got to the gated entrance on Barambali Road to the Forest, and continued the upward climb along the gravel for another 1.5km (approx.). Here we saw a small fork in the road to the right/south just as Barambali Rd starts to wind back down the hill. Taking the lesser used path we rode for a couple of hundred metres and discussed the likely destination of the path. As it looked to be continuing upwards we said go for it!

As it turned out it wasn't long before we were forced to push the bikes up the steep rut and root filled track. At different times we could remount and ride for a few hundred meters until we were forced to get off again and push. We couldn't get enough traction on the rear wheel or steer where we needed to with all the loose leaves, sticks and rocks. As we had decided to find out where it went we needed to keep the bikes with us so just walking was not an option. After about 45mins of this we came to a really steep and rutted section where even pushing the bike was too hard, (your feet were slipping out from under you), Not wanting to risk a twisted ankle I decided it best to carry the bike on my shoulder and as it turned out it was the easiest and safest option to finally get to the Top of the Burringbar Hill, or that's what it said on the Geographical Marker on the crown of the hill.

It is obvious that surveyors no longer need to use these permanent marks of latitude, longitude and elevation. At the top where it should have been cleared it was completely overgrown with about 4-5 +years of forest re-growth. The views through the canopy were still spectacular for a full 360 degrees. We scrambled around the top of the hill looking for any tracks that might of led away besides the one we had arrived on, there were none, so the only thing to do was return the way we had come!

We were a little concerned at riding down but decided to give it a go anyway, Mark on his wife's Malvern Star Hybrid and me on my Giant Elwood, also a Hybrid, i.e. no mountain bikes here.... Well we needed to stop a few times to navigate fallen logs etc but managed to ride the whole 2.5kms "wow!" back down to the fork and even got off the brakes a few times as well to get a bit of thrill happening.

No accidents on the descent only some stick scratches around the shins!

At the fork we talked about which way to go either back towards Cooradilla Road and the further along the main track and deeper into the forest or follow the so far, to us, unknown Barambali Rd fire trail towards Cudgera Creek and Palm Vale. Well the more likely quiet route along the gated Barambali fire trail was the way to go.

Downhill through some really cool rainforest along a car track covered with short grass, interspersed with peeps through the trees over the valleys to the West, possibly Wardrop Valley and Fernvale, after about 2kms of cruising we came to an uphill which seemed to curve back around the Burringbar Hill we had just been up. The ride went on for a couple of kilometres more the same with just the direction of the outlook changing until we could start to see Cabarita through to Pottsville again. Here the trail forked again, the trail to the left had a large log dragged across it, and no signs. This time we decided to stick to the main path. Eventually we came to another Y-intersection and the name of the right fork was "Wabba Road". I remembered seeing this on Goggle Maps and that it led to the Top of Cudgera Creek Road. Mark and I decided to take it. Just to see exactly where it came out, as there is no Sign on Cudgera Creek Road to indicate exactly which track it is!

After doing a further 3kms we came to a gate at the end of Wabba Road, but no signs to say no trespassing or keep out so we continued on. We eventually came out on Cudgera Creek Road and checked the time 3hours to do 8.8kms. This decided for us which way we to head next. Marks handlebars had started to come loose and my allan keys didn't fit the Malvern Star. So decided to get to Burringbar Service Station and see if they had an allan key. They didn't but as we were leaving we say another bike rider who had one and Mark was able to again pull and push on his bars. We road the last 3.3kms up to the top of Burringbar Range along the Tweed Valley way and the only incident we had was my chain came off the centre cogs as the de-railer may have gotten some dust in it.

All up it was a very pleasant way to spend a WINTERS SUNDAY. Though there was always the treat of rain it never eventuated. And there were no major calamities.

No Ride Today

Well didn't even get close to the bike today
Work got in the way 20 plus phone calls an a couple of pc builds maybe tomorrow

Todays Palm Vale Ride

Ok this was more of a discovery and chat ride with anyone I met along the way trying to find a way up to the Mooball Forest... No Luck again but at least I can tick off the Access Routes I cant go up.

Cudgera Creek Road

Just a Post to Test Route Entry. And do a plot of Cudgera creek Road over to Burringbar From Round Mountain Road. Taking about 45mins

31.8 kms return trip