Awoke to the Itch

Yesterdays ride was with Chris and Mark. (all the others invitees found other things to do) The start was somewhat different as everyone prepared for the rain, quite a lot of rain had been forecast, but the ride was completed without even a shower! (at least for Mark and I on the other hand Chris  rode through a southerly headwind and shower just to get here from the coast).

Rode off with Chris arriving a little late after picking up a puncture at Casuarina, the start of the mechanical incidents! While riding up Cudgera Creek road Chris stopped a couple of times to snap off a couple of photos with his camera. The small gullys were still streaming with water after the previous nights rain but it was decided to still take Waba Road through Moobal forrest up to the Tweed Valley Way on the journey to Tunnel Road at Stokers Siding.

Waba Road started out uneventfully athough a little slippery with traction becoming quite slipper at times. The further along the track we rode the thicker and taller the grass growing on the track became. It eventually forced me to get out of the saddle and push the bike through a distance of about 500 meters. While I was pushing Mark on his mountain bike and Chris on his hybrid were able to struggle through, Chris managed to complete this particular climb but Mark succumbed to a mechanical failure, his chain broke! The walk was to reveal itself as a curse in itself, and hence the title of this post!

So at the top we spent about 45 minutes fixing his chain. Luckily Chris had his chain breaker with him! While the repair was undertaken it was noticed that Mark and I, the walkers had picked up a fair few hitchhikers. Leeches. Covering the exposed skin on our lower legs and as was later revealed at Burringbar inside my sox.  No problem at the time pulling them off and monitoring my legs while the repair was performed. OK with the chain reconnected we attempted to move off again. Less than a meter was ridden before the chain broke again and a further 4 links were removed to reconnect it. The greatly foreshortened chain forced Mark to complete the ride without the ability to use all his gears thankfully there were only another two short ascents to go before we reached the "flat" of the railway line off Tunnel Road.  

Mark was unable to shift to high gears and so even his descent of the range was slow as he couldn't even peddle through the gentle slope sections, he had to coast all the way. Chris and I waited in the now welcoming shade of a tree, half way to Tunnel road turn-off.

It was good that Mark knew the way onto the railway line. We needed to open an unmarked gate and ride along a mowed grass stretch of ground on the other side it until it petered out 500 meters further on. This is when we met the ballast and sleepers for the first time, the surface we were to ride and walk over for the next 5+ kilometers both before in and on the other-side of the tunnel. The line is becoming quite overgrown with weeds in places and only short stretches were free of any regrowth. The peddling over the ballast was bumpy and slow, 6-8 kmph.

Just as we were about to enter the tunnel Chris discovered  an open drain covered by tall grass that his front wheel managed to 1/2 disappear into! He was not hurt unlike on Waba Road when he had came off at slow speed when a long branch hidden in the grass decided to trip his bike! This was not to be the last such event I managed to fall over on two further occasions riding on the railway line as we approached the trestle bridge and V tracks sprang out of the grass at me and this is where, I think, I buckled my rear wheel!

Back to the ride! We shared the lead and the person upfront cleared the Green Tree snakes from the track for those following, bouncing, in single file behind, Mark scared three and I rode over two others!

The tunnel was an experience. It was quite hard to see properly inside as it was very dark, derrrr, but the ends were, in that darkness, blindingly light and unavoidable to your eyes. This meant continually re-training your eyes to look at the roof and walls again after walking on only a few meters more. Chris rode the full length and walked back in whereas Mark and myself walked through pushing our bikes. Now don't take this too literally but in many places the tunnels surfaces were covered by glowworms! it appeared as though you were looking at a clear dark sky! with hundreds of stars glowing in that inky darkness! In the safety wall recess' you could see with the aid of a torchlight many very-small bats hanging from soot covered concrete surfaces. For the majority of it's length the tunnel was quite dry but near the southern end the tunnel wall and ceiling was covered with running water pouring and cascading through the now porous concrete. In places it was forcing it's way out as though from a common garden hose!  The sight was as impressive to me as the bats and glowworms inhabiting this man-made cave!

We travelled on over the bumpity-bumpity surface on the southern side of the tunnel, here the regrowth was quite a lot more significant. Maybe the traffic was less on this side or the southern side of the range or something else was the cause it but it was noticeable. About 1/2 way to the now unused railway level crossing on Upper Burringbar Road we found a clear stretch of line and sat down to eat an uneventful lunch.

Farther along the track after lunch I nearly stepped on a meter long Goanna that was quite unperturbed by out meeting not moving so-much as an eyelid as we passed by. At the trestle bridge we all proceeded to tackle the crossing in our own way but no-one attempted to ride! The gap to the ground below through the lattice work of sleepers and beams was only a little disconcerting luckily the drop below was not more than 10-20 meters! 

Here we determined that time spent on repairs and the condition of Marks bike meant an attempt to find where Upper Burringbar road would lead would have to wait for another day! At the park in main street Chris and I took off our shoes to find a few freeloading leeches still sucking. Mark decided he would wait until he got home to do it. Here is where my back wheel buckle was noticed by Chris.

So we separated Chris taking the Tweed Valley Way over the range toward home Mark and I Cudgera Creek Road which we noticed had 6, yep counted them 6 cars encountered over the 5 kilometer gravel section, quite an unusual experience. Nearing the freeway entrance Mark said he was taking the flat way along the freeway as the climb over Cudgera without gears was quite an effort and achievement. I took Kanes road and rode contentedly home to round out 50kms taking almost 7 hours!!!!! Chris will have completed at least a 100 more by the time he gets home!

All in all a good days ride! I'll post more if I think of it later....

I remember now. The reason for the heading the leeches! and me waking at 6:00am to a desperate need to scratch!

To Chris and Mark, Thanks for sharing the experience. and thanks for the sunscreen Chris my face appreciates it!

For some images and another ride report visit Chris's Blog Life Cycle