Some days are diamonds …
I had a great weekend, on and off the bike. It’s Tuesday now but I’m still buzzing about how good the weekend was.
The road-bike riding bit, first.
Saturday, OMG-its-very-early. A group of the South Bank bunch meets at BWL’s place, loads into three cars and heads down to Canungra, for an assault on O’Reillys (Green Mountains is the proper placename, but its universally known as O’Reillys).
The ride to O’Reillys is about 35 km: 10km to the base of the climb, a steady 13km climb to the next landmark, the alpaca farm, then a plateau section before the road kicks up again through rainforest to the guest-house and Lamington NP camping ground.
By the time we gathered at Canungra there were a baker’s dozen, 13 of us. We made it as a group to the base of the climb, which is about 10 km along the valley heading south from Canungra. Then the climbs starts. The climb to O’Reillys is a very gentle gradient, maybe 4% average. To my surprise, nobody went hard, and the group largely stayed together. Three or four of the self-described ‘non-climbers’ were off the back, but they were always intending a slower ride. But the rest of the bunch went up the first half of the climb at a steady clip. From my admitted dodgy memory it was Rob and Shane who were setting the tempo, with Greg and Wes one wheel back.
So the pace stayed quite steady, and just now & then a rider would pop off the back and opt for a slower tempo: Desirae, Fitzy, Ian.
I looked around at the bunch, and Michael Cooke (an averred non-climber and big-gear grinder) said to me: “It’s just the G7 now.”
About then Shane went across to the front left of the bunch and upped the tempo noticeably. Not an attack, just a faster pace. Wes matched him, and then suddenly there were only three of us left: Wes, Rob & me. Shane’s increase in tempo had been too much for him!
Wes and I rode side by side, and I said to him: “We’ve dropped everyone, if you want to ease back a bit. If you meant to drop them, that’s fine.” Wes just responded with a smile, so we kept the power on.
After another km or two, I dropped back onto Wes’s wheel, with Rob on my wheel. And that’s way it stayed to the top, although Rob was detached from Wes and I for the last 500m or so of the climb, he got back to us on the flat section to the alpaca farm. After Wes’s strong work on the climb, there was no way I was going to sprint into the rest stop, so we awarded him the first KOM.
It had taken about 1 hr 15 mins to the alpaca farm for the leading trio. Greg and Shane were next in, and then the others came in over the next 20-30 minutes.
Eventually we were all at the farm and ready to move on to the next part of the climb to the top.
Once again in a bunch we set off, very steady. Soon after, a couple of riders not part of our group came past us. We let them go. Then Ray, from our group, found the pace too slow, so he set off on the attack. Eventually I went to the front of the group to set a slightly faster tempo, which dragged Greg, Rob and Wes along as well. Soon we had Ray in our sights and reeled him in. Then the slower of the two riders who had passed our bunch.
The wall just before the top of the climb is probably only 400 metres long, but its a steep one. I estimate 15%, but Dazza tells me his Garmin had 18% showing at one stage. Rob and I hit the climb together, and halfway up he surged past me. But the road turns a corner about two-thirds of the way to the top, and Rob had burned his matches too early. I got him at the corner and took the lead and the ‘stage’ into O’Reillys, with Wes about 20 seconds back in third.
Not that it was a race!
A quick coffee and an energy bar (or pie or sausage roll, depending on who you were) and the group was ready for the descent back to Canungra.
I took a couple of pix on the descent, but then rode hard to be with the boys at the front as we got to the start of the long downhill from the alpaca farm back down to the valley floor. Wes and Rob kept driving on the front, so I let them go. Darren also drove past me on the Felt. Then about a minute later Greg comes alongside, uttering his mantra “must catch Felt … must catch Felt”. He was followed by Ian.
I was coasting rather than pedalling, and was happy to let them go. By the time I reached the valley floor, the lead group of five was out of sight, but I thought they would probably cruise along for a while at least. So I drove hard and got them in sight. A couple of kays at full gas and I rejoined the lead group. Soon after that, the pace went up again, and we were driving back to Canungra at 40+ km/h.
And it stayed like that in our group of six back to Canungra, where the whole bunch eventually got in and enjoyed a hearty breakfast, and a quiet drive back to the big smoke.
I made it back home around mid-day, and spent the afternoon on light chores (taking lots of stuff to the waste recycling facility).
And then it was off to the W-League, with Brisbane Roar taking on Melbourne Victory. As this is a cycling blog, I won’t bore you with details, but I had a fun evening with Emma and some of her mates watching the Roar girls.
Next morning (once again, just-slightly-too-early) it was mountain bike time.
I was a commissaire, or a trainee one at least, for the Brisbane South Mountain Bike Club’s four-hour event at Karingal. Results are here.
So my role included walking a lap of the 7km long cross-country circuit, to ensure that everything was in order (it was). And then supervising the start, with the chief commissaire (Gillian) and the race director (Wayne). And then dealing with any emerging problems, such as a laser skirmish group crossing our race track, or signage which needed adjustment. Just keeping an eye on things.
Well the event was a great success, as Gaz’s video above shows. About 220 riders on a hot Sunday morning in November. No major crashes, lots of friendly fun, and some great close racing. The Daisy Hill Wednesday morning crew were all there, “racing”, or at least participating in the fun.
The two leading solo men (the two Andys, Mallett and Fellows) were less than 30 seconds apart after four hours of racing. The mens pairs were also super exciting, with the awesome duo from Redback Cycles in Warwick taking the win.
And once I’ve completed my race report, I’m a fully fledged MTBA commissaire. Cool.
However, by the time I had completed my commissaire duties with a sweep lap of the course, I was running late for the last scheduled activity of the weekend.
My long-ago work colleague Mardi Lumsden and her band The Rising Seas were playing at the Powerhouse. I raced home, had a shower, jumped in the car with Nette, picked up Dean & Steph Winchester and we made it to the venue while Mardi was still only on her first song. Whew.
We had a fine time listening to Mardi & band putting out some melodic, quirky pop-folk. Mardi writes songs that are about going, finding, changing and becoming. The lyrics make you think while her voice makes you smile. It’s a beautiful combination. Go to Mardi’s website and click on the Facebook link to become a fan.
After Mardi had finished playing, we hung around the Powerhouse, went for a walk in New Farm Park, and then made our way back to West End for dinner at Caravanserai (which is always superb … sebze!).
For me, I don’t recall ever having a better weekend while barely leaving Brisbane. By a mysterious coming together of events, I covered my three main circles of friends (roadies, mtb, church/family … there’s lots of overlap between them) in one weekend. How good is that!
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One Response to “Some days are diamonds …”
The orielly’s report was great. Wish I could have been there. That last pinch is the steepest I have ever ridden. Is there a steeper road that is ‘roadie’ rideable?