That’s the game I think I was playing with the scattered showers today when I decided to do a smaller then usual southern ride.
The weather looked fine this morning and after a slow start I got on the road sometime before 8.00am with no real plan other than south. I know I ride there a lot, I did look at a northern ride last night and the distance to Maleny and Murwillumbah are about the same but going north you are stuck on the same well worn route which I find less enjoyable.
I have not ridden Springbrook for a while and I can advise that they have resurfaced much of the road in the upper section, all corners are now new hotmix.
Much if the hill was damp and I was thinking it was just left over from the evening however as I continued south I realised that there were still some scattered showers about as the road alternated between dry and damp.
I more or less made a beeline towards Tyalgum as I wanted to shoot some photos of the crater before it got too hazy. If you have not been there the photo does not capture how dramatic the ridge is in real life, I wish there were some roads going up there into the clouds! Leaving Tyalgum towards Uki I could see it was raining to the south of Mt Warning however I was planning to ride over to Stokers Siding thus I turned away from the rain just before Uki.
I ran into a lot of cyclists before Stokers Siding today as there was some riding event that was held on the back roads of the Tweed. I like watching the Tour de France on tv each year, those guys really move, but today’s riders who had a police escort were as slow as snails, the peloton was riding at about 30kph the guys in the rear were at walking pace so I was glad to see the end of them within a few km’s as I turned north to Murwillumbah after the railway.
Riding south I found the road soaked before Burringbah range where it must have just rained however I again avoided getting wet and the range itself was totally dry. I stopped at Mooball for fuel and nature break at the automatic toilet there and having wondered what might happen if these roadside toilets malfunctioned I can now report. The door electronically closes and is locked for 10 minutes unless you open it earlier. Well this time the door unlocked and opened itself after 2 minutes – fortunately no cars were going past while I had to get up and reclose the door … Some things need not be computerised.
Did the criss cross ride north over the highway on back roads and then over Farrants Hill and down to Duranbah where I ran into the cyclists again coming the other way this time before heading back to Tumbulgum. I decided to ride the Bilambil loop over Teranora Rd which I had not done for some time. Again the roads were wet in parts where it had rained seemingly just before I arrived however despite the looming clouds overhead still the rain had not managed to find me.
Looking north to the ranges it was definitely raining but I was betting it was on the Numinbah crossing not where I was riding over Currumbin and I was right. Ha Ha Mr. Rain you lose today, did not get a drop on me.
I simply love it there Anthony. I have a family connection there myself my great grandfather farmed in the area, something I am still learning about. The riding around there is simply superb.
Great post IC…sounds like it was a great ride. I grew up in Murwillumbah and I'm familiar with all those locations, but haven't had the chance to ride some of those roads, but great to see some awesome images of a great part of the world. Well done!
Cheers,
Anthony