Scattered showers

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Iron Chef

Iron Chef is a pseudonym I once used, click on icon to read full story.

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That was the forecast and when I woke to blue sky I thought they had predicted the worst case as usual.

This time however it was true and by 8.30 refueling at Mudgerraba you could see the rain blowing in from the sea to the south. When my friend from Ballina arrived he had ridden through some of those scattered showers and so I decided to ride up Springbrook and try Numinbah Valley.

They continue to resurface Springbrook and it is a really a very good ride. From Pine creek road I could see the rain in Numinbah valley and so a switch to Beechmont was made. Two uniforms in a white unmarked Commodore with dark tint working Hinze raceway. They barely looked at us and continued to patiently await some crouch rockets. I always play it safe on that road which is the Mt Glorious of the south.

Had a nice ride on Mt Beechmont and decided the rain had swept in so the coast should now be dry. We swung through Gilston and onto the M1 south and then up Tallebugera valley and over Currumbin valley to Murwilumbah which had all dried. Threw out the Tweed valley ride I had in mind and decided to visit Burringbah range and refuel at Burrinbah servo then revisit Burrinbah range and ride to Uki via Stokers Siding.

On the way some twit in a Mercedes sports car spat the dummy when my mate passed him and so set off trying to keep up and then upon failing made it clear he was not letting me pass by driving in the middle of the road and swerving across to other lane if I moved to pass. Once upon a time I would have cared, now I just yawn and position myself well away so when these idiots crash it does not involve me.

My usual lunch at the Uki pub has gone up a few dollars, inflation is running wild in this country.

Rode back via Numinbah valley and stopped for some photos.

The pale straw grass was illuminated by the afternoon sun like it was ready to set itself alight. I am back using a compact camera again. Yes I seem to have changed cameras a lot of late, thankfully eBay lets you sell things easy. Today is all from a Olympus XZ1 which is brilliant little compact camera with a bright lens and sharp sensor than allows subject isolation I am using it with the VF2 electronic viewfinder. The whole interchangeable lens thing just didn’t work for me nor does spending hours working in that Adobe Lightroom software. I just prefer to capture what my mind is imagining on the spot or not at all. So from now on its back to straight from the camera with only some cropping to frame correctly.

The muffler system now sounds near perfect but the chrome plating is really starting to discolour bronze and I hope this stops soon. I am very happy with the Firstgear jacket and must do a more detailed report on it some time. The BMW pants I am wearing are not holding up so well and look very aged and have shrunk considerably more than any garment should in the legs meaning they now ride up too much. Disappointing given their brand name and price tag. I am back using the Nolan N43 helmet again. I was getting pressure points with it and some focus issues with dual visors but a thorough clean has helped with the vision and I tried using my buff as a head scarf and you know that really does give so much extra comfort!

About 9 or 10 weeks until riding New Zealand south island !

Hope you also managed to stay dry riding today. Regards, IC.

Iron Chef