Hippies, Hills and Coffee

Right now I'm easy like Sunday morning. G and I are about to head out for brekkie and climb a mountain. Then I am sure we will check out the surf. Yesterday we had a cool day truckin' around the local market and buying organic produce. Being a bit of a hippy town they had some dead funky stuff. My fave thing though was the pedal power juice van. You order a juice and they freshly squeeze the fruit using a bike set up in the caravan. Too cool.

The kids also hit up a few beaches and were chilling like villains. Before we headed home the kids jumped in the surf at Brunswick for a quick splash about. I got battered trying to get shots with the waterproof Olympus but had fun all the same. A very good day indeed, all topped off with one of the best pizzas I've had outta Italy.

Friday was a different story altogether with 160km ride out to Nimbin. G told me it was quite a way and took over an hour in the Scooby van. I was sure it couldn't be that bad a ride. How wrong was I. The hills around here don't feck about and I was battered just an hour and half in, especially with the heat and humidity. I did have a scary moment descending at about 40mph when I cornered a tight bend and a river crossed the road.

Okay, it wasn't quite a river but a ford all the same. My initial reaction was to hit it but a sudden thought of floating down the side of the mountain clipped in upside down didn't appeal. So I hit the panic button and managed to stop with my front wheel in the drink. So it was off with the shoes and a case of wading across. Luckily it wasn't too deep and with my shoes back on pedaled off up the hill.

There was one stretch on a busy road otherwise I was on my own and loving life. That short busy stretch was all that it took to see my run off the road by a big tractor trailer. Luckily it was gravel to the side and not a ditch or drop. After shouting some wasted expletives I pulled myself back on the road and got on with it. As I moved on from Lismore to Nimbin I could see a storm brewing. It was good to get a few kms here where I could get on the aero bars and put the hammer down. The closer I got to my destination the darker and scarier the sky became.

After riding a few hills into town the sky opened up and shock the place as thunder and lightening struck, but it passed in the time it took me to drink two coffees - lunch. No I am not being a triathlete with an eating disorder ( I had bananas, gels and carb drinks on my menu), I just wanted some caffeine in me to take the edge of the return journey, which I planned to do quicker than the ride out.

Nimbin is like a cartoon town famed for enjoying the high side of life. All the shops are very colourful as are the locals. It was funny sitting down next to a classic hippy guy with died orange straggly longhair, baggy trousers, a striped top and no shoes. I certainly stood out as the imposter in town dressed in lycra and sweating like a loon riding an alien looking bike. I said 'G'day' in true Assuie fashion and we started chatting. It was funny as he wasn't all 'right on man' but sounded more like Mick Dundee, which made chuckle because another Aussie I had spoken to couldn't get his around an 'Irish Chinaman' as he put it. I told him the guy had probably lived in Ireland all his life and that's why he had an Irish accent. No biggie but he couldn't get his around it and had been blown away by it. So my situation was the same but I wasn't exactly bothered.

After my two quick coffees I got back aboard the 'Velo feeling strong. The light rain and cooler tempatures gave me a new lease of live pedaling hard to power. An hour back in and out of the tail of the storm the temperatures rose and the hills started to kick my arse again. Oddly the ride home felt easier although the hills still reminded my legs who was boss. A great ride that finished five days of tough pedaling bringing my total up to 17 hours. Not bad considering the craziness of the week.

While I really miss Noosa as a great training base I don't miss the madness that was filling my life. I have learnt more about myself in five days than I have in a long time. While this weekend is easier in terms of training load I am excited about getting out on the bike again and putting in some bigger miles this week. The PF is feeling better and I'll head out for a run later if the mountain climb hasn't killed me. Enjoy life peeps it's short.