Stills

When you return to a place you know well after an absence, things that were once mundane strike you as exotic. As with these copper whisky stills in my home village. Until I moved away from home to go to university, it was just part of the landscape for me to come round a corner and come face to face with...creatures like this. Now, on a visit to see my dad this weekend, I found myself whipping out my camera. These are the top halves of stills, and these

are the bottom halves. All sitting out in the falling snow in the coppersmith's yard, waiting to be transported to their distillery. Every distillery has a different shape of still - it's one of the factors that gives each whisky its unique taste. My home village has a very well known firm of coppersmiths, who produce handmade stills not just for whisky, but also rum, gin, tequila and bourbon.

Back to Beechmont

Today was the ride that I was meant to do last Sunday, had I not been suffering from some after effects of the dental work. Once again I basically placed no expectations on myself whatsoever regarding setting any speed records on the climbs, I just rode. I have to say that this was a surprisingly liberating feeling (that said, I did own one particular hill just for the sheer hell of it). The ride was a relatively simple climb to Binna Burra at the start of Lamington National Park, then return.

However, the area surrounding Beechmont seemed to have that other worldly feeling about it that it has so often in the past. Perhaps it was because of the unusually low temperatures for the time of year (21 degrees C on the range), perhaps it was just the southerly wind sweeping across the plateau, or perhaps it was just the greenery. Whatever it was, it motivated me to move toward recapturing the detour along southwest road just outside the village, along another spur of the Beechmont Range. I really wondered why I don't take this detour more often. It was 1995 when I first visited this area, and in that time I've only ever taken the detour three times.

I really should make the effort to get out there more often, but how often have I said that in the past?

Bonnie Prince Charlie and All That

One of my goals for this year is to research my scottish roots and find a family plaid so I can order some fabric to make a pillow.
A friend of my husband's researched my family tree for free! I've been reading it this morning. The overwhelming majority of family names comes from England with Scotland and Ireland next. Wales, France, and Belgium are represented, too. The earliest date I've found, so far, is 1430.
Here's an interesting one: Sir Robert Bell was the Speaker of the House of Commons in the late 1500's. He served during the reign of Elizabeth the 1st. He lived at Beaupre Hall in Norfolk, England. Here is the link: http://lh.matthewbeckett.com/houses/lh_norfolk_beauprehall_info_gallery.html
Unfortunately, Beaupre Hall fell victim to the wrecking ball in 1966 during that tragic period of English history when country houses were being torn down at an astonishing rate.
So, the quest goes on to find a scottish name with a plaid I like. Stuart is one I've found. I've always been a Jacobite sympathizer. Are those kinds of things inheritable, I wonder?

Goadby - fig of 8 via Noseley and Rolleston

Led by me, with Maureen, Barry, Gordon and Eddie. Chilly - even some light snow at the start. One glimpse of the sun in the last half-mile. Underfoot mainly firm, but with muddy patches. Just about 9 miles in all.


We take the minor road towards Glooston and follow it as far as Glooston Lodge Farm with it sign warning of "free range children and animals". we turn right next to a big barn where a farmer is transporting bales of hay to feed the cows which are still indoors this year.



The path is clear, for a while, then goes uphill across a field, where we aim for the pylons, and then the waymarker to our right. At this point we find ourselves a little too far over to the left , and have to retrace our steps along the stream to find the footbridge.



After this it's more or less a case of following the waymarkers, through the edge of Noseley Wood, and then through fields to a metalled track, and across a couple more fields to the road. There's still snow around, and mud or water under a covering of ice at many of the gates.


When we reach the road we turn right and pass the fine gates and drive to Noseley Hall - there's a sign to the cookery school which is run there.

We follow the road past the right turn to Goadby, and turn left along a footpath between hedges leading uphill. The wind's pretty fierce, but we cross another field into some more woodland and find a sheltered spot for a break. Our path continues until we meet a clear track which takes us past Rolleston Lake.



We carry on for another quarter of a mile or so to Rolleston Hall and church.

Back along the same route, past Goldsmith's cottage, until we meet the footpath to Tugby. This goes alongside Pop's spinney, through a field where the farmer has just brought some sheep and lambs. We follow the yellow posts towards Tugby, but turn right before we reach the village. Our way lies past Lake House Farm, and out to the road from Tugby. We take the road directly opposite the footpath, which leads us along a gentle flat half mile or so back to Goadby.

Hellebore flowering by the roadside in Goadby

Some history of Rolleston Hall and the church

10 Days on the bike

OK, not constantly on the bike for 10 days - I have ridden every day in the last 10 days. During that period I logged in 193 miles. One of the days I only rode 3.5 miles - during trail work. The rest of that day was shooting the cyclocross race at Swanson.
Its harvest season in the heartland. With wall-2-wall sunshine for the last 2 weeks, the combines have been busy. That kind of weather has been perfect for bike riding.
After 2 days riding in the Wabash Trace, the last 2 days I have ridden the loop around Council Bluffs. Looks like the Missouri River is slowly receding - again! Will take some time before we will be able ride the full loop at Lake Manawa.
Thankfully, West Sidewinder is (and has been all year) above water lever and rideable. Weather is gonna be awesome for THOR's Bring Your Kid Mountain Biking festivities on Saturday at Lake Manawa.
Lastly, today I (finally) topped the 1500 miles mark for the year.

Not quite a disaster, but...

The midnight century ride didn't go quite as planned. I did manage to complete the ride in a reasonable time under the circumstances, so there's probably no reason for complaint, but in reality I'd hoped for a lot more.
The problems started about 20km or so into the planned ride to the start. Half way to Canungra, I realised I had left my wallet at home. Basically, this meant that I had to backtrack, and could basically forget about riding to the start at Ipswich because of time constraints. As it happened, I managed to negotiate the clusterf*ck that is public transport in Queensland and make the start.
As I always do on these rides, I opted for a steady start and just worried about riding myself into the event. That was working, until around 70km in, when I was deceived by a sign to Lowood, misread the directions and took a wrong turn. I realised my error, backtracked and got back onto the course again, thinking that was about as bad as it would get. In Coominya that was proven wrong, another wrong turn, this time the result of a sign pointing in the wrong direction, and a farm road with no signs for 3km to tell me I was in the wrong place.
Back in Coominya I bumped into another rider of the opposite gender but with the same given name as myself (funny how non-gender specific names can get confusing), and confirmed that I wasn't the only one to take a wrong turn. We negotiated our way over Wivenhoe Dam, onto the second checkpoint at Fernvale, and onto the remaining 54km of the event. I wanted to mop it up quickly, but at this point my legs weren't cooperating. Fortunately, there was a little thing called the Marburg Range just down the road.
The Marburg Range proved to be the perfect scapegoat for the earlier frustrations, and I slaughtered it. I had worried that this effort might slow me down over the last 30km of the ride, but it didn't prove that way at all. I seemed to draw inspiration from it, and seemed to be finishing stronger. I had also caught up to Chris on that climb, meaning I'd have some company for the final stretch.
The last few kilometres of the event finished the way these things usually do, negotiating it's way through the streets of whatever city the event is held in. There was a mistake in the route slip at Walloon, but this wasn't a problem -- largely due to knowledge gleaned from all those weekend tours I've ridden in the past that started in Ipswich. There was also an attack from not one, but two magpies. This actually shows remarkable insight by Ipswich standards. This time their ideas are only two months behind those of everyone else.
There seem to be mixed emotions about the way this one turned out. I should probably just be glad to have completed the ride and have it done with. The various side-trips, route negotiations and so on gave me 236km in total, but I had been hoping to turn it into a 300k. On the other hand, the relative recent lack of long distance rides has probably affected my condition a little, so perhaps I should just be happy with what I have. That said, I still plan on making up for it next weekend.

Post from beyond the grave

As if I wasn't already making things hard enough for myself. Today I decided to ride a century in which all of the major climbs were on dirt roads. If that wasn't bad enough, the anticipated tail wind at the end didn't materialise because it swung around to the North halfway through, meaning that I had to finish into the wind, a problem if you've ridden the first half of the ride into it as well. It actually got quite nasty late on, I think next time I'll just turn around and go with the flow. If I end up in Hobart I might be able to escape this damn heat! Even the water in my bottles was hot.
October grey:

The initial part of the ride into the southerly wind early had actually been quite pleasant. The early cloud cover seemed to keep the temperature down as I wound into the hills backing the Tweed Coast, culminating in a crossing the Burringbar Range on the dirt Cudgera Creek Road. This is a very beautiful ride.

After this I wanted some more riding before heading home, so I continued south, eventually to Billinudgel, then across to Mt Jerusalem -- another tough climb on dirt roads.


I also had to play with the water a little carefully, as I wanted to make it to Uki without running out. I just about did it, refilled, and took on another two litres of water there.
It was a pleasant ride back through Murwillumbah, Urliup and so on...

... until I reached the coast, where the wind was a blisteringly hot north-westerly that I now had to ride into. All in all I estimate that around 75% of the ride was into the wind, and the water I had left was getting hot. It can be tough riding into a hot headwind, especially alongside the South Pacific which was by now looking very inviting.

Shortly after returning home, I tried to move a chair in my apartment and could barely pick the thing up. I'm not going to bother trying to take a pulse because I don't have one. That said, I still found enough to accelerate and overtake a car that was annoying me in Burleigh Heads (I love my temper), and I did attack the wind in the last couple of km just to make a statement. After a cold shower at home I was feeling a little better, so I can only surmise that the heat got to me once again. Someday I'll have to get used to that.
Incredibly, I only recorded a maximum temperature of 31 C today (incredible because it felt a lot hotter than that out there). Still, it's another 191km on the board, and the 24th imperial century of the year. Looks like I'm back on course to reach 30, if I can just learn to deal with the heat!
For the moment, however, I have to be content with posting from beyond the grave.

Checking the Trails, Again

Tuesday was a rainy day. Wednesday I had a day of medical tests and doctor appointments. Frustrated because Wednesday was a beautiful day for a bike ride. Alas, I was at the Med Center from 7:30 am until 3:30pm. By the time I got home I was not up for a bike ride.
Thursday was computer coffee day. A sunny, and getting warmer day. Dressed in my cycling kit for coffee. No one else was looking to ride pavement today (Dennis was planning to ride the Trace later). Since I had the road bike with me, I drover over to Xtreme Wheels, stopped to chat a little with Zach, and headed on the bike toward the Trail Center.
The day was sunny, and a stiff breeze from the South. One of my goals on this ride was to see how the road bike handles (and how I can pedal it) into the wind. Things went well down toward Manawa. My legs were not fully warmed up, so took it easy along Mosquito Creek (about 9 mph).
After the Indian Creek Bridge, I flew up the trail with the wind. Hit over 21 mph in spots, settle in at about 17 mph. This bike (my Gary Fisher Rail Super T) loves to cruise at the 16-17 mph range. Just my body cannot sustain that pace, yet.

Stopped at the Western Historic Trails Center. Checked the trail conditions just behind the trail. The Iowa Riverfront Trail there is still underwater. And, there is a tree that fell across the trail. Drank me G2, replenished my water, and headed back.
The ride down Indian Creek Trail into the wind was what I was looking for. Into the wind, I rode at about 11 mph. You know how it is riding into the wind - the bike and you seem to be fighting the wind all the way. But my road bike seemed to push me to ride faster. It was not a fight with the wind. While I did not try riding down on the drops, (not stable enough there) the bike handled very well in the wind.
On the way back, I dropped down to the mountain bike trail area to check the water level. The river is down about a foot. Very slowly, the water is also dropping in the trail area. The photo here is of one of the utility poles the floated up the levee. There is supposed to a race here the last Saturday in September. I doubt the trails will be dry and rideable by then.