Friday morning at Currumbin beach.
Haven't updated for a few days, but there's a perfectly good reason for it -- not a lot has been happening. Right at the moment here it's HOT, and in Queensland that's generally bad. The humidity here is totally oppressive. In short, conditions like this stifle brain activity and just about any other form of physical activity. Still, I noted there were a few more cyclists around on my rides of the last couple of days, surprising that they should come out now that summer has well and truly arrived.
Still, they don't appear to be all that fit. The ride up Currumbin Valley yesterday was hardly a gruelling one, but nevertheless, many of the cyclists I saw were wheezing like mad from the "effort". Hope they don't try Mt Wellington anytime soon! However, I suppose yesterday there was something of an excuse for it, the smoke from bushfires -- that's right, bushfires. Seems the 200mm of rain we supposedly got on Monday was the next best thing to useless. We need a lot more. A close look at Cougal's Cascades in the second picture indicates just how little water is coming through the creek inspite of Monday's alleged downpour.
Tonight I'm heading off for another ride down the coast through Tumbulgum and Urliup. Should be a pleasant night after the sun goes down, although I'm a little worried about all the hoons staggering around after hours in the sun watching cars go around in circles really really fast. Still, I am heading away from Surfers, so it should be OK.
Now if I can stop taking photos for a while, I just found something moderately interesting. In the Bicycling for Ladies blog linked on the left of this text, there was an entry today about a thing called Global Footprint. It's a test which determines just how one's lifestyle affects the world in which we all live by asking a few questions. The results of the test I took are listed below:
CATEGORY GLOBAL HECTARES
FOOD 3.1
MOBILITY 0.2
SHELTER 0.6
GOODS/SERVICES 0.6
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 4.5
IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 7.6 GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON. WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 1.8 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.
IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 2.5 PLANETS.
Actually, tests like this one can often be difficult to answer, as labelling (or lack thereof) prevents me from accurately assessing just how far the food I eat needs to be transported, although my "high" score in that area probably has more to do with my meat eating habits than anything else (something I probably should cut back on).
Try it for yourself at: http://www.myfootprint.org/
I needed a big ride yesterday, so I decided to head south. The plan was to ride the old Mt Jerusalem circuit (the one that was called Mt Jerusalem before the real one was discovered last year). The initial stretch along the coast was surprisingly pleasant, given that for once there was a southerly wind. Yet this was not going to be one of my better performances. There was a certain tiredness and lethargy about the ride that would follow me around for the entire time.
I headed south through the usual ride encompassing Urliup and the rainforest. There are also some white flowers in bloom in those parts at the moment. The surprising thing about Urliup today was the extent to which the dirt road has been torn up by recent weather. There really hasn't been a lot of rain in these parts since the last time I passed through here, so there isn't really an explanation for it. Still, Urliup was cool and pleasant as always.
Further south, I climbed over Reserve Creek after passing through Murwillumbah, and then Cudgera creek on the way into Burringbar. Usually the early lethargy passes on a ride like this, but after reaching Burringbar on 79km, I still felt like just calling it a day right here. Instead I headed south, through Billinudgel and eventually onto the Coolomon Scenic Drive, bound for Mullumbimby, where I would turn around and head North.
After Mullumbimby the tailwind kicked in, and I started moving fairly quickly. That was until the climb of the old Mt Jerusalem. This is a stunning ride through some really beautiful forest. I took a slight detour to scope out a campsite that I intend staying at when I visit this area in more detail next month. It looks like it could be just about perfect for what I'm looking for. I then hit a flat spot on an already lethargic ride, and made my way to Uki along a screaming descent, before gorging on whatever food I could find for the final assault.
By now it was obvious that I wouldn't get my 200km if I returned home via Tomewin. On the other hand, I needed the climbing and couldn't be bothered looking for an extra 15km anyway. Murwillumbah was reached and passed easily, before the climb of Tomewin. I'm not sure when Tomewin turned into a bustling metropolis, but it seemed every car in the world decided to use the mountain road at that moment. I'm not sure where they all went either, given that Currumbin Creek road was virtually deserted afterward. It didn't really change things though, the heat and humidity made the climb difficult enough as it was.
The final stretch of the ride was swept up easily and it was one that I was glad to finish - with a total of 187km. I guess it felt more difficult than it should have due to 63km the day before, but it's probably also a sign that I need an easier weekend prior to the Alpine Classic in two weeks' time. Of course, whether or not I can tempt myself into that remains to be seen.
The temperatures at Paradise hovered in the high 70's all day today while Camp Muir fixated in the mid-50's. For the past couple of days it's been VERY warm, and those trends are going to continue. This sort of news is great for sunbathing but not so great for the snowpack. 
Reading James Boswell's Life of Johnson is on my bucket list. I hope to start it this fall. Here's a photo taken at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Shop in London where Mr. Johnson and I hung out one afternoon. That's him in the painting. This pub was also a favorite hangout of Charles Dickens. 