Colours of autumn

This is for those who are under some delusion that it's "winter" in these parts. For my "recovery" ride from a shoulder injury, I decided to do a quick loop around Tumbulgum Rock, or whatever the official name is (I believe someone enlightened us all in the comments of a previous post), yet it was this grand old tree in a Murwillumbah park that provided the most breath-taking moment of the whole ride. Not that the rest of the ride was ugly, the clouds over the horizon just after sunrise were playing tricks with the light, and made the early route along the coast a little more scenic than it otherwise might have been.

It was after this that I was going to give the shoulder some extra activity, with the 16% gradients on Hogans road just before the entry to the rainforest that occasionally force me out of the saddle. The shoulder could cope, but only in short bursts. Still, the climb was negotiated fairly comfortably, allowing me to set off into the rainforest, before descending crazily into the Tweed Valley. The following climb was the gentle switchback road at Clothiers creek, which then led to the pretty ridgetop route at Farrants Hill. I've long enjoyed this particular stretch of road, not so much for it's views, but for the flowers that always seem to bloom up here.


The descent into the valley was followed by a hard slog into a westerly wind. It probably wasn't a huge wind, but as I was out of condition, it did require some effort. I may, however, have expended too much effort on the way past the rock, but by this stage I wasn't planning on worrying about that. I did pause under that beautiful tree at Murwillumbah for some more water, and probably should have used the opportunity for some stretching in hindsight, but we're all a genius after the event.

The final climb of Tomewin can be a testing occasion, but this time I was fortunate in that the last time I had done it was at the back end of a 260km ride with around 3,500 metres of climbing. Today was a considerably easier day, so I realised that it was very doable, even if I was a little short of conditioning. As it happened, the valley below, and the coastal strip that followed proved more difficult as an unseasonal northerly wind made an appearance. In the end, however, I was quite happy with the ride. My shoulder didn't suffer any lingering effects, and the scenery was pretty. I now plan on riding up at least one mountain every weekend for the foreseeable future. A nice little target until I regain 100% fitness.

Tosspot of the Week

You just can't have an award like this without Warwick Capper winning it at least once.

Like many critics of his footy career might have claimed, Warwick Capper's brief foray into Queensland politics was mostly show and little substance.

And the former AFL star handballed the blame for his failure to register as a candidate before the Tuesday deadline directly to the men's magazine that bankrolled his campaign.
The mag, in turn, has flicked the blame to Capper's manager but one thing's certain - the stunt-happy Zoo Weekly is the only party to have kicked a goal in the form of heaps of free publicity.
At noon on Tuesday, Capper was busy telling reporters about his desire to become the elected member for the Gold Coast hinterland seat of Beaudesert.
The only problem was no one had bothered to register him as a candidate before the midday deadline expired.
Capper, who denies his political campaign was a publicity stunt, insists the blunder wasn't his fault and he was serious about addressing rural problems including a high suicide rate.
"Zoo magazine were responsible for my application, because I'm working for them, and they said they would do it for me. I'm a bit dirty at them," he told AAP.
But Zoo pointed the finger at Capper's "self-appointed campaign manager" Mark "Jacko" Jackson.
The magazine also denied Capper's political tilt was a stunt, despite admitting the former Swans full forward is about to join Zoo as a columnist.
"Warwick's just about to come onboard as our sports columnist. So we were only helping out with the campaigning by sending some Zoo (bikini model) volunteers and were in no way responsible for his campaign," Zoo Weekly assistant editor Dan Robinson said.
Robinson said while it was disappointing an "upstanding member of the public" wouldn't be running for state parliament, it was safe to say it wouldn't affect the outcome of the March 21 election.
As the registration blunder played out, an apparently oblivious Capper told reporters in Beaudesert that his bid for the seat was legit.
He seemed mildly affronted by the suggestion he was intent on turning the contest into a circus.
"The suicide rate is pretty bad out here because of depression and anxiety," said Capper, who teamed his tight pants with a T-shirt emblazoned with Zoo magazine's logo.
"I have a lot of friends who are farmers who are struggling and I know what they are going through and I want to help."
But that's about where the serious stuff ended.
As he toured local businesses, Capper popped into a lingerie store where he fondled a mannequin, paying particular attention to the undies it was wearing.
"Hey baby - are you going to vote for me?" he asked as he kissed and fondled the mannequin before his manager pulled him away.

There's really not much more I can add to this. To be fair to Capper, at least he upset Pauline Hanson, so he deserves credit for that much. His withdrawal from the election means that I've now shelved my plans for a temporary move to Beaudesert. There's not much out there, but it would be almost worth putting up with for a few weeks or so just to vote against both Warwick Capper and Pauline Hanson. Oh well, maybe another time.

• In other news, why did some f*ckwit decide to shoot a cat 27 times? I wonder if whoever was responsible would be so "brave" if the cat could shoot back? I say let's find out by feeding them to the tigers at the zoo when they're found. At least would be more interesting to watch than the usual "suspended sentence", which seems to be all Australian courts are capable of handing out for even the worst of atrocities. Hell, if this keeps up, I might just have a crack at politics myself. I probably couldn't do any worse than the people running the country at the moment.
  

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"Wows" written with a color-changing fiber optic pen. 15 second shutter exposure.

RAGBRAI Day 4: A little inspiration on the road

Prior to this week, whenever I told people I was biking across Iowa, the common response I'd get was this: "I'd never be able to do that."
People look at the sheer mileage (442 miles this week) and immediately believe it to be an insurmountable distance for them. They either don't think they're in shape for it or they don't think they have the motivation to submit themselves to a week's worth of biking.
Make no mistake: This is no picnic. We're more than 250 miles into the trip so far and signs of fatigue are evident in both myself and everyone else. We're all sun burnt and sore from biking and I can't imagine anyone is looking forward to the 82-mile ride tomorrow (the longest day of the week) from Charles City to Waterloo.
However, if there's anything I've learned from RAGBRAI this week, it's this: Anyone is capable of making it across Iowa if they really want to.
Want proof? Take a look at the photo on the right. I saw the guy in the photo while biking into Swaledale (first town after Clear Lake) today. To be clear, that's not Photoshop; he really is riding a recumbant bike with no legs. He apparently lost them in Iraq and has to pedal with his hands.
I didn't get a chance to talk with him (it's tough finding people again on the road, it's a never-ending wave of bikes), but a friend of his assured me that he's not a daily rider. He is in fact doing the entire bike ride. This also isn't his first RAGBRAI. His friend said he's completed "several" of them over the years.
I've seen some inspiring riders on the road this week. A 10-year-old boy trying to keep up with his dad, a just-married couple using RAGBRAI as their honeymoon, a 75-year-old man participating in his 20th RAGBRAI.
But there's something incredible about a person doing something like this with no legs. Rather than complaining about the knee pains I have while biking, I should be thankful that I have knees that can feel pain.

"Troubled Times"

First of all, we wants to thank you for your kind comments about the photography on the last post. (Huge woofs!) And we want to bigtime thank Sam (http://howsamseesit.blogspot.com/) for an absolutely wonderful pressie. We guessed what the painting in the corner of Sam's "Troubled Times" montage was and received an 8x10 picture of his very self in that blog post. So go and check that post out if you haven't already, pups!
Here is the pressie!
Oooh Mama! What is this? Know it smells like Golden!
It IS Golden, but what is this all about? Looks a bit dangerous and naughty, Ma....
Ahhhh.... who cares about that... I like this dude - look, Ma! He signed it!
Sam - wait til you see where I'm gonna hang your picture!
Hugs xoxoxoxoxox,
Sammie

Williamsburg Watercolor

I took this photo at the Powhatan Plantation outside Williamsburg where we usually stay. As ya'll probably already know, I'm a sucker for fog and impressionistic images.
Here I tried re-creating it in watercolors. I haven't viewed them side by side, but as I'm looking at them, I didn't capture the right colors of purple that was in the photograph.
I also felt that I had to make the road more distinct or the whole thing would have been a dark blob. I'm still happy with the outcome. After all, I wasn't striving for photographic realism. It makes for a good excuse, anyway.

Ireland Reading Challenge Coming Along Well

I'm doing well on the Ireland Reading Challenge so far. For January I read A Monk Swimming by Malachy McCourt; for February In The Company of Others by Jan Karon; in March it was The Luck of the Irish by Niall Williams and Christine Breen; and now I'm reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
I'm very much enjoying the challenge. Ireland is a place I hope to visit in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, I'm reading about it and watching travel videos from our library, and of course dreaming in green.