Tweed Coast Treadly

Doubled the Shogun down to Caba Cycles this arvo. Riding the MTB and holding onto the head tube to pull it along steering basically when required… until! On the bike pathe between Round Mt Rd and the skate park there is a sharp round a tree zig-zag. This is where the Shogun zagged when it should of zigged. the pedal’s locked together riping the head tube out of my hand and completely losing it on the MTB.

A crash in the peleton but there was only one rider. Picked myself and both bikes up. a quick inspection showed only damagwe was a bit of bark off me and some bar tape scrapped off the the shogun… and added expense to the degrease repack and head tube bearing replacement I was taking it to the LBS to get.

Towards the end of the 5kms the left hand was getting a little worn out. The shogun was continually bucking over small , (or large), joins in the concrete paving. A few times I had to lift the Shoguns front wheel off the ground to keep some control. Then managed with luck to rebalance the Shogun and was able to put it down  again.

Anyway job done.

Today’s ride was to see if it was possible to get a loop happening through the Mooball National Park, entrance and exit. Mark and I met around Wattie Bishop Road and rode through to Palm Vale valley along Round Mountain and Reserve Creek Roads then did a gate open, I was a bit overly concerned but Mark thought it was cool so off we treadled up up up through a couple of nice stands of rainforest and a few banana patches pushing and pedalling when required. A gnat away from the top of the final climb Marks previously bent and then shop straightened rear derailleur dropper snapped, it might of been a stick. We broke the chain and tried to set it up as a fixed gear but there was no way of getting the correct tension too loose or too tight, when it was too tight it snapped. So Mark had an expensive scooter!

After this it was not going to be possible to turn towards Wabba Road exit as previously planned. As it was all downhill from the top of Smarts Road where we emerged mark made the DNF call to his misses and we free-wheeled to the bottom and exited the ride at Reserve Creek Road to await his lift. I eat the bit of the lunch I had brought for the loop ride as we waited and prepared to confront the now darkening sky and the climb home over the Reserve Creek hill. About 150m down along the road the first few spits arrived so on with the rain jacket and cruised over the top at nine kilometres an hour.
When I arrived at the old hall in Reserve Creek the rain dissipated and I rode home the rest of the way thoroughly wet but over completely dry roads.
Hope Cabba Cycles has a dropper for Mark to ride the Minyan 40 kilometre next weekend.
All up 45 kilometres with a bit of climbing and a bit of rain!

looking back into palmvale

Just found this paragraph that I thought i had lost so posted all this again

Hoodoo Mooball Today’s planed search for a Mooball National Park circuit ended in a DNF for Mark, more on that later. We, Mark and I planned to take the Youcan and his mtb over the Clothiers Creek Quarry hill and then into the Palm Vale valley to attempt a climb to Condong Range Road and then out to Wabba Road for the return ride down Cudgera Creek Road etc

Decided to kill two birds with the one stone today. Rode to South Tweed after fixing the “easy wheel” on the garage gate this morning. As I was going past “Battery World” I dropped in an picked up a new 12V 23AE battery for the wireless sender and a new 3V CR2032 for the computer receiver. Not to bad after 26 months of use, but still a quarter the price of a replacement cheapo HUFFY13 bicycle computer. The real reason for the trip was to get my timetable for the next two weeks of teaching, ughhhh!

The wind was a fairly constant NE-NNE about 8-10km/h. So not really any problem as a head wind nor that much assistance as a tail wind.

Only one “yobbo ute” incident on the way home so all up a pleasant 56km ride.

Well the teaching income will come in handy. I was researching DSLR cameras last night and found that I can use my Minolta AF reflex  lenses on Sony A200-A700 cameras (plus others). Which is really Great news! Now those $1000 investments will be able to stop gathering dust! If I get a DSLR body +$750.00

Todays loop was warm, not hot but very pleasant in open clipless sandals. A S-W wind blew quietly all the way round, also dropped into a job at Potty etc. But the density of smoke from the fires around Mullumbimby was as think as an early morning fog, I hope Hells Holes didn’t get burnt out!

I jumped on the cypress and turned on the Huffy (bigW) wireless computer but I think the battery is flat after 2 years of use and it only recorded 4 kilometers for the 20 that I rode, albeit slowly.

The front derailleur still struggles to get to the little ring…. either more adjustment or worn chain?

Just a quick return trip to Marks this afternoon. Wind had dropped a bit and the knee was OK if I didn’t pressure it.

After a short ride last Friday to Bogangar I knelt on one knee to remove my shoes and “CLICK!” my left knee went out (again) the return ride on that occasion was one legged pedalling, lucky they were SPD’s.

Anyway this arvo’s ride was the first in seven days, UGH!

Should add that I managed to lay down again by un-clip re-clip un-clip stop drop smile