Jindera – Mt Granya State Park via Wymah
Saturday May 14, 2016, 40 miles (64 km) – Total so far: 1,382 miles (2,225 km)
After two weeks of not much riding, due to other commitments and adverse weather, I had a really great plan for this weekend. But alas, it was not to be. However, I want to record something here so I don’t forget to include the loaded miles in my total goal tally.
Nigel agreed to go camping on Saturday night, so that meant figuring out a route that would incorporate Cottontree Campground at Mt Granya State Park. No worries. I devised a route that would give me a bunch of new roads on Sunday and Monday after riding up to the campground on a well-trodden route on Saturday. There would be 7,000 cumulative feet of climbing over the 2.5 days. Just great! The weather forecast was pretty great, too!
However, I’ve been unable to find the culprit for the flat tire I got on my way back to Molesworth the other weekend. I’ve had a few punctures over the course of my riding career where I couldn’t find anything in the tire or feel anything anywhere. But they’ve always just been a one-off. This time, I got a second puncture in the same spot on a day ride a few days after I’d patched the tube. I still could not find the culprit. I even pulled the tire all the way off and thoroughly inspected inside and out. Nothing. I put in a new tube. Crossed my fingers.
Well, whatever it is, is still there. I punctured the tube on my way up to Mt Granya. The first 10 miles were incident-free. But then, the slow leak came back again. Same spot. So I just kept pumping the tire up every 5 or so miles for the next 30 miles to the campground. Not fun.
The other disappointment of the day was that the ‘toy bridge’ where people have been affixing plastic toys to the bridge, had no new toys or creative changes. Sigh…
However, all was not lost. The gravel Burma Road, which has always been in a horrible condition whenever I’ve ridden it, was actually in quite acceptable condition. All of the rain we had last weekend (nearly 2.5 inches) has packed down the loose stuff. All of that rain has set off the improved pasture growth and the beginnings of the wheat crop, too. All of the ‘natural’ or unimproved paddocks are still quite brown and need a lot more rain… but at least there is a tiny bit of colour coming back to the landscape.
Of course, Nigel’s foul mood did not improve with some time outdoors in nature, so I would have rather been camping alone. It really is a rare instance when he cracks a smile these days, so this trip was not nearly as fun as when we came up exactly three months ago when he had a rare moment where the rage and depression subsided.
At least this meant I could get a lift home to deal with the tire 🙂 I’ve put my old Schwalbe Marathon on the rear for the moment. If I can get everything done early tomorrow that I’d planned to do on Tuesday, maybe we can at least get out for an overnight ride tomorrow.
So this trip felt so much like Charlie Brown… lining up to kick the ball and having it yanked away each time. Arrgh!