Future directions

I don't like the word "goal". I think it can be (and often is) overused to the point of becoming meaningless. That said, it's probably time I gave myself some targets and put some plans in place to take something from .
The first thing on the agenda will be the Alpine Classic in a little over a week. If I'm not fit enough now I probably never will be, but I've done enough 200km rides that this one shouldn't bother me too much. The real challenge seems to have been finding accommodation in Bright -- given that some of the local businesses seem content to accept a booking, and then cancel it as soon as they get a better offer. I lost patience with their games a few weeks back, and will be bringing a tent. I'll need to give it a clean this weekend.
I'm also planning some more weekends away on the bike this year, in order to spend more time sleeping under that tent. A trip to Minyon Falls (now that there might actually be some water coming over it) will be a priority, as is spending some time exploring the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, and other areas in that vicinity.
There will, of course, be a major tour later in the year. I need to get some finances in order after overspending last year, so I'll probably "limit" myself to a few weeks in New Zealand aroud October or November. This time I'll be riding the North Island, having toured and thoroughly enjoyed the South last time around. Hopefully I can tie this in around the Great Southern Randonee later in the year and ride the Great Ocean Road along with it.
Locally, the Koonyum Range around Mullumbimby is somewhere I need to explore, as are some of the fire trails behind Numinbah Valley -- the ones that I plan to finally get to this year. All in all it promises to be a memorable year if I can manage fewer flat tyres than last year's tally of 28 (I'm on three so far). Bring it on!

Whitewater kayak class is in session

John Karch explaining whitewater basics to a pool full of students.

This is week nine of the first of two 10-week whitewater kayaking courses offered by the Chicago Whitewater Association in the West Cook YMCA swimming pool. After the winter and spring sessions, the club offers a series of beginner trips on increasingly challenging local rivers. It's a wonderful way to learn to paddle.

This is our spawning ground. We started learning to paddle here eight years ago. We were awestruck by the skill and generosity of our instructors, who volunteered their Sunday evenings teaching us to paddle and roll and let us borrow their boats and gear.

A few months later, they were out on their first river trips.

Culminating in a trip to Wisconsin's Wolf and Peshtigo Rivers.

This year, we are the lead instructors at the West Cook Y. (Full disclosure: We're substituting for our our whitewater mentor, John Karch, who isn't available every Sunday this year but whom we expect to take the course back from us when he can.) It only took us nine weeks to realize that we could post our handouts on our blog, saving paper and ink and making the material more widely available.

So that's what we're doing here. Below you will find handouts on hypothermia, safe river kayaking, gear checklists and more.

Hypothermia - from the Wilderness Medical Associates Field Guide.

The American Canoe Association "Paddler's Checklist."

The ACA's Guidelines for river paddling.

For those who want to assess how well their skills align with river classifications, the ACA offers these skill assessments:

We just created a resource list for our students. We'll post it here soon.

The concrete shore

Beside the entrance to the port of Leith is a housing development. Tall, anonymous-in-a-European-way blocks of flats stand on infilled land that used to be part of the harbour. The path that leads past them is our nearest access to the shore, good for looking across the Forth to the hills of Fife, or westwards towards the Forth bridges and the sunset. The blocks of flats I find strangely desolate, so I prefer to look at the firth as it opens up towards the North Sea.

Yesterday evening the sea was a luminous, icy blue. The setting sun picked out an oil tanker.





Below, the little lighthouse at the end of the harbour breakwater.

Monster hunting

Back in July we had a French friend of my daughter's staying with us. On her previous visits we've been very much Edinburgh based, so it was time for a quick tour of some of Scotland's other delights. Our first stop was Loch Ness and a spot of monster hunting. As you see above, we were lucky enough to spot the familiar long neck rising from the 755 feet deep waters. In the ladies' toilets of the The Loch Ness Exhibition, that is.
The exhibition is a tourist magnet. We arrived just after opening time, but already the car park was busy. The exhibition was more balanced than I had expected in its presentation of the 'mystery' of Loch Ness (conclusion: probably not enough of a food chain in the loch to support a beast of the size of the supposed dinosaur relic). But there was the inevitable, heart-sinking, no escape exit through the gift shop.
Outside however was a glimpse of the delightful passion with which people have pursued the monster. This little yellow submarine was used for research dives during the 1960s. It looks like something out of The Clangers, or The Wombles. When I took this shot I didn't notice the boat in the nearby field, perhaps because it's nothing unusual. In Scotland you quite often come across boats moored halfway up a hill, as we'll see later in this tour.

The Loch itself isn't one of the most scenic in Scotland. It's long, and very deep, and often gloomy, as it was on our visit. There are no towering peaks along its shores. Still, it does give the impression that something may lurk in its depths, and it does have an iconic ruined castle - Urquhart Castle - from which this next shot was taken. Note the restraining rail courtesy of Historic Scotland, lest any tourist should topple over into the waters below. I wonder what the clansmen would have made of safety rails?

On our visit the castle was bristling with tourists. Every shot of battlements and craggy walls that I took turned out also to include dayglo waterproof jackets from across the globe. There was one bit of military excitement. A couple of F-16 fighter jets roared down the loch, just captured in the shot below. I know they were F-16s because I was informed by an American tourist who had been in the US Air Force and was overcome by patriotism at the sight of these planes screaming up the loch. I imagine the clansmen would have traded the safety rails for a couple of F-16s.

Our base for our 24 hours at Loch Ness was Kilmore Farmhouse, a B&B at Drumnadrochit which I can thoroughly recommend.

Wander No More

Our Phaeton wanders no more!

Fear not; I don’t mean that we won’t be wandering around North America as planned.  We still intend to do that, but as we drive the highways and byways, we will be doing so with improved steering play and wander.  The SuperSteer SS100 Bell Crank will see to that.

I could enumerate all the reasons and explanations Mui gave me when he said he wanted to have this bell crank installed.  In all honesty, my eyes glazed over as he talked and I tuned him out.  So, I’ll refer you to the SuperSteer website instead.  All I know is that Mui was happy with the results of the install as he drove the backroads today to return the Phaeton to storage, and expects to see even better performance when we next roll down the highway.

Garden Beans With Shallots and Basil

Garden Beans With Shallots and Basil, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

This is an easy side dish that can be made in a few minutes. I used 'Tenderpick' beans from my not-so-healthy plants. Sweet basil (also from the garden) was added, as were shallots from Trader Joe's.

Green Beans with Shallots and Basil
Serves 1.
1 cup fresh green beans
2 shallots
5-10 fresh sweet basil leaves
1-2 tbsp. butter
salt
Peel and mince the shallots. Tear the basil into small pieces. In a pan, stir-fry the green beans, basil, and shallots in the butter (medium-high heat). When the beans are tender, serve immediately and garnish with leftover shallots from the pan. Salt as desired.

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?

California Cream Cups

California Cream Cups, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Earlier today a friend and I went out to Highway 58 and drove east towards the Carrizo Plains. On the way there, we stopped at Shell Creek Road, a famous wildflower location, where we saw vast fields of millions of these cream cups. I have never seen such massive displays of the cream cups, even at places like Bear Valley.
Spring is just getting started here in California - the wildflowers will put on quite a show in the coming weeks.

29 Day Giveaway Challenge

Yeah, puppies, I'm wondering too what I can give away next.  I'm not even half way through the 29 days and I've run out of things to easily give away.  I guess I'll have to go through the closets AGAIN!   Maybe this is when it starts getting fun?  Giving away stuff that isn't so easy?  Coming up with things that I may not want to let go of?  I'm going to have to give this some more thought......hm.m.m.m?  

Countown to

It's now about two hours until midnight and ...  Looking through last year's journal, I see that I only read 65 books.  For many years now, I've been keeping a list of books read each year.  One year it was over 100.  Usually it's around 80 or so.  I think this year's decline is due to two things: 1.  I began this blog and spend less time reading books and more time on my own blog and reading others; and 2. I've been reading thicker books and more  non-fiction.  
Here are a few photos of some of my books.  These are just a few places I keep books.  My collection of 600+ fiction is out in my art studio.  I ran out of room in the main house for them all.
The next two hours will be spent reading last year's journal, drinking hot chocolate, taking a long, hot bath while finishing Miss Buncle's Book, and watching the ball drop in  Times Square.
And Laurel, I'm NOT a flake.  I'm exactly where I want to be doing exactly what I want to be doing.  So there!

Words are inadequate

For a number of years, Springbrook has been one of my favourite destinations for getting away, be it for a few hours, or the whole day. It was a big challenge in my earlier years as a serious cyclist. As I improved it became a quick ride to fill in on days when I didn't have time to do 200km+ efforts. I've even described it as "only" Springbrook at times recently -- this is clearly a mistake. Firstly, because the climb is still a challenging one, and secondly, because it can turn on days like this one at any time. Even before the climb started, it was "on" today.





As I got higher on the mountain, I encountered a cow who would only move when a camera was pointed in his (her) direction.



And ran into hills that might well be green, given that this place claims the second highest rainfall on mainland Australia.



However, it was up at Goomoolahra where things got really interesting. Here, mere words are inadequate, I'll just let what I saw speak for itself...













However, not everything today was pristine and beautiful. It seems the developers have discovered the place -- an old farm has been subdivided and covered in trailer parks. There are other dwellings that weren't there on my last visit. While the National Park is protected, the surrounding areas on the escarpment are vulnerable, and South Queensland has the fastest rate of land clearing in the world -- which isn't a promising fact. It also seems that the new arrivals on the mountain have brought all of the anti-cyclist bigotry up from the coast.

For all of that though, I was still smiling on the descent. Springbrook remains capable of turning on days like this one at anytime, it's power remains. While I have plans to leave the Gold Coast at the end of 2006, I will still treasure my time on this mountain, and it will be one of the things that I genuinely miss when I move on. I'm sure I'll shed tears on my last ride of the mountain.

A Stand Out

One leaf stands out amongst the others.

More Images from the Balcony

The cherry tree is in full leaf now; blossoms are gone. The Mermaid rose on the arbor is beginning to put on its thousands of yellow blooms. It's so heavy that the arbor is about four inches off the ground in the front. We tried straightening it up, but it was useless. I guess when the whole thing comes crashing to the ground, we'll pick up the pieces, cut the rose bush to the ground, and start over. I had no idea that it would get so big. It's even trailing into the cherry tree.
The little table was once painted all white, but rust and birds have done their work. Yes, birds. I kept hearing a strange pecking sound on the balcony. When I looked out, I saw a bluejay peeling off sections of paint! I don't know if he ate them or made his nest waterproof, but he took off almost the whole top. Craziness!
We've got the sweetest little bluebird couple nesting on the front porch, but I'll save that for another day.

Devil's walking stick

Devil's walking stick, Aralia spinosa.
I grabbed onto one of these on a steep trail once, and really wished I hadn't. Floridata calls it "one of the most viciously spiny things in the vegetable kingdom".
Since then I've been a lot more aware of them. But until I looked up the latin name just now, I didn't realize that this was the same plant I'd been trying to identify since the spring.
Before the leaves fell off, and also when in bloom, it reminded me of an oversized elderberry. (But prettier, really -- click the top link.)
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Edited to correct a typo. Too anal to let it stand once I'd noticed it. Sorry sorry sorry.

The calm after the storm

It is very rare that I write about mid week rides on this blog these days. It seems I can't write anything without adding a picture, and I often don't bother to carry the camera on a quick 45km jaunt before work. For all that, however, I try to remember the camera if I'm going on a pre-work ride to Little Nerang Dam after a storm the previous night. On those occasions, there's probably a 90% chance that something spectacular will appear.

These pictures were taken at 5am, before public access to the area was even officially "open" that day. It makes me wonder just how many people are even aware of what happens out here at these times, but I also wonder how many people even care. I really believe that people are losing touch with nature, and that it's generally to their own detriment. Just take a look at the number of people living in large cities who rely on alcohol or various drugs (whether they be hard drugs, legal drugs or even anti-depressants) to get through life and you'll see what I mean. If these people put the same effort into escaping concrete as they do into obtaining their "fix", I think many of their problems would be rendered inconsequential by the sense of perspective they would gain.

On days like this, however, I have little concern for what other people are doing. I'm more interested in beholding the sight before me. On this particular day, I thought about the perspective I might get from a post-storm ride to the summit of Mt Nimmel. With the storm season in its infancy, I may get that opportunity in the future. On this day, however, I was more concerned with the beauty before me. The world is an amazing place.