NSW Border Ride

This was a ride that had been planned by some of my friends which made life easy. We started from Advancetown in the Gold Coast Hinterland rode up to the NSW Border down in to Chillingham. At this stage during the descent I was thinking to myself how long the descent had taken and therefore how long it would take to ride back up.

This is my attempt at a 'Panorama' shot on the Queensland/Nsw Border

From there the ride took in some nice rolling mainly backroads without too much traffic to Tyalgum where we stopped for refreshments. If you are ever in Tyalgum I can highly recommend this place http://www.flutterbies.com.au/

Even though we were by then 11 very smelly cyclists the staff could not do enough for us even putting together extra tables so we could all sit together. I can also highly recommend the real home made scones and jam, quality.

Some of the dark storm clouds which fortunately held off for us.

Excuse my fingers on the lens here but I was using my camera as we were rolling out up the valley.

Thought I would include this photo of my mate Steve's new stead. A Specialized Tarmac very light :o)

The return journey involved the climb back up to the NSW border - I have included my Polar print out to give an idea of the climb. The steepest bit which is supposed to be 20% is in the last kilometre of the climb which makes it even worse.

Proof of the steepness riding back up from NSW.

All in all it was a good day out with the rain holding off until we were coming back down from the border which made the quick descent back to Advancetown very interesting.

I have one more long ride planned before I depart Thursday week for the Tour Down Under where us gumbies are allowed to ride a stage in the morning before the pro's do. The stage is 155km and appears to be around 1000 metres of climbing.