I've been in Brisbane for about a week full-time now, and beginning to settle in again. The thing with Brisbane is that I have history here, which is not always necessarily a good thing. But other than that, Brissie is ok. I've been spending my time trying to check out whether there's any awesome new coffee-haunts, what's happening on the music scene, and most importantly - where to ride!
After work on Friday I kitted straight up and pinned it from West End to Mt Cootha on my MTB, where I scrambled up Powerful Owl trail to the best of my ability, smashed it down the three sisters, and then found myself in Singletrack bliss (note to self: don't attempt Powerful Owl trail again until granny ring is operational. Ouch!) Weaving down some sweet ripping trails, I suddenly realised that a. I had been bitten by a spider, and b. I didn't actually have any idea as to where I was going. I kept riding, vowing that if I suddenly lost my vision or my hands went numb I would call someone for help. Alas, the sting was worse than the effect and I found myself at the Gap Creek carpark where I hooked up with some locals. We rode to the top of some singletrack, and while we waited for the final person to ascend the switchbacks, Wil and his buddy popped out! Crazy stuff. So I left the people who had so kindly showed me the way up and rode with those guys. It was pretty fun, all except for the stairs up to the top which were decidelly off-camber and less-than-fun. There's one thing to be said about Brissie- I should be bombing up these climbs after a while!
On Saturday Aido took me up Mount Nebo, which is a bit of a soul-searcher, especially when followed directly by Mount Glorious. Coming from Sydney where the longest climb maxes out at about 5km, a 30km ascent certainely wakes you up! Especially when paired with that extra special heat that is really only available in tropical areas. We came back down the 'corkscrew' and through Samford and it was a solid day.
Sunday, I had come down with some lurgy - not too sure what it was, I just spent the day being really hot and super dizzy. So I spent the entire day looking sad and feeling terrible and no doubt giving Aido loads of curry for no reason (sorry, I still love you sweet pea!). So while Aido went and Zupps'd it up, I was asleep. Sunday is supposed to be a relaxing day in the grand scheme of 'emotions and the days of the week', but it was high tensions as I felt ill and really didn't want to do anything at all, but we were scheduled to go for lunch with Jess and we ended up having a dinner with Glenny Boy (also known as GB) and Jodie, Wil(cher) and Helica.
My risotto has been much better.
Yesterday was my third of four days off work in a week- very pleasant but not super economically sustainable- and I was dubious that I would be ok to ride following the dizzy fiasco of the previous day, but sleeping until ten does wonders, and I went and rode a Nebo, feeling much better (but not awesome!) Followed by the river loop and an attempted cafe stop, halted by the fact that the cafe was closed by that stage.
So what will today hold?
I was thinking some Gap Creek trails again, but I've got all day so I may just kick back and have another coffee.