Bribie

My friend Eric often says that when it has been raining for a while, with more to come, the best place to ride is the beach.

His advice paid off today.

We parked the cars at Woorim on Bribie Island, and set off into the bush on the fat bikes.

The inland tracks on Bribie are sandy – often soft and slow – even on a fat bike.  But recent rain had firmed them up.

Jason got a flat tyre.  Everyone offered advice about how to use a tubeless plug.

We got rolling again, following some narrow tracks through the scrub.

Banksia branches brushed our faces as we followed the trail.

Eventually the course opened up into a vast flat plain.

Bribie is a diverse place – so many different landscapes.

Today was cool and wet.  Bugnwall Ferns formed a thick green carpet beside the track, flourishing in the damp weather…

…Autumn wattles bloomed

The whole island seemed to celebrate the rain.

The rain made life pleasant for us, also.

It’s much easier to ride in cool weather.

And tyres don’t sink in wet sand.

A few years ago, when I did this ride with Murray, the sand was soft, deep, and hot.

We couldn’t ride on it.

And we could hardly walk on it without burning our feet.

(Video: Peter Whittle)

What I had once dubbed “Heartbreak Mile” was effortless to ride on in today’s conditions.

Eric’s advice rang true – on rainy days, cyclists should go to the beach 🙂

We completed “Hearbreak Mile” without any broken hearts.

At Lighthouse Reach Jason went for a quick swim while the rest of us rested, and swatted mosquitoes.  There were millions of little pests trying to bite us.

We emerged on the beach for our return leg back to Woorim.

The wind was at our backs, the tide was falling: these were ideal conditions.

It had taken us three and a half hours to ride up the middle of the island to Lighthouse Reach.

But coming back was much quicker – only ninety minutes

 

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We rode a total of fifty-five kilometres in about five hours.

During that time I burned about 2,000 kcal.

This would be a grueling ride in hot weather, or on dry sand.

With today’s perfect conditions, it was reasonably easy.  I’ll rate it 7 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks Darb, Jason, Peter and Steve for a fun day out.