Before I get started, to put things into context, here's a photo of Les Cecil from 1928, 2 years after he broke his own Brisbane-Toogoolawah record.
The drive down to Brisbane on Saturday was a LOT better than the previous week's ordeal, no classical music, no doing 91 in a 100 zone, and with the aid of a massage roll behind my back I was able to make the car seat tolerable.
We popped into the CBD to check out the first little section of the course, and it turned out a street that Google Maps had overlooked was suitable, and would cut several intersections and a small hill. The GPO looked beautiful, and I was looking forward to having that as my starting point.
Again I had an interrupted sleep, but woke up at 3:30 feeling pretty good. After getting everything ready I was off at 5:08, and in less than 100m hit my first red light. In it's own good time it changed, I went around the corner and rode 100m to the next red light... This got old very quickly!
In due course I made it out to Annerley Road, and after a short climb I was able to enjoy the first downhill of the day, swooping down Fairfield Road (my dad in the support car claimed I was doing 66kmh but his speedo reads over
). While the air was a fair bit cooler than I had expected, the arm warmers and gloves were doing the job nicely, and I could feel everything starting to work smoothly, like an engine and gearbox warming up. On my recce in the car, Sherwood Road past the Rocklea Markets looked diabolical, with manhole covers sticking above the surrounding rough surface just waiting to send me rocketing into the ground. On the bike however, it was actually quite OK, and the first light on growing fog made it a nice stretch.
Unfortunately, at the Sherwood school, I went straight instead of turning left, and after I realised my mistake and went back to the intersection, my dad told me it was a left turn, so we turned left (of course, it was left from the OTHER side of the intersection
). When I saw a sign saying we were heading for Indooroopilly I realised, and we eventually got back on track, but not until we had lost a full 16 minutes
.
Coming out of Oxley showed the other failure of the car recce, I had grossly underestimated the hills. I've got short gearing (by TT standards) on the Shiv, but a dozen short steep hills adds up very quickly. Looking to the south there was a wall of thick fog, with a crisp line separating the top of the fog from clear air above. Turning onto Wacol Station Road a few kms later dropped me down into it, coming past a "caution wild life" sign at 55kmh I said out loud "bugger the wild life they better run!" only to encounter Roozilla hopping across the road 100m further on
. There were a heap more roos around the prison, including some adorable little ones that kept me smiling.
On the outskirts of Ipswich I made a quick stop to put some lube on the infuriatingly squeaky chain (should have done that the night before), then there was a loop around a block in the CBD to go past the Ipswich post office. More hills followed, and as I headed out towards Wulkuraka the forecast Northwesterly kicked up with enthusiasm. A herd of goats beside the road distracted me from a mongrel of a climb at the start of Wulkuraka Station Road. There was another big climb to kick off the Brisbane Valley Highway, although that one was followed by a glorious downhill that had me yelling expletives with joy.
Coming into Fernvale we were confronted by cars EVERYWHERE, even if I had known Fernvale had markets, I would never have guessed it would draw so many people! We eventually reached Wivenhoe dam where my mate Randy was waiting. He was planning to take photos near the spillway, but within a few minutes of pulling up an SEQ Water security guard was there to move him on, so he would have to do his best from each end of the wall.
The surface to the left of the fog line was atrocious, but it was still an awesome experience. Unfortunately immediately after the dam wall there was a 3.5km climb to bring me back down to earth. I was still hoping to break the Brisbane-Esk record, but with the infernal headwind only getting stronger it was slipping away, and with Glen Esk Mountain looming in the distance I admitted it was out of reach, and stopped for a moment to rest before carrying on. As it turned out, I reached the Esk Post Office 13m59s behind the record, so if not for the navigation trouble back in Brisbane I'd have made it with a couple of minutes to spare. I did manage to go quick enough to claim a new record for Ipswich-Esk though. On reaching the service station, I took to the ground to try and relieve the pain in my back, caused by hunching over the bars trying to hide from the wind. One more gel and some more coke and water finally convinced me to get back on the bike and I set off again.
Including the time stopped at the servo, it took nearly an hour for me to make the 18kms from Esk to Toogoolawah. On the last downhill towards I nudged 60kmh, and kept pushing the mid 30s along Cressbrook Street. The instant I turned into Fulham Street to go up the slight rise towards the Post Office though my back locked up completely, and after an incredibly slow finish I slumped to the footpath and writhed around in agony for some time.
Les Cecil's time in 1926, on dirt roads, on a heavy fixed gear, into a headwind all the way just as I had, was 5hr25m. 92 years, 1 month, and 23 days later, on sealed roads, on an aluminium 18 speed bike, I took 5h8m28s. That says a hell of a lot to how strong he was.
I'd been in touch with the Toogoolawah Museum and two of the volunteers had come down to open the museum so I could see a bike that Les himself rode from Cairns to Canberra at the age of 50 (that story
here ).
We spent a good hour or more there talking away, before we made our way over to the Toogoolawah Hotel for the perfect lunch, chicken schnitzel with chips, salad, and a little jug of warm gravy for just $12!
After that there were two more stops, at the very unusual Anglican Church-
And at the lookout on the rail trail just north of Harlin-
My back has since settled down very well, and I'll continue the work the physio has given me to make things less susceptible to trouble like this.
The weekend wasn't over though, as on Monday afternoon I got a message from one of the museum volunteers to advise that she had contacted her friend Steve Austin at the ABC, and they wanted to get me on live that night
(she has also sent a press release to half a dozen different newspapers, hells bells!) Given it was going state wide, I was bloody terrified, but somehow sounded cool as a cucumber (even if I forgot several points I had wanted to mention).
https://www.facebook.com/stefanie.alder ... 3377869888
Turn the volume up as the recording is very quiet
As with Gladstone-Rockhampton, I gave it everything I had on the day and I'm actually happy with how I dealt with the conditions, but I don't want to leave it there. Missing the Brisbane-Esk record because of that wrong turn is a real sore point, and I know with more favourable conditions I can take a good half hour off the Brisbane-Toogoolawah time. I'm going over the calendar to see when another attempt might be possible, and if the weather cooperates I'll be back out there to battle the road again.