Ok, writing about things that happened 4 days ago like I can still remember it properly, let's give it a crack
With the cold mornings we've had lately I wasn't in any great hurry to get going, so hopped on the bike at Kilkivan at 6:26.
The temperature was surprisingly mild thanks to some serious fog.
The sun rose as I headed towards Kinbombi, and the soft, gold tinted colours of the landscape were simply stunning. One day I really need to get a better camera so I can properly show this sort of thing.
The climb up the Kinbombi Range was just as much fun as I expected, and coming across a feral cat on the flats heading towards Goomeri was far more fun than I would have expected. Did you know a feral cat can reach 35kmh?
I had been planning on eating at Murgon, but things were taking longer than expected with a consistent headwind, so I stopped a few kms after Goomeri instead. That helped for dealing with the Manyung Minefield (2 distinct sections of dangerous rocks) and the endless sand patches around Moondooner. After a quick stop at Murgon for more food and to text an update for Mrs LDR to put on the facebook page (no data on my mobile), I was on to the glorious bitumen. In spite of all the stops for photos and food, I managed to get the Goomeri-Murgon KOM by 16 seconds.
The ride down to Kingaroy was uneventful, with the headwind only getting more solid, by the final climb past Crawford I was going very slowly indeed.
After stopping at O'Neill Square (and leaving the Garmin tucked in a safe spot so as not to upset the GPS trace) I nipped over to Macca's to refuel. The legs were still feeling pretty reasonable, so with the southerly still blowing I was looking forward to a much easier run north. After sitting down for half an hour it took a few kms to warm up again, but once I did it was a great ride, the 7.6km from Tingoora to Wondai going by at a 34.5kmh average. On a mountain bike!
There's something about the Wondai to Murgon section though, no matter how long a ride I'm on there's always trouble there. This time round as I ticked over 127kms I suddenly got hit by a severe stitch/stomach cramp. I think the issue was drinking too much water, too quickly, but I'd much rather that than dehydration. I gently limped into Murgon, concentrating on my breathing, and decided a Powerade from the servo was a good idea. One of my bottles had broken, so I'd be more comfortable with having an extra vessel on hand for the more remote Murgon-Kilkivan stretch. As it was, I drank the whole thing before leaving, and couldn't find a tap on the northern side of town, so just went on with the one bottle.
The cramping had settled down, not to return, but now the issue was fatigue. The pain was starting to build up, so the speed was dropping, often below 20kmh. The crummy trail surface didn't help there at all, nor did the fact the tailwind died completely at Murgon and then swirled all over the place for a while. The few waterways on that section make even me think twice, so with little water left I was relieved to reach Goomeri (even though South Burnett tap water tastes pretty crook).
From there to Kilkivan, it was just a matter of keeping the legs turning, helped somewhat by a nice tailwind popping up.
Finally, after 9 hours, 5 minutes and 44 seconds, I limped into Kilkivan. Over an hour later than what I thought was a conservative estimate! God knows how, but that was good enough to get the Murgon-Kilkivan KOM as well. The ride wasn't done without a suitable finish photo though, and that meant finding someone to take it for me. I managed to find a slightly terrified kid and convince him to snap off a single photo before he handed the phone back and fled.
I had a nice phone interview with the South Burnett Times during the week, so hopefully it will make the Friday paper
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Now the focus turns North, obviously knocking out an Imperial and then some on a mountain bike is a huge confidence booster, but I'm still nervous as hell. We leave for Rockhampton on Wednesday, so the next few days will be all about double and triple checking I have everything I need packed.