20,000

This post commemorates my 20,000th km cycled this year. Actually, I recorded the milestone on Friday when running an errand to pick up some components for the bike, but I decided I wanted to celebrate the milestone with a more interesting ride. It was with this in mind that yesterday I set off toward the south, through Hogan's Rainforest, Murwillumbah, Burringbar and so on, onto Mullumbimby. After this it was the climb past the Crystal Castle, it was into the magical forests...



... the wildflowers



... and the sweeping mountain views...





The other notable feature of Northern NSW is the number of rivers and creeks that are encountered along the way.



Even the ocean on the final stretch was looking particularly enticing.



This is actually quite a gruelling ride, there were over 3,000 metres of climbing, most of it coming between Mullumbimby and Nimbin. It was made harder by the fact that the wind blew from the south early, before switching around to the north in the afternoon (i.e. a headwind both ways) . After 258km or so, that can be quite draining, and I ended up pedalling the last few km at 22km/h. That said, it won't stop me riding this evening. Actually, I seem to be having quite a few rides with less than favourable wind conditions at the moment. I'll just have to consider it training for New Zealand.