Long time since I've posted here… but until recently it's just been the occasional commute from work, so nothing really to report.
Friday-Sunday though, BQ were running their Yarraman to Wulkuraka bike ride along the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail. BQ have had a long-standing relationship with Brisbane Area WICEN (Wireless Institute Civil Emergency Network; think about RACES in the US or *****T in the UK). There's a few points where they realised they needed a few checkpoints where there was no road access and they found that satellite phones / mobile phones were next to useless.
Luckily, one of Brisbane WICEN's members (won't say who) has been a long-time bicycle mobile radio operator, with a second member expressing interest in equipping his bike with a radio station. So two of us were operating "bicycle mobile" on this run. So naturally, WICEN was asked if we could assist.
On Friday, I had a check-point to run at McNamara's Camp, which is a mobile phone dead-spot half-way between the start at Yarraman and the first campsite at Moore. My ride thus, began getting dropped off at the gate at Binarken and riding to my checkpoint. I arrived there about 10:30 or so, set up… reception of the repeater was dodgy (about S2 at best) at first on 2m, but evidently the problem was at the repeater end because later the repeater was romping in.
It was about 3:30 or so before the sweep came through (after about 250 riders), which I joined on the ride back to Moore.
Day two saw me just joining in the ride, towards the tail end, riding from Moore through to Toogoolawah (including through the recently opened tunnel). Smooth sailing until we got to near Toogoolawah itself where the run turned bumpy. It was a tough slog from there to Esk with lots of ballast.
I think this was the hardest 20km or so that my mountain bike has ever done.
The run from Esk to Coominyah wasn't too bad… I think my biggest mistake this day was leaving so damn late, I wound up being one of the last people in.
Day 3, we departed from Coominyah, leaving the gate about 7:30… the first stretch was a bit on the bumpy side, and so I did what many of us did: switched to the bitumen road running parallel to the trail. It was pea soup conditions for the next hour or so.
Apart from that initial stretch, the run on day 3 was pretty good. I caught up with the trailing 20% of the riders at Lowood (the bakery there made a killing)… after picking up supplies there, I resumed riding, more-or-less making a bee-line for Fernvale (the bakery there also made a killing).
Things were quiet running through the former rail stations along the line… but before long, we were starting to see less rural properties and more smaller acreage housing. Under the Warrego Highway, I blink, and find myself in the middle of suburbia… with the rail trail soon ending with the Brassall bikeway.
The run was very scenic… and while there's some rough spots such as some areas where the ballast needs to be rolled flat and a few creek crossings that need work… it's been a great run. My leg muscles are still recovering though… and I have a feeling we might get asked to help out next year in a similar capacity.
I've got some improvements to make to the bike thanks to lessons learned from that run… and a new pannier bag to purchase to replace one that decided it was no longer for this world about 20km from the finish.