DUBBUG Ride Report
13 October 2013
Today’s ride, at around 90km, was one of the longest on our ride calendar and a small group of cyclists did the distance – from Urunga up the Pacific Highway to Coffs Harbour, out the other side to the top of Bruxner Hill and beyond to “Bucca T” – the junction of Central Bucca Road with Bucca Road.
The Urunga 7 were buffeted with head winds up the Pacific Highway, so much so that Mike hung back enough for two of our slower riders to sit behind him. After more than an hour of this, the group arrived at Coffs Harbour where they were joined by six other riders ready to tackle Bruxner Hill and beyond.
The headwind didn’t seem as onerous north of Coffs, but the smoke hanging in the air from the bush fires put a different sort of load on our lungs and the usually beautiful scenery was cloaked in gray.
Halfway up Bruxner Hill, Dave stopped to buy a bag of bananas to share around at the top, somehow managing to talk Kirk into carrying most of them the rest of the way up the hill.
The ride from the top of Bruxner Hill out to the junction took us through rolling hills of pasture and beautiful rain forest, still cloaked in gray but great nonetheless. Usually at the turn around point there’s a coffee break, but not with this ride. We knew the closest coffee was back in Coffs, so it was a short stop at the junction then back on the bikes to return the way we came.
Zipping down Bruxner Hill was the best part of the cycle (apart from the coffee of course!) and we arrived back in Coffs to refortify for the trip back to Urunga. Two of our members gleefully and unashamedly got back into their car to drive the rest of the way south and other members peeled off as we cycled past their homes on the way, so the big group eventually whittled down to seven once again for the slog home.
The head wind was now a tail wind but was threatening to change direction to come from the south, so we made the most of it and pelted down the highway, sometimes reaching 40km an hour on the flat. It was a weary but satisfied group that made it back to Urunga with the 90km ride under their belts.