Noosa Century

Ah cafe time at Mt Cootha!

Last Friday saw Gav (the tolerant one) and myself jump a plane to Brisvagas. I lived in Brisvagas during my early adult years when I was in the Army.... I have some fond memories but they are far between the bad ones of long times in the jungle and desert digging holes and playing war.
Qantas happily took the bikes and got them to Brisvagas with out incident, but I had my sunscreen confiscated cause it had no top on it. Go figure, but the guys at the security point were happily singing the Banana Boat theme from the ad on the TV(small things amuse small minds!) as I walked off to get the plane.
Anyway Mister Sister was wrapped to have us there and was keen to show us the sights. One thing that struck me was how backwards Brisvagas is. The shops and restaurants still shut early and we were lucky to grab a meal on Friday night. We shot the shit and caught up as we haven't seen him for a while since he chased his love interest Brooke to Brisvagas.
Saturday we were greeted with warm weather, sunshine and a trip up Mt Cootha. Big Al was in town and Mister Sister had hooked him up to meet us at the cafe at the top of Mt Cootha. We rode out and up the Mt Cootha climb. I decided to take it easy and ride my version of tempo but the other two decided to race each other. Needless to say when I got to the top of the climb Gav was crawling out of the bushes after almost loosing his lunch, but boys will be boys when deciding who has the biggest set of testicles!


The three stooges with Brisvagas in the background!

We arrived after a little more climbing to the top and found a table with a view. Basically this is like being at Sky High at the Dandenongs in Melburn. Big Al arrived and we had a coffee and shot the shit before descending down the Mt Cootha rd at warp speed and rode home.
On the way home we swung past a cool bike shop called Velo. I see the the Brisvagas bike population love the high end bling factor with more Colnago, Pinarello, Look, Time bikes all costing more than the usual $$$$$$. But nice shop and there were a few gems amongst all the euro white bar tape and matching saddles including a Colnago Ferrari numbered 1 of 99 and a few steel beauties in Molteni orange.
Later in the day we rode down and collected our entry for the Nossa Century (Brisvagas version of Round the Bay) which started in the Botanical Gardens. The ride in was a tad tricky with me almost being taken out by a redneck driver and playing dodge the car and pothole on one of Brisvagas's busiest roads.
It was a early rise for Sunday with a 5am rise and shine to get ready to roll 160km's with the best of Brisvagus. We headed down to the start.
Now a few things that struck me as interesting about the Noosa Century....
It was not a race - but we were issued numbers, these numbers had to be worn on the front.... not cool
It was not a race but there was podium places on offer?
It was not a race but with the above information do you think people were going to ride 2 up and stop at red lights.... not really!
Me I had my plan, it was called get to the end. I rode it like the good old days of long training rides. I did find a bunch that I sat with on and off over the ride. Often I would start before them after the water stops and they would catch me further up the road.
I have never seen some many high end bikes with Zipp and Lightweight wheels..... the bike bug has really consumed Brisvagas and the bike accounts of many.
The course was good apart from the first 30km which was red light city and the there was alot of stop start. Once on the country roads the landscape opened up with some views of the Glasshouse Mountains, cane fields, pineapple plantations, lush tropical bush. It was a rolling course with a few hill, mainly short and sharp. One hill called Restaurant Hill (usually cause people blow some vomit on it as it is after the main rest stop) was a nasty 18 % and saw most walking it, I had a short walk on it at then jumped back on and rode the rest of it as walking in road shoes sucks big time.
The ride along the coast to Noosa was spectacular and apart from the wind was great for working on the tan lines. The added bonus was the finish on the river and given the 24 degrees it was nicer than a ride at home this time of year would be.
The other guys gave it a hit out and Mister Sister brought it home in 40 something place, Gav not far behind him, me somewhere way behind that at a finish time of 6hrs - not bad and I still had something left in the tank. Must be the long enduro races on the mountain bike which aided me in cruising the distance.




We spent the night in Noosa and as you can see by the photos it is a nice place to stop and rest. We finished the day off with a few beers and watch the sun go sown on what was a great weekend.
A big thank you to Mister Sister and his lady Brooke for putting us up and organising the logistics of picking us up and dropping us back at the airport and the trips to and from Noosa.
Happy trails!