Decompressing and losing the site belt

Being on site for extended periods of time can be hard on the waistline. Gyms are uninspiring at the best of times, hotel gyms are often worse, and add to that a long and stressful day and it's all too easy to put off exercise until 'tomorrow'. For the week. And generally you're living off take-away or restaurant food for the week, in fact the food becomes one of the dominant things to discuss as you figure out which Indian to try that night or whether to risk the kimchi at the Korean place downstairs.

All up I put on about 3kg whilst I was in Sydney, bringing me up to a lardy 78kg. I've had a couple of days off work and decided that a good long ride was a way of losing some of that fat and also de-stress and relax. I've been eying off a local cycling track called the Bulimba Creek Cycleway since we moved into Mt Gravatt and yesterday I got the chance to ride it.

The paths starts off winding its way along next to the creek, generally on bike ways next to parkland. It's very quiet apart from the crickets and the occasional whip bird

It's smooth, wide, well surfaced and well signposted. Perfect for selfies as you ride (Hi Miff!)

There's a brief stretch of riding next to or on the road, which gives you the chance to admire the McMansions that people have built

But soon you're back on the bikeway and riding past bushland even though you're only a km or so away from a major shopping centre

After 14km or so you arrive at Minippi Parklands, a wildlife haven and large park with a variety of fauna & flora

 including a lovely lake

 home to hundreds of ducks

and some slightly scary looking 'Pukekus', a New Zealand waterfowl similar to a moorhen that's been crossed with a velociraptor

There's also a flying range for remote control planes, which was surprisingly busy for a Friday with at least four planes in the air at any time

 These aren't small planes either!

 This was a twin engine Messerschmidt, and apparently they also sometimes have jets there too

There was also a playground next door to keep the kids quiet, with this excellent air traffic control tower

After watching the planes for far too long I headed north to Murrarie criterium circuit and did the obligatory 'hot lap'

 and then continued on to the river

 and the Gateway Bridge

There's been a bikeway next to the bridge for a few years now but this was the first time I've been over it. The views are pretty impressive

 After the Gateway I followed the river back into the city

 and then stopped off at Archive for some mid-ride refreshment

 and Jackpot for some essential sustenance

After that I headed home, slightly dazed and burping garlic all the way.

 

The ride was just over 60km by the time I limped home, which is probably as far as I'd ridden over the previous month! The decompression worked excellently and I'm much more relaxed and chilled out, but for some reason the site belt doesn't seem to be shifting...