Exploding with excitement...

who said Canberra was boring??

I was woken up this morning just after 2am by a series of explosions...had a peek out the window but couldn't see anything so hopped back into bed...

at 3:21am a text message came through stating:

"The ACT Fire Brigade responding to chemical insadent [sic] in Mitchell. Resadents [sic] of Franklin, Crace, Harrison, Watson, Downer, Kaleen, Lyneham, Hackett stay indoors."

so at least I knew what was going on...

I got up at 6:10am to get ready for the gym and hopped on the bike at 6:30am...the bike path I use cuts through Franklin so I didn't notice any road blocks (oops)...it was only when I got to Wells Station Rd (within 200m of the fire which still had massive flames and thick dark smoke at the centre) that I realised I would have to detour out to the Barton Hwy (Gungahlin Dr and Flemington Rd were blocked)...

so I rode back into Franklin a bit before heading out onto Gungahlin Dr...

there was a line of TV cameras set up just outside of Palmerston and I told another cyclist heading my way that he'd have to detour as well...

then it was on to Gundaroo Rd and out to the hwy, I've not ridden along the Barton Hwy before so that was different...I actually ended up getting to the gym only 15mins late but it was closed because of the "insadent"...

so into Civic I rode, getting to work an hour early (which means I'll be leaving an hour early!)...all up a 19.5k round trip!

I had a slightly smoky aroma but a shower soon fixed that...

apparently the exclusion zone was out to 10k - my place is only 2.5k away....but now it's been reduced to just Mitchell...

you can see the smoke from all parts of Canberra...hopefully it'll be well and truly under control by the time I head home...