Saturday 18 March – Mooney

Mooney – it just keeps on getting better (while always finding a way to sneak up on you). After a couple of organisational delays, Jennie (new to the ride), Graham (joining us again after a long absence), Doug, Rees and Stephe arrived at Mooney on a day which could hardly have been any better – clear skies, sun was out, but the weather was cool.

The ride was clean and dry, and everything was do-able, although Graham was forced to be a little sensible given that he was still nursing residual hip and pelvis fractures (you’ve got to ask yourself, who rides with residual hip and pelvis fractures!)… The ride out to just before Lower Mooney Dam was relatively uneventful, punctuated with some loud yelling from Stephe as he managed to cross the river rocks for the first time without putting a foot down.

However, just as Doug was setting up for a group photo at the Dam, we found the reason for Jenny, Rees and Graham having disappeared on the last 500m up the hill to the dam – a collapsed bush on Graham’s rear shock (which had, incidentally, been the specific subject of a review request at the bike’s last Brookvale Bike visit). After brief consultation with Rees and Jennie, Graham had chosen to walk back from that point – so Doug and Stephe were spared the moral dilemma of working out whether to join him or not!

We continued on up the hill from Lower Mooney Dam, with Doug and Stephe executing a joint first trip to the top without putting a foot down! Conditions were perfect for the run, but it still felt pretty good having made it.

The rest of the ride proved what a fantastic and enjoyable track Mooney really is – with a dash out to the Orchard and back, a quick bite to eat, then a hurtle back down the hill to rescue Graham back at the cars. The profile again tells the story of how much fun the drop back is, while the climb was so much fun that we’re all scared of going back when conditions are not so good (and, perhaps, not faring quite as well!).

A great ride, on a great day to ride it – photos up here, with some highlights below (group photo is unfortunately sans Graham!):