Wet Weather Alternative Ride Summary 21/10/2017
Stumers Creek Pathway
It’s not often we have to activate the WDR protocols (Wet Day Ride) – I’d like to say it’s an involved process where I open up a suitcase, snap a plastic card called “the biscuit”, then two committee members have to turn their keys at the same time to open an armored vault which holds our ride options. But unfortunately it’s not – we just wait to see what the weather does, choose a nice pathway ride and then update the calendar accordingly and the automatic notifications get sent out 5pm.
Like most trails around South East Queensland, Wooroi was still recovering from the torrential downpour the week before (we’ve receive over 400mm for this month). It does have a reputation for draining quickly but no trail can shed that much water in less than a day. Thus the choice was made to put on an alternative ride on more resilient paths.
The wet day ride choice (even though it ended up being a beautiful cool day) was the Maroochydore to Coolum ride that takes us over the Maroochy bridge and along the northern beaches to loop around Coolum and then back down again. There’s a few variances on this route – this time we took Stumers Creek path south from the Coolum Peregian sports complex and around the back of Mt Coolum.
We decided to stop over at the Cuba St Cafe in Marcoola, opposite Surfair, for a coffee and a chat. Afterwards we set off again to Twin Waters. This time we headed to the Maroochy river and rode over the bridge at the mouth of the canals as the tide was cascading in. Some of us took a gamble and crossed the Paddock of Potential Puddles which was actually not that bad.
45km and 3hrs and 30min later we were back a the cars.
Thanks for the ride everyone.
Ben Johns
Club President
Maroochy to Coolum Route
