Moon Rally Report – 35 Years of Tidy Chaos
Alright, calm down… this one started like most bad ideas do – early doors, slightly hungover, and convincing ourselves it was all going to be “a nice chilled ride.”
Friday morning, a chunk of OGRI MCC and a few trusted friends (and a couple who probably shouldn’t be trusted at all) met up for breakfast. Proper start – food, caffeine, a bit of planning that immediately got ignored.
From there we cut through the back routes toward Bridgend, rolling into CMC Thunder Road for what can only be described as essential supplies: energy drinks, Welsh cakes… and possibly bread and butter pudding. A breakfast of champions, or at least survivors. There was also a fair bit of standing around staring at the latest motorbikes aka the “shiny shines.” You know the drill, nodding like you’re seriously considering one while knowing full well you’re not because the bank says ‘NO’.
Then we hit the coast Or at least… we tried to.
Because not even five minutes into the ride, one of our supposedly “reliable” Pan Europeans decided it had other plans and started chucking coolant everywhere like it was marking territory.
Cue the most organised thing OGRI did all weekend – a perfectly executed U-turn. Proper synchronized, like we’d practised it. Bike patched up with new parts, bit of roadside engineering, bit of swearing… and we were off again. Nothing quite like riding coastal roads in a pack though. Proper views, steady rhythm, brothers and sisters together, a few extras tagging along for the ride. Righteous, mun.
Friday Night – Settling In (…or Not): Landing at Marconi Holiday Village just outside Penarth, tents went up, beds were sort of made, and within minutes it was straight into it. Warm summer evening, beers flowing, people drifting between groups – exactly how it should be.
Rusty Sprockets MCC had it dialled. Good crowd, good setup, and straight away it felt like one of those weekends where you already know you’re not staying sensible. Bands absolutely smashed it – JunkJaw and Sonic Highway both tearing through sets like they had something to prove. No complaints there. Proper noise, proper atmosphere.
Then OGRI MCC behaviour kicked in. Stickers started appearing – everywhere.
Some in perfectly acceptable places… Some very much not. Depends who you ask, isn’t it.
Laughter all round, catching up with good people, the usual nonsense building nicely into the night. And then… another Prospect Flag Challenge = Completed. No details. No witnesses. No questions. If you know, you know. And if you don’t… probably for the best, like.
Saturday – Damage Control (Briefly): Saturday started slow. Very slow. You know that feeling where even blinking feels loud……….
People crawling out of tents, looking like they’d gone a few rounds with life and lost on points. Proper Twin Town stuff… “What happened last night then?” – no one really sure, nobody too bothered.
Solution? Ride out for food. Quick blast to Baffle Haus for a double smash burger that sorted most people right out. Grease therapy. Back in the game. On the way back, though… a quick detour for “specialist equipment = Clothes pegs”. Because obviously… that was always going to end well.
Saturday – The Madness Proper: Back on site and it escalated quickly. Good beer, solid laughs, and more faces turning up – including the Welsh Coast MCC crew, which only added fuel to what was already a terrible idea waiting to happen. Then came it, the ultimate mind game: Pegging.
Now, if you don’t know what that is… good. Stay innocent. If you do know… you already know how this ends. The Sheriff of Rusty Sprockets MCC: Groot – clocked on early but did not learn until it was too late. Which made it worse. Straight into paranoia mode. Spinning round, checking his back, suspicious of everyone. Didn’t help him because once it starts… it doesn’t stop.
People smiling at you? Suspicious. Standing too close? Definitely suspicious. Walking behind you quietly? That’s it – you’re done. It turned into a full-on mental breakdown in slow motion. Absolute gold.
Meanwhile, the rest of the site carried on – drinking, chatting, laughing, the usual rally madness ticking along nicely. But underneath it all… quiet chaos. Pegs appearing, disappearing, reappearing.
We had club members dotted around other rallies up and down the country, but for us – it was all about this one. Showing up, having a laugh, and helping Rusty Sprockets MCC celebrate a solid 35 years.
Final Word: Massive thanks to Rusty Sprockets MCC for putting it on and having us along. 35 years is no small thing – and they celebrated it properly.
As for OGRI MCC… well… we behaved exactly as expected. A bit loud. A bit questionable. Fully committed. Tidy weekend. Questionable decisions. Wouldn’t change a thing.
Kez
