GS CHALLENGE LEYDSDORP - My Story!

My first GS Challenge â?? only 280 km away from home (Nelspruit) â?? was a great experience and an event I will always remember. It was held at Leydsdorp near Gravelotte in Limpopo Province. Registration took place on Wednesday, 24 Sep with three days of riding to follow, departing on Sunday after breakfast.

Approximate 400 BMW dual purpose bikers gathered in Leydsdorp. This included app 14 Belgium riders, a rider from Brazil, London, Namibia, Cape Province and all other Provinces.

The atmosphere in the tented camp was something else. All sorts, sizes and colors of tents. Many with luxuries like chairs, stretchers, blow-up mattresses, washing lines etc. Wasnâ??t their first time camping! The dust however â?? not so nice. By day 2 my eyes were burning and red â?? looking like Iâ??d got a hang-over due to the saw-dust and late eveningâ??s windy conditions. The red powder of dust also didnâ??t make life comfortable. But â?? I suppose this is all part of the Challenge.

Although we were told no trailers will be allowed at the venue â?? I have to state that there were a few arriving and even more after the event to load all the casualties. It was quite sad to see how many riders packed up on Saturday afternoon to return home.

There were 3 routes to choose from â?? Red - , Orange - and Green routes for the less-experienced or bigger bikes. On the Red and Orange Routes knobbly tyres were essential. Navigation during the event was done by GPS, route markings and a navigation pack which included turn-by-turn instructions, including information on the length of every leg on the route and maps of the whole route. With all of the above â?? we still managed to get lost. On day one â?? the route markings would be a left turn at a T-junction and the GPS however â?? would instruct a right turn. Many Garmin GPS owners dealt with this problem.

All the routes were supported by emergency medical support. Great work was done by ER24â??s medics and the temporary Medi-Clinic at camp-site. Also the guys from the workshop had also done a great job.

The excellent logistics for a huge event like this is really to be mentioned. Hot showers and toilets, water, 3 course meals, lunch packs, waiters, a bar, 24hours coffee station, a huge generator for power and many more!

All routes were approximate 220 km â?? which took approximate 5 â?? 6 hours to complete. Most riders had returned by 15h00 in the afternoon to watch the skills challenge. The winner of the skills challenge received a 650 X-Challenge motor cycle, the runner-up a Pro-Rally suit and the 3rd place won an enduro helmet. 3rd place went to Nelspruitâ??s Andre Serfontein. Well done Andre! You deserve to win it next year!

Day 1: Orange route. A couple of falls which included mud and loose gravel on an uphill. Very scenic and an awesome experience.  A farmer blocked the road on his farm â?? as Kobus and was crossing it â?? stating that no permission to cross his land was given. After pleading that I needed an urgent toilet-break â?? he let us through and blocked the road again. What happened then is unknown to me.

Myself with Jaco and Deon / Entertainment area / Leydsdorp Hotel

Skills Challenge

Good to see another RR from the GSC ... thanks for sharing.

Hey, this is Aquatic!

Thanks Colyn. Quite a mission to get the story and pics on paper. Anyway - i still need to finish reading your story - thanks fo sharing that too - your pics are always something else - need some lessons please ... the server bommed out on me midnight last night - perhaps a good thing to get some sleep. So here follows the rest!

Day 2: Green route. We were told that day 2 should not be ridden without knobbly tyres.  So thatâ??s what I did â?? went for gold â?? I mean green! Very scenic â?? lots of photographs taken here. I believe the orange route was after all not so tough at all.

So on this day I met a crowd from the Freestate â?? Mielie boere you know! A real bunch of nice oaks. Bennie, Deon, Swannie, Warries, Andre, Hentie and Riaan and a few more â?¦.  Being a Blue Bull supporter â?? many was said and believe me â?? I gave them a bit of their own medicine that the Blue Bull supporters had to undergo the last couple of years.

Departing the camp / Pit stop / Scenic route through the forest:

More forest pics / Pieter, Alan and Peter - thanks guys for sharing a great ride.

Hentie (Bethlehem), myself, Ruan (Nelspruit) and his brother.

Riding with Alan, Peter and Pieter ... the mountains and next to the dam at Letaba Estates

Letaba Estates Dam

A fun entry with pillions took place at the skills challenge. Gerber and his girlfriend were faultless â?? thanks Mark for trusting me as you pillion.

Monique fell with her HP2 â?? ended up in hospital â?? she is ok though. Hope you recover soon Monique. Franscois (orange shirt) â?? a friend â?? was there immediately to assist until the medics arrived. /

/ This HP2 looks like a Triumph - the shock popped or something??

The Challenge is also a place where old friends meet â?? on the right is Koot Coetzee â?? formerly from White River and a good friend whom I have not seen for years since he relocated to Pretoria.

Andre went for gold too .. he finished a bottle of Jackermeister and passed out on the couch in the entertainment tent.

Day 3: Orange route. The toughest day and best day for me. I was riding with 2 very experienced riders whom just blew my confidence sky high. The route was for sure not meant for beginners or dual purpose tyres. I managed well â?? but also know that it could have been a bit easier with knobblies â?? especially through 2 long dry river beds. We had to deal with a lot of loose gravel and rocky sections.

We had a lot of fun and stopped quite a lot to take pics. Jaco (Swannie) â?? a clown of note! Guys â?? thanks for making me laugh so much. Jaco is the only guy I know that lays his bike down like a bicycle on its side when he stops -  after which most riders would think that he had just fallen.

A few bikes and riders got damaged / injured on this route.

Deon prefers this way of transport

More fun!

More fun!