N
NoTar
Guest
It sounded like a great idea. It was 10:00 am on Saturday. Was my mate, Peter also known as bra Pete. "Lets go for a ride!", he said. "Where to?", I said. "Sutherland" was his reply. "Cool", I said. "As long as it was off-tar." But, I had already promised my wife I'll do the house, grocery-thing with her, so I called back and asked if we could do it the following day, Sunday. Peter called back after a couple of minutes with a a-okay!
The rest of the day went by at snails pace. All I could think about was what route would be the mostest hecticste ride to Sutherland.
We arranged to meet at a crossing close to Wellington at 07:00 am.
The next morning at 05:00 I was up, getting ready. Weather report said the Cape would be nice and warm. No report for Sutherland though, although the region would be in the high twenties. I was off. We met at the junction and decided to do Beinskloof Pass to Ceres.
Peter was on a Yamaha 600 Tenere, Michael on a BMW Dakar and me on Katoom. The Yamaha max'd out at 130 so we decided to ride at 110km/h. It was going to be a long day. Katoom was die-bliksem in. For some reason it was happiest doing 140 km/h off-road!
At the foot of the pass a stack of signs informed us that the pass was closed. A cyclist informed us otherwise. 20 Minutes into the pass, we found the bridge missing. There was no way of crossing. We made plans of building a ramp, but there was just no way. We had to turn back.
Already it was 09:30 and I had promised I'd be back before nightfall. Reluctantly, and highly the-moer-in we turned back to Wellington. We would have to do a 100km detour to Ceres.
After a quick coffee at Ceres we met 3 okes just coming via Algeria (at Clanwilliam) over the mountain. They were dust caked and dirty. Beautiful!!
I had plotted a quick course on the map and had added the waypoints on my GPS. Now a word on my GPS. Its not fancy, only gives you the basics. No moving map display, no roads. Just a arrow to your next waypoint. (Garmin eTrex, the yellow one). We made it up to Op-die-berg, turned right on a gravel road, and promptly got lost. As always the map showed 2 roads, and in realty there were more. As usual when I get lost, and backtracking is out of the question, I follow the arrow on the GPS. Eventually we reached the turn-off to Sutherland. It was hot. We all had light motocross kit on with only Peter a jacket.
We crossed over some passes, the names now forgotten and crossed the main gravel road to Calvinia. (The road I lost my rear tyre on, on my honeymoon, a year ago. PS: Off-course I went on our honeymoon with the bike!)
It was hot. Flippen doneeers hot. I was cooking. My goggles were fogging on the inside due to my sweat. Every 2 km we had too stop and open a farm gate, then close it when all were through. After a while we had a good system going where the first oke through would open the gate, then wait for all to pass, then close the gate and fall back to the rear. This ensured that all had a fair chance to eat dust and open gates!
I was in the rear, the GPS displayed 40km to go. And then the shit hit the fan. I could see the thunderclouds in the distance, it was huge. I had never seen a cloud build that high, that quick. I stopped to take a pic, the hightailed it to catch the others. They were supposed to check their mirrors, but both being newbees to adventure riding, they had vanished in a cloud of dust in the distance. This was what Katoom had been waiting for, and I laughed and shouted for joy as I gooied Katoom on the trail.
I found them at a T-Junction. Left, Sutherland 30km. Right, Matjiesfontein 100km. We only had 50km worth of fuel left. We had to go to Sutherland. To make it worse, Peter's bike wouldnâ??t start. We had to push start it. I told him to "gooi mielies", we would follow. It had just started to rain. Peter's bike had no lights, and he was missing. Michael and I started riding. The road was getting slippery and we had to slow down. Pretty soon we were drenched. I started missing the heated handgrips of the Dakar soon thereafter. We still hadnâ??t reached the Yamaha with Peter. I was worried, he had no lights and it was starting to rain hard. It was 2 PM. Then it started to hail.
It was sore. It burned. Every now and again a hailstone would somehow pass the goggles and visor and hit my lip. This wasnâ??t fun anymore. Still we hadnâ??t reached Peter. We couldnâ??t stop. The GPS showed 10km to Sutherland. So we crept along at 20km/hr. Suddenly the hail let up. We were 2km outside Sutherland. We had found Peter. He was taking pictures, his bike idling. It looked like snow. The road was covered in ice. Katoom would slip-slide around but then get some traction and straighten out again. We stopped to take some pictures then continued to Sutherland.
Sutherland looked hectic. The roads were covered with hail. It was piled against the walls of houses and cars were driving through ditches in the road with water reaching the door. The trees were stripped clean of leaves. And it was cold. We looked for the filling station. Luckily I new it was down a street as I had passed through it on a previous mission. (Cape Town to Kimberley on gravel) 2 years before.
It was closed. Closes at 12:00 on a Sunday. We had no fuel left. We would never reach Calvinia or the N1. We would have to find fuel, or overnight. Overnight was out of the question, we all had to work the Monday. Luckily we werenâ??t the only people in need of fuel and someone opened the pumps for us.
After refuelling, we headed for the Hotel for a samie and coffee. It was freezing. I couldnâ??t feel my fingertips. Motocross gloves werenâ??t made for this weather! We reluctantly decided we would have to follow the tar road back to the N1 and then take the N1 to Cape Town. The gravel roads would be a mess, and it was already 4 PM. The Tenere had no lights. We would have to scram.
I had never seen anything like it. The hail was coming towards us from the side. It looked like a wall. As the hail hit the ground the dust would billow. It looked like something was attacking us. Michael looked at me. I shrugged. "Damn" I thought.
The hail hit us like a ton of bricks. I tried to get in under the KTM's windscreen but to no avail. I couldnâ??t see in front of me. I slowed down. I could see Michael in front of me on the Dakar. He was also trying to make himself as small as possible. And then we were through.
We made the N1, refuelled and set out for Cape Town. We had 350km to go. Wet, hungry and my sense of adventure replaced by a sense for survival, it started to hail again. "Peter has no lights!",I thought. I edged passed him to take the lead. Michael would slot in behind him, so the cars wouldnâ??t rear-end him. It was cold.
Did I mention that hail hurts! I was drenched. It was so flippen sore. I thought I would cry. My lips and nose was being beaten to a pulp by hail stones half the size of a golf ball.
And so it continued. Rain, hail, sun, rain, hail. That was the pattern until we crossed the mountains into Worcester. It was becoming dark. After being in the saddle for 10 hours, we only had time to refuel. We still had to cross over the Du Toitskloof Pass before dark. It was 18:50. GPS displayed sunset at 19:10. We had a bit of twig light left.
We crossed the pass. Michael split at the Stellenbosch turn-off and I shadowed Peter to his turn-off. It was night by now. I left Peter when we hit streetlights and then opened Katoom. When the GPS showed 199km/h I turned off on the N7. 10 minutes later I was home. In time for the rugby. 14 hours on my KTM 950 Adventure, 800km. I was tired. It was a good ride. ;D
The rest of the day went by at snails pace. All I could think about was what route would be the mostest hecticste ride to Sutherland.
We arranged to meet at a crossing close to Wellington at 07:00 am.
The next morning at 05:00 I was up, getting ready. Weather report said the Cape would be nice and warm. No report for Sutherland though, although the region would be in the high twenties. I was off. We met at the junction and decided to do Beinskloof Pass to Ceres.
Peter was on a Yamaha 600 Tenere, Michael on a BMW Dakar and me on Katoom. The Yamaha max'd out at 130 so we decided to ride at 110km/h. It was going to be a long day. Katoom was die-bliksem in. For some reason it was happiest doing 140 km/h off-road!
At the foot of the pass a stack of signs informed us that the pass was closed. A cyclist informed us otherwise. 20 Minutes into the pass, we found the bridge missing. There was no way of crossing. We made plans of building a ramp, but there was just no way. We had to turn back.
Already it was 09:30 and I had promised I'd be back before nightfall. Reluctantly, and highly the-moer-in we turned back to Wellington. We would have to do a 100km detour to Ceres.
After a quick coffee at Ceres we met 3 okes just coming via Algeria (at Clanwilliam) over the mountain. They were dust caked and dirty. Beautiful!!
I had plotted a quick course on the map and had added the waypoints on my GPS. Now a word on my GPS. Its not fancy, only gives you the basics. No moving map display, no roads. Just a arrow to your next waypoint. (Garmin eTrex, the yellow one). We made it up to Op-die-berg, turned right on a gravel road, and promptly got lost. As always the map showed 2 roads, and in realty there were more. As usual when I get lost, and backtracking is out of the question, I follow the arrow on the GPS. Eventually we reached the turn-off to Sutherland. It was hot. We all had light motocross kit on with only Peter a jacket.
We crossed over some passes, the names now forgotten and crossed the main gravel road to Calvinia. (The road I lost my rear tyre on, on my honeymoon, a year ago. PS: Off-course I went on our honeymoon with the bike!)
It was hot. Flippen doneeers hot. I was cooking. My goggles were fogging on the inside due to my sweat. Every 2 km we had too stop and open a farm gate, then close it when all were through. After a while we had a good system going where the first oke through would open the gate, then wait for all to pass, then close the gate and fall back to the rear. This ensured that all had a fair chance to eat dust and open gates!
I was in the rear, the GPS displayed 40km to go. And then the shit hit the fan. I could see the thunderclouds in the distance, it was huge. I had never seen a cloud build that high, that quick. I stopped to take a pic, the hightailed it to catch the others. They were supposed to check their mirrors, but both being newbees to adventure riding, they had vanished in a cloud of dust in the distance. This was what Katoom had been waiting for, and I laughed and shouted for joy as I gooied Katoom on the trail.
I found them at a T-Junction. Left, Sutherland 30km. Right, Matjiesfontein 100km. We only had 50km worth of fuel left. We had to go to Sutherland. To make it worse, Peter's bike wouldnâ??t start. We had to push start it. I told him to "gooi mielies", we would follow. It had just started to rain. Peter's bike had no lights, and he was missing. Michael and I started riding. The road was getting slippery and we had to slow down. Pretty soon we were drenched. I started missing the heated handgrips of the Dakar soon thereafter. We still hadnâ??t reached the Yamaha with Peter. I was worried, he had no lights and it was starting to rain hard. It was 2 PM. Then it started to hail.
It was sore. It burned. Every now and again a hailstone would somehow pass the goggles and visor and hit my lip. This wasnâ??t fun anymore. Still we hadnâ??t reached Peter. We couldnâ??t stop. The GPS showed 10km to Sutherland. So we crept along at 20km/hr. Suddenly the hail let up. We were 2km outside Sutherland. We had found Peter. He was taking pictures, his bike idling. It looked like snow. The road was covered in ice. Katoom would slip-slide around but then get some traction and straighten out again. We stopped to take some pictures then continued to Sutherland.
Sutherland looked hectic. The roads were covered with hail. It was piled against the walls of houses and cars were driving through ditches in the road with water reaching the door. The trees were stripped clean of leaves. And it was cold. We looked for the filling station. Luckily I new it was down a street as I had passed through it on a previous mission. (Cape Town to Kimberley on gravel) 2 years before.
It was closed. Closes at 12:00 on a Sunday. We had no fuel left. We would never reach Calvinia or the N1. We would have to find fuel, or overnight. Overnight was out of the question, we all had to work the Monday. Luckily we werenâ??t the only people in need of fuel and someone opened the pumps for us.
After refuelling, we headed for the Hotel for a samie and coffee. It was freezing. I couldnâ??t feel my fingertips. Motocross gloves werenâ??t made for this weather! We reluctantly decided we would have to follow the tar road back to the N1 and then take the N1 to Cape Town. The gravel roads would be a mess, and it was already 4 PM. The Tenere had no lights. We would have to scram.
I had never seen anything like it. The hail was coming towards us from the side. It looked like a wall. As the hail hit the ground the dust would billow. It looked like something was attacking us. Michael looked at me. I shrugged. "Damn" I thought.
The hail hit us like a ton of bricks. I tried to get in under the KTM's windscreen but to no avail. I couldnâ??t see in front of me. I slowed down. I could see Michael in front of me on the Dakar. He was also trying to make himself as small as possible. And then we were through.
We made the N1, refuelled and set out for Cape Town. We had 350km to go. Wet, hungry and my sense of adventure replaced by a sense for survival, it started to hail again. "Peter has no lights!",I thought. I edged passed him to take the lead. Michael would slot in behind him, so the cars wouldnâ??t rear-end him. It was cold.
Did I mention that hail hurts! I was drenched. It was so flippen sore. I thought I would cry. My lips and nose was being beaten to a pulp by hail stones half the size of a golf ball.
And so it continued. Rain, hail, sun, rain, hail. That was the pattern until we crossed the mountains into Worcester. It was becoming dark. After being in the saddle for 10 hours, we only had time to refuel. We still had to cross over the Du Toitskloof Pass before dark. It was 18:50. GPS displayed sunset at 19:10. We had a bit of twig light left.
We crossed the pass. Michael split at the Stellenbosch turn-off and I shadowed Peter to his turn-off. It was night by now. I left Peter when we hit streetlights and then opened Katoom. When the GPS showed 199km/h I turned off on the N7. 10 minutes later I was home. In time for the rugby. 14 hours on my KTM 950 Adventure, 800km. I was tired. It was a good ride. ;D
