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An hour later, we’re on the road again. Light is fading fast, so we **** off down the dirt roads towards Opuwo. My bike is doing 130km/h and handling great. No fishtailing like before. Totally stable. I have no idea why, but I’m thrilled. And then it hits me. The UHD tube. That...

I say a little prayer to the tube gods begging for mercy and promising to atone for my sins if we can get to Opuwo without another flat. They don’t listen. With my puncture repaired, I get back on my bike. The boys have already left wanting to make up lost time so that we don’t ride in the...

The track towards Opuwo is fast and sandy. Now you might think that we’re just blasting along and not really taking in the scenery. And you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. But this trip is about the riding as much as it is about the nature. When we blast, it’s mostly because the scenery is dull...

Once we’re feeling a little more energized, we press on towards Robbie’s Pass. I let the boys go ahead (so that I’m not eating their dust constantly) and find a comfortable rhythm, enjoying the arid scenery and wheelieing across the dry riverbeds. Eventually, I realize that I’ve been riding and...

Eventually, Jan Lucas finds a shady spot and Marc erects his tarp. Now, at first, I thought that carrying a tarp on a trip like this was overkill. I would soon have my mind changed. Tarps not only make great puncture repair platforms, but also great shade cloths. Then, out comes the tea and...

As we continue looking for shade, I’m reminded that we’re not the predators here. We’re prey.

After the rocks, we’re looking for a place to rest and almost ride into this – a giant Fesh Fesh hole. That would not have been fun.

Now is probably a good time to say a thing or two about the 500 seat. It’s a plank. So, before we left, I had a local seat guy make me a seat based on a design by Fisher Seats. It turned out very well and my *** has been happy the entire trip so far. The best part is that the wide part doesn’t...

From the top of the hill, the track levels out and turns into a rock festival. Same deal here… Get on the pegs as soon as possible. Toes in. Knees gripping the seat. Elbows up. Arms relaxed. Momentum. Go! The rocks seem like they are never going to end and by the time they do, I’m happy to...

But things look up once we’re back on the track. Lots of rocky climbs interspersed with sandy tracks and we’re grinning again. We come across a steep rocky ascent. It’s the most technical hill we’ve ridden so far and I’m chomping at the bit to have a go at it.  I try to remember everything...

We split the fuel costs using a great free app called SplitWise. It’s designed to help friends split expenses on a trip. So, in this case, I paid for all of our fuel with my card (to save our cash) and the app keeps track of who owes who what. Then, at the end of the trip, settling up is a...

We wake up determined to leave early today. It’s a fresh morning, but the weather repost says that it will soon be 35 degrees centigrade. We’ve got a big (and hot) day ahead that includes Robbie’s Pass – something Marc has been whining about for a few days now. He keeps dropping hints that...

The sun sets as it only does in Africa. The company is great. We eat dinner together, drink wine, chat and generally shoot the **** till we’re too tired to anymore. It’s been another amazing day. Hard riding, but amazing scenery. Still no accidents, no mechanical failures, and now new...

I meet the boys in Sesfontein. Marc parks his bike on the street so that I know where they are. They’ve negotiated a simple room in a B&B. Almost as soon as I arrived, I heard two other bikes approaching. As they flew past, I could tell that they were 690s. What? More bikers? In Sesfontein...

We move on towards Ongongo planning to stay at the Warquelle Hot Springs campsite. It’s a beautiful place to camp I’ve heard and I’ve been looking forward to it all day. We arrive at the turnoff and Jan Lucas pulls up next to me and says, “I’m not going to camp. I’m not feeling well. I need a...

We continued and eventually left the riverbed behind and started down a Fesh Fesh infested track. If you don’t know what Fesh Fesh is, it’s extremely fine sand, like baby powder. Riding in it is almost impossible as you just can’t get any traction. Worse still, the fine dust gets EVERYWHERE...

We get back in the saddle and begin exploring the riverbed. The dust is awful, so I try to ride alongside Marc and Jan Lucas, but because we’re all trying to find a safe line, riding side by side in an ever-changing riverbed prevents spontaneous sideways movement, so we soon spread out again...

As we’re about to set off again, we hear a noise in the distance. Soon afterwards a 4x4 appears with a young German couple inside. These are the first tourists we’ve seen since we started. We stop and chit chat for 15 mintes. They are very curious about the bikes and what it’s like travellign...

My GPS tells me that I need to turn left into the Khowarib Schlucht 4WD trail. It’s another riverbed trail, but as Namibia is in it’s 7th year of drought, it’s dry. I catch up with Marc and Jan Lucas and they are looking for a place to stop and have lunch.  “Lunch” seems to have different...

The closer we get to Klein Serengeti, the sandier the track becomes until it opens up into a spectacular plain.  We open the throttles and blast through the sand for a while. At one point, a giraffe runs right across my path and turns in front of me and continues loping along at full speed...