Buff
Grey Hound
I finally had some free time to spend in the Tenere's saddle today so I decided to take a back road cruise out to the first enduro of the season in Caledon. Time ran away from my this morning so I only left around 12pm, in the mid day heat.
This is the route I took, giving me a round trip of approx. 350km.
By the time I reached Franschoek I need a drink so I picked one up in town and enjoyed it at the top of the Pass:
Turned onto the dirt just after Tweewaterskloof dam and then the fun began. This is on the road to Botrivier:
The views along here are amazing, even if the Overberg is pretty dry this time of the year:
More views:
Must admit, the more time I spend on this bike the more I'm enjoying it. It just seems to make gravel riding so effortless. Glimpes of the ocean in the backround:
Finally made it to the enduro just after 2:30pm. It was hot and dusty and the guys looked broken:
I only hung about there for 30min then my ass started itching to hit the dirt again.This is one of the small river crossings about 25km after Caledon:
The magical Overberg. The gravel roads were in fairly good nic (for a bike) so I was able to cruise between 60-100km/h most of the time.
Stopped in at Dassiesfontein for some refreshments. A moer Koffee and 2 slices of fresh plaasbrood with jam and cheese cost me 24 bucks...bargain:
A quick jaunt on the N2 then it was home jerome, back via Theewaterskloof dam:
By now it was around 6pm but I was having fun so I popped in at the new Berg River dam in Franschoek. Looked around and found one of my old mountain bike trails I used to train on so cruised around there for a bit until I nearly moered off on some loose rocks so decided to call it quits and head home:
A few things I've learnt about my Tenere:
It likes to be ridden hard. With the big single it's either full open our full closed, I prefer open. It's happiest operating between 4-5000rpm but you need to feed it through evenly in the dirt otherwise the back just spins it up. It hates operating at anything below 3000rpm so you're constantly changing up and down. It's a bit tiring but very involving. It loves dirt and the suspension is simply awesome. Standing or sitting it tracks very precisely and instills me with a lot of confidence (maybe too much).
But it's not all good, on tarred mountain passes it is crap. The compression when you come off the gas in a corner drops the nose and then there's a lag before the power comes through again, almost like a turbo lag. Maybe I will get used to it but for now it sucks. It does force you to ride smoother though.
But there's way more positives than negatives and I'm looking forward to spending plenty hours in this bikes saddle. Next week the Leo Vince's get fitted :thumleft:.
This is the route I took, giving me a round trip of approx. 350km.
By the time I reached Franschoek I need a drink so I picked one up in town and enjoyed it at the top of the Pass:
Turned onto the dirt just after Tweewaterskloof dam and then the fun began. This is on the road to Botrivier:
The views along here are amazing, even if the Overberg is pretty dry this time of the year:
More views:
Must admit, the more time I spend on this bike the more I'm enjoying it. It just seems to make gravel riding so effortless. Glimpes of the ocean in the backround:
Finally made it to the enduro just after 2:30pm. It was hot and dusty and the guys looked broken:
I only hung about there for 30min then my ass started itching to hit the dirt again.This is one of the small river crossings about 25km after Caledon:
The magical Overberg. The gravel roads were in fairly good nic (for a bike) so I was able to cruise between 60-100km/h most of the time.
Stopped in at Dassiesfontein for some refreshments. A moer Koffee and 2 slices of fresh plaasbrood with jam and cheese cost me 24 bucks...bargain:
A quick jaunt on the N2 then it was home jerome, back via Theewaterskloof dam:
By now it was around 6pm but I was having fun so I popped in at the new Berg River dam in Franschoek. Looked around and found one of my old mountain bike trails I used to train on so cruised around there for a bit until I nearly moered off on some loose rocks so decided to call it quits and head home:
A few things I've learnt about my Tenere:
It likes to be ridden hard. With the big single it's either full open our full closed, I prefer open. It's happiest operating between 4-5000rpm but you need to feed it through evenly in the dirt otherwise the back just spins it up. It hates operating at anything below 3000rpm so you're constantly changing up and down. It's a bit tiring but very involving. It loves dirt and the suspension is simply awesome. Standing or sitting it tracks very precisely and instills me with a lot of confidence (maybe too much).
But it's not all good, on tarred mountain passes it is crap. The compression when you come off the gas in a corner drops the nose and then there's a lag before the power comes through again, almost like a turbo lag. Maybe I will get used to it but for now it sucks. It does force you to ride smoother though.
But there's way more positives than negatives and I'm looking forward to spending plenty hours in this bikes saddle. Next week the Leo Vince's get fitted :thumleft:.
