droffarc
Race Dog
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2006
- Messages
- 1,375
- Reaction score
- 126
- Location
- Cape Toon - TransAlp XL650V 2004
- Bike
- Honda NC750X
I left at 6 am, about 3/4hour before sunup, riding through Elsiesriver taking an urban shortcut to the Stellenbosch arterial. At this time on a Saturday morning there was very little traffic. I stopped at a garage to check my baggage on the well lit forecourt. Nope, the load had not shifted and everything was as it should be.
Took off towards Somerset West and promptly received a flash in the face from a traffic camera – what a start!. There was still very little traffic. Went over Sir Lowry’s pass and was almost at Grabouw when the first pair of bikes overtook me. I was doing 140km/h and they screamed past me. Not long after Perigrin’s another three bikes screamed past me.
The ride to Riversonderend was quite nice as I caught up with a small group of bikes going the same way. At the Wistle Stop in Riversonderend everyone pulled off to refuel and wistle. I stopped to stretch my legs and take a photo or two then continued towards Swellendam and on to Buffeljagsrivier where I stopped for my first planned refueling.
Back on the road I started encountering bikes coming from Mosselbay obviously headed for the Swallows rally in Worcester. There were quite a number of them.
When I reached the camp site at Mosselbay it was CHAOS. I had arrived just minutes before the start of the mass ride. I registered and got my badge ‘n all and joined in on the mass ride. At the start they could have called it the sardine run, we were literally almost touching as we squeezed together, but once we got to town things sorted themselves out and there was more breathing space. At one stage, riding beside me was a guy wearing a green alien mask. Earlier on I had seen a guy wearing (probably an Orc) mask. Everyone took photos of him and they kept telling him to smile and he kept saying “But I AM smiling!”
At the end of the mass ride I took a look around the campsite for a likely spot for my tent but found nothing. There was not room for a biker mouse from Mars even. There was a campsite further down the road so I set off and after some negotiation was allowed in and selected a shady spot of lawn overlooking the sea. It was now Midday and hot work unpacking and setting up my tent. There were many other bikers around me mostly with 1150GS BMWs etc. and opposite me was a group of four Goldwings - real fancy stuff kitted with stereo etc.
I did not get to see the concours d’elegance but eventually walked down to check the stunts which mainly consisted of the usual guys poping wheelies and doing stoppies – not quite my scene so I took a walk through the campsite again, checking out all the different bikes and tents etc. I saw one Transalp in full kit as shown on the Honda brochure with the colour coded panniers and top box. There was also an elderly looking Transalp 600 – obviously a grey import. Most of the bikes were BMWs and racers.
There was a road in the campsite where the food vendors were clustered. The one place had what looked like a small river running through the middle. Following the stream I noted with disgust that the source of the water was a manhole in among the tents. This was obviously a sewerage drain from the ablution block. The shower etc. water could no longer be accommodated by the drainage system which was now gushing like a constant old faithfull out onto the road and through the food vendor’s tent. I resolved not to eat anything from within the campsite. Later I noted that the municipal workers were attempting to unblock this drain. By Sunday they still had not been successful.
At 8pm they had a prize giving and lucky draw. Prizes for the concourse and for the oldest rally entrant, male & female, entrant who traveled the furthest to get there, etc were awarded and then they had five lucky draws – your ticket number was the thing. The second and third prizes were R10,000 each (just more than a months salary for most people) and the first prize was R100,000 – wow! Just for attending the rally! Naturally I walked away without any prizes.
Back at the tent I was glad I was at this site, although one could still clearly hear the loud music and all the guys over revving their bikes – I hate that!- they seem to like that – making explosions sounding like artillery fire, it was a deal quieter here with plenty of room to swing a cat. Alas, I was just about to crawl into my tent for some shut-eye when this huge white van arrived right behind my tent and their music was of the horrible kind – too loud! It was after midnight when the music was quietened and the snoring commenced.
TO BE CONTIBUED...
Droffarc's Youtube channel
Took off towards Somerset West and promptly received a flash in the face from a traffic camera – what a start!. There was still very little traffic. Went over Sir Lowry’s pass and was almost at Grabouw when the first pair of bikes overtook me. I was doing 140km/h and they screamed past me. Not long after Perigrin’s another three bikes screamed past me.
The ride to Riversonderend was quite nice as I caught up with a small group of bikes going the same way. At the Wistle Stop in Riversonderend everyone pulled off to refuel and wistle. I stopped to stretch my legs and take a photo or two then continued towards Swellendam and on to Buffeljagsrivier where I stopped for my first planned refueling.
Back on the road I started encountering bikes coming from Mosselbay obviously headed for the Swallows rally in Worcester. There were quite a number of them.
When I reached the camp site at Mosselbay it was CHAOS. I had arrived just minutes before the start of the mass ride. I registered and got my badge ‘n all and joined in on the mass ride. At the start they could have called it the sardine run, we were literally almost touching as we squeezed together, but once we got to town things sorted themselves out and there was more breathing space. At one stage, riding beside me was a guy wearing a green alien mask. Earlier on I had seen a guy wearing (probably an Orc) mask. Everyone took photos of him and they kept telling him to smile and he kept saying “But I AM smiling!”
At the end of the mass ride I took a look around the campsite for a likely spot for my tent but found nothing. There was not room for a biker mouse from Mars even. There was a campsite further down the road so I set off and after some negotiation was allowed in and selected a shady spot of lawn overlooking the sea. It was now Midday and hot work unpacking and setting up my tent. There were many other bikers around me mostly with 1150GS BMWs etc. and opposite me was a group of four Goldwings - real fancy stuff kitted with stereo etc.
I did not get to see the concours d’elegance but eventually walked down to check the stunts which mainly consisted of the usual guys poping wheelies and doing stoppies – not quite my scene so I took a walk through the campsite again, checking out all the different bikes and tents etc. I saw one Transalp in full kit as shown on the Honda brochure with the colour coded panniers and top box. There was also an elderly looking Transalp 600 – obviously a grey import. Most of the bikes were BMWs and racers.
There was a road in the campsite where the food vendors were clustered. The one place had what looked like a small river running through the middle. Following the stream I noted with disgust that the source of the water was a manhole in among the tents. This was obviously a sewerage drain from the ablution block. The shower etc. water could no longer be accommodated by the drainage system which was now gushing like a constant old faithfull out onto the road and through the food vendor’s tent. I resolved not to eat anything from within the campsite. Later I noted that the municipal workers were attempting to unblock this drain. By Sunday they still had not been successful.
At 8pm they had a prize giving and lucky draw. Prizes for the concourse and for the oldest rally entrant, male & female, entrant who traveled the furthest to get there, etc were awarded and then they had five lucky draws – your ticket number was the thing. The second and third prizes were R10,000 each (just more than a months salary for most people) and the first prize was R100,000 – wow! Just for attending the rally! Naturally I walked away without any prizes.
Back at the tent I was glad I was at this site, although one could still clearly hear the loud music and all the guys over revving their bikes – I hate that!- they seem to like that – making explosions sounding like artillery fire, it was a deal quieter here with plenty of room to swing a cat. Alas, I was just about to crawl into my tent for some shut-eye when this huge white van arrived right behind my tent and their music was of the horrible kind – too loud! It was after midnight when the music was quietened and the snoring commenced.
TO BE CONTIBUED...
Droffarc's Youtube channel
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