U
Uncle Bob
Guest
Well, Iâ??ve never been one to say much, and this ride report will not be much different, Iâ??ll let the photoâ??s speak the most.
Ever since I got back from my trip up to Kilimanjaro, I have an insatiable urge to ride more, more hard routes â?? more rural and remote, in fact the further I can get away from the city the better for me.
So with this in mind I decided to plan a trip up to our farm in magoebaskloof, my mission â?? to ride there and back on dirt roads, avoiding tar as much as possible, the perfect tool for this job I reckoned, would be the HP2, the only problem being itâ??s VERY short range on a tank, especially if I let my inner child ride it!
No problem, I purchased one of those 10L plastic Jerry can jobbies and ratcheted it onto the HPâ??s carrier rack.
Around 9 oâ??clock on friday morning I hit the road and was very quickly reminded that the HP is NOT a road going bike â?? the wind rips at the peak on my helmet and it must look to passers by like I am doing some SERIAAAS head banging, the wind pushes my shoulders back and I hadnâ??t even reached Centurion before I though my arms might me ripped out of their sockets.
HP Packed and ready to go.
Luckily I made it to the offramp in one piece â?? all be it my arms hanging on by a very stretched out ligament.
Just there the fun started and my inner child took over â?? grinning manically as he twists the throttle far open and feels the back wheel break loose â?? â??Yeah babyâ? I say to myself â?? this is what itâ??s about.
Really is green out there
The countryside has really benefited from all the recent rains, itâ??s beautifully green and the dust is minimal.
Some skidmarks
Nearing Zion City Moria I realized that I wasnâ??t going to be able to sqeeze in a ride through the downs, I had it programmed into my route but my ETA had moved to about 21:00 and I wasnâ??t all to keen for the â??plaas paaieâ? at night.
So I changed the GPS to just show a straight line to the farm, and started making my own route â?? oh boy was that fun, I spent about an hour riding around on cattle tracks and doing U turns, dodging thorn trees and riding through little villagers, much to the surprise of the little kids, and I got that feeling of being back in rural Africa again â?? man I missed that.
Cattle track riding
Road is completely washed away!
I finally found a road I was sure I knew, itâ??s wide-ish with some awesome twists and turn in it.
Now here I must quickly write a side note.
April this year Rebel and I rode up to the farm, we had a long discussion about why we wanted HPâ??s, his main reason being he wants a bike to wheelie, my main reason being that I want a bike to powerslide.
So going through these turns I try and remember what he told me 2 weeks ago â?? right â??6th gear, drop it down 2 gears, put ALL your weight forward, hips above the handle bars and twist that throttle OPENâ? â?? OK Iâ??m with you so far â?? â?? then lightly step on the inside to get the bike to start sliding, then move your weight to the outside and control itâ? â?? YeeHaa, here we go, Iâ??m starting to feel like freakonaleash must feel when going through corners, and the HP just laps it up â?? hell it even begs for more! â?? into the next corner, my inner child screaming with pleasure as the rear tyre slides out and you can almost hear it saying â??ha, traction, who needs traction?â?
Notice the missing jerry can?
The straps snapped and after being lost for about an hour I wasn't going to try and find it - so
tie down straps - R 75,00
10L Jerry can - R 185,00
10L Petrol - R 72,00
Lesson learnt - I'm not sure, I'll get back to you.
I ride around the Magoebaskloof area for a bit and do sections of the Magoebaskloof Classic mountainbike race, that they would ride on Saturday, boy oh boy is the mud in that area ever slippery!
Mudmonster â?? lurking
Stream at the bottom of the kloof.
The start of the Dirt, Magoebaskloof pass known as â??woodbush driveâ??
Some pictures in the pass
More to come!
Ever since I got back from my trip up to Kilimanjaro, I have an insatiable urge to ride more, more hard routes â?? more rural and remote, in fact the further I can get away from the city the better for me.
So with this in mind I decided to plan a trip up to our farm in magoebaskloof, my mission â?? to ride there and back on dirt roads, avoiding tar as much as possible, the perfect tool for this job I reckoned, would be the HP2, the only problem being itâ??s VERY short range on a tank, especially if I let my inner child ride it!
No problem, I purchased one of those 10L plastic Jerry can jobbies and ratcheted it onto the HPâ??s carrier rack.
Around 9 oâ??clock on friday morning I hit the road and was very quickly reminded that the HP is NOT a road going bike â?? the wind rips at the peak on my helmet and it must look to passers by like I am doing some SERIAAAS head banging, the wind pushes my shoulders back and I hadnâ??t even reached Centurion before I though my arms might me ripped out of their sockets.
HP Packed and ready to go.
Luckily I made it to the offramp in one piece â?? all be it my arms hanging on by a very stretched out ligament.
Just there the fun started and my inner child took over â?? grinning manically as he twists the throttle far open and feels the back wheel break loose â?? â??Yeah babyâ? I say to myself â?? this is what itâ??s about.
Really is green out there
The countryside has really benefited from all the recent rains, itâ??s beautifully green and the dust is minimal.
Some skidmarks
Nearing Zion City Moria I realized that I wasnâ??t going to be able to sqeeze in a ride through the downs, I had it programmed into my route but my ETA had moved to about 21:00 and I wasnâ??t all to keen for the â??plaas paaieâ? at night.
So I changed the GPS to just show a straight line to the farm, and started making my own route â?? oh boy was that fun, I spent about an hour riding around on cattle tracks and doing U turns, dodging thorn trees and riding through little villagers, much to the surprise of the little kids, and I got that feeling of being back in rural Africa again â?? man I missed that.
Cattle track riding
Road is completely washed away!
I finally found a road I was sure I knew, itâ??s wide-ish with some awesome twists and turn in it.
Now here I must quickly write a side note.
April this year Rebel and I rode up to the farm, we had a long discussion about why we wanted HPâ??s, his main reason being he wants a bike to wheelie, my main reason being that I want a bike to powerslide.
So going through these turns I try and remember what he told me 2 weeks ago â?? right â??6th gear, drop it down 2 gears, put ALL your weight forward, hips above the handle bars and twist that throttle OPENâ? â?? OK Iâ??m with you so far â?? â?? then lightly step on the inside to get the bike to start sliding, then move your weight to the outside and control itâ? â?? YeeHaa, here we go, Iâ??m starting to feel like freakonaleash must feel when going through corners, and the HP just laps it up â?? hell it even begs for more! â?? into the next corner, my inner child screaming with pleasure as the rear tyre slides out and you can almost hear it saying â??ha, traction, who needs traction?â?
Notice the missing jerry can?
The straps snapped and after being lost for about an hour I wasn't going to try and find it - so
tie down straps - R 75,00
10L Jerry can - R 185,00
10L Petrol - R 72,00
Lesson learnt - I'm not sure, I'll get back to you.
I ride around the Magoebaskloof area for a bit and do sections of the Magoebaskloof Classic mountainbike race, that they would ride on Saturday, boy oh boy is the mud in that area ever slippery!
Mudmonster â?? lurking
Stream at the bottom of the kloof.
The start of the Dirt, Magoebaskloof pass known as â??woodbush driveâ??
Some pictures in the pass
More to come!
