Dads and Lads 2015 Lesotho trip, the Mellow version
- Thread starter MellowJo
- Start date
Archangel
Race Dog
Archangel
Race Dog
Btw, the vote for the hottest bike on the trip was unanimous.
The R1180GS (can I coin that name?) aka Scrappy was found the prettiest by all on the trip and most who we encountered along the way...
The R1180GS (can I coin that name?) aka Scrappy was found the prettiest by all on the trip and most who we encountered along the way...
MellowJo
Race Dog
Day2 : Lady Grey to Maclear
After a deep sleep and excellent breakfast, we made a quick visit to Sid’s parental home. Then it was out the “back-door “ of Lady Grey up the Joubert’s Pass.
We were just a few kilo’s into the pass when we noticed that Sid and Toffie was not with us.
Later we heard that the one XT did not like the fit between the output shaft and the drive sprocket. Sid still has some good connections in town, so they towed the stricken XT back and welded the sprocket to the shaft.
This broke again, but this time a friendly farmer helped to ensure that the welding was done to farming standards. No futher problems were experienced on this front.
After a deep sleep and excellent breakfast, we made a quick visit to Sid’s parental home. Then it was out the “back-door “ of Lady Grey up the Joubert’s Pass.
We were just a few kilo’s into the pass when we noticed that Sid and Toffie was not with us.
Later we heard that the one XT did not like the fit between the output shaft and the drive sprocket. Sid still has some good connections in town, so they towed the stricken XT back and welded the sprocket to the shaft.
This broke again, but this time a friendly farmer helped to ensure that the welding was done to farming standards. No futher problems were experienced on this front.
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MellowJo
Race Dog
Archangel
Race Dog
My videos of day 2 are limited (but then, so was day one ;D ) due to my GoPro accidentally being switched on in my pocket and therefore losing most of its battery before getting to the nice areas for taking vids... :-\
Anyway, what I have is currently being uploaded to da toob.
In the meantime, some pics...
Anyway, what I have is currently being uploaded to da toob.
In the meantime, some pics...
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DirtRebell
Grey Hound
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Lyk of julle 'n baie lekker trip gehad het.
Ride Alot
Pack Dog
WOW all I can say !! it seems like a wonderful world to drive in.... looking for the rest.
Archangel
Race Dog
Btw, listen to the sound of Godfried's bike as we enter Maclear... 
ot:
So here's some details that are missing:
Between the 1st and 2nd welding attempt of te XT's sprocket, the bike was loaded onto the trailer in order to transport the bike to nearest farm for the next repair. In this process, the strap snapped (not chaffed or anything, just snapped clear) and the bike fell on its side onto the trailer. The result is a severely dented tank. This was now the third bit of damage to this bike, after the busted main drive gear/front sprocket issue and the oil filer cover that was falling off. Yes, we neglected to mention that this bike arrived in Steynsrus with a ratchet strap around the motor to hold the oil filter cover in place. The inside of the engine casing has stripped, so the bolts simply fell out...
After fixing the bike again, the bike and the vehicle + trailer was trying to catch up to the remaining group, who by this time have spent around 2 hours waiting for them. Communication was lacking due to bad signals in the mountain areas.
We obviously used this time wisely: Maintenance was done to the other XT, which was severely misfiring and trying to shed the number plate. So the number plate plastic holder was removed and we bolted the number plate straight onto the tail light holder bracket. For the backfire/misfire, we tried to clean the air filters and had a look at the inline fuel filers but all seemed in order. At that stage we simply blamed the increased altitude. (More about this later)
After the two hour wait, we got the go ahead to move forward, with the second XT and vehicle in hot pursuit. We headed up to Lundeans Nek and back and just when we got back to the road heading towards Maclear, the XT and backup vehicle joined us. So forward march!
We have lost quite a bit of time waiting to hear from the guys in the backup, which lead to this day stretching a bit longer than intended and we had to make proverbial hay while the sun was shining. We still had the whole War Trail towards Tiffendel and Naude's Pass ahead of us. This slightly rushed approached resulting in one or two off. Toffie went off side of the road into the grass, but didn't fall. Godfried later came up with a term for this: "grazing", which was used throughout the trip, way more than we'd like to admit.
SidPitt had a put down from a standing start.
Somehow we neglected to mention that Godfried actually fell on first day. He went into a corner too fast and rode into one of those parallel gravel heap water channels created by the road scrapers to channel water away from the side of the road. Luckily the pots fitted between the two heaps nicely and the bike was simply parked on a slight angle, almost less than when on the side stand.
Anyways, back to day 2. The rush also took it's toll on the bikes. The rattling and shaking of the day's ride resulting in Scrappy (Aka R1180GS) shaking loose some of its wiring, which included the headlight, not to mention that the exhaust rubber grommet broke off, which left it hanging. So Mellow and Godfried removed the exhaust (note the sound as she rolls into Maclear, last 10 seconds of YouTube clip).
Now the headlight issue was problematic since light was fading, which resulting in an even more rushed approach to "GET THERE". Luckily SidPitt fitted some bright spots to the XTs so they lit the way for most, nothing else happened and we all arrived safely in Maclear, in the least possible bit of daylight. Little did we know that this day kinda set the pace of what we were to expect on the trip...
Anyways, luckily SidPitt bought some lekker meat at Lady Grey for a braai. We've just unpacked the bikes and... Meat is still in Lady Grey Hotel's freezer. :-\
So as the guys were fixing bikes, Sid and I decided KFC to the rescue!
What a day, what more can a man looking for an adventure ask for? :lol8:
ot:So here's some details that are missing:
Between the 1st and 2nd welding attempt of te XT's sprocket, the bike was loaded onto the trailer in order to transport the bike to nearest farm for the next repair. In this process, the strap snapped (not chaffed or anything, just snapped clear) and the bike fell on its side onto the trailer. The result is a severely dented tank. This was now the third bit of damage to this bike, after the busted main drive gear/front sprocket issue and the oil filer cover that was falling off. Yes, we neglected to mention that this bike arrived in Steynsrus with a ratchet strap around the motor to hold the oil filter cover in place. The inside of the engine casing has stripped, so the bolts simply fell out...
After fixing the bike again, the bike and the vehicle + trailer was trying to catch up to the remaining group, who by this time have spent around 2 hours waiting for them. Communication was lacking due to bad signals in the mountain areas.
We obviously used this time wisely: Maintenance was done to the other XT, which was severely misfiring and trying to shed the number plate. So the number plate plastic holder was removed and we bolted the number plate straight onto the tail light holder bracket. For the backfire/misfire, we tried to clean the air filters and had a look at the inline fuel filers but all seemed in order. At that stage we simply blamed the increased altitude. (More about this later)
After the two hour wait, we got the go ahead to move forward, with the second XT and vehicle in hot pursuit. We headed up to Lundeans Nek and back and just when we got back to the road heading towards Maclear, the XT and backup vehicle joined us. So forward march!
We have lost quite a bit of time waiting to hear from the guys in the backup, which lead to this day stretching a bit longer than intended and we had to make proverbial hay while the sun was shining. We still had the whole War Trail towards Tiffendel and Naude's Pass ahead of us. This slightly rushed approached resulting in one or two off. Toffie went off side of the road into the grass, but didn't fall. Godfried later came up with a term for this: "grazing", which was used throughout the trip, way more than we'd like to admit.
SidPitt had a put down from a standing start.
Somehow we neglected to mention that Godfried actually fell on first day. He went into a corner too fast and rode into one of those parallel gravel heap water channels created by the road scrapers to channel water away from the side of the road. Luckily the pots fitted between the two heaps nicely and the bike was simply parked on a slight angle, almost less than when on the side stand.
Anyways, back to day 2. The rush also took it's toll on the bikes. The rattling and shaking of the day's ride resulting in Scrappy (Aka R1180GS) shaking loose some of its wiring, which included the headlight, not to mention that the exhaust rubber grommet broke off, which left it hanging. So Mellow and Godfried removed the exhaust (note the sound as she rolls into Maclear, last 10 seconds of YouTube clip).
Now the headlight issue was problematic since light was fading, which resulting in an even more rushed approach to "GET THERE". Luckily SidPitt fitted some bright spots to the XTs so they lit the way for most, nothing else happened and we all arrived safely in Maclear, in the least possible bit of daylight. Little did we know that this day kinda set the pace of what we were to expect on the trip...
Anyways, luckily SidPitt bought some lekker meat at Lady Grey for a braai. We've just unpacked the bikes and... Meat is still in Lady Grey Hotel's freezer. :-\
So as the guys were fixing bikes, Sid and I decided KFC to the rescue!
What a day, what more can a man looking for an adventure ask for? :lol8:
Archangel
Race Dog
'n Laaste paar pics van dag 2 in geen logiese orde...
Teen more vertel ons julle verder van dag 3, Maclear tot Matatiele :deal:
Pic 1: MellowJo riding out of Lady Grey. Early days and high spirits, not yet high on spirits...ot:
Pic 2: Colours of early winter
Pic 3: Toffie full of jokes as usual
Pic 4: It's not called the War Trail for nothing. This road is treacherous, or so we thought at that point in time...
Pic 5: Sun setting over Naude's Nek, our destination and moods.
Teen more vertel ons julle verder van dag 3, Maclear tot Matatiele :deal:
Pic 1: MellowJo riding out of Lady Grey. Early days and high spirits, not yet high on spirits...
ot:Pic 2: Colours of early winter
Pic 3: Toffie full of jokes as usual
Pic 4: It's not called the War Trail for nothing. This road is treacherous, or so we thought at that point in time...
Pic 5: Sun setting over Naude's Nek, our destination and moods.
Attachments
Archangel
Race Dog
Day 3: Maclear to Matatiele
This was to be one of the toughest days, but we were still to find out just how tough.
After a quick brekkie in the mist, we were off. The day started with a short stint of tar from Maclear towards Ugie, after which we hit the notorious Baster Voetslaan Pad aka Dr Lapa Munnik Pass.
Now something that was said during the "War Trail" section leading up to Tiffendel was reiterated during the previous evening: The worst is behind us. Nothing can be as tough/bad as that section of road. Boy were we wrong!
(Video is upload, so only pics for now)
Pic 1: Our accommodation at Maclear. :thumleft:
Pic 2: Just before we hit the pass. It was easy pickings up to here, so the guys are still looking fresh. :3some:
This was to be one of the toughest days, but we were still to find out just how tough.
After a quick brekkie in the mist, we were off. The day started with a short stint of tar from Maclear towards Ugie, after which we hit the notorious Baster Voetslaan Pad aka Dr Lapa Munnik Pass.
Now something that was said during the "War Trail" section leading up to Tiffendel was reiterated during the previous evening: The worst is behind us. Nothing can be as tough/bad as that section of road. Boy were we wrong!
(Video is upload, so only pics for now)
Pic 1: Our accommodation at Maclear. :thumleft:
Pic 2: Just before we hit the pass. It was easy pickings up to here, so the guys are still looking fresh. :3some:
Attachments
Archangel
Race Dog
After the BASTARD VOETBLIKSEM pad, we did a short detour around Bottelneks Pass, before heading the Rhodes.
Some of you might know about the "Rhodes Must Fall" saga, resulting in a number of colonial statues being vandalized etc. Well I can tell, Rhodes was still standing strong. Unfortuntaely I couldn't say the same for the rest of us...
From Rhodes we headed back over Naude's Nek before making a left (Easerly) turn towards Matatiele. This lead us over a beautiful stretch of some of the best condition gravel roads I have ridden in my life. It was at this point where we, once again, were slightly behind schedule and the sun was setting on our backsides. Unbeknown to the "front runners", the backup vehicle (aka Matusalem) managed to get a flat tire, which then lead to another forced tea time / maintenance period. By the time we hit the tar road with approximately 70 km to go, the sun was behind the the mountains and we were in last light. Luckily all the lights of all the vehicles were in functional order at this point in time.
Great, of to Matatiele we go.
As we drive into town, the GPS informs us that the accomodation for the night was about another 10km on the other side of town. By this time it was pitch black dark with not a breath of wind in the air. In other words, the dust was hanging in the black air and the 6 bikes were in hot pursuit (@20kmph) of the Matusalem, whom we chose to lead the way at this point in time. Needless to say, this last 10 km of semi-technical gravel towards the farm house was more than we hoped for after the long day's ride.
Anyhow, all made it to the house/villa we parked the bikes in a little shed, ready for the maintenance team to do their thing before the next stage :ricky:
Some of you might know about the "Rhodes Must Fall" saga, resulting in a number of colonial statues being vandalized etc. Well I can tell, Rhodes was still standing strong. Unfortuntaely I couldn't say the same for the rest of us...
From Rhodes we headed back over Naude's Nek before making a left (Easerly) turn towards Matatiele. This lead us over a beautiful stretch of some of the best condition gravel roads I have ridden in my life. It was at this point where we, once again, were slightly behind schedule and the sun was setting on our backsides. Unbeknown to the "front runners", the backup vehicle (aka Matusalem) managed to get a flat tire, which then lead to another forced tea time / maintenance period. By the time we hit the tar road with approximately 70 km to go, the sun was behind the the mountains and we were in last light. Luckily all the lights of all the vehicles were in functional order at this point in time.
Great, of to Matatiele we go.
As we drive into town, the GPS informs us that the accomodation for the night was about another 10km on the other side of town. By this time it was pitch black dark with not a breath of wind in the air. In other words, the dust was hanging in the black air and the 6 bikes were in hot pursuit (@20kmph) of the Matusalem, whom we chose to lead the way at this point in time. Needless to say, this last 10 km of semi-technical gravel towards the farm house was more than we hoped for after the long day's ride.
Anyhow, all made it to the house/villa we parked the bikes in a little shed, ready for the maintenance team to do their thing before the next stage :ricky:
Archangel
Race Dog
Bastard Voetslaan captured in about 4 minutes of GoPro footage... :thumleft:
[flash=960,540]https://www.youtube.com/v/WxvEAUtJTFo[/flash]
BTW, quality of video should improve over the next 5 minutes, as youtube finishes running their compression etc.
[flash=960,540]https://www.youtube.com/v/WxvEAUtJTFo[/flash]
BTW, quality of video should improve over the next 5 minutes, as youtube finishes running their compression etc.
