Right, day two, and this time for a validated over dramatized report, for a newbie... this will be a long tale, but I promise the only one from me in this ride report, it was one hell of a day for me...
Because of the distance we had to travel on day 2 (and a jagermeister or 2 too many at hotel Zastron) we slept a little later than usual, we slabbed it on a few roads with some nice scenery and then through a few villages with cars, goats, people and trucks as scenery.
When we turned into our first gravel pass, I thought “right... time for your big boy pants serpie”. I was nervous, really nervous to be honest. Soon the mountains started closing in around us, a beautiful river appeared to our left as a constant companion, the roads started to narrow and twist with more consistency. GeVarlik and I were lagging behind as we were not very experienced on the loose stuff. Poor old CrazyHorse babysat us while the daredevils Dwerg and Batch zoomed ahead, teasing me with how much fun it looked to twist through these gravel bends as if it was a tarmac racecourse...
The road went deeper into the mountains, the hills sky’d ever upwards and the river wider. A euphoric feeling started to grow in me, the same feeling I can vaguely remember as a young boy discovering the open field close to our house and I thought “I cannot think of any other place I’d rather be”. Everything was a new wonder ready to be discovered. So when we caught up with Dwerg and Batch where they stopped to stretch some legs, enjoy the fresh air and a cigarette, hehe, I decided this opportunity shall not be wasted, I led and Batch and I went for a swim in the river, it was absolute bliss and hands down my favourite moment of the trip!
The scenery morphed but stayed as breath taking as the first stretch, the road went through small villages and dwellings, mountain people riding their horses, old ladies looking at our bikes as if it was alien ships and we started climbing to Landean’s Nek’s summit (well the roads’ summit if you want to be technical). We descended and the vegetation became more lush. After a particularly beautiful part we got to a gate that led up a challenging looking hill with rocks, ruts and a drop off on the left... I stopped and Ge’Varlik said “wat is hierdie besigheid”, I said, “no man, it looks like a bit of fun”... O retrospect is a sonnofabitch...
I remembered I had my big boy pants on and started the climb, it went quite well for a while, and I enjoyed it but when I hit my first biggish rock that made the bike jump abnormally to the left I panicked and target fixated on the drop off to the left, I tried to get my focus point back to the top of the hill but it was too late, so I chose the only option that would stop me from tumbling down the side for a 30m summersault joyride with my bike, so I aimed for a sturdy looking bush and wedged my bike in it... The guys eventually came walking down to help. I got back on the bike, very rattled and made it up the hill to the first part where it was flat enough to stop the bikes. I stood and rode to the next stoppable bit but the cliff and ruts grew deeper, the road rockier and narrower, it was too nerve racking so I sat and ‘walked’ the bike up the steep hills, killing my clutch, to one point were my nerves gave in. I asked dwerg to ride my dakkie up a particularly scary looking bit, and of course he made it look like the easiest thing in the world... I can’t even begin to explain how great I felt about myself at that moment...
I got on my bike again and rode the last bit with steely determination and slightly soiled pants sweating buckets full of stress! I have never in my life felt so relieved when I got to the top of the mountain and things flattened out! We rode on but I was still rattled. I fell again, up a hill not nearly as steep as the first one and then Dwerg decided to baby me and ride behind me... That is when I fell for the third time that day... Another fairly easy flat hill with rocks, but this time I did it properly, going of the road completely, ending up between rocks. It took all of us to get my bike out and I rode on... at snail pace...
Finally the descend into Rhodes where we had to spend the night because of our (my) slow progress. But the fun and games were not finished yet, no more falls, but the way down was one of the most insane roads I have ever seen, thank god it was a cement road, the steepest road I have ever driven up or down, one hairpin after the next in quick succession and a ridiculously steep and high drop off on the right, one small mistake and you are dead, not overdramatized for effect, DEAD like disco! It was awesome though... no rocks, no ruts, no unpredictability and I did it with relative ease, concentration levels of a virgin disarming his girlfriends bra though!
Eventually we reached Rhodes, and what a magical place, nested within a 360 degree mountain range, with only a few dirt passes that will get you there to ad to the drama of the small town (31 permanent residents). We decided to camp and went for food and drink at the Hotel. I licked my wounds, nursed my ego, made some jokes, drank some shots, ate some pizza and reflected with a special bunch of guys, on one of the best, worst, exciting, depressing, easiest, toughest, scariest, most relaxing, epic, memorable days of my life!!!
