DECEMBER MISSION 2007

[Camelman]

December Mission: Day 1

It was damn hot. Hot and humid. We couldnâ??t open the tent anti-mozzi which slowed down air circulation even more. The two of us were lying side by side with helmets, boots and riding gear stacked between us in a 3 man tent. The thunder clouds which had been building up this afternoon were ready to unleash their fury. It was 20:00, maybe later. It was dark, I couldnâ??t find my watch, but who cared about time.
It was the end of day one. Day one of our December Mission 2007. We had rode 469km, and were off-course by  169km.

We had left home at 05:00. The sun was just coming up as we crossed behind Durbanville. It was a beautiful morning. Michael and I were making turns riding behind each other to check each others load. We had about 40kg each strapped to the back of our bikes with different DIY methods. All held in place by duck-tape and tie downs. We had between the two of us 15l of petrol in 3x 5l jerry cans, one 5l jerry can with drinking water, food for 3 days, and the rest was made up of tools and spares for the bikes. Michael had just transferred the BMW 650 Dakar onto his name, and I was on my KTM 950 Adventure. We were going to ride. That was the mission.

 

[Camelman]

As we crossed over Beinskloof pass, the sun had just risen above the mountains, and Cape Town was bathed in light. It was beautiful. I was laughing and singing out load in my helmet. This was what it was all about. This was anti-stress. Me, Katoom, time, and a GPS with Tracks4Africa loaded!

After a quick stop in Ceres to get the last provisions, we settled in for the ride to Sutherland. The plan was to ride to Prieska on day 1, and overnight at a camp site next to the Orange river. The gravel road was good. Even had time to stop and help a dude and his pillion that were unsure of the correct gravel road to Matjiesfontein. It was great to see another biker out there.

It was hot. Jeez. Under my vest,  body-armour and MX jersey, I was sweating like a pig. There was not a cloud in sight. We were doing 100km/h and reached the last T-junction between Sutherland and Maatjiesfontein quite suddenly. I had enough distance to stop, and just saw Michael passing me on the right, aiming to overtake the sign-post. He managed to stop the bike before plunging down the embankment and into the bushes, and then slowly toppled his bike. In real WD fashion I had the camera out in a flash and recorded the feat, before helping him to pick up his bike. The bikes were loaded so heavily, and with the weight up high, were impossible to pick up alone. Seems the ABS had decided that there was not enough tyre traction and hence, no brakes. Lesson one learnt in the usage of ABS off-road. Safely in the â??offâ?? position is my only recommendation.

It was mid-morning when we reached Sutherland. The town was busy as it was Saturday morning and most of the farm workers were in town. We refuelled, had a coolie, and immediately decided to head for the coast. Prieska would have to wait; we were heading for cooler climate. 30km out of town we headed left on a T4A road, and then followed the arrow. According to the GPS it would be approximately 100km before reaching the N1. It was a scenic road. Some sections very bad, with sandy patches and stream beds washed away by the recent rains. Everything was green. The landscape was more like the bushveld than the Karoo. Everywhere were dams, filled with water. Windmills were pumping strong streams of water. Must have rained a lot in these parts, I thought. As we crossed the Komsberg Pass I was glad to have taken this road. The view of the surrounding landscape from the pass was awesome.

At a windmill with a dam, we stopped to fill our camelbacks. The water was cool and sweat. In this heat it was heaven. My watch was indicating 37 degrees C. Eish. It was close to 14:00 when we stopped for lunch under some trees near an old homestead. Where the road went right through what looked like an old cattle pen with some huge trees to hide from the sun, we had a can of baked beans each. There was no way I was unpacking to reach the stove. Anyway, it was a choice between baked beans and two minute noodles. Baked beans won.  With the exception of  the stinging flies, it was quite nice.

 

[Camelman]

An hour or so later we crossed a slime covered low water bridge over the Buffels-river. The bridge was very slippery. I could feel my front wheel wanting to go wandering at any moment. I was quite relieved reaching the other side, when, looking in my rear-view mirror, I found Michael missing. I put my bike on the side stand and looked around. He was waving at me from under his bike. Dutifully I reached for the camera to capture the moment, then slipped and slid across to where he was lying pinned under the bike. As the bike had slipped, it had pinned his left leg under the engine, basically between the front wheel and bash plate. I lifted the Dakar pulling on the handlebars, and Michael pushing from beneath, and freed his leg. His MX bootâ??s one clip was broken, and he had a bruise on his calf. The calf protector and boot had taken damage with the fall. I shuddered to think what heâ??s calf would have looked like if he was dressed in jeans and running shoes. I was glad that we had decided to dress as if riding the Paris-Dakar. An injury in the middle of nowhere was the last thing I wanted.  We almost fell twice trying to push heâ??s bike over the bridge. I didnâ??t know how I had made it across uneventfully with the heavy KTM.

We reached Lainsburg, to find the place a mad house. Holiday travellers were everywhere with busses, taxis and cars. R&B music blasting from every window. After the peace and quite of the Karoo we just wanted to get missing again. We had enough fuel in our spare jerry-cans, so we just drank a cold drink, answered zillion questions from other okes and hightailed outa there. We would go for Outshoorn we decided. From there we will decide another route. It was close to 16:00 by now. We had been on the bikes for 11 hours. My GPS said that a campsite was close, Buffelspoort Nature Reserve. Even had the road mapped. This turned out to be a rock filled, sandy two lane path, which on zooming in to 800m, had the word Eco-trail. That means, this was 4 x 4 testing terrain, or something. After being a day in the saddle we were not in the mood for this. So after the first river crossing, in which I almost lost it, we decided to camp. The river was a branch of the Buffelsriver and was flowing quite strong. We made camp on the first available semi-level spot, and went for a swim. Lying there in the cool water, with no sounds but the river and nature, we talked crap until it was almost dark. Dinner was the two-minute noodles and desert was the hard ground. We had left the camping mattresses at home. It began to rain. It was time to sleep. My last thought while manoeuvring my hip around a stone, was that if it rained too much, we could be stuck here, as the river showed sign of rising quite high and flowing fast. We would not be able to cross if the river came down. But that was tomorrowâ??s worries. It had been a good ride.

End: Day 1

 

[1X]

Waiting

:happy1:

 

[Camelman]

I'll write Day 2 this evening. Promise.

 

[Operator]

Thanks. Looks so far............ 

 

[mountainboy]

heeeeeeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I'm gonna enjoy this one!!

looks great

 

[pierredb]

Looks great.....please continue.....

 

[edgy]

Makes me edgy to go ridin

 

[Camelman]

Sorry for the delay; I had to do a quick ride yesterday.

Here's Day 2

December Mission: Day 2

I was awake before first light. It was still raining. â??Mike, you awake?â??, I said in the dark. Yip, came the answer. We lay there talking a bit until it was light enough to see. Everything was wet outside. I slipped my feet into my sandles and went to look at the river. The level hadnâ??t risen much. We would be able to cross, bar any sudden cloud burst upstream. There was a light drizzle as we made some coffee and started dressing inside the tent. Breakfast consisted of instant oats and more coffee. I went for a bos-k@c, spade in hand. Brought back flash backs of my time in Lucapa in Angola, 100km from the Congo border. I had other equipment other than a spade and toilet paper on every BK as well. Haha.

While packing we discussed the days route. As it was raining this side, we thought we would make for Willowmore. Then do the Baviaans. The last time I was in the Baviaans it was raining as well, and I was doing a 24 hour endurance mountain bike race called the Trans-Baviaans. Iâ??ve always wanted to go back and camp somewhere along that route.

We cleaned our campsite, keeping to our motto: â??Leave only tracksâ??, crossed the river and proceeded to ride one of the most scenic routes Iâ??ve ever been fortunate enough to ride. The gravel road led through the mountains. The rain had stopped and all was going well. Through Seweweke Poort then Outshoorn. The GPS showed an alternate route to Outshoorn, which consisted of a old tar road, which must have been the main road before the R62 was build. In Outshoorn we tried to find mattresses, but found a Stears instead.  My stomach stopped grumbling when I ate the last chip of my King Stear Burger. It was 11:00 when we left Outshoorn for Union dale. We were going to take the same route Michael had done in the Cape-Epic mountain bike race earlier the year.

 

[Camelman]

Everywhere was signs of flood damage. The normal slow flowing river had bursts its banks taking everything in a 100 meters next to it with. Trees had been uprooted. It must have been hectic. The heat and humidity continued.

Coming down a embankment we came apon some cows lying in the middle of the road. I wanted to take some pics, but Michael hooted, and the cows took off. I wasnâ??t going to loose out on the pic and set after them with the camera in my left hand and seeing the road through the viewfinder. I got my pic just before they dashed into some bushes next to the road.

 

[Camelman]

I had almost finished all the water in my 2 l camelback when we found same â??Road Closed Due to Flood Damageâ?? road signs. Off-course we continued straight ahead. What was a route without a decent river crossing. We found a bridge under water 50meters wide. I walked through to test the bridge., as I wasnâ??t planning ditching my bike in the river cause the bridge was missing a part. The water was about 40cm deep across the bridge, and the paving was firm. No slippery stuff here. I stood on the other side as a beacon for Michael to aim for so he could follow the line I had walked through. Then it was my turn. All went well.

 

[Camelman]

As it was flippen hot, we decided a swim in the river would be just what the doctor ordered. Not wanting to wet our undies or search for shorts, we decided on a skinny. Man the river was great. Some places it was more than 3 metersâ?? deep. We messed about  in the river for more than an hour, then at last decided to leave when the first drops of rain started falling. I got out and walked to the bikes. I looked back towards Michael and found a lady with her 3 kids coming toward the river. I had not heard Michaelâ??s warning call as my ears were still filled with water. So I did the only thing I could think of, ran like hell for the water, and dived right in. Michael was cracking up. He said that I had looked like a sprinter with a â??slingerâ??. Hahaha. So there we were. Stuck in a river, with our clothes 20 metres away, and strangers hiding behind bushes waiting for us to get out. So we sat. Eventually they gave up and walked up another path, occasionally looking over there shoulders. As soon as they were out of sight we made for our bikes.

 

[Camelman]

The rain was falling harder now. I wasnâ??t keen to ride in mud as that would slow us down, and we would not be able to make Uniondale before nightfall. The drizzle continued as we made our way, following the GPS towards Uniondale.

We reached Uniondale just before dark. The camping site had nice soft grass and warm water. After the previous nightâ??s hard sleep, we were looking forward to a good nights rest. We had baked beans and two-minute noodles for dinner. Just as we got ready to climb into the sleeping bags, it began raining in earnest. This was not good. I called my wife and asked her to check the SA Weather web site. She called back a while later with the news that the area had an 80% chance for rain for the next week. Again the weather had changed our route. We would go north again. Maybe tomorrow we would reach Prieska, then Botswana. But the weather wasnâ??t finished with us yet.

End Day 2