Pleco
Race Dog
OK, so I decided to organize a little bike trip through the Tankwa Karoo and back through Wupperthal via Doring River.
This trip came about, as I have (maybe "had" after this trip) a few friends that were newbs to this adventure biking thing. I did this loop about 4 years back with my old KLE, and it was fine then. Really it was!
The weather forecast kept on changing, so we were not sure if we should go. On Thursday, it look OKish, and we decided to go.
Then Mister Murphy stepped in.
Roost aka Rimless, were without rims for his KTM on Friday eve still. He eventually got them at about 8PM, but without a rear tyre fitted on the back rim. We decided to move our departure of 9AM on Saturday from CERES, to 10h30, so that he can catch up.
I took the backup vehicle with Bud and my bike to CERES, and left the bakkie at the Shell garage for Justin. (Justincase) On the way there it was absolutely bucketing down. We smsed the guys to hold on, so that we can let them know what the weather was like in Ceres. Too late, as they were already on the bikes.
Monkey boy arrived first. Completely soaked and frozen. The Spur staff took all his loose clothing, and hung it up in front of the grillers in the kitchen, while he was soaking the floor.
I phoned Mertenhof, and they assured me there was sunshine out that way, so I decided not to cancel the rest of the group.
Krag Kris, his son and Geoff arrived about an hour later, but they missed the worst of the rain.
Roost eventually managed to get a tyre fitted, and arrived at about 11h45. Now we were late. Our last fuel stop was now Prince Alfred's hamlet, as Oppieberg closes at 12h00. (The extra 50kms range added, caused a few problems later)
We got properly frozen and wet going over the koue bokkeveld, but when we arrived at Katbakkies, we rode into sunshine and completely dry roads. What a pleasure.
We followed the Calvinia road up to 80kms from Calvinia, and then took the turn off to Doring River. The 2 spoor to Doring, got a lot more sand, and quite a bit of really slick mud since the last time I was there.
Krag Kris had a spectacular low side, in the sand, with the Vstrom spraying sand meters into the air as he opened the throttle on the way down. Now damage to the bike or rider. He knows how pick the soft spots.
The road down the mountain to the river was washed away, and gave the newbs some good practice. (and some experience :mwink
We arrived at Doring at about 5PM, found the river in Flood, with the SAS Willehond on the other side and 7 bikes to get across, and not enough fuel to ride around! :biggrin:
I will now open this link to the rest of the crew, to start posting some pics before I write the rest of the RR.
This trip came about, as I have (maybe "had" after this trip) a few friends that were newbs to this adventure biking thing. I did this loop about 4 years back with my old KLE, and it was fine then. Really it was!
The weather forecast kept on changing, so we were not sure if we should go. On Thursday, it look OKish, and we decided to go.
Then Mister Murphy stepped in.
Roost aka Rimless, were without rims for his KTM on Friday eve still. He eventually got them at about 8PM, but without a rear tyre fitted on the back rim. We decided to move our departure of 9AM on Saturday from CERES, to 10h30, so that he can catch up.
I took the backup vehicle with Bud and my bike to CERES, and left the bakkie at the Shell garage for Justin. (Justincase) On the way there it was absolutely bucketing down. We smsed the guys to hold on, so that we can let them know what the weather was like in Ceres. Too late, as they were already on the bikes.
Monkey boy arrived first. Completely soaked and frozen. The Spur staff took all his loose clothing, and hung it up in front of the grillers in the kitchen, while he was soaking the floor.
I phoned Mertenhof, and they assured me there was sunshine out that way, so I decided not to cancel the rest of the group.
Krag Kris, his son and Geoff arrived about an hour later, but they missed the worst of the rain.
Roost eventually managed to get a tyre fitted, and arrived at about 11h45. Now we were late. Our last fuel stop was now Prince Alfred's hamlet, as Oppieberg closes at 12h00. (The extra 50kms range added, caused a few problems later)
We got properly frozen and wet going over the koue bokkeveld, but when we arrived at Katbakkies, we rode into sunshine and completely dry roads. What a pleasure.
We followed the Calvinia road up to 80kms from Calvinia, and then took the turn off to Doring River. The 2 spoor to Doring, got a lot more sand, and quite a bit of really slick mud since the last time I was there.
Krag Kris had a spectacular low side, in the sand, with the Vstrom spraying sand meters into the air as he opened the throttle on the way down. Now damage to the bike or rider. He knows how pick the soft spots.
The road down the mountain to the river was washed away, and gave the newbs some good practice. (and some experience :mwink
We arrived at Doring at about 5PM, found the river in Flood, with the SAS Willehond on the other side and 7 bikes to get across, and not enough fuel to ride around! :biggrin:
I will now open this link to the rest of the crew, to start posting some pics before I write the rest of the RR.
