As was to become the routine for the next 9 days, the camp roused with murmurs, mutters, hoes and poep as the sky lightened and people began their morning rituals, sorting and packing of gear and bikes. Some had a routine while others seemed more haphazard, but in the end all had to arrive at the same point before being ready to ride for the day. So the 1st few hours of every morning would consist of ablutions, pills and potions (this was a morning and nighttime ritual) sorting and packing ones personal bags, kitting up - stage1, filling hydration packs, packing stretchers and chairs (fewer bothered with tents each night), packing the Iveco, coffee, breakfast and kitchen duties (yay the pap pot), Bike prep, chain clean and lube, bike PRI (instructor supervised), camp, ride and overall hi-level route briefing, kitting up stage2, final ablutions, convoy order - and go!
We left camp and headed back through town to cross the N7 eastwards before leaving the tar to cut a diagonal route towards the river in the north. It was good to be back in this part of the world and the vistas and scenery shout Adventure, vast rugged landscapes and roads that disappear into the distance - better yet, not another vehicle in sight.
The 1st few km of gravel highway were un-nerving for me, so many little things that were not familiar to me, riding in such a large group, on such a large bike, not being able to just stop and adjust or take in the scenery, but the most unnerving thing was the way the bike was behaving, it seemed to want to throw me off at every opportunity. Now I have owned and ridden larger bikes before, but I have settled on smaller and lighter as my personal preference, but this thing would shake its rear at the sight of any loose surface, and it was a case of hang on and ride it out - I started watching others in the group to see if they were experiencing the same, but everyone else seemed to be chilling and enjoying themselves. Eventually we stopped for a break and Denzil came over to me and asked if I was ok, because my bike was looking a little un-settled, we discussed with Andrew and agreed we should check tyre pressures and maybe tweak the suspension settings a little - turns out my pressures were close to 3 bar (so much for PRI
) and the the front fork settings were very different on each side from the factory - so we lowered the pressures and set the adjustment to somewhere in the middle of the range, equal on both sides.
Drink, rehydrate, snack, pee - ride.
Miles better, the ass waggle was gone, and so we settled down into the rhythm of the landscape.
As the day progressed and we moved closer to the river, the tracks became more and more track like, not realising how loose things were getting I nearly threw the bike down in a left hand bend, but somehow managed to hold on, we stopped for a break but with no shade to be had we moved on quickly and started the decent to the river. A twisty sand section nearly had me on the ground again, but I managed to paddle my way through final stretch. A little further and there was another run of thickish sand, at the end of which one of the Landcruisers was parked, directly above and in the centre of the run was the drone (now I am no genius, but that must indicate a good photo opportunity, otherwise why would the cameraman go to all the trouble?). Sure enough like a moth to the flame I ran out of talent, right where I was supposed to.
I hit the ground running and quickly had the bike back up and started, in my haste I forgot to disengage traction control completely and promptly dug a nice big hole with a size 18 Metzeler Karoo 3
Denzil and Stephan helped me get going again and the convoy stopped under the only "tree" in the area to rest and rehydrate.
Several of the party seemed about to take a nap as the radio crackled and Hardy called us down to the river, we set off again through a mix of sandy and rocky terrain toward the waiting vehicle at the edge of the river. Eventually we all parked up and did not need a 2nd invitation to cool off in the waters of the Gariep (Orange) - it was heaven, the only thing missing was an ice cold beer and according to Jessie a pizza.
Hardy called a few of us over and told us to kit up and meet the crew on the small plateau away from the river. In turn we were each spoken with and given pointers by the instructors as to what we needed to work on when facing the "sand monster", before being set free to go and apply our new found knowledge. Andrew had some good advice for me about being more relaxed and loose on the bike, to shift my weight back a little more and to keep my head up. All of which had me feeling way more confident, and before long I actually started to enjoy myself. I hindsight I should have found some really thick sand to play in (but more on that in tomorrows report) For now, everyone seemed pleased with my progress.
The rest of the camp eventually moved up to the plateau and we set up camp for the night. As the sun set we were marvelled by the colours reflected by the surrounding landscape and we all knew the adventure had well and truly begun.
Then the wind began to blow...