KZN Outride

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JonW

Grey Hound
Staff member
Global Moderator
Joined
Aug 28, 2006
Messages
7,642
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Location
Hilton KZN
Bike
Boss Hoss (all models)
The KZN dogs had a most enjoyable ride yesterday, great to see some old faces I have not ridden with for a while, and good to meet some new ones who I am sure will be joining us plenty in the future.

Riders were:

Navi -  XT660
Bruno - KLR
Allan - GS800
Andy - GS800
IanB - KTM950
Husky - KTM640
wilddoc - BMW Dakar
Outthere - BMW1200
Pete - XT 660
Offside - Yamaha 660 Tenere
Me - sad long in the tooth dirty KLR

Nice mix of bikes and riding experience


Left Hilton at 06h00 on Sunday morning and headed out on the main road through the Karkloof. This is normally a really pleasant ride through a really scenic part of the midlands. Yesterday it was not pleasant at all though. The combination of dust thrown up by a few construction trucks and early morning mist was a real pain in the *** and left visors and glasses coated in a layer of mud, but luckily no incidents resulting from this.

After the Karkloof we re-gathered and then headed down the track behind CraigieBurn dam, one of my favourite routes at the moment.

Offside on his brand new Tenere


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Husky, who I have not had the pleasure of riding with for a couple of years

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Allan on his GS800 who had to leave the ride early due to one of his front forks "bursting". Sorry for the bad luck Allan, hope you get it sorted.

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On the CraigieBurn trail:

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From there we hit the main Middelrus dirt highway to Weenen where we stopped for fuel.

Just outside Weenen we got onto the track to Zingela Lodge. What a pleasure to ride through this game reserve, saw impala, kudu and zebra next to the track.

On the interesting and at times testing track to Zingela Lodge.

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At Zingela Lodge we were quick to find some shade at the outdoor pub on the banks of the Tugela River. This is really a fantastic spot to get away from it all, planning to come here again with the wives later this year for a couple of days.

The lodge provided us with some lunch as well as liquid refreshments

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Left Zingela at around midday along a new route that I had seen on Google Earth but had not been along yet, going through Kusa Kusa reserve.

I normally track the routes I do on Google Earth, then follow them from memory. This time the routes were pretty obscured by a band of cloud on GE so I could not do this. So what I did was a drew a track on Google Earthe, saved it a a KML file and sent it to Outthere, who loaded it onto his GPS, so we had a GPS route to follow if we got lost.

This track eventually took us to Colenso, where we skirted the town, got back on the tar and headed back to Weenen.

From Weenen we headed on a track towards Escourt, passing through some nice remote and rugged countryside.

At some stage we stopped next to a cultivated well weeded area, a couple of acres of dagga plants under cultivation in the middle of nowhere. This cash crop will no doubt earn some enterprising local a few rands of spending money  :D

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Once out of the sticks we headed on tar to Mooi River and then on to Nottingham Road for a few drinks.

Thanks all for a great days riding, really enjoyed it.

 
Very nice, sorry could not make it, family stuff etc, what on fro next weekend
 
Thanks guys for the kind comments  :thumleft:

If anyone ever wants to come and do some riding in KZN, please do get in touch and I will gladly show you some awesome riding countryside.
 
Thanks to Jon /Outthere and the bunch for a great day out.
Every time I ride with you guys I'm reminded that we live in a great place that will take many more rides to explore.
 
Looks like a really lekker ride guys. Offside - lekker new bike you have - trust that you are enjoying every minute on her.
 
Hey Jon perfect ride perfect report sorry we really need to get a new camera ours died
enjoyed every bit of yesterdays " Sometimes"  tricky route.  Thanks
 
your RR is makeing me homesick.
That plantation looks a bit fragile,always good to prune plants to encourage new growth. ::)
thanks :thumleft:
 
Thanks for the ride Jon. Pity the KTM 640 didn't enjoy it - a stone had smacked the bashplate eactly at the oil filter & cracked the filter.  Luckily Ivan stayed with me (good man!) and we limped to Howick where I left the bike at the BP, got a lift home with Ivan (good man!!!) and fetched it by trailer later that evening. In CT to day so haven't been able to get possible damage assessed as yet.

KLR's rule it seems - for now.

Anyone have details about the plastic bike rider that died in the Shongweni/Hammarsdale area; possibly from heat exhaustion (son of a friend of a friend)?
 
An off-road motorcyclist has lost his life after an accident while biking over rough terrain in the area. 

He was one of a number of bikers riding yesterday, when he somehow came off his vehicle. 

Once his friends realised he was missing, they alerted rescue officials. 

Mark Easton, who is from the high angle rescue unit Vema, says after many hours of searching with the help of a helicopter as well as locals, the biker was located on a narrow ledge on a cliff. 

The rescue mission took a gruelling six hours and special rope equipment had to be used.

Easton says, sadly, when the team got to him, he'd already died.

"It seems that his bike had crashed below the actual ravine and he had possibly tried to climb out ... we're not quite sure at this stage in time. The terrain was very rough, it was extremely vegetative, it was steep. Those cliffs are approximately 15 to 20m, maybe more, and the terrain ... to try and take the deceased out was extremely difficult."

Easton has thanked those involved for their efforts.

"All around it was a very good team effort from all the emergency services that worked alongside each other, and obviously our condolences to his family," he said.
 
husky said:
Thanks for the ride Jon. Pity the KTM 640 didn't enjoy it - a stone had smacked the bashplate eactly at the oil filter & cracked the filter.  Luckily Ivan stayed with me (good man!) and we limped to Howick where I left the bike at the BP, got a lift home with Ivan (good man!!!) and fetched it by trailer later that evening. In CT to day so haven't been able to get possible damage assessed as yet.

Sorry to hear Jon, just as well Ivan stayed with you. Thanks for helping out Ivan  :thumleft: good man indeed....
 
Awesome riding JonW.  :thumleft: Looks like you guys had a jol as usual.

Thanks for the RR
 
Great RR Jonw. My kitchen pass didn't allow for me to be out that long, but will definately make a plan for next time  :)

Looks like Husky was getting some "weeds" out of his engine.  :laughing4:
 
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