Lesotho - the ride that broke me (and my bike...)

[MickeyT]

I apologize beforehand for the swearing in the clips and in my written ride report.  I tried to portray my emotions at that specific moment in time...

"What the f*ck just happened now??" I thought by myself as I watch the tail lights of the other two 650GS disappear over the ridge while I lay trapped beneath my bike.  I flick the kill-switch of the bike to try and stop the back E07 from spinning and then try to get my leg out from beneath the bike - Nada - it is pinned beneath the weight of the bike and my back-breaker luggage.  "Ok - try and get the drybag off".  Good thought in principle, but can't reach the Rok-Straps.  "F*ck!"

This was not how I planned my Lesotho trip.  In fact - everything went wrong from the start, and now I'm screwed. 

The only items I can reach, are my water and my pocket camera, so what the hell - I take a sip and take a shot or two...

 

[Wolzac]

Hit it Bro!

 

[Uge690]

:sip:

 

[Frannarossi]

Gooi laat ons kan sien wat het waar gebeur........

 

[Hentie bm]

:happy1:

 

[Mark Hardy]

This should be good...

 

[Herminator]

Sub  :ricky:

 

[Scenic Ride]

Kom nou...,  die spanning loop hoog!

 

[diebul]

:sip:

 

[lj111]

:sip:

 

[throttle jockey]

:sip: Fucking hurry up already

 

[throttle jockey]

Tick Tock Tick Tock

 

[woody1]

:sip:

 

[MickeyT]

So - how did it all started?  Buddies of a mate of mine organized the trip, and as a relatively newbie in the game - I jumped at the opportunity.
We planned to load the 3 bikes on a trailer, hook it to my X5 and travel from Fish Hoek, overnight in Dordreght and the next day park the car and trailer in Matatiele, jump on the bikes, take the gravel highway to Underberg and Himeville, scoot up Sani, have a couple of beers, overnight there, do Katse dam via Chieftain's road and then the next day go via Thaba Sseka, Sehonghong, the Matabeng pass up to Sehlabathebe.  No mess no fuss... RIGHT!

40 km from Graaf Reinett the X5 broke down.  After waiting 90 minutes in the heat, we got it towed to Graaf Reinett where it was discovered the crank-pulley was bust.  We stayed over that night and 06:00 the next morning, I jumped on the bike, ride the 250-odd km to Port Elizabeth, picked up the last one they had (just under R8k), to arrive 11:30.  Got it fixed and a total of R11k down the line we were on our way to sleep over at Matatiele.

 

[ReaperMan]

:sip:

 

[BFG]

sub

 

[MickeyT]

So now - all our plans are in shambles.  We decided not to chase the group, sleep over at Sani, cut-out Katse and go directly to Sehlabathebe...  Again - in principle 230-odd km seemed quite manageable...  But I'm now getting ahead of myself!

 

[katana]

Did you try to push the bike off with your other foot?  Normally works

 

[Bill p]

:sip:

 

[Bazinga]

:sip: