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

[Dwerg]

MK, hier is 'n foto van toe ek laas jaar op is wat presies geneem is op die deel wat jy vas gesit het. Daai step up wat mens sien is omtrent knie hoogte. In die deel is daar nog min klippe ook. Daar was dele wat nie een soliede deel grond gehad het nie, net klippe  :ricky:

 

[Slainte Mhaith]

MK, hier is 'n foto van toe ek laas jaar op is wat presies geneem is op die deel wat jy vas gesit het. Daai step up wat mens sien is omtrent knie hoogte. In die deel is daar nog min klippe ook. Daar was dele wat nie een soliede deel grond gehad het nie, net klippe   :ricky:

Daai was April 2012?  Teen December 2012 was die pas 'n totale ander storie sonder klippe of step-ups. In die video hierbo sien ek is gabions ook nog bygevoeg.  Hulle verander die pas nou 'vinnig'.

 

[Dwerg]

MK, hier is 'n foto van toe ek laas jaar op is wat presies geneem is op die deel wat jy vas gesit het. Daai step up wat mens sien is omtrent knie hoogte. In die deel is daar nog min klippe ook. Daar was dele wat nie een soliede deel grond gehad het nie, net klippe   :ricky:

Daai was April 2012?  Teen December 2012 was die pas 'n totale ander storie sonder klippe of step-ups. In die video hierbo sien ek is gabions ook nog bygevoeg.  Hulle verander die pas nou 'vinnig'.

Dis reg ja. Het ook maar seker baie met reen val en verkeer na dit te doen

 

[Frannarossi]

Nice fotos man,gooi nog!

 

[drewdza]

:-\ :'( what the hell happened to Sani? retaining walls, no cricket balls, gravel highway.....sad to see  :-[

 

[MickeyT]

MK, hier is 'n foto van toe ek laas jaar op is wat presies geneem is op die deel wat jy vas gesit het. Daai step up wat mens sien is omtrent knie hoogte. In die deel is daar nog min klippe ook. Daar was dele wat nie een soliede deel grond gehad het nie, net klippe   :ricky:

Goeie bliksem!  So het die Matabeng pas gelyk, wat ons die volgende dag gery het!

 

[Mark Hardy]

Hey MT, I don't care if you don't write a single word in this RR as your photos tell the story, I have never seen such a good photo that captures Sani like yours has.  :thumleft:

 

[laurika]

I agree with mark hardy..the pics make it worth the wait.

 

[punisher]

yes you pics are fantastic
:thumleft: :thumleft: :thumleft: :thumleft:

 

[1ougat]

1..2..3 stoot. ..1.2..3. STOOT......  :lol8: :lol8: ........  ADA hier kom ons ...... :thumleft:

 

[jeff]

subscribe :thumleft:

 

[MickeyT]

The next morning we started off with a delicious buffet breakfast.  We headed off to Mokhotlong to top-up on our fuel.  This road also nears completion so a lot of construction vehicles blocked the way. At Mokhotlong we stopped at the Chinese supermarket in the main road (10 kilometres if you turn right at the T-junction).  We turned back the way we came and battled to find the turn-off to Menoaneng.  The first couple of kilometres weren't that bad, but did Johan manage to make a spectacular exit from a moving bike.  He managed to hurt his knee real bad, but nothing that duct tape and a small dressing couldn't fix. The road became progressively more challenging with more boulders the further we went.

I have to add that during this day we covered 230 kilometres in 11 hours.  There were no stops for pictures or for lunch.  We had a quick stop for fuel and a couple of quick stops for a sip of water or to pick up a bike.  Most of the shots taken that day, came from the GoPro set to take a pic a minute or so.

 

[MickeyT]

Some more pics

 

[MegaPix]

Man verlang ek nou na daai Maluti bier.... Heerlik. Nes die storie

 

[MickeyT]

After Johan's fall, we had a quick break and then we pushed through for couple of hours.  I was doing great and had a nice rhythm going, when all of a sudden the shit hit the fan.
I was coming around a bend in the road and followed the vehicles' tracks where there  were less loose boulders and gravel when one such a cricket ball sent me off into the rut.  A storm water sort-of bridge was a looming in front of me with a drop-of of at least two meters on the right side of the road.  In my effort to get the bike out of the rut, the front wheel hit a biggish stone and I went eating dirt with the bike ending up on my leg.

I can remember seeing the tail lights of my mates riding off in a dust cloud.  That 20 minutes proved quite useful for this riding report as I actually decided there and then to use it as an opening. I was so pissed-off with myself, as it was due to a lapse in concentration.  Funny enough - although this fall occurred at about 40 km/h the damage to the bike was minimal.  After Kobus stopped next to me, the first thing I told him was that nothing in my body was broken.  We picked up the bike, I swore a tad and realized that only one indicator was broken and that the exhaust had a bump.

Only after 10 minutes back in the saddle did I realize that the handlebars were loose.  This became a huge problem, as I have fitted after-market handlebar raisers that needs Allen-keys to tighten instead of the BMW starpoint tool.

 

[MickeyT]

some more pics

 

[MickeyT]

My GoPro ran out of battery power unfortunately, and I only had time to put the charger on after Johan's 2nd fall at the foothills of the Matabeng pass.  I did, however, managed to take a quick pano of where the Orange River started making its way to South Africa.

In this time I also have realized that I have popped a fork seal.  Standing up while riding also became almost impossible with the handlebars swinging to and fro - if you hit a bump in the road you will push down on the handlebar and automatically close the throttle.  The same applies in reverse if you hit a hole in the road.

With this fall, Johan injured his ankle and all of a sudden we could not get his bike to start.  We have looked at all the possibilities and checked everything and then only I thought of a post here on WD...  The side stand switch...  Fiddling with that we soon realized that that was the problem and we can now say with certainty that if you cut all the wires and connect the brown and white wires, you will bypass this kak switch.  We spent a long time discovering this which came back and bite us in the ass later on.

 

[RD]

Nice Pics MT :hello2:

 

[MickeyT]

By this time my concentration was gone - I started stalling the bike and the handlebar issue got me swearing like a sailor.

The weather also changed dramatically as one can see in the following clips that was taken within an hour of each other. The Matabeng pass is in my mind much more spectacular than the Sani.  It goes on for ever and will put your confidence and your bike to the test.

By now my handlebar became a huge risk.  I was tired and the duct tape that we used proved to be ineffective.

The next 3 clips speak for themselves...

https://youtu.be/wd1IVsITlFM

https://youtu.be/VlZlBxU_r_E

https://youtu.be/AE_2ga81G5M  

 

[spoedvark]

Momentum!