Jerrycan
Race Dog
We set out on yet another adventure weekend, leaving Johburg on Fri afternoon planning to return on Monday. We have just enough time to reach our overnight spot in last daylight. Three riders as opposed to just me and Linda, PGPatrick joins us on his TW. We arrived at the overnight cabin in Northwest and got the campfire going to braai supper.
Saturday we play in the sand on the farm and get the bikes down rediculously steep slopes to take pics on the river bank.
Water at the cabin runs low so I turn my TW into a water cart by strapping the 20l can to my seat and off we go to fetch water at the nearby farm house.
Patrick posing for Linda
During the hottest part of the day we laze around the cabin, Patrick fixing his lighter socket to charge his cellphone.
We took a late afternoon ride challenging the sand monster. Sunday morning we set out to Wolmaransstad for lunch in civilisation taking a gravel road and we planned to check out some ruins on the way. I led with Patrick and Linda following. The plan was for Patrick to ride sweeper but Linda insisted on riding sweeper so she could determine her own pace and after all she had more gravel experience than Patrick. The narrow gravel road is somewhat corrugated and I settled on 60kmh as a comfortable speed, the TW very happy and I very comfortable. About 15 kms from our base camp I hit a sandy patch where a farmroad crosses the gravel road, the TW shifted her rear ever so slightly but the speed carried me through without a glitch. I was slightly worried about the two riders following but decided against stopping to warn them about the sand since by the time I slagged down they would have reached the sand also slowing down and the sand might then catch them upon deceleration instead of just cruising through. I went over a blind hill and reached the turnoff to the ruins, stopped to wait for them while taking a sip of water. By the time I put the waterbottle away I still did not see them in my mirror and instantly knew all was not well. I turned around and as I cleared the blind hill I saw Linda down. Patrick saw her go down in his mirror and was already there, kneeling next to her where she was lying in the middle of the gravel road.
I have seen many broken humans in my life, two years army and eight years press photographer, train accidents, plane accidents, bomb blasts, car crashes, freak accidents, but I was arriving at the crash scene of my love, friend, soulmate, riding partner, it was Linda lying there in the dust and not moving..
Adrenalin kicked in as I dismounted after I skid to a halt and time slurred to slow motion. I looked at her bike as I took my helmet off and surprisingly logically started reading sign:
The TW high sided about 30 meters after leaving the sand and the front wheel carved half moons at 4 meter intervals up to where it high sided. By now I had my gloves off and was running towards Linda knowing that a high side might have had the bike on her at some time, that she was thrown through the air and might have neck or spinal injuries or serious bone fracture depending on how she landed. As I approached her I saw she was conscious, first good sign. No immediate need to move her, we were in plain open view of possible oncoming traffic from both sides and she had her Think Bike luminous vest on. By the time I reached her I have taken stock of her limb positions and saw no obvious fractures. First question: "Where does it hurt?" "All over" she replied. It was sweltering hot there in the middle of the gravel road but I noticed her helmet took a beating on the side so had to inspect her neck before we could move her. After loosening her chin strap I slipped my hand under her hair and her neck seemed fine so we carefully slipped her Arai off. I proceeded to feel for fractures starting at her right ankle and saw with great relief that she yanked her leg away as I touched her knee telling me it hurt, spinal cord might be ok. She promptly sat up and complained about seeing white spots. Concussion I reconed. We took her jacket off and her arms were fine save a serious carpet burn where the jacket lining imprinted itself on her skin. Shock started to set in and she said the was nauseous. It was time to get her out of the road and sun, the closest shade was a small tree about 30m away. I walked over and saw level ground and shade under it. We carefully helped her up and she could walk with a limp. She was ok, I cannot describe in words the relief I felt. We sat her down in the shade and gave her some water. She was still complaining about the white flashes so I checked her pupils, they seemed normal and she was coherent and by now close to tears and angry at herself at the same time for shock had set in. She refused to lie down and I was planning her evacuation. I smoked a cigarette while observing her carefully and then left her with Patrick at her side to ride back to the farm to muster my cousin and his bakkie to evacuate Linda and her broken TW back to the cabin.
The TW took a serious beating but when we arrived with the bakkie Patrick informed us that the TW could in fact still ride, the instrument panel was destroyed in total, the pannier racks were deformed beyond recognition but the TW was never the less still willing to go.
Linda out of ATGATT and not impressed with my idea to go back home to fetch the cage and get her back to Jhb without her bike. Patrick and the Dawgs to the rescue, Patrick rides back to Jhb and post a request for a bike trailer, SMS'ed us half an hour later to tell us a LOT of Dawgs immediately responded with offers for a trailer and he'll be back first thing Mon morning with a trailer courtesy Sidepod and Holga.
The speedo, jammed at about 35kmh, she managed to rub off a lot of speed before she lost it.
Sunday night Linda was over the shock and started recalling events. Having looked at the marks on the gravel and listening to her I concluded that she experienced tank slap. The bike only became unstable after leaving the sand and the front end was in oscillation judging by the half moon carve marks in the gravel and it got worse until it high sided. She tried to hang onto the bars but was flung side to side so violently that she left the foot pegs.
The Arai, a write off, her head, slight concussion. Long live ATGATT!
Carpet burn under the elbow pad.
Linda and het TW the day before while it was still in one piece.
Fart arsing around the camp while waiting for Patrick and the trailer this morning.
So tomorrow starts the insurance procedure and Linda must get a check up for possible latent damage.
Thanks again to all involved in the rescue operation and thank the Lord for the happy ending of this adventure trip.
Saturday we play in the sand on the farm and get the bikes down rediculously steep slopes to take pics on the river bank.
Water at the cabin runs low so I turn my TW into a water cart by strapping the 20l can to my seat and off we go to fetch water at the nearby farm house.
Patrick posing for Linda
During the hottest part of the day we laze around the cabin, Patrick fixing his lighter socket to charge his cellphone.
We took a late afternoon ride challenging the sand monster. Sunday morning we set out to Wolmaransstad for lunch in civilisation taking a gravel road and we planned to check out some ruins on the way. I led with Patrick and Linda following. The plan was for Patrick to ride sweeper but Linda insisted on riding sweeper so she could determine her own pace and after all she had more gravel experience than Patrick. The narrow gravel road is somewhat corrugated and I settled on 60kmh as a comfortable speed, the TW very happy and I very comfortable. About 15 kms from our base camp I hit a sandy patch where a farmroad crosses the gravel road, the TW shifted her rear ever so slightly but the speed carried me through without a glitch. I was slightly worried about the two riders following but decided against stopping to warn them about the sand since by the time I slagged down they would have reached the sand also slowing down and the sand might then catch them upon deceleration instead of just cruising through. I went over a blind hill and reached the turnoff to the ruins, stopped to wait for them while taking a sip of water. By the time I put the waterbottle away I still did not see them in my mirror and instantly knew all was not well. I turned around and as I cleared the blind hill I saw Linda down. Patrick saw her go down in his mirror and was already there, kneeling next to her where she was lying in the middle of the gravel road.
I have seen many broken humans in my life, two years army and eight years press photographer, train accidents, plane accidents, bomb blasts, car crashes, freak accidents, but I was arriving at the crash scene of my love, friend, soulmate, riding partner, it was Linda lying there in the dust and not moving..
Adrenalin kicked in as I dismounted after I skid to a halt and time slurred to slow motion. I looked at her bike as I took my helmet off and surprisingly logically started reading sign:
The TW high sided about 30 meters after leaving the sand and the front wheel carved half moons at 4 meter intervals up to where it high sided. By now I had my gloves off and was running towards Linda knowing that a high side might have had the bike on her at some time, that she was thrown through the air and might have neck or spinal injuries or serious bone fracture depending on how she landed. As I approached her I saw she was conscious, first good sign. No immediate need to move her, we were in plain open view of possible oncoming traffic from both sides and she had her Think Bike luminous vest on. By the time I reached her I have taken stock of her limb positions and saw no obvious fractures. First question: "Where does it hurt?" "All over" she replied. It was sweltering hot there in the middle of the gravel road but I noticed her helmet took a beating on the side so had to inspect her neck before we could move her. After loosening her chin strap I slipped my hand under her hair and her neck seemed fine so we carefully slipped her Arai off. I proceeded to feel for fractures starting at her right ankle and saw with great relief that she yanked her leg away as I touched her knee telling me it hurt, spinal cord might be ok. She promptly sat up and complained about seeing white spots. Concussion I reconed. We took her jacket off and her arms were fine save a serious carpet burn where the jacket lining imprinted itself on her skin. Shock started to set in and she said the was nauseous. It was time to get her out of the road and sun, the closest shade was a small tree about 30m away. I walked over and saw level ground and shade under it. We carefully helped her up and she could walk with a limp. She was ok, I cannot describe in words the relief I felt. We sat her down in the shade and gave her some water. She was still complaining about the white flashes so I checked her pupils, they seemed normal and she was coherent and by now close to tears and angry at herself at the same time for shock had set in. She refused to lie down and I was planning her evacuation. I smoked a cigarette while observing her carefully and then left her with Patrick at her side to ride back to the farm to muster my cousin and his bakkie to evacuate Linda and her broken TW back to the cabin.
The TW took a serious beating but when we arrived with the bakkie Patrick informed us that the TW could in fact still ride, the instrument panel was destroyed in total, the pannier racks were deformed beyond recognition but the TW was never the less still willing to go.
Linda out of ATGATT and not impressed with my idea to go back home to fetch the cage and get her back to Jhb without her bike. Patrick and the Dawgs to the rescue, Patrick rides back to Jhb and post a request for a bike trailer, SMS'ed us half an hour later to tell us a LOT of Dawgs immediately responded with offers for a trailer and he'll be back first thing Mon morning with a trailer courtesy Sidepod and Holga.
The speedo, jammed at about 35kmh, she managed to rub off a lot of speed before she lost it.
Sunday night Linda was over the shock and started recalling events. Having looked at the marks on the gravel and listening to her I concluded that she experienced tank slap. The bike only became unstable after leaving the sand and the front end was in oscillation judging by the half moon carve marks in the gravel and it got worse until it high sided. She tried to hang onto the bars but was flung side to side so violently that she left the foot pegs.
The Arai, a write off, her head, slight concussion. Long live ATGATT!
Carpet burn under the elbow pad.
Linda and het TW the day before while it was still in one piece.
Fart arsing around the camp while waiting for Patrick and the trailer this morning.
So tomorrow starts the insurance procedure and Linda must get a check up for possible latent damage.
Thanks again to all involved in the rescue operation and thank the Lord for the happy ending of this adventure trip.
