Long, Fast & Lekker - 480 km's of Kzn heaven

[The Badger]

I have been wanting to do a decent ride for a while covering a fair distance in one day.
I asked JonW and Outhere to help out with the route through their backyard as they know that area so well. Thanks Jon and Kevin.

After the mental weather we have been having here in Kzn I have been slightly worried about the ride and dirt conditions. What a lekker surprise to wake up to a glorious morning without a cloud in sight. There was just a bit of mist around but this was burned off soon.

Woke up at 04h15 and Fran and I rode out our yard on the Badger at 04h50. On my way we stopped at EzzBee’s place and collected him and his wife Mich on their  Ktm. We then met up with Lamo on his 1200GSA and Brendon on his 800.

We were to meet everyone at the  Shongweni Polo Pony garage at 5h20am on Sat morning.

We pulled into the garage and saw Kieth Yam 1200, Tim GS 650, Philgil Ten 660 and Navi on his 660. Nice group so we filled out ICE tags and gave them to Fran for safe keeping, had a little chat about the ride and then left for Ashburton to meet JonW and Offside and Johan.

After greeting and deciding that we could not have too many breaks and stops due to the distance we had to cover.

Outhere had put the route onto mapsource and it told him that this route would take 21hrs……. Yeeah right…..hahahaha

We headed  north on a nice dirt road that bypassed Pmb and came out on the Mountain Rise Rd and headed down to the Wartburg Rd then on to a D rd running next to the Duzi river. Bypassed Abert Falls on to a D rd at York and through some awesome Natal plantations up to the Karkloof Rd .

JonW took over there and led us on an awesome route up and over the Karkloof where we had our first rest stop. The most stunning area you can imagine. Saw an Otto midden wich was a good sign. Every one had something to snack and drink. Lamo’s nicely prepared saamies were all in a mess from the top box. We were not happy….hahahaha

 

[The Badger]

We left the top of the Karkloof and Jon took us on some fantastic plantation and firebreak riding. Fran and I were shouting in our helmets.

We met up with Outhere and Sarah when we came out the plantations and the headed for Craigieburn Dam. We turned down past the dam wall and began one of the most awesome tracks that I have been on for a while. It was reasonably technical with lots of loose rocks witch made you concentrate really hard. The scenery was fantastic.

There were a few muddy patches that required some fancy footwork and one or two tricky little climbs. One or two small falls were had but nothing too hectic.

It was starting to get very warm and most were sweating by now.

Just before the Mooi River Falls Tim had his first puncture. It was a quick 45 min thanks to Outhere getting stuck into it. Took the tube out and repaired it. It was a pleasant time next to the road and Sarah, Mich and Fran kept all the blokes in high spirits.

The Mooi River Falls are tucked away and few people know its there let alone having seen them. After all the rains it was SPECTACULAR. Enjoy the pics.

There were a few falls going through the rocks and Jon’s fan packed up but all could carry on. On our way out Tim’s tyre went flat again so some slime was thrown in and we were off.

This was the time that Tim told us that he thought this was going to be an1,5 hr ride…..hahahaa he soon got over that idea.

After the falls we headed to Muden where we filled up and Jon managed to arrange lunch at Ivala Lodge. Thanks Jon. Every one enjoyed the break on the lawns of the lodge.

We then kicked down towards Keetsdrift on some great dirt roads and tracks. From there we then headed to St Faiths mission and into Greytown. We all filled up and said thanks and headed home.

After the weather being so hot and lekker we hit some hectic mist and rain most of the way home. We came back via Dalton, Bryns Hill and Nagel dam.

All in all I did roughly 480 kms for the day. Every one made it home safe so that is great.

Thanks to JonW , Outhere and everyone else for a Long , Fast and Lekker ride.

 

[The Badger]

More pics............. Our first stop up on the Karkloof.

 

[The Badger]

And more..... Awesome plantation riding :thumleft:

 

[The Badger]

And more pics......

 

[The Badger]

Just passed Craigieburn dam heading towards Mooi River Falls.

 

[The Badger]

I nice little climb before the falls.......

Fixing a punture..........Look at the road.....bliss

 

[The Badger]

The falls..........

Will post more later.

 

[Brakenjan]

Bliksem, that looks like awesome riding!!  :ricky:

And there I thought the Western Cape Dogs live in DS heaven.....  :biggrin:

 

[houbie]

Nice pics :thumleft:. Looks like you had a brilliant day of lekker bikes and friends. How long did you take at the end? Im planning a day ride of about 450km, so would like to know your time so that I can more or less work out our time frame, cause there is no way that I can get up as early as you lot :biggrin:

 

[JonW]

Hey Badger, thanks for putting this awesome ride together.

Was great to meet a few new Kzn dawgs, Navi, Philgil, Lamo and Rhino good to meet you all, as well as the others.

Nice turnout of 12 bikes, 3 with pillion, especially considering the early morning start.

At Asburton where we met up:

First stop was at a World Heritage Site on top of the Karkloof

Next stop was after the technical bit coming down from CraigieBurn towards the Falls.

Jeff and Fran and the mothership. He really handles this big beast like a pro, even with pillion.

Coming up the hill

Kevin and sara handling the hill with ease:

Brendon about to make a land transaction:

Unfortunately due to the size of the group it was slower going than planned and together with having to stop for a few punctures we could not do the whole route as planned, but that means there is some unfinished business to take care of in the future  :biggrin:

Wildside and I ended our ride with a nice twisty detour down to the Tugela Gorge, where we ended up at the Tugela River, swollen from all the recent rains

Nice quiet ride home to Pmb, thanks all for a lekker ride.

 

[GundaGunda]

Nice ride guys !!

The Mooi River Falls look a bit different !!

Wonder how long the water flow will continue ? May take a ride up and look next weekend - that is if I have a bike 

 

[laurika]

these pictures illustrate why my next move would be to KZn....beautiful area, lots of water, and kind people....thanks!!

 

[Outhere]

Great day out .

Welldone to all especially Rhino and Tim who have never really been exposed to this kind of stuff.

Glad everyone made it home safe and am looking forward to the next one.

Sorry no pics was a lastminute decision to join.

If it wasn't for this forum these brilliant days in Africa would never happen thanks to all involved .

Cheers

 

[philgil]

Brilliant Badger... Thanks for the RR... I composed 1 as well, but being a nube, noob,, newbie, managed to pawn it. First time complained that my pictures were too big, and when I resized, complained that I had already submitted. Will try again though.

 

[The Badger]

Pleasure every one. Thanks for joining.

Thanks for the pic's Jon. Good friends and fresh mud..................

Nice pics :thumleft:. Looks like you had a brilliant day of lekker bikes and friends. How long did you take at the end? Im planning a day ride of about 450km, so would like to know your time so that I can more or less work out our time frame, cause there is no way that I can get up as early as you lot :biggrin:

Howzit houbie,  from leaving home to arriving back home was 13 hrs, bare in mind that we had an hour for lunch, an hour to fix a tube and about an hour and a half or so for other stops. Nine and a half of saddle time. Plan for the unexpected. Have a lekker ride. :thumleft:

Some more pics from Ivala Lodge (Muden) home

 

[BabyBeemer]

Looks like an awesome ride - sorry I missed it. Glad you guys had a ball.

 

[The Badger]

Brilliant Badger... Thanks for the RR... I composed 1 as well, but being a nube, noob,, newbie, managed to pawn it. First time complained that my pictures were too big, and when I resized, complained that I had already submitted. Will try again though.

Pleasure Philip, good to meet you.

Yup, had that before. Good luck. :thumleft:

More pics..... Nice pic of JonW dicing a horse, look at the womans facel expression, classic. Wonder about the horsepower difference  eepwall: heehee

 

[The Badger]

Riders pic's.........

 

[The Badger]

Some more....