Panjo
Race Dog
Well what an awesome trip. I'm still struggling to wipe the smile off my face. I'm hooked. Adventure riding is my new drug and I want MORE. :drif:
This was my first overnight ride, where previously I have only done short day trips. I researched other Wild dog RR's and planned a similar route in map source. My riding buddy, Pieter (PieterKLE), earned himself the nick name 'Captain Slow' where he later returned the favor and named me 'Captain Faf'. What a pair we made.
Pieter met up with me at a local garage around 5 am on Saturday, where we had a cup of coffee and tanked up the trusty steeds. Pieter and I both drive KLE 500's his is blue and mine is just dirty. Whilst Pieter has been riding for a while, this was to be his first off road experience. I on the other hand, topped the log with one noob ride with his Holiness the Dalai Blazes and a few day trips. Watch out Dakar, here we come ! Pieters bike, is stock standard, where mine has had a few minor mods.
So after warming ourselves up with some Wild Bean coffee, we mounted and headed off, chasing the sunrise on the R25. 50 or so K's in, just before Dronkwordspruit , we turned off onto our first stretch of Gravel. Note to self: Install heated hand grips.
Once out off Bronkhorstspruit, heading towards loskop dam, those Gravel highways just start opening up and I often found myself having to relax the throttle grip after looking down at the speedo, which was a good thing, because somewhere behind me in another dimension was Captain Slow who thought 40 km/h per hour was going to get him a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records
To be fair, his bikes Speedo was not working and I didn't have the heart to break his spirit. He was enjoying the ride and that's what it is all about.
The most memorable part of the early morning trip must have been traveling through Kranspoort, where we drove in the shadow of some rather tall cliffs. The Wilge River was somewhere in there as well as we crossed her more than once.
Now, a week prior to departure, I made sure that Pieter borrowed my Copy of Adventure Riding techniques, as I felt he would be better prepared for what lay ahead. When we reached the Outskirts of Loskop Dam, It became evident that he skipped the chapter devoted to descending. :deal:
Luckily, nothing too serious was broken, but how he managed to break his shoelace, I'll never understand. Anyway, soon we were off again on our adventure.
With Pieter now back on his bike, we carried on to the bustling metropolis of Loskop By die Dam. By now we were both starving and we found a table at the Bospot Pub and Grill. As the menu stated "Dit vat n hele 45 minute om n gooie bord kos te maak" or in Ingles, "It takes a veeery long time to make a good plate of food". Be that as it may, the food, when it eventually arrived was well received and it went down a treat. Nom Nom Nom.
With both Bikes and Riders refueled, we continued. Here the roads almost begged you to open the throttle, lovely long gravel roads, snaking through the beautiful scenery. Eventually the road led us to Blinkwater where we changed our predominantly east ward progress to a more Northerly heading towards Tontledoos. Just before Tontledoos, there's this lovely little pass where you climb quite a bit. I managed to take some nice pics here. Arriving in Tontledoos, we discovered, well not really discovered, as it was pretty much the only place that looked interesting, a Cheese Shop with a pub. So we bought some cheese, to take home to the Wives and slayed two of Windhoeks finest.
After Tontledoos, where we drove around the outskirts of belfast, the roads stopped thier straight and flat Non sense and started to wind and undulute through the hilly landscape. The road surface also became more uneven and rocky, with loose rocks and klippies strewn across the surface making for more mental focus on the road, then to add insult to injury,about 5 km's outside Tontledoos,the route started to lose altitude dramatically. I'd safely say that even some 4x4's would reconsider what we came across hence the tricky bits called for some slow riding using the engine compression to slow the descent and more rider weight shifted rear of the footrests. Classic! Needless to say, we made slow progress and I was starting to realise that we would not make Hazyview with the sun still shining.
At a railway crossing with a sign proclaming the Station of Asbes, I could see that Pieter was taking a bit of strain, understandably this being his first excursion, but I cunningly used the old "dangle a Carrot in front of the donkey" trick to coax him on, only the carrot this time was an Ice cold windhoek. With Pieter focusing more on a reward and less on the road ahead, I felt confident enough to tackle the remaining part of the route to Lydenburg. Pieter and I had decided to make a call once we made Lydenburg, wether we would continue off road or hit the N4 to Hazyview.
The road to Lydenburg was a series of lazy climbs and Sleepy descents, punctuated by the occasional hairpin bend. The scenery was achingly beautifull, pastoral scenes with inquisitive cows and grassy hills spring to mind as I type this. The road condition was improving allowing for faster driving and I must state for the record, Pieter was driving faster now as his confidence increased.
We made Lydenburg at around 4pm that afternoon. We refeulled and rewarded our efforts with an Ice cold carrot. It was pretty obvious to us both that we would have to forego the rest of the route in order for us to make Hazyview before it became too dark.
RR continues below
This was my first overnight ride, where previously I have only done short day trips. I researched other Wild dog RR's and planned a similar route in map source. My riding buddy, Pieter (PieterKLE), earned himself the nick name 'Captain Slow' where he later returned the favor and named me 'Captain Faf'. What a pair we made.
Pieter met up with me at a local garage around 5 am on Saturday, where we had a cup of coffee and tanked up the trusty steeds. Pieter and I both drive KLE 500's his is blue and mine is just dirty. Whilst Pieter has been riding for a while, this was to be his first off road experience. I on the other hand, topped the log with one noob ride with his Holiness the Dalai Blazes and a few day trips. Watch out Dakar, here we come ! Pieters bike, is stock standard, where mine has had a few minor mods.
So after warming ourselves up with some Wild Bean coffee, we mounted and headed off, chasing the sunrise on the R25. 50 or so K's in, just before Dronkwordspruit , we turned off onto our first stretch of Gravel. Note to self: Install heated hand grips.
Once out off Bronkhorstspruit, heading towards loskop dam, those Gravel highways just start opening up and I often found myself having to relax the throttle grip after looking down at the speedo, which was a good thing, because somewhere behind me in another dimension was Captain Slow who thought 40 km/h per hour was going to get him a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records
To be fair, his bikes Speedo was not working and I didn't have the heart to break his spirit. He was enjoying the ride and that's what it is all about. The most memorable part of the early morning trip must have been traveling through Kranspoort, where we drove in the shadow of some rather tall cliffs. The Wilge River was somewhere in there as well as we crossed her more than once.
Now, a week prior to departure, I made sure that Pieter borrowed my Copy of Adventure Riding techniques, as I felt he would be better prepared for what lay ahead. When we reached the Outskirts of Loskop Dam, It became evident that he skipped the chapter devoted to descending. :deal:
Luckily, nothing too serious was broken, but how he managed to break his shoelace, I'll never understand. Anyway, soon we were off again on our adventure.
With Pieter now back on his bike, we carried on to the bustling metropolis of Loskop By die Dam. By now we were both starving and we found a table at the Bospot Pub and Grill. As the menu stated "Dit vat n hele 45 minute om n gooie bord kos te maak" or in Ingles, "It takes a veeery long time to make a good plate of food". Be that as it may, the food, when it eventually arrived was well received and it went down a treat. Nom Nom Nom.
With both Bikes and Riders refueled, we continued. Here the roads almost begged you to open the throttle, lovely long gravel roads, snaking through the beautiful scenery. Eventually the road led us to Blinkwater where we changed our predominantly east ward progress to a more Northerly heading towards Tontledoos. Just before Tontledoos, there's this lovely little pass where you climb quite a bit. I managed to take some nice pics here. Arriving in Tontledoos, we discovered, well not really discovered, as it was pretty much the only place that looked interesting, a Cheese Shop with a pub. So we bought some cheese, to take home to the Wives and slayed two of Windhoeks finest.
After Tontledoos, where we drove around the outskirts of belfast, the roads stopped thier straight and flat Non sense and started to wind and undulute through the hilly landscape. The road surface also became more uneven and rocky, with loose rocks and klippies strewn across the surface making for more mental focus on the road, then to add insult to injury,about 5 km's outside Tontledoos,the route started to lose altitude dramatically. I'd safely say that even some 4x4's would reconsider what we came across hence the tricky bits called for some slow riding using the engine compression to slow the descent and more rider weight shifted rear of the footrests. Classic! Needless to say, we made slow progress and I was starting to realise that we would not make Hazyview with the sun still shining.
At a railway crossing with a sign proclaming the Station of Asbes, I could see that Pieter was taking a bit of strain, understandably this being his first excursion, but I cunningly used the old "dangle a Carrot in front of the donkey" trick to coax him on, only the carrot this time was an Ice cold windhoek. With Pieter focusing more on a reward and less on the road ahead, I felt confident enough to tackle the remaining part of the route to Lydenburg. Pieter and I had decided to make a call once we made Lydenburg, wether we would continue off road or hit the N4 to Hazyview.
The road to Lydenburg was a series of lazy climbs and Sleepy descents, punctuated by the occasional hairpin bend. The scenery was achingly beautifull, pastoral scenes with inquisitive cows and grassy hills spring to mind as I type this. The road condition was improving allowing for faster driving and I must state for the record, Pieter was driving faster now as his confidence increased.
We made Lydenburg at around 4pm that afternoon. We refeulled and rewarded our efforts with an Ice cold carrot. It was pretty obvious to us both that we would have to forego the rest of the route in order for us to make Hazyview before it became too dark.
RR continues below
