Splash had a long day so happy to help kick off a report
Some days are relaxing, some days are fun, some days are hard work, and some days exist just to test your strength of character.
This was a day with all of the above, and I can tell you that Lisa (or Li on the forum) showed us plenty of the strength part, but we'll get to that later
A great route. Six bikes started off at Muldersdrift, on tar to Maropeng, bit of nice gravel to Magaliesburg, bit of tar, back on gravel to the mountains, round the back of Olifantsnek dam, over Breedtâ??s nek, wiggle waggle along the Hex river (Gauteng version) and then down to Boons.
The gravel road leading south of Boons was amazing from two points of view. The first bit was unbelievably nice to ride on â?? smooth with plenty of grip, and at times I found myself touching 100KPH, which is about as fast as I have ever been off-tar.
But then this beautiful piece of road turned into one of the most horrible bits of wet, muddy and slippery bits of clay I have ever ridden.. I couldn't work out how it happened, as there was no sign of rain, and I can only assume that one of those lonely Highveld thunderstorms must have done some load-shedding when it saw us coming and then moved on.
I was in my normal position at the back, HastaLaVista in front of me, Li in front of that with the others twinkle-toeing through the mud up ahead. Next thing I hear a â??clunkâ? and see Lisa and KLR emerge, horizontal, from the grass verge and spin into the middle of the road. By the time I get there she is up and surveying the damage and assures me, much to my relief, that she is â??just a bit windedâ? â?? whew! Seems she got a bit sideways in the mud, tried to find some grip in the grass verge, but smacked a large rock lurking in the grass.
But the KLR was going nowhere. The plastics looked like North Beach with a stiff Easterly blowing, and the sump plug had hit the rock and is probably still out there somewhere.
That rock can be grateful that none of us had a sledge hammer otherwise I am sure that Lisa would have flattened it into beach sand.
What to do? Plan A was that I get back to Centurion, swap bike for car and trailer, and go back to recover the bike. Problem with plan A was that it was quite possible that we could have had a broken KLR, a VW Polo and a trailer all stuck in the mud, but It was the best we could think of.
As I hit the tar my cell rings and tell me that they have plan B. They managed to get a friend with a trailer and a 4x4 to come and recover the bike.
I am relieved to get a call later to say they all made it back safely.
With these troubles would I rather have stayed at home? No way ! I donâ??t know Lisa well but I know that is one tough lady, and I fully expect to see her and bike back out there on the road soon.
Thanks for the ride all.
Some days are relaxing, some days are fun, some days are hard work, and some days exist just to test your strength of character.
This was a day with all of the above, and I can tell you that Lisa (or Li on the forum) showed us plenty of the strength part, but we'll get to that later
A great route. Six bikes started off at Muldersdrift, on tar to Maropeng, bit of nice gravel to Magaliesburg, bit of tar, back on gravel to the mountains, round the back of Olifantsnek dam, over Breedtâ??s nek, wiggle waggle along the Hex river (Gauteng version) and then down to Boons.
The gravel road leading south of Boons was amazing from two points of view. The first bit was unbelievably nice to ride on â?? smooth with plenty of grip, and at times I found myself touching 100KPH, which is about as fast as I have ever been off-tar.
But then this beautiful piece of road turned into one of the most horrible bits of wet, muddy and slippery bits of clay I have ever ridden.. I couldn't work out how it happened, as there was no sign of rain, and I can only assume that one of those lonely Highveld thunderstorms must have done some load-shedding when it saw us coming and then moved on.
I was in my normal position at the back, HastaLaVista in front of me, Li in front of that with the others twinkle-toeing through the mud up ahead. Next thing I hear a â??clunkâ? and see Lisa and KLR emerge, horizontal, from the grass verge and spin into the middle of the road. By the time I get there she is up and surveying the damage and assures me, much to my relief, that she is â??just a bit windedâ? â?? whew! Seems she got a bit sideways in the mud, tried to find some grip in the grass verge, but smacked a large rock lurking in the grass.
But the KLR was going nowhere. The plastics looked like North Beach with a stiff Easterly blowing, and the sump plug had hit the rock and is probably still out there somewhere.
That rock can be grateful that none of us had a sledge hammer otherwise I am sure that Lisa would have flattened it into beach sand.
What to do? Plan A was that I get back to Centurion, swap bike for car and trailer, and go back to recover the bike. Problem with plan A was that it was quite possible that we could have had a broken KLR, a VW Polo and a trailer all stuck in the mud, but It was the best we could think of.
As I hit the tar my cell rings and tell me that they have plan B. They managed to get a friend with a trailer and a 4x4 to come and recover the bike.
I am relieved to get a call later to say they all made it back safely.
With these troubles would I rather have stayed at home? No way ! I donâ??t know Lisa well but I know that is one tough lady, and I fully expect to see her and bike back out there on the road soon.
Thanks for the ride all.
