My First Sleep over with the Bike

[Stormer]

We are back from out weekend and have survived it. But before I get into the detail of the weekend let me introduce ourselfs.  :hello:

This is me, Stormer.

I got the bike in September 2008. My first one ever and am very happy with it. In the 11 months since I got it, I have done about 12 000 km, 99% of that commuting between PTA and Johburg. I have done one or two Sunday afternoon rides on tar and maybe a 50km on gravel, but nothing like what we were planning for the weekend. And definetly never a sleepover with it. I were the most experienced gravel rider in the group.

This is PH.

Up untill a 3 weeks ago he had a 650GS. His second in 5 years and has done about 60 000km. 99% commuting between PTA and Joburg and no gravel experience. Then he upgraded to the 1200GS. This is also his first camping sleep out.

Here we have Wyntand

He's on the 1150GS. Got the bike in April. Also his first. He has done a sleep out with a little bit of gravel and dropped it 3 times. He has not done that many kilo's on it as it is a "toy" and not used dialy.

The plan was to leave at about 11 on Friday morning. Get to Magaliesburg by lunch time then the gravel road to Groot Marico. At Groot Marico we will find a place to sleep for the night and get some food. Saturday we leave for Ellisras via the gravel roads, find a place to sleep and get some food. Sunday we go back home. Well that was the plan....  ???

 

[cloudgazer]

Oooh - sounds interesting.
:happy1:

 

[madmike999]

indeed indeed  :happy1:

 

[Trailrider]

<subscribe>

 

[redtiger]

You have wet my appetite waiting for the rest  :thumleft:

 

[jshump]

drum roll, tension builds, waiting in suspenders...

 

[Frannarossi]

Gooi :happy1:

 

[Stormer]

Wyntand arrived at my place Friday morning from Bethal having fitted a bigger screen that morning. We finished strapping the rest of the stuff onto the bikes. PH eventually got here. We left at about 12:15. The plan was to leave at about 11. Not a problem. Plans are there to be changed.

We had to stop about 10 km from home on the Skurweberg road. Wyntand's strap came lose. He dropped the bike as he tried to get off. Luckily that was the only drop for the weekend. I were to late for the photo. When I got there they had already picked the bike up.
Here we are busy strapping everything back on.

Both Wyntand and PH were very concerned about the gravel. They never thought that they will be able to survive the weekend with this much gravel planned. They did survive.

We took the Hennopspride road past Broedersstroom. Past the golf estate we took the Remhoogte road. This is still good gravel but the road looked like the M1 past Sandton, execpt here the cars were traveling at 40 and on the M1 they barely do 20. After we got back on the tar we found some roads to Magaliesburg. Stopped at the Wimpy for a cooldrink and some chips.

From here the day changed from a trip to a destination. We took the tar to Koster and some gravel roads past Swartruggens over the N4 through Pela. We didn't stop or got some photo's. We wanted to catch Groot Marico open before they pack the town away for the evening. Close to the town we pasted this dam and decided to find the entrance to the camp. At the camp we found a spot to pitch the tents. We raced into town and got there just after 5. We found the butchery, cafe and liquor store open. We got some wood, buns, boerewors, sosaties and some zamalec. Back at the camp we got hold of the owner/manager/caretaker to arrange for our stay. She was very nice and we bought some more wood from her.

We had a very relaxing evening around the camp fire checking the sun set over the dam. We ended up at the Groot Marico Dam.

And this is where the plans changed completely.

 

[Trailrider]

:happy1:

 

[michnus]

excellent thanks for sharing.  :thumleft:

just could not resist.  > :biggrin:

 

[Gravel_Seeker]

:laughing4: Nice one

 

[TVB]

Looking forward to the rest! 

 

[Trailrider]

Bwaaaaahahahaha!

 

[Stormer]

excellent thanks for sharing.  :thumleft:

just could not resist.  > :biggrin:

:imaposer: :imaposer: :imaposer:

 

[Tonteldoos]

"TOPTOTS"  :imaposer: gooi hom  :thumleft:

 

[Gee eS]

Lekker. Ons wag in spanning vir die res.

 

[Blackballl]

Come on Wee are waiting  :deal:

 

[Brink]

All the sh1t starts with the first one :ricky: :thumleft: :ricky:

 

[Stormer]

Hold your horses. It's coming. The lens of the camera was a bit dirty so it is taking sometime to fix the photo's.  ;D ;D

 

[Stormer]

Saturday morning started with us trying to get warm. We all had a good nights sleep but we just never got warm.

Today we wanted to head north till we get to the Madikwe Game Reserve, turn west and come back over Zeerust were we hoped to find a PEP to get some extra blankets. Well that was the plan.

We left the Groot Marico dam at about 9 and headed north. First we had to stop at the Hansie (the owner/manager/grounds keeper) and politely enquired if they are going into town today. The replied in the positive and we asked them to bring us something to braai and drink.

The rain hasn't started yet and it is still very dusty and dry. At least spring is not to far and the green shoots are starting.

Do we go left or right? What does the plan say? Who cares. Both sides will be perfect. We went left.

On one side of the road you will get this

And on the other side this

Here you can see the conditions of the roads that we took. The quality was relatively good (for now). On the road I would hook 6th at 3500rpm and cruise at about 70 on the gps. We were all comfortable with the road and this speed. I would travel at the back and stop for the photo's and then catch up to the others. They would do 70 and I would then race back to them at about 100 feeling very relaxed. For some reason they thought I was the hooligan of the group.

The areas along the road would change from bushveld to open grasslands.

I tried the picture in the mirror photo but this is the best I got. I will have to get back there and try it again.

This is a hard country and not everybody survives.

We're getting closer to the mountains as the morning wore on. The weather turned out to be perfect for riding. Not to hot and not to cold. I still had my liner in but it was getting to the point where I could take it out.

Because none of us smoke stopping was a problem. The question was always, why? Why should we stop? There is no shade here and we are enjoying the ride to much.

There is definetely people that can ride these roads a lot faster than what we did. But why? We were all riding within our abilities. Before we left on Friday we decided that we will take each kilometer on it's own. If the road gets to bad we will turnaround and try another road. Neiter of us wanted to drop the bikes and cause any damage. You see, we have to keep SWMBO happy and if we damage the bike now then there will not be any further rides.

It is the Madikwe game reserve on the left of the big fence. Somwhere along the road we missed a turn off or 2. Where we wanted to head west of the reserve we were going east. So what...

We tried to get a shortcut through the reserve but for some strange reason they didn't want to allow us entrance?

By now it was about 12 and time for a lunch stop. More to follow.