Now recently had to attend a one week course in Saldanha and decided it to be the ideal opportunity to see if my trusted steed, 2010 R1200 GSA (DOHC) was comfortable enough to do the 1700km+ in 24 hours
Left Durban at 11pm on Saturday the 20th August in pouring rain and wind and and, luckily I was prepared with newly acquired rainsuit and beefed up lights.
Drove in hectic conditions for first 350km(pouring rain, howling wind, thunder and lightning and freezing temperatures) and was quite relieved when the sky cleared
Opted to do the easiest route on my way down and managed to reach Saldanha by suset on Sunday, again in pouring rain from Touwsrivier, I must say, I was quite surprised at how easy it was, did 1729km in19 hours and I still felt strong
One week later I started the trip back to Durban in clear skies, left Saldanha again at 11pm on Friday night, this time I felt a little more daring and decided that I was going to do some dirt through the Karoo and still attemt the distance in 24 hours
Left the tar in Beufort West and made my way towards Aberdeen, absolutely beautiful road with a few large puddles to cross, must have had some good rains during the week prior, after about a 100km of beautiful karoo landsape I dececid that it was enough dirt for the trip and adjusted my gps to lead me back onto paved roads
It was then that I started to suspect that my gps and bike conspired to keep me on the dirt, I eventually ended up on the R335 past Addo and on the Zuurberg mountain pass, must say, not knowing the area, the pass came unexpected and was quite daunting, especially with fully laden panniers and fully inflated Anakee 3's, absolutely hectic in places, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, I ended up doing close to 400km on the dirt and was again amazed how forgiving my bike is despite its size
The ride back ended up being 1890km and took me just short of 24hours
Was a good experience and I can't wait to do an official iron butt qualifier with my pillion in the near future
Left Durban at 11pm on Saturday the 20th August in pouring rain and wind and and, luckily I was prepared with newly acquired rainsuit and beefed up lights.
Drove in hectic conditions for first 350km(pouring rain, howling wind, thunder and lightning and freezing temperatures) and was quite relieved when the sky cleared
Opted to do the easiest route on my way down and managed to reach Saldanha by suset on Sunday, again in pouring rain from Touwsrivier, I must say, I was quite surprised at how easy it was, did 1729km in19 hours and I still felt strong
One week later I started the trip back to Durban in clear skies, left Saldanha again at 11pm on Friday night, this time I felt a little more daring and decided that I was going to do some dirt through the Karoo and still attemt the distance in 24 hours
Left the tar in Beufort West and made my way towards Aberdeen, absolutely beautiful road with a few large puddles to cross, must have had some good rains during the week prior, after about a 100km of beautiful karoo landsape I dececid that it was enough dirt for the trip and adjusted my gps to lead me back onto paved roads
It was then that I started to suspect that my gps and bike conspired to keep me on the dirt, I eventually ended up on the R335 past Addo and on the Zuurberg mountain pass, must say, not knowing the area, the pass came unexpected and was quite daunting, especially with fully laden panniers and fully inflated Anakee 3's, absolutely hectic in places, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, I ended up doing close to 400km on the dirt and was again amazed how forgiving my bike is despite its size
The ride back ended up being 1890km and took me just short of 24hours
Was a good experience and I can't wait to do an official iron butt qualifier with my pillion in the near future