Old School ride to Oudshoorn-Ride hard or stay at home

[MrBig]

a BIG thank you to all from me as well!  :thumleft:
I dont usually enjoy the big group rides but this one was exceptional fun.
Everything went like clockwork and it was great to see that even with such a big group its still possible to cover distance at good pace.
Some of those roads and tracks really took me to my zen place; that last section of the Floriskraal road where I was in front (no dust  ) was rather memorable.
Much can be said about the ability of small bikes to run with the big dogs but there's NO WAY I would've had more fun on any other machine this weekend.

Thanks to Leftless for the planning and leading as well as to the sweepers (AntonW, N[]va and Rudie); it can be a shitty job but it adds so much to the ride when it's done right. Thanks to Rudie also for the last bit from Montague - we took a nice gravel stretch to just before Villiersdorp and from there it was a race against the sun over Franschoek to get home. One advantage of a small bike in a pass is that you can ride it to the max without fear!



btw the stories about Antons snoring are all lies.
He sleeps like a baby 

 

[the_BOBNOB]

Dis hoe n stofskoeter moet lyk na n trip!!! :thumleft:

Ek dink dis eintlik n fyn brag met sy chicken strips..  >
Maar dit tel nie want dis Anakees daai.

unlike most dogs i'm not a dirt zealot - i love a good tar mountain pass just as much (if not more)  :ricky:

 

[letsgofishing]

Man, I am REALLY sorry I couldn't make it - it was our 29th anniversary on Saterday night!  ;D - we did have a great evening though!
Looks like you all had a stunning ride and a great Saturday night.
I definitely wont miss the next one...which is when Pete?

 

[stoetbul]

What a great week-end !  The riding was superb , thanks to Lefless for putting in 16 hours of planning  + to get such a lekker route together , the tractor got a real work-out !  :thumleft:

Thanks PP for organising , Leftless for being such a great ride leader , Anton W for sweeping ,  Nivea and Rudi for helping sweep, Abe for helping out in general ,Rudi and Doerengone for making me laugh ,1 Kat for being such a good sport , and all the rest in my riding group , you were great to ride with!  :3some:

As for the Southern Cape and EC dogs , it was good to meet all of you , esp  TR , Fat -B ( and I  learned what the B stands for  ) , Dusty and loads more . Cassie Fordyce Botha who impressed me no end by going for a fast run the morning after the party  ???, and for being even funnier in real life than you are on the forum  :biggrin:

And last but not least Stoetbul who reminds me of Jim Morrison , all you need is snakeskin stove pipes and a mike LOL

I can never be as good a singer as he was! Next time I will bring a mic and show you! :thumleft: :mwink:

 

[Piston Pete]

Man, I am REALLY sorry I couldn't make it - it was our 29th anniversary on Saterday night!  ;D - we did have a great evening though!
Looks like you all had a stunning ride and a great Saturday night.
I definitely wont miss the next one...which is when Pete?

Wattys EC Bash....we can do another sometime soonish as well. Choose an area?

 

[tau]

Some of my pic's:En route to Mosselbaai

KYK ek het al van reserwe fuel gehoor ,maar daai stainless steel tanker in die agtergrond is belaglik. Seker vir ouens wat HP's  en SE's ry.

 

[stoetbul]

Some of my pic's:En route to Mosselbaai

KYK ek het al van reserwe fuel gehoor ,maar daai stainless steel tanker in die agtergrond is belaglik. Seker vir ouens wat HP's  en SE's ry.

Dit was die wynwa broer! :mwink:

 

[Sprocketbek]

Six of us decided that a sleepover en route to Touwsriver was the way to go. Myself, Abel and Pure-Orange left from Melkbos shortly after 14:00. Pullaway & his cousin Rudolf left from Bellville at the same time so we agreed to meet at the Calabash on the other side of Bainskloof Pass. The Calabash serves great bacon & cheese burgers  :thumleft:

Just after Klipheuwel I was donning my rain jacket. Notice how clean the people & bikes still are!

It rained a bit in the pass but it was nothing to cry about. In Ceres we made a pitstop for supplies for the evening.
We had booked two huts at Matroosberg Reserve. One couple could not make it so we talked the Pullaways into taking the hut instead of camping. It was quite cold and windy so at R 120/head the decision wasn't difficult.

Pure-Orange getting the braai fire going:

Major kakpraat, braai & kuiering took place. Don't be fooled by how quiet it looked:

Doerengone only left late, the poor soul only arrived at about 21:00. Glad he found us:

Morning coffee. I was taking strain:

By the time I got my shit together everybody was packed & ready:

The owner explained the shortest route to us, and just as we reached the Ceres/Touwsriver tar road we came across a very dejected Trokkie. His bike's rear disc was rubbing against the caliper. He removed the wheel and it was evident that the one wheel bearing had collapsed. All he could do was put it back together and ride the 20 km back home. But if you think about it, rather have the failure there than on some of the desolate areas we travelled.

At Touwsriver we met up with the big bunch from CT.
AntonW, 1KAT, MrBig:

Smokebreak at the Anysberg Reserve office:

 

[Piston Pete]

Nice pics & story SP!  :thumleft:

 

[Sprocketbek]

Thanks PP. You're the man that made it all come together  :thumleft:

I neglected to mention that the road was getting trickier as we moved along. At every stop there was mention of close encounters. I was caught out by one corner that was tighter and had more marbles than a standard 3 class  . Climbed on the brakes and slid to a stop on the embankment but stayed off the ground. 2-SD was right behind me and we had a good laugh  :thumleft:

Someone else behind me apparently took a tumble there, can't remember if it was Fearless Frikkie:

tour:

Pullaway:

PistonPete and 1KAT:

Bunch of Capies  :biggrin::

Shortly after we pulled off again PP was seen chatting to guy with a 4 X 4. I still thought to myself "who is crazy enough to park here for a weekend?"  ???    Only later heard that it was Fidel!!!

From there the route became even more interesting.......and enjoyable. And as Rynet had warned before, one needed to concentrate.  :ricky:

Swartberg Pass I took cautiously, it's a place one can end up feeling very sorry for yourself. 

Then it was Kleinplaas & Party all the way!!!
Didn't take any pics there, i'm tired of having albums full of pisgesigte.

The ride back was great too, some of the roads I have travelled before (from the other side) but some were new to me.
An absolutely fantastic route that Leftless had come up with. THANKS LEFTLESS  :thumleft:

MrPython's exhaust staying behind in Calitzdorp was hilarious!

On the route back I just took some "record shots", the "I was here" type. Lots of them.

PP:

Rynet:

1KAT:

 

[Sprocketbek]

Abel & N[]va:

Pullaway:

Rudolf:

MrBig:

Fearless Frikkie:

2-Stroke Dan:

tour:

AntonW:

PistonPete:

Leftless, 1KAT:

MrBig:

Rudolf:

Being an Old School Ride, it was good to see a couple of older bikes. What struck me was that there were very few reliability problems.

Abel:

2-SD:

AntonW & tour, thanks once again for eating all our dust:

Thanks to EVERYBODY, I had a great weekend!

 

[Piston Pete]

Jy mag photos neem! :thumleft:

 

[N[]vA]

some awesome pics there man

 

[Piston Pete]

some awesome pics there man

SP makes me look fast...lol. Mind you i was chilling in front & came around the corner & saw him lurking...stood up & gassed it a bit. We must make the official pic man look good to!

 

[N[]vA]

some awesome pics there man

SP makes me look fast...lol. Mind you i was chilling in front & came around the corner & saw him lurking...stood up & gassed it a bit. We must make the official pic man look good to!

agreed it looks like your gunning it in every pic

no such luck for me =\

 

[Piston Pete]

some awesome pics there man

SP makes me look fast...lol. Mind you i was chilling in front & came around the corner & saw him lurking...stood up & gassed it a bit. We must make the official pic man look good to!

agreed it looks like your gunning it in every pic

no such luck for me =\

Nah...you fine but just stay on the tracks!! lol

 

[N[]vA]

lol what can I say you bike makes a big ass dust cloud eh  :deal:

 

[Piston Pete]

lol what can I say you bike makes a big ass dust cloud eh  :deal:

Its ok...i won't charge you for having it as a screensaver....

 

[Sprocketbek]

btw the stories about Antons snoring are all lies.
He sleeps like a baby 

The the most enthusiastic sleeper I heard was a non-WD camping opposite the swimming pool. The ablution block's windows were rattling.  :

 

[Mr. Python]

Hey there, I was 'exhausted' after the trip.
I had a really great time, thanks Pete for putting it together.
I gained plenty of experience, 1st water crossing, 1st gravel off, 1st puncture, 1st missing exhaust, 1st bike campout all crammed into one trip.
I'm not good with remembering the pics or where the hell we actually went, i can get to the staging point then i just try to make sure i don't loose sight of the rider in front for too long.

We set off with our leader and host the infamous StoetbulKrokadil, operator and Mr. T

My phone went ape and applied a theme to this pic - seems T is famous too!
Those panniers of his have magic qualities, whatever you need it's in there  :mwink:

The pont at Malgas was cool too another 1st for me

Those dudes that drive the pont just walk up and down that cable all day............

Then we crashed at Stoetbul's folk's' place, really nice thanks man and thanks to your mom too.
.....the scowling neighbors were a nice touch made one feel like you achieved genuine hooligan status.

Had a few dops and forgot to take pics except for this one of Bradleys  chatting to his stead
and hoping that nothing would go wrong  and see him getting towed out by a BM - how blind would that be.

I think Bermrooser is getting quotes for a sticker that says "attach KTM here" for the back of his footpeg.

A random Pub shot

Then on to oudshoorn to be treated to a highly proficient demo on tyre changing By Bermrooster and Stoetbul,
there were of course a number of consultans but they didn't look like the needed it.

On the whole a pretty awesome experience it was really great to meet y'all