PE DS Dune riding. J-Dog's Invitation Team Eats Some Serious Sand.

[Carnivore]

Well, seeing as there seems to be some interest in what happened, I will attempt to provide some insight. Let me say at the outset, that from the outset, I nearly didn't outset anymore. Within 50m of leaving the tar, we had to get the boneys over some serious piles of rock, rubble, tree stumps etc, that seemed to have placed there by certain elements who were not happy with vehicular traffic entering that particular neck of the woods. Having the heaviest bike, and being the oldest and probably the most unfit of us all, I sukkled seriaas...

But, we don't get old by giving up... so, with some assistance from a young and strong J-Man, the trail was entered...

But first, let’s get some pictures down.

Here, we are still waiting…

Then finally, Dirt Junkie surveys J-Dog's eventual arrival and explanation for his tardiness to Carnivore, as Jupiter and Dashing Dave consider the proceedings from a safe distance. Apparently, the KTM 950 is dead, and the KTM 300 refused to start for 20 mintes, so the XL500 with a 23” front wheel came to the rescue. (Heaven knows what else lurks in this man’s garage.. scary to think about..)

(a repeat of this one from the Planning thread...)

At approximately this point, I was stuck again, and I knew this was not going to end well.

Dirt Junkie showed me a portion of an enduro track that was firmer, with hard-pack and rocks. I took this detour and checked my relative position to the track I had plotted on the GPS, eventually making my way back to the original route.
Having turned into the Forest Section (see the video) I grabbed some air in the shady avenue, next to the river. This section has some whoops which reminded me of some horrendous out-of-control moments in the club races I participated in, and some spectacular sand-eating offs - probably on this same trail...

Looking a bit worse for wear…

It was peaceful out here.. quite hot out in the sun, but very pleasant. Mondy is a looong way away…

I had forgotten how pretty this place can be. This river flowed strongly…

…towards the sea, 2 or 3 km away..

So, while Redd rested in the shade, I waited for the others, some of whom had got lost…

J-Man arrives on the Freewind..

And Dashing Dave seems to have an itch, or some other deeply private moment..

Well, that’s all I have. From here, we carried on through the scrub and sand, sand, sand…. My front wheel was wallowing all over the place. I took a straight line through the veld towards the original plotted track to get out of this stuff. (Yes, the pack had deviated again at one of the many forks in the path network that covers this place.) And so we got onto the new servitude road, and turned north for the final stretch up Telephone Line which I remembered well from my racing days.. I decided to bail out of this one and take the tar back to the club… but then said to myself. “Stuff this…! Am I man or mouse?” So, I nipped back through the broken fence onto the track and had a good time negotiating the steep step-ups and rocky patches. I doubt whether anyone will have pictures of this… it is seriously gnarly stuff…

Back at the club, beers and cokes and meat were consumed, banter was exchanged, meaningful relationships set up and the worlds problems were solved.

Thank you James for a wonderful day, and for the protein repast. It was much appreciated,..

Home via AndrewG’s house and his 110kPa Karcher, and a lekker soak in the tub. Lekker Day!!

I hope the others post their accounts here too... fire away, chaps!

 

[Tiger8]

Sounds like you guy's had a blast, definitely a great day for a ride, next time I hope to be able to join you guys  :thumleft:

 

[Kenisis]

Nice one Guys, Who is next?

 

[terminator1]

:

 

[Jman]

Thanks for organizing Jdog,I had a blast.  Luckyly the sand is nice and soft to fall over in.
Some of my pics:
Wolweseun enjoying it on his XR:

Marks of our struggle up the dune

Dirt Junkie on his KTM 400:

DashingDave enjoying PE's flowers on his XT:

Almost all of us got lost at one point, as ther is hundreds of little road everywhere, but eventually we all reached Rover.
Will get some Video's to post

 

[Jman]

:

Janee, good old wilddogs, always there helping out with the camera.  :

 

[Jman]

Jupiter minching the big dune
[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/BKSZWl2gpQo[/flash]

 

[Jman]

Wolweseun up the hill while Jdog is trying to guide the lost one's on his phone.
[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/gR70nZPgt8U[/flash]

 

[Jman]

Jdog on his classic, wishing he had a happy button, while Jupiter circumnavigate a bush obsticale placed in our way:
[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/UNuOZOrxtLY[/flash]

 

[Jman]

Jdog taking the hill.
[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/FR5JFWuAK60[/flash]

 

[Jman]

Last one, Jdog making the XL perform, and Carnivore following, then me following on foot.
[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/xwPkanS3MPw[/flash]

 

[terminator1]

The day didn’t begin too well for me: I couldn’t start my 300 after kicking for 20 minutes, my camel-back broke (I knew I was going to need it) and when I got to the garage, my credit card had been blocked for unusual transactions. I borrowed 50 bucks from Jupiter, paid for the petrol and bought an energade to pre-hydrate (no camel-back) I then left the energade at the garage by mistake. What a morning!

We got going to the start of the trail, only to find it was blocked with trees, rubble and sand heaps. I decided to hit the obstacles full taps on my ’83 Honda Xl500S, only to see my gat. Embarrassing.  The blockage proved to be more tricky than I thought, and it took a while for everyone to scramble, push and bliksem through.

Here is Wolweseun, Dirt Junkie and me waiting for the others to negotiate the special endure stage. My Honda is looking resplendent. I must add that the shocks/suspension are totally farked, so it was like riding a bucking bronco, bottoming out on the whoop sections badly. I hope it is ok – there were lots of strange noises towards the end of the ride. All the bikes worked hard, and it was hot for the air-cooled thumpers.

Next pic is Jupiter on his vintage Tenere. Beautiful bike, and Jupes tells me it went like a dream through the dunes. Dashing Dave in the background next to his Yammie 660.

 

[terminator1]

J-man and someone in front coming out of the special stage. Note his new knee pads, cut off jean pant and striped long rugby socks wif boots. Def. One for Firecoast’s sexy boots fred.!

Next pic – the whole team ready to press on further and tackle the dunes. The route consisted of a fast sand tracks, about 10 dune climbs, several whoop sections, a rocky single track in the open fields, and a final technical section along the notorious “telephone line”

 

[terminator1]

This is Dirt Junkie on his KTM 400. He also has an 800 GS, so he cheated big time! In the foreground is Wolweseun’s 650R which, as you can see, comes from the USA. He is slowly getting through the paperwork to get it legal. It was quite a hot day, and although these two fit guys on dirt bikes were cool, most of the others were exhausted with all the hard work in the sun.

Next is Jupiter looking for shade and having a “kannie verder nie” smoke

 

[terminator1]

J-man approaching one of the dunes along the UPE fence. He handled his Freewind like a champ and showed excellent technique and skill through every type of terrain.

Next, we watched him trapped under his bike and took lots of pics. Real dogs.

 

[terminator1]

Here comes Jupiter. This particular dune was quite tricky. As you can see, in order to get momentum, you have to come around the corner in the sand and hit the dune in second gear at pace because of the steepness and thickness of the sand. J-man’s videos in one of the earlier posts give a good idea of how to tackle it.

Next, Wolweseun on his XR, showing us how it’s done. The others enjoying the spectacle

 

[terminator1]

A couple of us waiting at the river crossing. By now it was quite warm, and I was also feeling the heat. I had to drink from Dashing Dave’s camel-back in the absence of mine.

 

[terminator1]

And that was all he wrote.  It was fun to take DS bikes through this sort of terrain, and something I’m sure we’ll do again sometime. This is the team at the Rover club enjoying a few dops and a lekker braai. The club was kind enough to have everything ready for us when we arrived – fire, braai packs, cold beers and a lekker spot to watch the kids getting air on the MX track.

All in all a lekker day and it was awesome to meet some new dawgs and hook up with some familiar ones. Thanks guys!

Here we are, from left to right: Dashing Dave, Jupiter, Wolweseun, Carnivore, J-man and Dirt Junkie!

 

[Jman]

J-man and someone in front coming out of the special stage. Note his new knee pads, cut off jean pant and striped long rugby socks wif boots. Def. One for Firecoast’s sexy boots fred.!

I how glad I am that I had my shorts on! It was hot hot hot

 

[Gerard]

On occasion when touring I've had to ride  through some sand patches, but I've never done an all out sand ride. Having recently picked up the XT I could not refuse J-dog's invitation. I'm not fit and expected it to be tough. Boy, did I suffer.

The first hour was heavy going, the next hour and a half was hel. I came off a few times and with Wolweseun coming back to help, we eventually got split from the group. All the time it went better, but with a slick on the back of the XT I was battleling on the climbs, worried about the XT cooking, especially when the enjin started smoking.

There was a long section with lots of twisties and whoopy-doo's through the bush and I was getting drained. The mojo was still okay, until we hit this long strait sandy road. Eventually I got so tired I just slowed down and fell over lying there with the bike on top of me. I just waited 'till I had the strength to kick it off and crawled into some shade. Wolweseun was somewhere up ahead so I just waited. Eventually, but too soon, he returned with the good news that hard gravel is up ahead which will get me to tar. It was time for me to bail and I was happy with that. I had earned my bruises and the sore body I am now suffering.

Thanks to J-dog for organising the lekker braai and kuier with the other Dogs. Will I do it again ? Definitely, but a little better prepared. It was good fun.

Thanks Wolweseun for babysitting me. That XR is the bike and I know you may have liked to bomb it a bit more, although you probably had the longest ride on the day, having to turn ond pick me up all the time.

Sorry no pics. Even if I had a camera, I was too fooked to have taken any.