Rain in the Richtersveld and refloating the SAS Wildehond

[Crankshaft]

That will make for a loooong day behind the bars.

been there, done that on the GSA... Dit was nie ligte musiek nie

Tussen Brandse baai en Groenrivier het ek hom 5 keer neergesit

 

[51Mobile]

Some on board footage courtesy of Gus.

 

[Crankshaft]

Some on board footage courtesy of Gus.

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You guys had it easy. The sand looks fairly wet in the video which makes it a lot easier to ride. I must admit, the times that I was on the bike and had good momentum, it felt like riding a BIG plastic bike.... until the sand jeep track decided to bliksem you off for a minute or two. That took a lot of effort and energy to get up again, and it was mid December.

 

[51Mobile]

 

[Chrisl]

Nature had shaken off the dystopian artistic style of the Tankwa area and was now stretching her artistic abilities and exploring the extremities of her palette.


You do have a way with words!!

Nice to see all the familiar places.

 

[51Mobile]

When riding with a group, my philosophy is not to allow the person who has dropped their bike to pick it up. They will have adrenaline surging through their body, tired from having wrestled the bike prior to the fall, and generally a bit shaken up. Let them sit, have a break, some water and a bite of something, whilst others pick up the bike and position it ready to ride off.

Leaving them to do it all on their own rapidly increases their fatigue, which makes concentrating and wrestling the bike ever harder, with the consequential increase in frequency of falls, you know where this is going, a spiral of death. This makes for a very long day in the sun for everyone, with increasing frustration all around. The rider getting the bliksem in with themselves for falling, the others for starting and stopping increasingly frequently.

I would very soon find myself on the "sit and catch a break team", which just confirmed all the above to me directly. And Man, was I the bliksem in with myself, but equally completely unable to do anything to get back on the road. Thanks to Lohan, Gus and Jarod for saving me on that day. But that is still to come.

For now, we were having a blast. Lohan and i sat back to assist where and when needed.

 

[51Mobile]

Whilst giving the team a gap, Lohan and I were ruminating on the skill those in front of us were displaying. Riding slowly in sand i cannot do. Here the guys were merrily winding their way along at a jogging pace. Impressive!

 

[51Mobile]

Some onboard videos taken by Lohan with his cell phone, whilst riding along with one hand.

Stunning scenery, decorated with copious bunches of flowers of all colours and shapes. On my bike, with my mates, Man it was great to be alive!

 

[51Mobile]

West coast traffic jam.

 

[Heimer]

Good thing you took the sand as the road from Garies to Hondeklipbaai is all snot after the rain

 

[Chrisl]

Cannot wait to see how you are getting to Dogstonebay with the park route being closed.

 

[51Mobile]

You guys had it easy. The sand looks fairly wet in the video which makes it a lot easier to ride. I must admit, the times that I was on the bike and had good momentum, it felt like riding a BIG plastic bike.... until the sand jeep track decided to bliksem you off for a minute or two. That took a lot of effort and energy to get up again, and it was mid December.

GS - Mid December!!! What part of "That is nigh impossible, are you very crazy?" did you miss?

Respect!!!!

It sounds like you have a similar approach to the one that works for me. Start in 2nd gear, get to 4th as quickly as possible, get your speed up to the moment your entire being says "WTF do you think you are doing?" add 5km/h, hang off the back, look up and hope things stay the way they are. It works like a charm . . . . .until it doesn't.

Inevitably the sides have wrestled someone's front wheel, trying to drag it into the bushes, the rider has fought back and now over corrected - first zig across the road. Hit the other side, turn hard back to where you came from - the next zag. This goes one of 3 ways, 2 of which have bike and rider catching a tan on the sand.

One - the zig zags increase in frequency, until the inevitable happens.

Two, you give up fighting the escalating war with the road edges, and hurtle off into the veld (that is assuming there is some run off space)

Three - the most unlikely, you manage to look up and against every fibre in your body open up and head off down the road.

In the unlikely event you avoid watching the oscilloscope patterns on the road and pull it all together, get back on the throttle and ignore the many dabs prints and other signs of trouble, until the next moment.

 

[51Mobile]

Cannot wait to see how you are getting to Dogstonebay with the park route being closed.

Gus had a cunning plan, we headed inland at Groen Rivier, then crossed over to the Bitter Rivier back to the coast.

 

[51Mobile]

Along the route, we drifted into two groups. Gus sent me a message that they were waiting at the lighthouse.

Gus and I run Montana 700's with current InReach subscriptions. These allow us to message one another in remote areas with the location attached to each message. It worked wonders in Zim when Treffon went goat hunting with his 990, the goat won and Treff ended up with severe concussion. I was able to keep Gus informed of our progress as we moved with Treffon on a short route to the stop for the night.

Whilst waiting for us the team indulged in capturing the beauty of the area. A few of the fruits of their labour.

And others just took the time to chill in the shade.

 

[adamktm]

That would be a great decision!

Thank you for your kind comments - they spur me on to complete this......

Right, car is on the market. Now to tell the wife of my cunning plan

 

[51Mobile]

As we rolled into Hondeklipbaai most of us were content to putter along enjoying the sights and smells of the village, then there is always one - the most exuberant member of the team got carried away in a little hot dogging. He neglected to recalibrate for a long day in the saddle which had tempered the razor edge of his usual dexterity, resulting in the whole show landing in a heap on the paved road of Hondeklipbaai.

Rider was fine, but the bike was grumpy and, to show its displeasure at being abused at the 11th hour, shed its gear shifter. There was no way to fix this . . . . until Gus set his mind to work. He fashioned a new lever with a No. 10 spanner and a bolt through the ring section and connected this assembly to the remnants of the gear lever.

Utter genius.

 

[51Mobile]

Right, car is on the market. Now to tell the wife of my cunning plan

Should you survive, please make careful notes so that I may replicate your audacious move.

 

[51Mobile]

We checked into Die Papierhuisie, a great venue for a group.

The 500's needed their required TLC. Others took a chance to give their bikes some attention.

Whilst some of our team looked like they needed some servicing. Mixture a bit rich Jarod, or do your rings need replacing?

Dinner was at DopEnKreef for the best Hake & Calamari Combo ever! Don't miss this hidden gem if you are in the neighbourhood.

 

[ADV Rider]

As we rolled into Hondeklipbaai most of us were content to putter along enjoying the sights and smells of the village, then there is always one - the most exuberant member of the team got carried away in a little hot dogging. He neglected to recalibrate for a long day in the saddle which had tempered the razor edge of his usual dexterity, resulting in the whole show landing in a heap on the paved road of Hondeklipbaai.

Rider was fine, but the bike was grumpy and, to show its displeasure at being abused at the 11th hour, shed its gear shifter. There was no way to fix this . . . . until Gus set his mind to work. He fashioned a new lever with a No. 10 spanner and a bolt through the ring section and connected this assembly to the remnants of the gear lever.

Utter genius.


View attachment 854820

Remember this trick, works wonders when you have a 10mm ring spanner a 6mm bolt and two small hose clamps

 

[ADV Rider]

We checked into Die Papierhuisie, a great venue for a group.

The 500's needed their required TLC. Others took a chance to give their bikes some attention.

View attachment 854826


View attachment 854827

Whilst some of our team looked like they needed some servicing. Mixture a bit rich Jarod, or do your rings need replacing?

View attachment 854829

Dinner was at DopEnKreef for the best Hake & Calamari Combo ever! Don't miss this hidden gem if you are in the neighbourhood.

Papierhuis has 6 bedrooms, very spacious and the lady even offered to do our washing, we rewarded her with a smile