Kreef
Race Dog
(Warning: LONG and poorly written by a tired rider. Only read if EXTREMELY bored… or never 
)
Easter weekend was fast approaching and no plans had been made yet. I received an invite to go spend some time in Langebaan. This was perfect and seeing as I was “heading that way’, I thought I would head through to Verneukpan for the remainder of the long weekend. Some friends had told me about it and I was really keen to see this place.
I convinced my good friend Goon to join in. “Jinne pel, I have to move, I have to make new footpegs, I have to get new mirrors, I have to get a new rear tyre, I have to go pick bla bla bla up at wherever… but fark it, I’m in” What an awesome buddy and ridding partner… always up for it! :thumleft:
By Thursday morning the bags where packed and I just had a veeeeerrryy long workday to get through. Eventually 16:00 arrived and amid a flurry of farewells from my co-workers (“if you die, I get your car…” / “if you die, I’m taking your kitesurfing gear” etc… seems my will has been written many times already) I headed home and loaded the bike. All kitted up and ready to go I pressed the starter button. A single turn from the starter motor and then nothing… battery status: Dead. :'( As I often do, I decided to worry about that later and proceeded with a running start. (Because who needs a battery on a 1600+ km trip anyways)
I was off to Langebaan for my the first 2 nights of the weekend. Friday was spend kitesurfing and generally just forgetting about work ;D. This ‘forgetting’ was also help along greatly by a lekker party in true Langebaan style.
I had opened the battery on Friday to see what was wrong and to my amazement I found that the battery was bone dry. It was quickly filled with distilled water and placed on a battery charger… but even with a few hours of charging, I got 2 starts max. Then the battery was dead again. Saturday morning I headed through to Suzuki in Vredenburg to see if I could get a replacement battery. On my arrival however, I could not get the battery to die. Seems the battery was still good and it just needed a nice long run. I nice dusty gravel route was discussed and I was off.
The plan was to meet Goon at a set of coordinates along the Ceres-Karoo road (I think the R355) I waited till 14:00 and then set off from Lanbeaan in a Northerly direction towards Velddrift. This was to be one of the very few pieces of tar road that I would ride on my way to Verneukpan. From here gravel roads were taken all the way to the foot of the Piekenierskloof pass. I had been told about the ‘old’ Piekenierskloof pass and obviously this route was taken.
A quick fuel stop was made in Citrusdal and my provisions for the weekend was purchased. Outside the Spar I had one of the longest discussions with a beggar that I have had in a long time. (PS, it’s amazing how many interesting stories these guys sometimes have to share) He tried to convince me to be proud of him because he does not steal... I tried to convince him that that is normal. After our chat, I was off again (while thinking that I was really looking forward to that sausage roll that he was now munching on) I headed straight west out of Citrusdal on the Middelberg pass. I have never been on this road before, but it was STUNNING. At the entrance to the Cederberg, I really wanted to head in and have a few drinks at the Cederberg Oasis, but I had a destination and it was getting late. I made my way to the rendezvous point.
At the same time a got a call from Goon saying that he had a puncture just outside Wellington and that we did not have any spares. The call was made that he should turn back to Stellenbosch. (Which in itself was apparently quite a mission). This trip had very quickly turned into a solo mission. I was hesitant, but very excited!
I continued along the Ceres-Karoo road. My destination was a friend’s (aptly nicknamed Wildehond – no connection to WDs) farm about 60km from Calvinia. I was late and getting dark, so I opened up the throttle. I quickly realized that even though this road was straight and fast going, there were quite a few “danger spots”. I had to slam on the brakes from 140km/h and swerve hard a couple of times due to a lack of concentration on the road and the water damage every now and again. atch: By nightfall I was still about 40km from my destination and I decided to camp over at the next available spot.
This turned out to be Stonehedge in the Tankwa Karoo. Quite a ‘lekker’ setup with tented housing and a general chill area/office. The caretakers are great and I see the owners are avid bikers (even though they were not there) This farm is the host to AfrikaBurn (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AfrikaBurn) taking place at the end of April. I spend the night braaiing with some of the artist and painters that are currently busy prepping for the event. Here the writing is literally on the wall… some of these speak of great trips and adventures. Some relating to biking caught my eye.
The battle between KTM and BMW also continued…
VS
One of the guys gave me a new route towards Calvinia as the R355 is just ‘too boring’. Here are the exact directions: “Go out throught this gate. Take the most travelled route until you get to a Y. Take the right one. This is the less travelled one. Just continue along this road”. I had no idea what he was talking about or where I would end up but I had already decided to go for it. A bought some extra fuel (R10/litre :eek7 and I once again hit the road. Now I don’t know if I followed his ‘directions’ correctly… but I ended up on a road (I think it was a road) that was not very well travelled (I could only make out 1 set of 4x4 tracks). Every time the road would cross a part where the road was damaged by flood waters, the 4x4 track would disappear. Mmm, no-one had taken this road since the last flood (The lady at the info office later told me this was probably due to the rain back in November, but there was some heavy rains in February as well… so it might have been that – Either way, this road had not been travelled in at least 2 months).
I was scared sh|tless : I was in the middle of nowhere going somewhere I had never been. My GPS’s batteries where dead and there was no cellphone reception. To road I was on would likely not see any cars for a few more weeks and I had never changed a tube before. I was out of my comfort zone… and loving it. I eventually reached a farm and decided to ask for directions (yes guys, there is nothing wrong with asking for directions). I was greeted with: “Jong man, hierond skiet ons mense wat op ons grond ry”. Bloody hell, seems I had stumbled into the SA version of “The hills have eyes”. After a quick explanation it was all smiles and I was pointed in the right direction.
I now made my way to Middlepos across the Gannaga pass. This was a nice fast pass with some surprisingly sharp corners.
I rode past 2 BMW Dakar riders at the foot of the pass and slowed down to almost a halt in the hope that they would stop for a chat. I had NOT SEEN ANY other DS riders all weekend and was wondering where the hell they all were. But alas, these guys must not have been WDs as they just continued on :-\ At middlepos I stopped for a quick cooldrink and noticed that some WDs really mark their territory :deal:
From here I made light work of the gravel roads in order to get to Verneukpan. On the way, my baby even had her 50th birthday. The road to Verneukpan was long, uneventfull and badly marked. But I eventually made it onto the pan. From here to photo taking commenced. I also played around with some flares (day & night). Ooooo how I wish I had a proper camera with me… the 3MP on my cellphone just does not cut it anymore.
I would be the only one on verneukpan that night. I set up camp next to the bell (wtf?) and had a lekker braai in the lappa.
The silence really gives one a change to reflect a bit. Even though 70% of my thoughts had been occupied by one person on my way here, I really had a go out here and covered a vast number of subjects that I normally try really hard not to waste time thinking about it. Work, money, travel, future plans etc. I also thought a lot about my family and friends and especially about the massive impact that Kevin’s (Jobless – WP) passing had had on me. I had only seen him on the road but never met him, yet his death really hit hard. With my mind all over the place I went back to the tent for the night.
Clouds had formed towards the NE and E and was now filled with thunder. This lit up the sky and it seemed the world was dancing. At a particularly busy time, I counted 12 lightning bolts in 10 seconds. Stunning. Above me the stars were as bright as I have ever seen them and that freaking song kept repeating itself in my head (Owl City – Vanilla Twilight). I fell asleep to complete silence only broken every now and again by a bug crashing into my tent.
Toureg told me to see how long I could ride with my eyes closed. I picked out a stretch, but after 25 seconds at 100+km/h I had no idea how far I had gone or if I had veered off course towards some grassy patches and I had to open my eyes. I also did a few runs in Verneukpan ATGATT (Undies and helmet) and clocked 140km/h in this high-tech attire.
Waking up here was a treat. The lightning was still going at it in the distance and the sunrise was gorgeous. I finished my steak from the previous night and packed the bike. Heading out of Verneukpan I picked up my first flat ever (whoot whoot). Tyreweld got me to the farmhouse but no further. Louis from the Verneukpan Campsites was a great help offering coffee, patches and assistance where needed. After several patches we decided that the tube was just to stukkend and I used my spare tube instead. The wheel was quickly fitted and I was once again ready to go. Even here I saw that WD members had left their mark. The helmet AND his quad was marked
The road to Cape Town was long and boring made even worst by a strong headwind. I found joy in the fact that I was not at all stuck in “Easter traffic”. I also went over the Vanryhnsdorp pass for the first time.
I arrived home tired, dirty and happy to be back.
I will definitely do more solo trips again, but max 1 per year and not for a long weekend. I love being around people too much…
)Easter weekend was fast approaching and no plans had been made yet. I received an invite to go spend some time in Langebaan. This was perfect and seeing as I was “heading that way’, I thought I would head through to Verneukpan for the remainder of the long weekend. Some friends had told me about it and I was really keen to see this place.
I convinced my good friend Goon to join in. “Jinne pel, I have to move, I have to make new footpegs, I have to get new mirrors, I have to get a new rear tyre, I have to go pick bla bla bla up at wherever… but fark it, I’m in” What an awesome buddy and ridding partner… always up for it! :thumleft:
By Thursday morning the bags where packed and I just had a veeeeerrryy long workday to get through. Eventually 16:00 arrived and amid a flurry of farewells from my co-workers (“if you die, I get your car…” / “if you die, I’m taking your kitesurfing gear” etc… seems my will has been written many times already) I headed home and loaded the bike. All kitted up and ready to go I pressed the starter button. A single turn from the starter motor and then nothing… battery status: Dead. :'( As I often do, I decided to worry about that later and proceeded with a running start. (Because who needs a battery on a 1600+ km trip anyways)
I was off to Langebaan for my the first 2 nights of the weekend. Friday was spend kitesurfing and generally just forgetting about work ;D. This ‘forgetting’ was also help along greatly by a lekker party in true Langebaan style.
I had opened the battery on Friday to see what was wrong and to my amazement I found that the battery was bone dry. It was quickly filled with distilled water and placed on a battery charger… but even with a few hours of charging, I got 2 starts max. Then the battery was dead again. Saturday morning I headed through to Suzuki in Vredenburg to see if I could get a replacement battery. On my arrival however, I could not get the battery to die. Seems the battery was still good and it just needed a nice long run. I nice dusty gravel route was discussed and I was off.
The plan was to meet Goon at a set of coordinates along the Ceres-Karoo road (I think the R355) I waited till 14:00 and then set off from Lanbeaan in a Northerly direction towards Velddrift. This was to be one of the very few pieces of tar road that I would ride on my way to Verneukpan. From here gravel roads were taken all the way to the foot of the Piekenierskloof pass. I had been told about the ‘old’ Piekenierskloof pass and obviously this route was taken.
A quick fuel stop was made in Citrusdal and my provisions for the weekend was purchased. Outside the Spar I had one of the longest discussions with a beggar that I have had in a long time. (PS, it’s amazing how many interesting stories these guys sometimes have to share) He tried to convince me to be proud of him because he does not steal... I tried to convince him that that is normal. After our chat, I was off again (while thinking that I was really looking forward to that sausage roll that he was now munching on) I headed straight west out of Citrusdal on the Middelberg pass. I have never been on this road before, but it was STUNNING. At the entrance to the Cederberg, I really wanted to head in and have a few drinks at the Cederberg Oasis, but I had a destination and it was getting late. I made my way to the rendezvous point.
At the same time a got a call from Goon saying that he had a puncture just outside Wellington and that we did not have any spares. The call was made that he should turn back to Stellenbosch. (Which in itself was apparently quite a mission). This trip had very quickly turned into a solo mission. I was hesitant, but very excited!
I continued along the Ceres-Karoo road. My destination was a friend’s (aptly nicknamed Wildehond – no connection to WDs
) farm about 60km from Calvinia. I was late and getting dark, so I opened up the throttle. I quickly realized that even though this road was straight and fast going, there were quite a few “danger spots”. I had to slam on the brakes from 140km/h and swerve hard a couple of times due to a lack of concentration on the road and the water damage every now and again. atch: By nightfall I was still about 40km from my destination and I decided to camp over at the next available spot.
This turned out to be Stonehedge in the Tankwa Karoo. Quite a ‘lekker’ setup with tented housing and a general chill area/office. The caretakers are great and I see the owners are avid bikers (even though they were not there) This farm is the host to AfrikaBurn (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AfrikaBurn) taking place at the end of April. I spend the night braaiing with some of the artist and painters that are currently busy prepping for the event. Here the writing is literally on the wall… some of these speak of great trips and adventures. Some relating to biking caught my eye.
The battle between KTM and BMW also continued…
One of the guys gave me a new route towards Calvinia as the R355 is just ‘too boring’. Here are the exact directions: “Go out throught this gate. Take the most travelled route until you get to a Y. Take the right one. This is the less travelled one. Just continue along this road”. I had no idea what he was talking about or where I would end up but I had already decided to go for it. A bought some extra fuel (R10/litre :eek7
and I once again hit the road. Now I don’t know if I followed his ‘directions’ correctly… but I ended up on a road (I think it was a road) that was not very well travelled (I could only make out 1 set of 4x4 tracks). Every time the road would cross a part where the road was damaged by flood waters, the 4x4 track would disappear. Mmm, no-one had taken this road since the last flood (The lady at the info office later told me this was probably due to the rain back in November, but there was some heavy rains in February as well… so it might have been that – Either way, this road had not been travelled in at least 2 months). I was scared sh|tless : I was in the middle of nowhere going somewhere I had never been. My GPS’s batteries where dead and there was no cellphone reception. To road I was on would likely not see any cars for a few more weeks and I had never changed a tube before. I was out of my comfort zone… and loving it. I eventually reached a farm and decided to ask for directions (yes guys, there is nothing wrong with asking for directions). I was greeted with: “Jong man, hierond skiet ons mense wat op ons grond ry”. Bloody hell, seems I had stumbled into the SA version of “The hills have eyes”. After a quick explanation it was all smiles and I was pointed in the right direction.
I now made my way to Middlepos across the Gannaga pass. This was a nice fast pass with some surprisingly sharp corners.
I rode past 2 BMW Dakar riders at the foot of the pass and slowed down to almost a halt in the hope that they would stop for a chat. I had NOT SEEN ANY other DS riders all weekend and was wondering where the hell they all were. But alas, these guys must not have been WDs as they just continued on :-\ At middlepos I stopped for a quick cooldrink and noticed that some WDs really mark their territory :deal:
From here I made light work of the gravel roads in order to get to Verneukpan. On the way, my baby even had her 50th birthday. The road to Verneukpan was long, uneventfull and badly marked. But I eventually made it onto the pan. From here to photo taking commenced. I also played around with some flares (day & night). Ooooo how I wish I had a proper camera with me… the 3MP on my cellphone just does not cut it anymore.
I would be the only one on verneukpan that night. I set up camp next to the bell (wtf?) and had a lekker braai in the lappa.
The silence really gives one a change to reflect a bit. Even though 70% of my thoughts had been occupied by one person on my way here, I really had a go out here and covered a vast number of subjects that I normally try really hard not to waste time thinking about it. Work, money, travel, future plans etc. I also thought a lot about my family and friends and especially about the massive impact that Kevin’s (Jobless – WP) passing had had on me. I had only seen him on the road but never met him, yet his death really hit hard. With my mind all over the place I went back to the tent for the night.
Clouds had formed towards the NE and E and was now filled with thunder. This lit up the sky and it seemed the world was dancing. At a particularly busy time, I counted 12 lightning bolts in 10 seconds. Stunning. Above me the stars were as bright as I have ever seen them and that freaking song kept repeating itself in my head (Owl City – Vanilla Twilight). I fell asleep to complete silence only broken every now and again by a bug crashing into my tent.
Toureg told me to see how long I could ride with my eyes closed. I picked out a stretch, but after 25 seconds at 100+km/h I had no idea how far I had gone or if I had veered off course towards some grassy patches and I had to open my eyes. I also did a few runs in Verneukpan ATGATT (Undies and helmet) and clocked 140km/h in this high-tech attire.
Waking up here was a treat. The lightning was still going at it in the distance and the sunrise was gorgeous. I finished my steak from the previous night and packed the bike. Heading out of Verneukpan I picked up my first flat ever (whoot whoot). Tyreweld got me to the farmhouse but no further. Louis from the Verneukpan Campsites was a great help offering coffee, patches and assistance where needed. After several patches we decided that the tube was just to stukkend and I used my spare tube instead. The wheel was quickly fitted and I was once again ready to go. Even here I saw that WD members had left their mark. The helmet AND his quad was marked
The road to Cape Town was long and boring made even worst by a strong headwind. I found joy in the fact that I was not at all stuck in “Easter traffic”. I also went over the Vanryhnsdorp pass for the first time.
I arrived home tired, dirty and happy to be back.
I will definitely do more solo trips again, but max 1 per year and not for a long weekend. I love being around people too much…
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