OK, Im back. Just went for a quick overnight ride to Baviaanskloof where Tiger8 and Tiger's m8 (Schaun & Des) were camping.
Thanks for all the support messages, by the way...
Jupiter, on your own its either selfies, or the bike. Or where I was riding, lots of nothing. If you want lots of nothing, well I didn't take many pics of that, so, sorry for you ;D
Next I headed off towards Carnarvon, via Beaufort West (Brekkie at the Spur... don't bother in holiday season, nightmare!) and Loxton.
At Cararvon I asked the petrol jockeys about fuel at VanWyksvlei. I had tried to find out about availability before I left on the trip, but couldn't really find out for sure. At Carnarvon the guys said there is fuel, but the pumps close at 12h30 on a Saturday and open again on Monday :eek7: But no problem, they said, just find the lady who runs the Co-op (Corrine), and she would help. It was already 14h00 on Saturday, by the way....
So off I set for VanWyksvlei. The road is long, straight, and it was really hot. The surface was hard (very), with lots of ridges of loose gravel. So I stayed on the car tracks. However, at one point I was going about 80kph, and the front wheel found its way into a patch of loose stuff (about 40cm wide and 3 -4 cm deep). The back wheel completely broke away, and swung wildly from side to side. Not just a wobble, but almost broadsiding. Never experienced anything like this before, and cr@pped myself. I knew not to brake, and kept the throttle open. Problem was the edge of the road dropped off about 2.5m, and I knew if the bike didn't come under control, it was off the edge. Had visions of lying in a ditch, broken bike and me in the middle of nowhere. This was all in an instant, but the bike swung from side to side for what seemed like ages. Fortunately she straightened up. Came to a stop and pulled my self towards myself, deflated the tyres, and went on my way again. With softer tyres, the bike went like a dream. So what if I picked up another puncture or two.