Bakkie
Race Dog
Damn but you okes had fun..... Looks like an awesome ride!!!!! Great pics... keep them coming
Southern Cape Trail Ride 2008
- Thread starter Trailrider
- Start date
Mark Hardy
Grey Hound
Wow what a route :thumleft: now that is riding that I can really enjoy. :drif:
Can't wait for the next instalment.
Can't wait for the next instalment.
Buzzlightyear
Grey Hound
Ja, that looks serious but nice :thumleft:
surf
Race Dog
Shit ouens, dit was n monster trip
Trail, great fodies.
Sal maar nou vroeg gaan slaap ,sodat die res van die RR gouer kan kom :ricky:
Trail, great fodies.
Sal maar nou vroeg gaan slaap ,sodat die res van die RR gouer kan kom :ricky:
YellowFever
Race Dog
- Joined
- May 14, 2007
- Messages
- 1,145
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- Cape Town City Bowl
- Bike
- Piaggio (all models)
okay, so watse small bike sal by my pas
Shift
Puppy
Great RR!! Nice photos. This is what trailriding is all about. Up to 650cc more than enough,otherwise the bike's to heavy to handle. The added bonus is that you dont have to break te bank to enjoy this tipe of adventure,and any replacement parts are cheap. ;D :thumleft:
MrBig
Grey Hound
YellowFever said:
En hoe 'small' is 'small'?
Lyk vir my na n kliekie besigheid die small bike ding!
Is n XR400 klein genoeg?
eepwall:bradleys
Race Dog
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2007
- Messages
- 1,589
- Reaction score
- 6
- Location
- Lake Side,Cape Town
- Bike
- KTM 640 Adventure
Cool report and pics,well done guys,keep the pics and rest of report comming :ricky:
MrBig said:YellowFever said:
En hoe 'small' is 'small'?
Lyk vir my na n kliekie besigheid die small bike ding!
Is n XR400 klein genoeg?
Wel die DRZ400 was klein genoeg.... :
:biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:
Trailrider
Bachelor Dog
MrBig said:En hoe 'small' is 'small'?
Lyk vir my na n kliekie besigheid die small bike ding!
Is n XR400 klein genoeg?
Ja
Trailrider said:
EtienneNXR
Bachelor Dog
Shift
Puppy
MrBig said:YellowFever said:
En hoe 'small' is 'small'?
Lyk vir my na n kliekie besigheid die small bike ding!
Is n XR400 klein genoeg?
Man it's like being a child again! Natuurlik is dit klein genoeg. Daars manne wat hulle groot bikes inruil vir sulke sports! Try it for once in your life you'll have lots of fun....and laughs.
Trailrider
Bachelor Dog
Day 3
Once again the plan was to start early and do the difficult bits first before the midday heat. Today had the worst section on the 4x4 route, but unlike Attakwas Pass nobody would have to ride this section. We did not need to cover it to get to our destination for night 3. Also, we would ride without luggage and only pack once we were back in camp.
The Eagle falls 4x4 route is a circular 10km route that ends right in the camp where we were staying.
When we arrived here I showed them the downhill next to the camp and already a few guys said there is no way they are coming down there.
In the next pic (taken on day 2) you can see the last bit of the downhill in the background.
Once again, you cannot see the real incline on the photo, but this route can only be done one way. Nothing can go up, only some try and come down. The combination of the very steep incline and almost zero traction is the killer.
I slept in a bit this morning and only got up at 6 am. By 8 am we were on the 4x4 route already. The route runs up and over a small mountain and is covered in loose rocks. Going up the mountain once again we had to negotiate the uphills. By now we were becoming expert hill climbers
Operator:
As we started to get elevation we could see some spectacular views on this beautiful day.
Next we had a downhill with a steep uphill on the other side. I went first. This pic is taken in the middle just before the uphill starts - loose rocks on an off-camber road.
Operator coming up the uphill - check the bikes in the background for an idea of the height of the downhill and following hill climb.
EttienneNXR coming down...
and up on this side.
LGF:
Rooipoot:
On top of the world!
...or not : We had some way to go still...
The last obstacle before the top - a steep uphill.
Scouting the lines:
Not only was this the steepest uphill of the day, but it was covered in loose rocks. Also, some awkward rock protrusions meant that you could not simple storm the hill and ride up, but in order to avoid them you'd have to ride up in an "S" shaped route.
Once again I went first. This was the first time on this trip that I actually had butterflies before setting off. There was a good chance that if I was going to drop it today, this would be it. Luckily not! I rode up and stopped on top
Man what a rush! The adrenalin was pumping!
EttienneNXR followed soon after me and also rode up without incident and so did Operator.
Next up: LGF. I shot a sequence of photos with the "shoot & select" option on my camera. Right after I stopped LGF got thrown off line and ended up in the barbed wire fence. :-\
Sorry - no pic of the mishap. I actually went and helped get him of the fence. I know this is out of character for me BUT, there a 2 kinds of falls and there is a difference between falling and falling over. Falling over is funny, a photo opportunity and makes for great conversation at the camp fire later on. Falling could be serious and therefore is not necessarily funny or a photo opportunity. This was funny afterwards though
EttienneNXR got a pic I'm sure he'll post later on.
Next Tok-tokkie rode up without incident and finally Rooipoot:
Right at the top there is a tree where a well deserved rest can be taken.
Some of the guys got group shots here which I am sure they will post later.
We have now travelled 7km and it has taken us an hour.
Looking down at the buildings of Eagle falls:
The green roof in the picture is the restaurant, pub and rooms. The picture give a good idea of how high we are and how far down the downhill goes. About 1km from the tree where we rested we reached the point of no return. We were a mere 2km from our campsite where the downhill starts. In that short distance you drop all the way down to the level of the campsite (near the green roof in the pic).
At the point of no return LGF and Rooipoot decided to rather turn around and ride the 8km back to camp. Apparently Rooipoot dropped it on the way back and again there is no pic. He's good at evading those
After doing the whole 8km back they still reached camp before us who only had 2km to go.
The first strech:
(You guessed it - the photo don't show the true incline)
This is what I said in the 1st Ride Report I did of this route:
I smiled before starting the descent first. I was so green back then
This time I would just ride the bike down.
I set off. Bloody hell!
The low first gear of my farm bike did not help at all. It felt like I was in free fall with no brakes. I braked as hard as I could (without even thinking of touching the clutch!) and stalled the engine. I managed to come to a standstill sideways on the "rockslide".
I started the engine and tried again. I stalled it 5 times as I came down the first section. This is serious. I stopped at the first opportunity and took my jacket off. It was after 9 am and I was soaked!
I watched EttienneNXR come down. It's eerie to see some-one come down with no engine and only hearing rocks sliding and rolling.
Next would be Operator.
We waited and waited... Then we heard a huge rev of the engine and nothing...
Operator started down but decided to bail out and ride back the long way round. He managed to turn the bike around to try and ride a short way back up, but the incline is just too steep and he flipped the bike over backwards. I'm sure he'll explain exactly what happened later. Not only was the bike damaged, but also flooded. No way up. No way down. Only one option left...
We were about a third of the way down. The zinc roof with the green grass in the left of the photo is our campsite.
While going down you are kept quite busy as I am sure you can understand. It's not really a leisurely scenic ride... But I got a few photos as we progressed.
In the end we just all came down with dead engines.
The bigger picture of the pic above. You don't want to start running away and end up taking the short way down...
On the last turn EttienneNXR pulled the clutch in and the bike started running. Before long he put the NXR down. Now I was the only person that has not come off and the pier pressure to do so was huge
Tok-tokkie on the Tee-Dub:
The CTX and TW worked best on this downhill purely because of the low seat height. You really need to be able to flat foot it down here. Operator's tall seat height was his Achilles' heel on this section.
When we finally reached the bottom Operator's bike would still not start. LGF towed him and when the bike started Operator shot off past LGF (with the rope still attached) and brought him down
This was out of my line of sight so I'll let them tell the story.
The 10km route took us just over 2 hours. We needed to pack but Tok-tokkie decided to have a cold one in the pub first to celebrate our victory over "The Downhill"
The rest of day 3 to follow...
Once again the plan was to start early and do the difficult bits first before the midday heat. Today had the worst section on the 4x4 route, but unlike Attakwas Pass nobody would have to ride this section. We did not need to cover it to get to our destination for night 3. Also, we would ride without luggage and only pack once we were back in camp.
The Eagle falls 4x4 route is a circular 10km route that ends right in the camp where we were staying.
When we arrived here I showed them the downhill next to the camp and already a few guys said there is no way they are coming down there.
In the next pic (taken on day 2) you can see the last bit of the downhill in the background.
Once again, you cannot see the real incline on the photo, but this route can only be done one way. Nothing can go up, only some try and come down. The combination of the very steep incline and almost zero traction is the killer.
I slept in a bit this morning and only got up at 6 am. By 8 am we were on the 4x4 route already. The route runs up and over a small mountain and is covered in loose rocks. Going up the mountain once again we had to negotiate the uphills. By now we were becoming expert hill climbers
Operator:
As we started to get elevation we could see some spectacular views on this beautiful day.
Next we had a downhill with a steep uphill on the other side. I went first. This pic is taken in the middle just before the uphill starts - loose rocks on an off-camber road.
Operator coming up the uphill - check the bikes in the background for an idea of the height of the downhill and following hill climb.
EttienneNXR coming down...
and up on this side.
LGF:
Rooipoot:
On top of the world!
...or not :
We had some way to go still...
The last obstacle before the top - a steep uphill.
Scouting the lines:
Not only was this the steepest uphill of the day, but it was covered in loose rocks. Also, some awkward rock protrusions meant that you could not simple storm the hill and ride up, but in order to avoid them you'd have to ride up in an "S" shaped route.
Once again I went first. This was the first time on this trip that I actually had butterflies before setting off. There was a good chance that if I was going to drop it today, this would be it. Luckily not! I rode up and stopped on top
EttienneNXR followed soon after me and also rode up without incident and so did Operator.
Next up: LGF. I shot a sequence of photos with the "shoot & select" option on my camera. Right after I stopped LGF got thrown off line and ended up in the barbed wire fence. :-\
Sorry - no pic of the mishap. I actually went and helped get him of the fence. I know this is out of character for me BUT, there a 2 kinds of falls and there is a difference between falling and falling over. Falling over is funny, a photo opportunity and makes for great conversation at the camp fire later on. Falling could be serious and therefore is not necessarily funny or a photo opportunity. This was funny afterwards though
Next Tok-tokkie rode up without incident and finally Rooipoot:
Right at the top there is a tree where a well deserved rest can be taken.
Some of the guys got group shots here which I am sure they will post later.
We have now travelled 7km and it has taken us an hour.
Looking down at the buildings of Eagle falls:
The green roof in the picture is the restaurant, pub and rooms. The picture give a good idea of how high we are and how far down the downhill goes. About 1km from the tree where we rested we reached the point of no return. We were a mere 2km from our campsite where the downhill starts. In that short distance you drop all the way down to the level of the campsite (near the green roof in the pic).
At the point of no return LGF and Rooipoot decided to rather turn around and ride the 8km back to camp. Apparently Rooipoot dropped it on the way back and again there is no pic. He's good at evading those
The first strech:
(You guessed it - the photo don't show the true incline)
This is what I said in the 1st Ride Report I did of this route:
I smiled before starting the descent first. I was so green back then
I set off. Bloody hell!
I started the engine and tried again. I stalled it 5 times as I came down the first section. This is serious. I stopped at the first opportunity and took my jacket off. It was after 9 am and I was soaked!
I watched EttienneNXR come down. It's eerie to see some-one come down with no engine and only hearing rocks sliding and rolling.
Next would be Operator.
We waited and waited... Then we heard a huge rev of the engine and nothing...
Operator started down but decided to bail out and ride back the long way round. He managed to turn the bike around to try and ride a short way back up, but the incline is just too steep and he flipped the bike over backwards. I'm sure he'll explain exactly what happened later. Not only was the bike damaged, but also flooded. No way up. No way down. Only one option left...
We were about a third of the way down. The zinc roof with the green grass in the left of the photo is our campsite.
While going down you are kept quite busy as I am sure you can understand. It's not really a leisurely scenic ride... But I got a few photos as we progressed.
In the end we just all came down with dead engines.
The bigger picture of the pic above. You don't want to start running away and end up taking the short way down...
On the last turn EttienneNXR pulled the clutch in and the bike started running. Before long he put the NXR down. Now I was the only person that has not come off and the pier pressure to do so was huge
Tok-tokkie on the Tee-Dub:
The CTX and TW worked best on this downhill purely because of the low seat height. You really need to be able to flat foot it down here. Operator's tall seat height was his Achilles' heel on this section.
When we finally reached the bottom Operator's bike would still not start. LGF towed him and when the bike started Operator shot off past LGF (with the rope still attached) and brought him down
The 10km route took us just over 2 hours. We needed to pack but Tok-tokkie decided to have a cold one in the pub first to celebrate our victory over "The Downhill"
The rest of day 3 to follow...
bradleys
Race Dog
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2007
- Messages
- 1,589
- Reaction score
- 6
- Location
- Lake Side,Cape Town
- Bike
- KTM 640 Adventure
This is a cool report,having a good cackle,can just imagine what you guys went through,well done MEN , :thumleft:CANT WAIT FOR THE REST :ricky:
Mark Hardy
Grey Hound
:hello2: :hello2:
Respect to you all, what a ride. :thumleft:
Respect to you all, what a ride. :thumleft:
fourtyfour
Pack Dog
That's definitely adventure style, huge respect to the youngster of your team, well done!
Next time on the TA Trailrider?
Next time on the TA Trailrider?
YellowFever
Race Dog
- Joined
- May 14, 2007
- Messages
- 1,145
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- Cape Town City Bowl
- Bike
- Piaggio (all models)
jeeeezzzz opie
cool shades man
cool shades man
tok-tokkie
Race Dog
Day 1
I met up with Operator in Stellenbosch at 12h30 and we rode over Hellshoogte to Franschhoek and over the pass to meet up with Rooipoot at the Theewaterskloof dam. Rooipoot then led us along gravel roads besides the Riviersonderend river through Genadendal , Greyton & Riviersonderend village and then more gravel across country down to Malgas, across the pont and down to Witsand at the mouth of the Breerivier. Rooipoot knows the area well and took us along some minor roads. We stayed in a house belonging to family of his. Supper in a restaurant. 323 km arriving just after 6pm.
I only took one photo that day. This is at Malgas where the recent floods piled three houseboats on top of each other against an electricity pylon.
The pont itself was saved by the operators who moved it along the cable as the water rose so that it was always at the shoreline; but when the water later dropped it was beached and they had quite a job getting it back in the water with a tractor.
I met up with Operator in Stellenbosch at 12h30 and we rode over Hellshoogte to Franschhoek and over the pass to meet up with Rooipoot at the Theewaterskloof dam. Rooipoot then led us along gravel roads besides the Riviersonderend river through Genadendal , Greyton & Riviersonderend village and then more gravel across country down to Malgas, across the pont and down to Witsand at the mouth of the Breerivier. Rooipoot knows the area well and took us along some minor roads. We stayed in a house belonging to family of his. Supper in a restaurant. 323 km arriving just after 6pm.
I only took one photo that day. This is at Malgas where the recent floods piled three houseboats on top of each other against an electricity pylon.
The pont itself was saved by the operators who moved it along the cable as the water rose so that it was always at the shoreline; but when the water later dropped it was beached and they had quite a job getting it back in the water with a tractor.
tok-tokkie
Race Dog
Atakwas pass day 2
We started at 9h00 next day riding 208km to Boonnidale in Atakwaskloof arriving there at 4 pm. Rooipoot led the way again taking us over the Duiwelhoks river and Oude Muragie farm across the N2 to continue on minor gravel roads along the foot of the Langeberg to Riversdale where we had brunch. I had an omelet and a beer; have had a beer for breakfast before but never an omelet and beer; it amused the waitress.
This is the Duiwelhoks. It was flooded during the winter deluge.
Looking downstream. It used to run through a tunnel of those big trees on both sides of the river but now only three survive from the flood.
After crossing the N2 and moving into the Langeberg foothills we could look out over the coastal plain we had just ridden across from Witsand.
We went through this farm. I enjoy old corrugated iron buildings like this.
Just outside the town is an old farmstead that has been restored; Zeekoegat. Rooipoot had written about it on Wild Dogs & shown photos of it while it was being restored. Rooipoot led us to the farm so we could have a look.
Partial view of the resurrected Zeekoegat farmstead.
The gable has a circle which is specific to the Swellendam region. The date is highly stylised 1795. This farm belonged to the first Muller to live in South Africa; it is their Heimat.
Just as we got to the Gouritz river Rooipoot stopped at this big old gum tree. It is important to him as he photographed his bike here on his first ride report (my memory is erratic so it may have had some other significance for him).
On to Herbetsdale, never been there before in fact I was not aware of a town by that name. Must be a real city boy but this DS thing is doing me a lot of good. Then through Cloetes pass which I was also unaware of which takes you over into the Little Karoo.
Cloetes pass.
Shortly thereafter you turn east onto the gravel road that takes you through Atakwas Kloof with Bonnidale where we camped the night after meeting up with the other 3 there.
This is immediately after turning onto the Atakwaskloof road. We are now in the Little Karoo with the end of the Langeberg to the south.
Atakwaskloof.
I have been through Atakwaskloof before, it is one of my favourite places. This is the view from the top of the hill in the previous picture.
Further on near Bonnidale. I think this is looking back the way we have come.
The campsite with my humble tent in the foreground. Trailrider, EtienneNXR & Operator.
We started at 9h00 next day riding 208km to Boonnidale in Atakwaskloof arriving there at 4 pm. Rooipoot led the way again taking us over the Duiwelhoks river and Oude Muragie farm across the N2 to continue on minor gravel roads along the foot of the Langeberg to Riversdale where we had brunch. I had an omelet and a beer; have had a beer for breakfast before but never an omelet and beer; it amused the waitress.
This is the Duiwelhoks. It was flooded during the winter deluge.
Looking downstream. It used to run through a tunnel of those big trees on both sides of the river but now only three survive from the flood.
After crossing the N2 and moving into the Langeberg foothills we could look out over the coastal plain we had just ridden across from Witsand.
We went through this farm. I enjoy old corrugated iron buildings like this.
Just outside the town is an old farmstead that has been restored; Zeekoegat. Rooipoot had written about it on Wild Dogs & shown photos of it while it was being restored. Rooipoot led us to the farm so we could have a look.
Partial view of the resurrected Zeekoegat farmstead.
The gable has a circle which is specific to the Swellendam region. The date is highly stylised 1795. This farm belonged to the first Muller to live in South Africa; it is their Heimat.
Just as we got to the Gouritz river Rooipoot stopped at this big old gum tree. It is important to him as he photographed his bike here on his first ride report (my memory is erratic so it may have had some other significance for him).
On to Herbetsdale, never been there before in fact I was not aware of a town by that name. Must be a real city boy but this DS thing is doing me a lot of good. Then through Cloetes pass which I was also unaware of which takes you over into the Little Karoo.
Cloetes pass.
Shortly thereafter you turn east onto the gravel road that takes you through Atakwas Kloof with Bonnidale where we camped the night after meeting up with the other 3 there.
This is immediately after turning onto the Atakwaskloof road. We are now in the Little Karoo with the end of the Langeberg to the south.
Atakwaskloof.
I have been through Atakwaskloof before, it is one of my favourite places. This is the view from the top of the hill in the previous picture.
Further on near Bonnidale. I think this is looking back the way we have come.
The campsite with my humble tent in the foreground. Trailrider, EtienneNXR & Operator.
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