Swazi Weekend Boner
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Straatkat
Race Dog
Martin, excellent ride report, really enjoy your writing style. The riding is some of the best anyone can do, it is a bit hard on the body (especially if you are going on mid fifties) and the falling doesn't help. Hey at least I am slowly becoming a Swazi land baron!
Mark has been riding Swazi for many years and he is probably THE expert when it comes to these rides. AND the way he handles that 990 is just legendary.
With "road tyres" and a 230kg bike plus luggage he just takes the most rugged terrain in his stride, and then we follow with proper off road tyres and a mere 140kg bike and we fall all over the place, and I won't class my riding mates as beginners either. And on top of that Mark is a really nice guy too.
Mark has been riding Swazi for many years and he is probably THE expert when it comes to these rides. AND the way he handles that 990 is just legendary.
With "road tyres" and a 230kg bike plus luggage he just takes the most rugged terrain in his stride, and then we follow with proper off road tyres and a mere 140kg bike and we fall all over the place, and I won't class my riding mates as beginners either. And on top of that Mark is a really nice guy too.
Hope there's more RR to follow! :thumleft:
Just Blip It!
Race Dog
Straatkat said:
Thanks Bertie for the kind words! I am always friendly toward land barons like yourself, I often need to traverse your property and I think only the Swazi King owns more land than you in Swazi! ;D
ot:Must say Martin, I am really enjoying your RR as I have with all your previous ones! You have a great talent for writing with plenty of humour and very well done considering English is not your mother tongue! :thumleft:
Tony, Henk and Bertie, you guys are legends, I really enjoy hosting you guys on a Swazi Hardcore ride, non stop entertainment, many laughs and the Husky technical talk at every stop or rest break has been very educational. I now after 3 or 4 of these rides with the Husky crowd know more about these Italian jobs than I do about my 990!! :biggrin:
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Day 3
Last day of the trip and it was planned to be a shorter than the prior days as us Gautengers had to get back to Digger’s Retreat in Barberton by early afternoon to make it back to Big Smoke by the end of the day.
We had a breakfast in the Country Club, packed up and set-off.
The country club:
Something for the ladies - an Italian stallion:
Mark had a fall-out the night before with his roommate Lee who was relegated to the room of his own in the remote corner of the building. It had something to do with snoring - it turns out even Racing Snake needs a sleep:
Compared to prior days, the riding was mostly flat bush riding with quite a few sandy riverbeds - for people who know I would liken it to a loop through De Wildt without the whoops. There were still quite a few gnarly sections and I was feeling a bit tired - and suspect that some of the rest as well.
Finally at the end of one riverbed the 990 broke down and wouldn't start. Tony saved the day with his Battery Booster thingy - the same one that saved me and Bertie on day 1:
Tony in action:
And saved 990:
Some more riverbeds:
Eventually at about 11:00 we emerged from the bush and have hit the main dirt road heading for the Jeppes Reef border. The Nelspruit boys were riding upfront three abreast to stay out of each other dust, me trying to do the same close on their heels, while Tony and Bertie followed leisurely behind. I was still getting a lot of dust, plus I couldn’t see into the turns should a car come in opposite direction, so I eased up and let the leading trio go.
Naturally as they were getting away for a moment I was completely blinded by their dust and couldn’t see the road at all. And that is when I hit a mother of all washouts in the middle of the road, this one:
To be honest, looking at the picture I’m still perplexed how something like this could have caused any issue on a dirt bike, but it did. I suspect it may have had something to do with my aggressive tyres, which I was so happy to ride on for past few months - maybe in this situation they got much better purchase than would be desirable.
Anyway, the washout grabbed the front wheel and threw the bike sharply right. I tried to save it by kicking down with the left foot, which about half a meter in front of my face turned sharply backwards and back and that sight itself was enough for me to loose any will to try to stay upright, so went down. The sharp pain indicated what I already knew - the leg was broken and I remained lying down in the middle of the road grinding my teeth through the pain. Tony and Bertie arrived shortly after and took my bike off the road. They wanted to carry me off the road as well, but the pain was just too much, so I just laid on my right side, put the broken leg on top of the good one and squirmed like some weird worm off the road.
Tony then took straps out of my luggage and strapped my legs together to fixate the broken leg and gave me some painkillers. Some local ladies came to the check the commotion and seeing the situation brought us bucket of water to wash in - very considerate of them.
And calling for ambulance:
Once I was fixated sufficiently on the side of the road, the priority became to get me to hospital. Mark returned back after quite a long while - they waited for us upfront for a long time thinking we probably had a flat, not believing (as I wouldn’t either) that anything serious can happen on a good dirt road like that. Once he seen the situation he rode back to Lee and Henk to tell them about the situation and get them to organize an ambulance.
Once the painkillers kicked in, I started to think straight again and remembered that I am a member of this Helivac thingy that is supposed to cover me everywhere south of Sahara. So I called the number and a lady offered to send the ambulance - I probably didn’t sound like a case for helicopter. First she offered to send SA ambulance to pick me up in Jeppes Reef, but we were still about 20 km from there, so I asked her to organize ambulance also in Lesotho to get me there, which she agreed to do. Bertie in the meantime decided to keep my spirit high by throwing down three Huskies at once and getting himself trapped under one in the process. You see, Tony’s Husky didn’t have a side stand so he leaned it against Berties. Mine was parked downslope next to Bertie’s. So when Bertie went to fetch camera or something from his bike, he absentmindedly moved his bike sufficiently for Tony’s bike to fall over and taking Berties and mine down as well - while trapping Bertie’s leg underneath. The painkillers must have worked as I did laugh at the gig.
Bertie doing his comedy stunt:
In the meantime Mark returned alone, as Lee and Henk gunned it to the next town looking for an ambulance on their own. Eventually they turned out to be more efficient than the Helivac made it back together with the local Land Cruiser ambulance. So I just called the Helivac lady and cancelled Swazi ambulance and just send the SA one to wait at the border.
The ambulance staff and the guys loaded me in (huffing and puffing like I weigh a ton or something!), and Tony with Bertie organized storage of my bike with the nice locals. The ambulance then took me to the border, where the guys caught up with me. Tony took my bike papers and passport, as him and Bertie were going to return later in the day with my bakkie to fetch the bike. Which they managed successfully to do (even though I didn’t have papers for the bakkie), but they had to sleep over in Barberton as they were too late to make it to Gauteng.
After the formalities, which I went through in the ambulance with the border officers coming out to check me out, we had to wait in the Swazi ambulance for about half an hour before the SA one arrived. I have to say the Swazi ambulance people were very nice and humble - I asked them how much I owe and they said nothing. I gave them some beer money and they were all over the moon.
On the other hand the SA guys when they arrived had all the charm of dodgy street hawkers looking for quick buck. To be fair, they did all the vital checks like blood pressure and sugar and such and didn’t ask me for anything, but compared to the humble Swazi people there was definite difference in attitude. Once they went through all the prescribed motions they didn’t care much and were driving like lunatics braking and accelerating hard, throwing me around in the process. It took more than hour to get to Nelspruit and at one point I had to pee. They weren’t prepare for such an eventuality, so I told the guy to take out my camelback water bladder and pissed laying on my side into that. I closed it and kept it all the way to hospital just in case I had to do it again.
There are two private hospitals in Nelspruit - Mediclinic and Kiaat, and the ambulance guys wanted to take me to Kiaat. I called Mark to check which one is better, his first choice was Mediclinic, but then he called back saying that Kiaat is smaller and more intimate (or some such), so Kiaat it was.
We made it to hospital in the early afternoon, which I was dreading a bit because I knew they will have to take off the broken leg my riding boots (Sidi Crossfires) and trousers. I didn’t care if they are going to destroy them in the process, but I wasn’t looking forward to the pain. But they were nice people and knocked me out with morphine. I woke up in the evening in the hospital room and a fancy gown on - and they didn’t have to cut through my gear. Which I felt a bit ambivalent about, as I wasn’t very happy with the Sidi. In the morning I have noticed that the inner ankle joint on the left boot disconnected. I tried to put it back in place and then tighten the straps, but it wouldn’t stay there. I still wonder if that may have aggravated this whole situation.
A lady orthopedic surgeon came to see me and showed me X-rays of my broken tibia (i.e. the bone between knee and ankle). Both bones were broken clearly through - typical biking injury she said, but she was a bit surprised to hear that I had actually heavy duty boots on, making me feeling very suspicious about that joint again. She said she will have to operate next day and put pins in - basically putting pin inside the bone all the way from knee to ankle.
Which they did next day at about 11:00 and I woke up again later in the evening. I have spent two more days in the hospital getting gradually more and more bored. I loved the first day, as I’m lazy fucker and love it when there is absolutely valid excuse to do nothing, but even I got restless as the time moved on. Mark, Henk and Lee came to visit couple of times bringing snacks and magazines.
My Nelspruit ATGAAT:
Eventually I got discharged on Thursday (the accident happened on Monday and I was operated on Tuesday). I have arranged for a cab driver I know to come fetch me from the hospital and take me back home.
So that in a nutshell was the boner weekend and its aftermath. I would like to thank all the guys from the gang for help and support. Tony and Bertie for picking me up from the road and organizing transport of my bike back to Joburg (and losing a day of work in the process) and Mark, Lee and Henk for organizing the ambulance and then visiting in the hospital. As much as the broken leg sucks, I have picked probably the best opportunity for the stunt, where great support was readily available. I usually ride solo, and wouldn’t like to experience situation like this on my own. So thanks again guys!
And yes, if the legs grows back together, I’ll be back for some more Swazi hardcore.
Last day of the trip and it was planned to be a shorter than the prior days as us Gautengers had to get back to Digger’s Retreat in Barberton by early afternoon to make it back to Big Smoke by the end of the day.
We had a breakfast in the Country Club, packed up and set-off.
The country club:
Something for the ladies - an Italian stallion:
Mark had a fall-out the night before with his roommate Lee who was relegated to the room of his own in the remote corner of the building. It had something to do with snoring - it turns out even Racing Snake needs a sleep:
Compared to prior days, the riding was mostly flat bush riding with quite a few sandy riverbeds - for people who know I would liken it to a loop through De Wildt without the whoops. There were still quite a few gnarly sections and I was feeling a bit tired - and suspect that some of the rest as well.
Finally at the end of one riverbed the 990 broke down and wouldn't start. Tony saved the day with his Battery Booster thingy - the same one that saved me and Bertie on day 1:
Tony in action:
And saved 990:
Some more riverbeds:
Eventually at about 11:00 we emerged from the bush and have hit the main dirt road heading for the Jeppes Reef border. The Nelspruit boys were riding upfront three abreast to stay out of each other dust, me trying to do the same close on their heels, while Tony and Bertie followed leisurely behind. I was still getting a lot of dust, plus I couldn’t see into the turns should a car come in opposite direction, so I eased up and let the leading trio go.
Naturally as they were getting away for a moment I was completely blinded by their dust and couldn’t see the road at all. And that is when I hit a mother of all washouts in the middle of the road, this one:
To be honest, looking at the picture I’m still perplexed how something like this could have caused any issue on a dirt bike, but it did. I suspect it may have had something to do with my aggressive tyres, which I was so happy to ride on for past few months - maybe in this situation they got much better purchase than would be desirable.
Anyway, the washout grabbed the front wheel and threw the bike sharply right. I tried to save it by kicking down with the left foot, which about half a meter in front of my face turned sharply backwards and back and that sight itself was enough for me to loose any will to try to stay upright, so went down. The sharp pain indicated what I already knew - the leg was broken and I remained lying down in the middle of the road grinding my teeth through the pain. Tony and Bertie arrived shortly after and took my bike off the road. They wanted to carry me off the road as well, but the pain was just too much, so I just laid on my right side, put the broken leg on top of the good one and squirmed like some weird worm off the road.
Tony then took straps out of my luggage and strapped my legs together to fixate the broken leg and gave me some painkillers. Some local ladies came to the check the commotion and seeing the situation brought us bucket of water to wash in - very considerate of them.
And calling for ambulance:
Once I was fixated sufficiently on the side of the road, the priority became to get me to hospital. Mark returned back after quite a long while - they waited for us upfront for a long time thinking we probably had a flat, not believing (as I wouldn’t either) that anything serious can happen on a good dirt road like that. Once he seen the situation he rode back to Lee and Henk to tell them about the situation and get them to organize an ambulance.
Once the painkillers kicked in, I started to think straight again and remembered that I am a member of this Helivac thingy that is supposed to cover me everywhere south of Sahara. So I called the number and a lady offered to send the ambulance - I probably didn’t sound like a case for helicopter. First she offered to send SA ambulance to pick me up in Jeppes Reef, but we were still about 20 km from there, so I asked her to organize ambulance also in Lesotho to get me there, which she agreed to do. Bertie in the meantime decided to keep my spirit high by throwing down three Huskies at once and getting himself trapped under one in the process. You see, Tony’s Husky didn’t have a side stand so he leaned it against Berties. Mine was parked downslope next to Bertie’s. So when Bertie went to fetch camera or something from his bike, he absentmindedly moved his bike sufficiently for Tony’s bike to fall over and taking Berties and mine down as well - while trapping Bertie’s leg underneath. The painkillers must have worked as I did laugh at the gig.
Bertie doing his comedy stunt:
In the meantime Mark returned alone, as Lee and Henk gunned it to the next town looking for an ambulance on their own. Eventually they turned out to be more efficient than the Helivac made it back together with the local Land Cruiser ambulance. So I just called the Helivac lady and cancelled Swazi ambulance and just send the SA one to wait at the border.
The ambulance staff and the guys loaded me in (huffing and puffing like I weigh a ton or something!), and Tony with Bertie organized storage of my bike with the nice locals. The ambulance then took me to the border, where the guys caught up with me. Tony took my bike papers and passport, as him and Bertie were going to return later in the day with my bakkie to fetch the bike. Which they managed successfully to do (even though I didn’t have papers for the bakkie), but they had to sleep over in Barberton as they were too late to make it to Gauteng.
After the formalities, which I went through in the ambulance with the border officers coming out to check me out, we had to wait in the Swazi ambulance for about half an hour before the SA one arrived. I have to say the Swazi ambulance people were very nice and humble - I asked them how much I owe and they said nothing. I gave them some beer money and they were all over the moon.
On the other hand the SA guys when they arrived had all the charm of dodgy street hawkers looking for quick buck. To be fair, they did all the vital checks like blood pressure and sugar and such and didn’t ask me for anything, but compared to the humble Swazi people there was definite difference in attitude. Once they went through all the prescribed motions they didn’t care much and were driving like lunatics braking and accelerating hard, throwing me around in the process. It took more than hour to get to Nelspruit and at one point I had to pee. They weren’t prepare for such an eventuality, so I told the guy to take out my camelback water bladder and pissed laying on my side into that. I closed it and kept it all the way to hospital just in case I had to do it again.
There are two private hospitals in Nelspruit - Mediclinic and Kiaat, and the ambulance guys wanted to take me to Kiaat. I called Mark to check which one is better, his first choice was Mediclinic, but then he called back saying that Kiaat is smaller and more intimate (or some such), so Kiaat it was.
We made it to hospital in the early afternoon, which I was dreading a bit because I knew they will have to take off the broken leg my riding boots (Sidi Crossfires) and trousers. I didn’t care if they are going to destroy them in the process, but I wasn’t looking forward to the pain. But they were nice people and knocked me out with morphine. I woke up in the evening in the hospital room and a fancy gown on - and they didn’t have to cut through my gear. Which I felt a bit ambivalent about, as I wasn’t very happy with the Sidi. In the morning I have noticed that the inner ankle joint on the left boot disconnected. I tried to put it back in place and then tighten the straps, but it wouldn’t stay there. I still wonder if that may have aggravated this whole situation.
A lady orthopedic surgeon came to see me and showed me X-rays of my broken tibia (i.e. the bone between knee and ankle). Both bones were broken clearly through - typical biking injury she said, but she was a bit surprised to hear that I had actually heavy duty boots on, making me feeling very suspicious about that joint again. She said she will have to operate next day and put pins in - basically putting pin inside the bone all the way from knee to ankle.
Which they did next day at about 11:00 and I woke up again later in the evening. I have spent two more days in the hospital getting gradually more and more bored. I loved the first day, as I’m lazy fucker and love it when there is absolutely valid excuse to do nothing, but even I got restless as the time moved on. Mark, Henk and Lee came to visit couple of times bringing snacks and magazines.
My Nelspruit ATGAAT:
Eventually I got discharged on Thursday (the accident happened on Monday and I was operated on Tuesday). I have arranged for a cab driver I know to come fetch me from the hospital and take me back home.
So that in a nutshell was the boner weekend and its aftermath. I would like to thank all the guys from the gang for help and support. Tony and Bertie for picking me up from the road and organizing transport of my bike back to Joburg (and losing a day of work in the process) and Mark, Lee and Henk for organizing the ambulance and then visiting in the hospital. As much as the broken leg sucks, I have picked probably the best opportunity for the stunt, where great support was readily available. I usually ride solo, and wouldn’t like to experience situation like this on my own. So thanks again guys!
And yes, if the legs grows back together, I’ll be back for some more Swazi hardcore.
Straatkat
Race Dog
Nice ride report as usual, Martin. You are welcome, what are friends for? It could have happened just an hour earlier and we would have been in the deep bush....then you would have needed some friends to carry you a couple of km's to the nearest road.
Speedy recovery my friend.
Speedy recovery my friend.
Straatkat
Race Dog
Martin mentioned how friendly and humble the Swazi people are, but the kids are even more so. They are absolutely fantastic, I always take a bunch of lollipops for them that I hand out whenever we stop and they gather around. On my first Swazi Hardcore, Garth Prost had the little kids stand in a row and he handed out Super C sweets to all of them, so after seeing that I always take them them some sweets. They all wave whenever we pass their village and are generally just a pleasure. When we were fixing Martins puncture. Mark waited on ahead and was sitting next to his bike under a tree and soon a couple of very young kids gathered around and he started showing them videos on his phone, he has a video clip of a male lion and some-one added laughter to the video and it is one of those infectious laughters, so he had like 4 kids sitting on his lap and thoroughly enjoying the videos on his phone! The young lady who brought us water when Martin broke his leg, she saw the accident happen and out of her own, brought us a bucket of water should we need it. When we collected the bike form them later that day, just as it was getting dark, they were standing in the doorway of their rather humble hut without any light or electricity, and they were happy and very grateful for the couple of rand we gave them for looking after the bike, they even looked after the helmet and gloves and all was there, even the gear lever thingy that broke off and I put in the helmet.
As we drove off Tony and myself were speculating how welcome a solar kit would be to these people, just a solar panel with some led lights and a plug to charge a phone...it would make a huge difference to their quality of life.
As we drove off Tony and myself were speculating how welcome a solar kit would be to these people, just a solar panel with some led lights and a plug to charge a phone...it would make a huge difference to their quality of life.
Straatkat
Race Dog
Oh and did I mention how the Swazi people don't litter, riding some distance before the border in SA and it is like you almost ride through a dumping site, then crossing the border and all of a sudden there is no litter! It makes me wonder what is wrong with our local population?
Straatkat said:
Nah Bertie - I feel safe in the bush. I have actually wiped out about an hour before the accident at quite a klip in one of those sandy riverbeds (the one after you stopped right behind me next to that ledge and almost went over
eepwall and I was fine. In the bush I'm usually pretty alert, on that good dirt I just relaxed little bit too much...alanB
Grey Hound
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Great ride report Martin. :thumleft:
Just my personal thoughts on your boots.
I'm not sure you can blame the boots, while those offer more protection that most, they are only plastic and leather, they can only do so much to stop large forces being exerted on the bones in certain circumstances. Plenty of MX riders break their legs, they all wear boots. The problem is the instinctive reaction to put your foot down in certain situations when maybe you should not, sometimes you get away with it, sometimes you don't. I once slipped as I hit a jump in MX and stuck my foot down into a hole on the apex of the jump and was ripped right off my bike while it went flying off into the distance. How I did not break my leg then I don't know. It just happens in an instant. You can only do the best you can, and the rest is a bit of a lottery. You just have to accept that everytime you get on a bike you have a chance of getting hurt, maybe badly. That's my philosophy anyway.
I hope the healing is well under way?
Just my personal thoughts on your boots.
I'm not sure you can blame the boots, while those offer more protection that most, they are only plastic and leather, they can only do so much to stop large forces being exerted on the bones in certain circumstances. Plenty of MX riders break their legs, they all wear boots. The problem is the instinctive reaction to put your foot down in certain situations when maybe you should not, sometimes you get away with it, sometimes you don't. I once slipped as I hit a jump in MX and stuck my foot down into a hole on the apex of the jump and was ripped right off my bike while it went flying off into the distance. How I did not break my leg then I don't know. It just happens in an instant. You can only do the best you can, and the rest is a bit of a lottery. You just have to accept that everytime you get on a bike you have a chance of getting hurt, maybe badly. That's my philosophy anyway.
I hope the healing is well under way?
Straatkat
Race Dog
As great as good boots may be, they protect against crushing forces on your ankle and lower leg, but do nothing to stop your leg twisting outward. Possibly the only thing that might help there is one of those expensive knee braces, maybe not even, as your foot turns and the bones break below the knee. The only thing you can do to prevent that type of injury is to keep your feet on the pegs as they teach in roadracing, when a fall is imminent, keep your limbs together and try stop them flailing about as this is when you break things, as hard as that might be. It's a bit like opening up when in sand, when your whole being is shouting to slow down! It has to be learnt.
Just Blip It!
Race Dog
Great ride report Martin. Heal well so we can do it again!
Great report thank you and heal quickly - it sounds like you had good mates and good care; even on the SA side :biggrin:
I agree with alanB about putting your foot out / leg down. I lost a long wheelie and put my foot down, but ahead of me, and, with bad luck, hooked a tuft of grass. Wrecked my knee properly. It is instinctive to put a foot down but maybe either try not to or let the leg trail a bit.
I also know about that type of rut; innocuous looking but treacherous for me, particularly if obscured with sand, dust or slippery with mud and arriving unexpectedly. They are swines. I read an adventurerider report where a guy got into such a thing in Patagonia I think. Stuffed him and his bike up properly.
I agree with alanB about putting your foot out / leg down. I lost a long wheelie and put my foot down, but ahead of me, and, with bad luck, hooked a tuft of grass. Wrecked my knee properly. It is instinctive to put a foot down but maybe either try not to or let the leg trail a bit.
I also know about that type of rut; innocuous looking but treacherous for me, particularly if obscured with sand, dust or slippery with mud and arriving unexpectedly. They are swines. I read an adventurerider report where a guy got into such a thing in Patagonia I think. Stuffed him and his bike up properly.
tmotten
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Dang. Hope you heal quickly.
Do you ride with a steering stabilizer?
Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk
Do you ride with a steering stabilizer?
Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk
