Two weeks ago, one of my brothers in law in 'Maritzburg called to say that he had seats for the Boks vs Aus match on Saturday and would we like to come up for it. My wife's from 'Maritzburg and it would be a great opportunity for her to visit her brother and 4 other sisters ( one of which was about to arrive in Durban from the States on the same weekend!) We had excess Voyager miles for the flights, so it wouldn't cost us anything. I've always wanted to ride Sani and even more so since thay are starting to tar it, but it's a loooong way to ride a 400 for a weekend! So I started making enquiries about hiring a bike in Durban, but didn't fancy riding it back to Maritzburg after an evening of drinking after the match! Spoke to another brother in law whose sons have enduro/MC bikes and whose brother had 2 more bikes available - sorted!
We flew up to Durban on Saturady morning and Colin picked me up at the airport while my wife hired a car and waited for her sister to arrive from JHB and then they would drive to PMB. So at about 12:30 it's off to the ABSA stadium where Colin has parking right outside the stadium on local club (forgotten the name) field. The cars were pouring in and almost everyone was setting their braais and consuming a few alchoholic beverages! A bunch of guys from Pietersburg that know one of my bil's joined us and soon 6 packs of wors were sizzling on the Cadac - these were hastily consumed but without the rolls as Jono had not yet arrived
At about 2:45, we started to join the queue to enter the stadium - we had 3 pairs of tickets, but they were all in different areas - Terry and myself had seats VERY high up - beteween the half-way line and the 22. What a sight greeted us! I haven't been to an international rugby match in over 25 years - man, what a vibe - I got goosies!
Well, the less said about the match the better! :-\ SO it was back to our "spot" for the real braai and drinking! I have never seen amuch meat before besides the Pick 'n Pay meat counter! Any way, to cut a loooong story short, we had a fantastic time!
The manne from Pitersburg
Later, even Butch dropped by for a steak
The next morning Jono loaded the KLX and RM onto the trailer and we met up with his brother with another RM and "my" bike, his daughter's CRF 250! It took us about 1 1/2 hrs to get to Himeville where we offloaded the bikes and kitted up. Being MX/Enduro bikes they are obviously not licensed, so we rode as slowly and quietly (if that's possible with comp. exhausts!) to the Sani turnoff. Jono's 2 sons ride MX/Enduro and once we hit the dirt, they were off on 1 wheel while we "old farts" cruised along. Man, that CRF is a great little bike - pulls like the proverbial (but I guess it would with a 52 sprocket) - light, nimble, turns easily - great stuff! A number of hours later though, my arms, arse and eyes were buggered! The suspension is obviously set up for landing huge jumps, doing whoopses at silly speeds etc - man, I felt EVERY rock that I rode over up and down Sani ! At the end of the day, it felt like my eyeballs were bouncing in their sockets - I could hardly focus on the road anymore! Oh, and standing doesn't make much difference either - it only relieves the butt ache a bit!
What follows are some pics of the trip - Sani is AWESOME - for me it has a REALLY special feel about it - like Baviaans and 1 or 2 other places I have ridden. How they can even think of tarring it is beyond me.They say it's to make it easier to get to Mothlokong (sp?) - but the roads beyond Sani Top are almost as bad, so what are they going to do - tar the whole of Lesotho????
The pics are not my best as the bike has no sidestand, so you take the pic where you stop the bike - usually I get off and walk around a bit to get a good shot. Also, there's no mirror to hang your helmet on when you stop
more to follow...
We flew up to Durban on Saturady morning and Colin picked me up at the airport while my wife hired a car and waited for her sister to arrive from JHB and then they would drive to PMB. So at about 12:30 it's off to the ABSA stadium where Colin has parking right outside the stadium on local club (forgotten the name) field. The cars were pouring in and almost everyone was setting their braais and consuming a few alchoholic beverages! A bunch of guys from Pietersburg that know one of my bil's joined us and soon 6 packs of wors were sizzling on the Cadac - these were hastily consumed but without the rolls as Jono had not yet arrived
At about 2:45, we started to join the queue to enter the stadium - we had 3 pairs of tickets, but they were all in different areas - Terry and myself had seats VERY high up
- beteween the half-way line and the 22. What a sight greeted us! I haven't been to an international rugby match in over 25 years - man, what a vibe - I got goosies!
Well, the less said about the match the better! :-\ SO it was back to our "spot" for the real braai and drinking! I have never seen amuch meat before besides the Pick 'n Pay meat counter! Any way, to cut a loooong story short, we had a fantastic time!
The manne from Pitersburg
Later, even Butch dropped by for a steak
The next morning Jono loaded the KLX and RM onto the trailer and we met up with his brother with another RM and "my" bike, his daughter's CRF 250! It took us about 1 1/2 hrs to get to Himeville where we offloaded the bikes and kitted up. Being MX/Enduro bikes they are obviously not licensed, so we rode as slowly and quietly (if that's possible with comp. exhausts!) to the Sani turnoff. Jono's 2 sons ride MX/Enduro and once we hit the dirt, they were off on 1 wheel while we "old farts" cruised along. Man, that CRF is a great little bike - pulls like the proverbial (but I guess it would with a 52 sprocket) - light, nimble, turns easily - great stuff! A number of hours later though, my arms, arse and eyes were buggered! The suspension is obviously set up for landing huge jumps, doing whoopses at silly speeds etc - man, I felt EVERY rock that I rode over up and down Sani
! At the end of the day, it felt like my eyeballs were bouncing in their sockets - I could hardly focus on the road anymore! Oh, and standing doesn't make much difference either - it only relieves the butt ache a bit!What follows are some pics of the trip - Sani is AWESOME - for me it has a REALLY special feel about it - like Baviaans and 1 or 2 other places I have ridden. How they can even think of tarring it is beyond me.They say it's to make it easier to get to Mothlokong (sp?) - but the roads beyond Sani Top are almost as bad, so what are they going to do - tar the whole of Lesotho????
The pics are not my best as the bike has no sidestand, so you take the pic where you stop the bike - usually I get off and walk around a bit to get a good shot. Also, there's no mirror to hang your helmet on when you stop
more to follow...
