PART 8 – THE FINAL CHAPTER
I slept that night like the dead – helped along by a full tummy and a bottle of KWV’s finest Pinotage
I did not even hear Heddles' snoring in the tin rondavel next to me
I think we both awoke very refreshed and rejuvenated – ready to tackle another day.
After settling our bill and packing our bikes we hit the start buttons to be rewarded by the awesome rhythmic beat of the two SE’s double exhausts.
This KTM has been the most reliable bike I have ever had – in 20 000 km it has never let me down once. Heddles, a qualified master mechanic, had prepped both our bikes and had done a fantastic and superb job – even going so far as replacing the standard hydraulic cam chain tensioners with manual versions, enabling him to fine tune the tension on the cam chains which ensures a quiet and rattle free start every time – I highly recommend this mod if you have an LC8 that you plan to grow old with – it will prevent unnecessary wear and very costly replacement later on
Pofadder was 45 km away - we needed to go there first to refuel. We filled the bikes at the small Shell garage and it was there that we decided we would shoot for home today – I have two little boys – Jack is 3 and Charlie is 8 months – I wanted to be able to spend tomorrow at home with my wife Victoria and the two little guys.
Soon we were on our way – heading in a south westerly direction back to the bakkie in Citrusdal – we had about 500 km to ride and then another 200 km drive back to Cape Town.
We were shown the way to a gravel road that would take us to the N7 just north of Vanrhynsdorp via a small little farming settlement called Kliprand.
This is where the big bikes came into their own – to avoid one person riding in the dust we rode next to each other on the longest straightest gravel road I have ever seen – mostly sitting at 120 kph but sometimes at 160 kph – it is awesome to be able to ride like this and to be able to completely trust the rider next to you – you have to accept and understand that no matter what happens you cannot swerve across the road – you hold your line and keep the bike straight.
It is almost exactly 200 km from Pofadder to Kliprand – before long the SE’s had gobbled up this distance and we were there. Heddles bike is more responsive than mine but has always seemed to be thirstier too. Even though we did not need more fuel we filled up anyway to do a fuel consumption comparison – we had both just ridden exactly the same distance at the same speed – my bike used 14 l and Heddles used 16 l – a difference of 14% more – his bike must have bigger jets in the carbs which would explain why it feels more urgent than mine.
50 odd km out of Kliprand we hit the N7.
We are not allergic to tar like some of our other gravel-travellers. In fact I enjoy a good piece of the black stuff and we had 250 km of this to get back to Citrusdal. We rode carefully to Vanrhynsdorp where we pumped the tyres lekker hard and we twisted those throttles as hard as we could.
This for me was another very lekker part of the trip – speeds ranging from 120 – 190 and my SE seemed to pull harder and harder the faster we went. I do not condone nor practise silly riding behaviour – we were riding fast and hard but were safe – maintaining good distance between the 2 of us and other road users.
This part of the N7 has lots of flowing corners and some nice rolling hills and we were having a jol.
We pulled into Citrusdal at 3 pm and not 10 minutes later it started to rain – what good timing! Michiel pulled up a few minutes after us and we helped each other load bikes on bakkies and trailers.
An uneventful and slow, but safe drive home was over before we knew it - we were back home.
The ride was over – but certainly not forgotten
My thanks to every single one of my 7 fellow riders - you know who you are - each one of you brought something different and special to the party - a fantastic 4 day riding party - I will not hesitate to ride with you again.
We will go back and we will beat that ROAD – on bikes – it simply has to be done.
THE END
