THE ROAD TO HELL ..... and back (part 8 THE FINAL CHAPTER now up)

[goingnowherequickly]

Well Done
That sand looked very soft, you guys made it look easy..
Thanks for the video - you were seriously moving at times.... :thumleft:
Cant wait for more

 

[Pietcoke]

Ek het moerse respek vir julle manne om daai sand so te ry. :thumleft:

 

[JustBendIt]

PART 4

Dawn breaks and the sun cracks a smile over the Namakwa mountains

The troops soon stir. I check my watch and am amazed that I have managed to sleep this late – its 7 AM. I have 2 small kids – a 3 year old and 8 month old – lying in on a Sunday morning is a thing of the past.

Heddles gives See Duiwel a big bottle of mineral water he had bought in Springbok yesterday to make some instant cappuccinos – a decision he would regret later in the day

I tell the guys about what I got up to here last year and how I thought I may be able to ride out of this valley through some rocks at the bottom – we take a short walk to the end of the valley to see what is there

A beautiful amphitheatre of rocks awaits us

Michiel has lots more awesome pics of this – hopefully he will post them for all to see

We walk back to the bikes – the mood seems tense - everyone is quiet – See Duiwel says he feels like he did as a schoolboy at Boland Landbou before a big rugby game - the ROAD is waiting ...

To be continued ...

 

[Triple Trompie]

Bliksem, maar julle manne mag maar sand ry.
Daai 2 HPN's is maar mooi ysters!

 

[JustBendIt]

PART 5

Everybody walked to their bikes and slowly started kitting up. We had agreed we would ride up the first short bit to the saddle, park at the rock and then walk down for a bit to recce the road.

My favourite bike on the whole trip – Dustdevil’s HPN – a replica and tribute to the bike that the diminutive Frenchman Gaston Rahier rode to back to back victories in the Paris Dakar in ’84 and ‘85

Gaston Rahier is the tiny guy in the middle – when asked how he managed to ride so fast he said “I could not stop because my feet don’t touch the ground”

One by one we rode up to the “parking lot”

Michiel on HPN 663

Next up we see the ROAD – promise!

 

[Mark Hardy]

excellent report  :thumleft:

 

[DirtyHarry]

:happy1: :happy1: :happy1: :happy1:

 

[Biesie]

Gooi  :thumleft: :thumleft:

 

[White Rhino]

Awsome shit man. The video gives the couch rider a taste of sand riding handled like a pro.

That shoulder looked eina - could include some rotator cuff damage with that shade of bruising

and so we find the journey at the most crucial part of the trip - the ROAD TO HELL  .... pop .... pop .... pop

 

[Pietcoke]

Nou raak dit interesant. :biggrin:

 

[Beserker]

I met a lot of new people on this trip, Justin, Hedley, Altus, Nismark.

I have ridden with Michiel, SeeDuiwel and RovRat once before at Macasser.

What impressed me was some of the teamwork between the guys that have ridden together, RovRat + his wingman Nismark, Justin and Hedley, and if you check the video at 3.38, Michiel and Altus.

I was stuck with (or rather trying to stick to) SeeDuiwel, but he had the grill on his bike, and I was hungry, so it worked out well  ;D

 

[JustBendIt]

PART 6

We started to walk down to recce the road before bringing the bikes down here.

It is very steep – the photos don’t do justice to the gradient – even on foot I was scrabbling and slipping on the loose rocks.

The road is narrow – barely wide enough for a 4X4 to get through – I really don’t know how vehicles have managed to pass through here safely – one wrong move and you will literally slip off the road and tumble down into the ravine below

I will let the pictures do the talking. Thanks to Michiel for most of these photos.

The road is 14 km long - we walked down for at least 2 km – it did not get any better – there was no place where you would be able to stop and rest.

You will not see any bikes on this road – SORRY – not this time at least.

It is our opinion that this ride is not rideable on big bikes.

The road is made entirely of rocks on top of bigger rocks – there is very little soil, almost nothing,
underneath. Even walking up and down was a strenuous affair – I had to watch every step. The rocks moved under my feet – imagine what they would do if I rode my bike over them. The gradient is so steep that you will need mega momentum and decent speed and will literally have to bounce over the rocks – you will have to keep this up for 14 km - if you stop it will be almost impossible to get going again.

See Duiwel, Rovrat and Michiel had actually done a sneaky recce the previous afternoon – they rode down no more than 200 metres before they turned around and gave up.

I am not saying this road is impossible on a bike – certainly a Marc Coma or Chris Birch or someone like that could ride it on our bikes. I have ridden on stuff like this in the past in enduro races – but on a 100 kg KDX – not on a 200 kg plus bike with luggage

I am a little disappointed we did not make it down the road to the river and back up BUT I am also happy at the same time – it just means I have to go back with the right weapon to conquer it.

A few plastic bikes, spare tyres, recovery straps and a serious back up vehicle will be needed to beat this road. You will get tired – you will fall, many times, but you will be able to get up and get going again with much less effort.

I know I scoffed at the pics of 4X4’s on this road and really thought that a bike could go anywhere a vehicle can but not this time.

Kamanya wisely said that a bike lives and dies on traction – so true. A bike only gets propelled forward by one wheel – a 4X4 pulls and pushes itself with all 4 wheels.

We climbed back to the top and remounted – this was the halfway point of the trip – every wheel revolution from now on would be homeward bound

To be continued...

 

[J-dog]

WTF

 

[Michiel]

Ooh Justin, you're building them up... just to let them down.

With my shoulder a bit eina I lost the enthusiasm to take my backpack off to get
the camera out since I needed someones help each time. There is then a big gap
in the photo story and sadly no more video to mention.

We got to the start of the Hellish Road late in the day and though some okes wanted
to tackle it straight away it was clearly going to be foolishness. Reason prevailed.

We made camp where we were and oh what a spot to put up a tent!

The landscape here is just like we're on another planet!

With the sun rising steadily there was a sense of anticipation in the camp. R-O-V-Rat, See Duiwel
and I had a look at the Hellish Road the evening before and though we were all going there I knew
that I was way too cocky in the planning.

 

[subie]

Phew!! Sanity prevailed  :thumleft:
Het rerig gedink met die klippe fotos hier gaan mens nou bikes moedswillig opfok :eek7:
:ricky:

 

[Mark Hardy]

That looks like the devils play ground....... >

 

[Michiel]

More pictures in and around the camp site.

I felt like staying here for a day or two. Just sitting here and not thinking about anything too much.

R-O-V-Rat had more energy than the rest of us and decided to walk the riverbed to see if we could use this route.

We are a world away.

Life seems to cling on to the brink here.

The group.

 

[Michiel]

Yes, I will admit, I underestimated this road. I was overly confident and though by now I should
know how to read pictures I still made the mistake of thinking this road was possible on a DS bike.

The answer is sweet and short. Even in a perfectly healthy state I do not have it in me to ride up this
road on a >200kg DS bike. Not even HPN 663. Short 20-30m sections at a time will be do-able but
here we were confronted with 100-150m of non stop hell. One will certainly be able to ride down here
but then you will have to part with your bike and walk back home.

 

[Michiel]

Let me put it in context.

Matroosberg 4x4 route going all the way to the very top where few bikes actually make it, excluding "the gutter", is a walk in the park in comparison.

Kreef se motherf*cker road comes closer. Those who have attempted this road should take the worst section and lengthen it to many multiples, make it
a bit steeper and then you will have an idea. The difference is that Kreef's road is walking distance from the N1, help, recovery and water. Road to hell is not.
On Kreef's road you go back down when you give up. On the Hell road you are trapped when you give up!

 

[tau]

When Andries/Kamanya told me at Amageza what you where planning to do I told him I was sceptical. I have done the Namaqua Eco-route twice and once stopped at the top with Jacko with a Discovery Rental and we decided rather not.

People that haven't been there, don't know just HOW succleded you are and the road to the start of The Road to Hell is not easy as a start for a rescue vehicle. I would not do it on a normal DS bike without a backup vehicle, just too much that can go wrong.

There is a RR on 4x4community somewhere of a group with trailer that went down there and was found by the Land Cruiser club who happened to give the road a go. They winched the vehicles all the way to the top+trailers.