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

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I was worried that the rest would have past me 'but Koos assured me that no-one has passed them, so I waited, almost for an hour till the guys showed up. looks like hey had lots of sanding while Koos was returning the help I gave him in the form of some Branna's and pigblood.

QUOTE

Met eish, ja, met eish. Respect to you guys! Bold decision by wise men to turn around.
 
Although this is exactly what I though would happened I am still a bit disappointed. Not that I would attempt this route myself. (anyway not on a DS)

I thought, hell these guys are too tough for the Amageza. I was hoping you would at least attempt the first section of the road. As a group you could helpmekaar back to the top. Just for the fun or some lekker pictures. Dustdevil still think it is possable.

Two things I noticed. See Duiwel did not have knobbies on his bike. You knew that you would need every bit of traction possable. Why put a dual sport tyre on? Were you not serious to do the route in the first place? Also you did not have much water left even before starting the Road to Hell. How well did you guys plan this? You were giving a lot of info and serious warning about water before hand.

Did you really plan to do the Road to Hell or to just go and have a look? Are you okes yanking our chains?

Anyway, it looks like you enjoyed the trip. A trip is a trip ou pel. From your report I can see you are a bunch of lekker ouens. Also very very wise to turn around if you are in doubt. A quality I have lack of. I think there is a plan starting to grow in my head...
 
FWIW

Uilspieël said:
Two things I noticed. See Duiwel did not have knobbies on his bike. You knew that you would need every bit of traction possable. Why put a dual sport tyre on? Were you not serious to do the route in the first place?

Quite a bit of technical riding was done before they got there...and Seeduiwel outrode most, even those with full knobblies. Serious enough I would say.

I did not make it all the way, as Seeduiwel said, by Saturday we were close on a day behind our planned (or rather my planned) schedule, and as such I shot for home.
Speaking to Michiel afterwards, I asked him for a comparison in order to form a picture of what to expect, and we used Matrooberg (all the way to the top) and Kreefs MuthaFucka route (all the way to the top)

According to Michiel, Matroosberg is "mak" in comparison, and Kreefs route, if you take the last section after the pines, more or less the same as that, the major diffs is Kreefs route is a couple of metres, whilst this was 14 km...

To quote Michiel:

"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!"


Pictures always says more, so:

Matroosberg (The "mak" one):

IMG_0912.jpg


08052010036.jpg


Uilspieël said:
Are you okes yanking our chains?

Most definately!
 
I had every intention of riding the ROAD - I don't think I could have prepped myself or my bike better

BUT when I got there I had to make a decision with my head and not my heart (or balls) - beleive me NOBODY wants to beat this road more than I do - I have failed twice and it has only strengthened my resolve to go back and do it and prove to myself that I can do it on a bike - it may be easy for others who are more skilled, fitter, faster, etc but I want to know if I have it in ME to do it

The remoteness of the area played a huge factor in our decision - if the worst were to happen and you have to walk out it would take 3 days to get back to Steinkopf, the nearest town, to get help - It may only be 85 km away but one hell of a walk - No cell reception, limited water and food, riding boots to walk in - eish !

In all my research and "googelising" I have not come across any reports of bikes going in and out - we have discovered a VIRGIN bike road in SA - most probably the only one considering how many people ride in our country - we have to break her cherry!

This trip was not a failure - very important info was learned here and this will be used to better prepare for next time - the most important thing is everyone came back alive and safe and had one HELL of a good ride - nobody can deny that

We are going back - watch this space
 
Powerflow Justin said:
I had every intention of riding the ROAD - I don't think I could have prepped myself or my bike better

BUT when I got there I had to make a decision with my head and not my heart (or balls) - beleive me NOBODY wants to beat this road more than I do - I have failed twice and it has only strengthened my resolve to go back and do it and prove to myself that I can do it on a bike - it may be easy for others who are more skilled, fitter, faster, etc but I want to know if I have it in ME to do it

The remoteness of the area played a huge factor in our decision - if the worst were to happen and you have to walk out it would take 3 days to get back to Steinkopf, the nearest town, to get help - It may only be 85 km away but one hell of a walk - No cell reception, limited water and food, riding boots to walk in - eish !

In all my research and "googelising" I have not come across any reports of bikes going in and out - we have discovered a VIRGIN bike road in SA - most probably the only one considering how many people ride in our country - we have to break her cherry!

This trip was not a failure - very important info was learned here and this will be used to better prepare for next time - the most important thing is everyone came back alive and safe and had one HELL of a good ride - nobody can deny that

We are going back - watch this space

just take a 4x4 bakkie along next time  :thumleft:
 
Sitting down this morning doing my petty cash count up of the month I relived the trip step by step
as I entered the different slips of food and petrol and other things spent. I have fond memories of the
time away. It sure was a memorable trip but not epic by my standards. For that I had to sweat a bit.

I wish we could have done the road. I took some tablets to treat the river water once we got to it.
I do not think our planning failed outright. We simply underestimated the road. People, take it from me, no
average oke like the majority of us here will ride a DS bike back up that road. It will have to be dragged
along for hundreds of metres in a place with no water and at best a blistering sun bearing down.

I have seen some really talented and respected Wilddog riders ride on difficult trails over the last years.
By watching others one can judge where mortal limits lie. To those that question my summary, go there
and have a look for yourself.

Here is the rest of the video I took. Strung it together quickly with no added effort so please excuse the
bad sound from the poor action cam microphone. In the background you can here HPN 663's Mahle motor
purring away effortlessly.  :)

You Tube is doing something funny to my video selection. Hit the playlist option on the task bar at the bottom
of the video window and choose the first video on the list to play. It is called Richtersveld.

[flash=700,420]https://www.youtube.com/v/XTTdGzOhaKs&list=UUm_qtk4U2Crzp2eUl9Ss-ZA&index=1&feature=plcp[/flash]
 
After making our way to Pofadder the group was scattered all over and left only three of us together.
R-O-V-Rat, Nismark and I decided to ride out into the Northern Cape landscape heading South and to
stop where the sun sets to make camp for the night.

Richtersveld056.jpg


Richtersveld057.jpg


We literally just pulled off the road in the middle of nowhere and pitched tent. The landscape round
us so flat we could see the curvature of the earth!

Richtersveld058.jpg


A strange kind of peace settled over the desolate landscape as we sat there by our tents reflecting
on the trip so far.

Richtersveld059.jpg


Richtersveld060.jpg
 
Michiel said:
Sitting down this morning doing my petty cash count up of the month I relived the trip step by step
as I entered the different slips of food and petrol and other things spent. I have fond memories of the
time away. It sure was a memorable trip but not epic by my standards. For that I had to sweat a bit.

I wish we could have done the road. I took some tablets to treat the river water once we got to it.
I do not think our planning failed outright. We simply underestimated the road. People, take it from me, no
average oke like the majority of us here will ride a DS bike back up that road. It will have to be dragged
along for hundreds of metres in a place with no water and at best a blistering sun bearing down.

I have seen some really talented and respected Wilddog riders ride on difficult trails over the last years.
By watching others one can judge where mortal limits lie. To those that question my summary, go there
and have a look for yourself.

Here is the rest of the video I took. Strung it together quickly with no added effort so please excuse the
bad sound from the poor action cam microphone. In the background you can here HPN 663's Mahle motor
purring away effortlessly.  :)
[/quote
Where is the video  :patch:
 
Michiel said:
Sorry, just added it. Was waiting for You Tube to churn it out.

Jy maak great video's. Het gisteraand weer daai een "moments in Namibie " gekyk :thumleft:
O Ja! Jy mag maar bike ry  :imaposer:
 
Ok , help me out here. I would love to see you ride your bike , but the video is one about 'oom willie' ????
 
Uilspiel ou maat!
Jammer dat ons/ek jou so teleurstel. Jammer oor my dualsport tyres. Ek het nogal gedink as al die trail bike ouens minder growwe tyres gebruik dit my ook sal help. My water kleppie kraantjie het gelek. Sorry daaroor ook . Sorry dat ek te kak is en jy tekuza! Like jou nog anyway. Klink my jy is 'n moerse tier. Weet jy wat? Ons het nogal regtig gedink ons sal dit kan maak. Hoekom wys jy nie vir ons hoe dit gedoen moet word nie!
Ek wag jou RR
Hoop jy het 'n great aand.
Groetnis
Die Duiwel
 
See Duiwel said:
Uilspiel ou maat!
Jammer dat ons/ek jou so teleurstel. Jammer oor my dualsport tyres. Ek het nogal gedink as al die trail bike ouens minder growwe tyres gebruik dit my ook sal help. My water kleppie kraantjie het gelek. Sorry daaroor ook . Sorry dat ek te kak is en jy tekuza! Like jou nog anyway. Klink my jy is 'n moerse tier. Weet jy wat? Ons het nogal regtig gedink ons sal dit kan maak. Hoekom wys jy nie vir ons hoe dit gedoen moet word nie!
Ek wag jou RR
Hoop jy het 'n great aand.
Groetnis
Die Duiwel


:thumleft:  ;)
 
See Duiwel said:
Uilspiel ou maat!
Jammer dat ons/ek jou so teleurstel. Jammer oor my dualsport tyres. Ek het nogal gedink as al die trail bike ouens minder growwe tyres gebruik dit my ook sal help. My water kleppie kraantjie het gelek. Sorry daaroor ook . Sorry dat ek te kak is en jy tekuza! Like jou nog anyway. Klink my jy is 'n moerse tier. Weet jy wat? Ons het nogal regtig gedink ons sal dit kan maak. Hoekom wys jy nie vir ons hoe dit gedoen moet word nie!
Ek wag jou RR
Hoop jy het 'n great aand.
Groetnis
Die Duiwel

See Duiwel ek vra omverskoning as my post jou ontstel het. Het dit nie as kritiek bedoel. Ek is nie terleurgesteld in julle nie maar vir julle part. Sorry weereens. Bly jy like my nog, beteken dit ek word volgende keer saamgenooi?  ;)
 
Uilspieël said:
See Duiwel said:
Uilspiel ou maat!
Jammer dat ons/ek jou so teleurstel. Jammer oor my dualsport tyres. Ek het nogal gedink as al die trail bike ouens minder growwe tyres gebruik dit my ook sal help. My water kleppie kraantjie het gelek. Sorry daaroor ook . Sorry dat ek te kak is en jy tekuza! Like jou nog anyway. Klink my jy is 'n moerse tier. Weet jy wat? Ons het nogal regtig gedink ons sal dit kan maak. Hoekom wys jy nie vir ons hoe dit gedoen moet word nie!
Ek wag jou RR
Hoop jy het 'n great aand.
Groetnis
Die Duiwel

See Duiwel ek vra omverskoning as my post jou ontstel het. Het dit nie as kritiek bedoel. Ek is nie terleurgesteld in julle nie maar vir julle part. Sorry weereens. Bly jy like my nog, beteken dit ek word volgende keer saamgenooi?  ;)

That's the way. !!  Ek het ook nogal gedink jy is bietjie 'harsh' met jou vorige post.

Ek vir een is bly om te hoor dit was nie so bedoel nie.

 
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