Fantastic !!!
The swimming pictures are somewhat haunting. :lol8:
Did you find Danie & Gideon's rock?
ot:
The swimming pictures are somewhat haunting. :lol8:
Did you find Danie & Gideon's rock?
ot:
THE ROAD TO HELL TRILOGY - FINAL CHAPTER (Videos start on page 5)
- Thread starter JustBendIt
- Start date
GJ
Race Dog
Hey, wat het julle met my klip gemaak?
JustBendIt
Grey Hound
We did not find Gideon and Danie's rock - maybe they took it home with them ?
We did however see clear tracks of a Mitas E07 tyre (which is the same on the rear of Danie's bike) so I'm pretty sure they were actually there and did not fake it like the Moon landing
The rock we wrote on is the biggest one we could find - we purposely wrote on the back of it so it would not be in full view of everybody who comes down there - nice and discreet - you will have to look for it
The next time you see nudie pics of me on the internet I hope to be built like a brick shithouse - or at the very least just a little less round ;D
The rest of the RR is coming - I promise - just finished "suicide hour" bathing and feeding my boys, next up is "pokkel party" with my wife - maybe I will get to writing part 4 tomorrow morning before work
We did however see clear tracks of a Mitas E07 tyre (which is the same on the rear of Danie's bike) so I'm pretty sure they were actually there and did not fake it like the Moon landing
The rock we wrote on is the biggest one we could find - we purposely wrote on the back of it so it would not be in full view of everybody who comes down there - nice and discreet - you will have to look for it
The next time you see nudie pics of me on the internet I hope to be built like a brick shithouse - or at the very least just a little less round ;D
The rest of the RR is coming - I promise - just finished "suicide hour" bathing and feeding my boys, next up is "pokkel party" with my wife - maybe I will get to writing part 4 tomorrow morning before work
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GJ, we've been busted! At least rolling that old Mitas tyre along the sand helped with our alibi! :imaposer:
Justin, your style of writing is very amusing and interesting. I love it.
Justin, your style of writing is very amusing and interesting. I love it.
Crossed-up
Pangaman
Great stuff, guys! I always enjoy your style, Justin -- RR con brio!
ThysBasson
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Thanx okes, nice pictures. :thumleft: :thumleft:
eikeboom
Race Dog
Very nice story and pictures, appreciated! :thumleft:
Some of those photos show really well how steep that incline is...
Some of those photos show really well how steep that incline is...
JustBendIt
Grey Hound
Part 4 – The Ascent
The Road To Hell is almost exactly 4, 5 km long from the top to the river at the bottom.
The descent took us no longer than 30 minutes at a leisurely pace with us stopping regularly to take pics, adjust helmet cams and generally just talk kak.
(BTW – there is about 8 hours of helmet cam video footage from my Drift and Gareth’s GoPro of the whole trip – Gareth is editing this into a watchable and entertaining little doccie – hopefully he will be done soon and will be posted here for all to see – the pics don’t really do the landscape justice, the video however is awesome!)
We left base camp at 9h00, spent 30 min riding down and about 1 hour walking to and back from the river – the time was now 10h30 – the sun was up but it was not too hot – warm enough to ride with ballistic jacket only and stash everything else into the Kriega bag on my back.
Gareth, by his own admission, is super unfit – a 42 year old desk jockey office Johnny with “bingo wings” – Hedley and I are not much fitter but do get out and ride more often so maybe have more saddle time than Pielneus.
The big SE at the start of the ascent
We kitted up and started up the iron horses
And hit the Road To Hell
Heddles giving Gareth a few tips
And then a helping push – we were only 200m into the ascent by now
What followed would become probably one of the most physically difficult and mentally challenging things I
have ever done in my life. I rode in the local enduro and offroad championship on a KDX a few years ago and that was nothing compared to this. I was younger, fitter and better prepared both mentally and physically – and most importantly I only had to look after, pick up and motivate myself.
This short ride in distance, but marathon ride in time was the most challenging team exercise I have ever been involved in. Fuel was a concern – the Fuel light on the SE had come on at the bottom of RTH and we were really not sure if it had enough to make it to the top of RTH, never mind another 35 km back to the N7 and another 50 km back to the bakkie. Hedley and Gareth were asking me what felt like a million questions – will we make it back to the N7? – will we have enough petrol? – will we have enough water? – will we have to sleep here?
I screamed silently inside my head “For Fuck’s Sake ! I don’t know the answers! Stop worrying about all that shit! I am not your saviour, in fact I am just as fucked as you are!” I was scared – this was not looking good. Cracks were not only beginning to form but spreading and growing rapidly.
I called a little board meeting and started off with “How do you eat an elephant? They looked at me with a serious WTF expression. I answered “one bite at a time – so please forget about everything else – the N7, the petrol issue, the bakkie, the water – vergeet van alles. We are going to take on this road 50 metres at a time. We are gonna ride, push, carry, cry, swear, fall and bleed but we are gonna do it one step at a time!” They looked at me and nodded silently – I am not sure if this was acceptance or just utter disbelief.
I turned the GPS off and took my watch off – I did not want to know the time or see the slow progress – as long as we were moving forward everything would be OK – that’s what I told myself.
What followed was 4 hours of real blood, sweat and tears to cover the last 2 km – I will let the pictures do the talking
Gareth climbed back on his SE (and off again quite regularly – Heddles and I were now very glad we left our SE’s at home)
The little mountain goat called Husky – I really rate this bike – my bargain find of the year !
Heddles asks his WR to play ball
Gareth gets to grips with his SE
We took tow ropes / recovery straps IN CASE we had to pull bikes – well thank fuck we did because they
sure came in handy – without them ropes we would still be there – here the SE gets a tow while the WR sleeps
And Heddles wakes her up again with a bang
Only to stop again, out of sheer exhaustion, in a few metres
The rock throwing rear wheel of the SE – this tyre had done 80 km since new at this point – zoom in and see how stuffed it is already
Gareth flipped the SE once (beautifully caught on video by Heddles) and in these pics he stopped just short of riding it over the cliff – totally out of control
The Husky keeps going up – never giving up – and never getting a tow
Gareth remounts his heavy bitch - and still manages to crack a smile – or is that a death stare ?
We summit at 15h03 0n Saturday 28 July 2012 – 6 hours and only 9 km later – the last 1 km took over 2 hours.
More rock art follows
Please excuse the profanity and choice of words in this pic – my mind was literally blank at the time and this was all I could think of – I hope other adventurers will understand and realise what I was trying to say
We are elated but exhausted – I feel like I have climbed to the top of Mt Everest I am so chuffed
My favourite pic of the trip – I balanced the camera on a rock and used the self timer
We had made it – the hard part was over. Good food, great wine and beautiful riding in the Richtersveld was to follow.
To be continued...
The Road To Hell is almost exactly 4, 5 km long from the top to the river at the bottom.
The descent took us no longer than 30 minutes at a leisurely pace with us stopping regularly to take pics, adjust helmet cams and generally just talk kak.
(BTW – there is about 8 hours of helmet cam video footage from my Drift and Gareth’s GoPro of the whole trip – Gareth is editing this into a watchable and entertaining little doccie – hopefully he will be done soon and will be posted here for all to see – the pics don’t really do the landscape justice, the video however is awesome!)
We left base camp at 9h00, spent 30 min riding down and about 1 hour walking to and back from the river – the time was now 10h30 – the sun was up but it was not too hot – warm enough to ride with ballistic jacket only and stash everything else into the Kriega bag on my back.
Gareth, by his own admission, is super unfit – a 42 year old desk jockey office Johnny with “bingo wings” – Hedley and I are not much fitter but do get out and ride more often so maybe have more saddle time than Pielneus.
The big SE at the start of the ascent
We kitted up and started up the iron horses
And hit the Road To Hell
Heddles giving Gareth a few tips
And then a helping push – we were only 200m into the ascent by now
What followed would become probably one of the most physically difficult and mentally challenging things I
have ever done in my life. I rode in the local enduro and offroad championship on a KDX a few years ago and that was nothing compared to this. I was younger, fitter and better prepared both mentally and physically – and most importantly I only had to look after, pick up and motivate myself.
This short ride in distance, but marathon ride in time was the most challenging team exercise I have ever been involved in. Fuel was a concern – the Fuel light on the SE had come on at the bottom of RTH and we were really not sure if it had enough to make it to the top of RTH, never mind another 35 km back to the N7 and another 50 km back to the bakkie. Hedley and Gareth were asking me what felt like a million questions – will we make it back to the N7? – will we have enough petrol? – will we have enough water? – will we have to sleep here?
I screamed silently inside my head “For Fuck’s Sake ! I don’t know the answers! Stop worrying about all that shit! I am not your saviour, in fact I am just as fucked as you are!” I was scared – this was not looking good. Cracks were not only beginning to form but spreading and growing rapidly.
I called a little board meeting and started off with “How do you eat an elephant? They looked at me with a serious WTF expression. I answered “one bite at a time – so please forget about everything else – the N7, the petrol issue, the bakkie, the water – vergeet van alles. We are going to take on this road 50 metres at a time. We are gonna ride, push, carry, cry, swear, fall and bleed but we are gonna do it one step at a time!” They looked at me and nodded silently – I am not sure if this was acceptance or just utter disbelief.
I turned the GPS off and took my watch off – I did not want to know the time or see the slow progress – as long as we were moving forward everything would be OK – that’s what I told myself.
What followed was 4 hours of real blood, sweat and tears to cover the last 2 km – I will let the pictures do the talking
Gareth climbed back on his SE (and off again quite regularly – Heddles and I were now very glad we left our SE’s at home)
The little mountain goat called Husky – I really rate this bike – my bargain find of the year !
Heddles asks his WR to play ball
Gareth gets to grips with his SE
We took tow ropes / recovery straps IN CASE we had to pull bikes – well thank fuck we did because they
sure came in handy – without them ropes we would still be there – here the SE gets a tow while the WR sleeps
And Heddles wakes her up again with a bang
Only to stop again, out of sheer exhaustion, in a few metres
The rock throwing rear wheel of the SE – this tyre had done 80 km since new at this point – zoom in and see how stuffed it is already
Gareth flipped the SE once (beautifully caught on video by Heddles) and in these pics he stopped just short of riding it over the cliff – totally out of control
The Husky keeps going up – never giving up – and never getting a tow
Gareth remounts his heavy bitch - and still manages to crack a smile – or is that a death stare ?
We summit at 15h03 0n Saturday 28 July 2012 – 6 hours and only 9 km later – the last 1 km took over 2 hours.
More rock art follows
Please excuse the profanity and choice of words in this pic – my mind was literally blank at the time and this was all I could think of – I hope other adventurers will understand and realise what I was trying to say
We are elated but exhausted – I feel like I have climbed to the top of Mt Everest I am so chuffed
My favourite pic of the trip – I balanced the camera on a rock and used the self timer
We had made it – the hard part was over. Good food, great wine and beautiful riding in the Richtersveld was to follow.
To be continued...
White Rhino
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Brilliant! I'm trying to comprehend what a few hours of rock climbing trauma must feel like - I think the word "HELL" must sum it up - well done to all of you, especially the wrestling caused by the SE "bitch".
Think I need a double espresso .... with a shot of grappa :biggrin:
Think I need a double espresso .... with a shot of grappa :biggrin:
Buff
Grey Hound
Awesome report, well done guys :thumleft:
I think you guys should look at having RTH T-Shirts made for finishers, it'll hold a bit more clout than those "skaap kop eet" T-shirts
As soon as I have my 450 sorted I'll be heading out to do this ride. After chatting to Gideon when they returned from their trip it got bumped up very high on my bucket list :thumleft:
I think you guys should look at having RTH T-Shirts made for finishers, it'll hold a bit more clout than those "skaap kop eet" T-shirts
As soon as I have my 450 sorted I'll be heading out to do this ride. After chatting to Gideon when they returned from their trip it got bumped up very high on my bucket list :thumleft:
weskus
Race Dog
Awesome Justin, especially for Gareth doing it on a bigger bike... 2 hours on the last 1km sums it up completely, well done :thumleft:
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Respect for the endurance shown!! Especially the SE, that bike will stall or wheelspin like crazy, very little in between.
I still think you threw our rock into the riveratch:
I still think you threw our rock into the river
atch:
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The old saying, of "everything is impossible, till it has been done" definitely applies here. I have ridden quite a bit with Justin and anyone who has, will know that he is a brilliant planner. I think he might have read me a little wrong in believing I didn't think we would make it. I discussed the options of running out of fuel once with him and then decided it would be almost impossible not to make it out on the fuel we had. I also considered that we MIGHT sleep another night at the campsite but once I knew what time we had left and I had seen where we were, I realized it was very reasonable to think that we would make it as we had planned.
Gareth, I think because he didn't know how Justin operates, was a bit more hesitant to believe much more than that we wanted to tie him to a tree and have sexy time... Do you blame him after that little exhibition in the river..?
I surprised myself with how good I felt on the climb. Don't get me wrong, It was by no means a doddle in the fitness department but I wasn't totally farked. You have no idea how glad I was that I hadn't decided to bring my fat se.. I agree with Daniel. They either throw rocks, or stall.. And can they throw rocks!!
I got the impression that the smaller bikes might have been a slight bit light for the climb. Maybe in the hands of a better rider, it would have been different. I also wonder if a different type of tyre might make a difference. My WR seemed to do it well, till it broke into a spin. Then it would bury its rear wheel behind a rock and refuse to climb out of that hole. It would have to be dragged out of the hole then the whole episode started again from the beginning. Then again, I say, maybe in the hands of a better rider, it would have performed better.
One thing I will say. I am very impressed with Justin's determination and skill.. He managed to ride his bike almost all the way up, with very little help. The chainsaw DID toss him off once that I saw but all in all, he did well. Well done buddy.. You impressed me..
Gareth... You surprised me bud..not just the riding and the skill and determination but your cool attitude, despite the seemingly impossible task at hand. Well done man.. It was great...
Gareth, I think because he didn't know how Justin operates, was a bit more hesitant to believe much more than that we wanted to tie him to a tree and have sexy time... Do you blame him after that little exhibition in the river..?
I surprised myself with how good I felt on the climb. Don't get me wrong, It was by no means a doddle in the fitness department but I wasn't totally farked. You have no idea how glad I was that I hadn't decided to bring my fat se.. I agree with Daniel. They either throw rocks, or stall.. And can they throw rocks!!
I got the impression that the smaller bikes might have been a slight bit light for the climb. Maybe in the hands of a better rider, it would have been different. I also wonder if a different type of tyre might make a difference. My WR seemed to do it well, till it broke into a spin. Then it would bury its rear wheel behind a rock and refuse to climb out of that hole. It would have to be dragged out of the hole then the whole episode started again from the beginning. Then again, I say, maybe in the hands of a better rider, it would have performed better.
One thing I will say. I am very impressed with Justin's determination and skill.. He managed to ride his bike almost all the way up, with very little help. The chainsaw DID toss him off once that I saw but all in all, he did well. Well done buddy.. You impressed me..
Gareth... You surprised me bud..not just the riding and the skill and determination but your cool attitude, despite the seemingly impossible task at hand. Well done man.. It was great...
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