The Southern Namibian Raid - pissing on sand
- Thread starter MickeyT
- Start date
ABie
Puppy
Moet se wat ek weer besef het met die trip. 400km per dag is nice, enige iets verder as dit is doenbaar maar dit bly nie meer lekker nie. By 400km en minder is jy ook nie so gestress om te stop en rus nie. Plus dan kan jy pose vir fotos
Salty
Pack Dog
Apologies for the delay in the RR, our nominated film/ramp director, scribe and raconteur will return shortly to complete the RR! Any attempt to cover for Mickey would fail horribly, so (as we did daily on the Raid...) we have elected to sit back and wait for him......
Some additional 'observations' of the trip from my side of the trip so far.
a. KTM's cannot ride over everything all the time and come out unscathed. Those adverts are thus misleading.
b. Tip Top patch kits don't have enough large patches (for more than one of those 15mm long snakebites)
c. Rapid loss of front tyre pressure will get your immediate attention, even on loose ground - no time for 'Hardy, bring me my brown trousers' type affair.
d. Get a 'tot squeezy' bottle for your hard tack with the big tot chamber - you arrive at your desired 'destination' sooner!
e. When riding in the pitch dark, do not assume your mate ahead of you can see the road properly - following his line can only be interesting but is better than nothing! Interesting sensation to roll on the throttle in the dark when the front is burying itself into the gravely sand middlemannetjie and not know where to go with the bike. A KWV moment?
f. Beware of " I have lots of tyre valves and a valve spanner" enthusiastic type buddies (Maybe his 'tool bag' being a recycled zip-lock 'Swartland Rusks' packet should have been a warning sign)
g. My Air-15 compressor works like a bomb and can run off the 10A socket in the cockpit! (its supposed to draw 15A?-
Cheers
Salty
Some additional 'observations' of the trip from my side of the trip so far.
a. KTM's cannot ride over everything all the time and come out unscathed. Those adverts are thus misleading.
b. Tip Top patch kits don't have enough large patches (for more than one of those 15mm long snakebites)
c. Rapid loss of front tyre pressure will get your immediate attention, even on loose ground - no time for 'Hardy, bring me my brown trousers' type affair.
d. Get a 'tot squeezy' bottle for your hard tack with the big tot chamber - you arrive at your desired 'destination' sooner!
e. When riding in the pitch dark, do not assume your mate ahead of you can see the road properly - following his line can only be interesting but is better than nothing! Interesting sensation to roll on the throttle in the dark when the front is burying itself into the gravely sand middlemannetjie and not know where to go with the bike. A KWV moment?
f. Beware of " I have lots of tyre valves and a valve spanner" enthusiastic type buddies (Maybe his 'tool bag' being a recycled zip-lock 'Swartland Rusks' packet should have been a warning sign)
g. My Air-15 compressor works like a bomb and can run off the 10A socket in the cockpit! (its supposed to draw 15A?-
Cheers
Salty
rrichardson86
Race Dog
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Awesome RR and epic photos! :thumleft: :thumleft:
Lyk my al mense wat post op die fred is die hoopvolle lesers 
eepwall:
eepwall:Not to be pushy but....are you having as much trouble getting going as a GS with stock tyres in sand?MickeyT said:BlueBull2007 said:The report is not finished, is it?
Got 4 days left, but not at home to write the rest for a week and a half!
Salty
Pack Dog
Now there is a subtle nudge Mickey! Maak klaar asb!
twister
Race Dog
We were in that area a week ago. Some of the best riding I've done in my life. Nice pictures of a beautiful area.
+1 .... For me it was the best stretch of road in Namibia, the most scenic. I also agree on the distance, we left at 8am from Bethanien and managed to get Duiseb Castle in and still arrive in Sesriem around 4pm.Vis Arend said:Salty said:
You will neva know. Most of the time the C roads is the better option, but I have seen many times that some of the D roads to be in much better condition than the C roads. I suppose it is a gamble either way.
On another note, the distance of almost 500km with sightseeing at Kolmanskop is a tad to far for a day. Firstly you do not enjoy the ride as much as you should and secondly you leave yourself with no margin for error, as happened with the pucture on that day. In hindsight, you should have slept over at Beta and then took a leisurely ride the next day to Sosus. That piece of road from Beta to Sosus in the early morning with the sun behind you is just magic and breathtaking beuatiful. As you said, live and learn, and go and do it a next time. :thumleft:
It also seems that you get the luck of the draw regarding roads - we went in September last year and definitely did not see as much sand as what the pictures reflect - seems the grader was a day or two ahead of us.
Nice RR, thanks!
Salty
Pack Dog
@Eish - The C14 is a great, fast road although not that scenic in comparison to other roads. In the photo's is the 'light' sand on the C27, taken about 6 kms before Spes Bona. No stopping for photo's in the thicker stuff!
The D707 road joins the C27 at Spes Bona......so I guess there is the answer to the 'smart' route to Betta/Sesriem from Aus?
I love graders!
The D707 road joins the C27 at Spes Bona......so I guess there is the answer to the 'smart' route to Betta/Sesriem from Aus?
I love graders!
ABie
Puppy
The sandy patches also had this tendency to sneak up on you. Riding along at quite relaxed and at a nice speed then you hit a sand patch. Luckily the long sand sections is more noticeable. I ended up looking for line of greener bushes and trees which meant there is likely to be a riverbed.
Bushtrotter
Pack Dog
BRILJANTE RR!!! My gat jeuk behoorlik om in julle spore te gaan ry. Die gestopppery vir foto's mag julle dalk biedjie ge heukel het, maar ons "lesers" waardeer dit terdee. :3some:
ABie
Puppy
Ek wonder of Mickey nie bietjie sukkel om die dag van Sesriem tot by Canyon roadhouse te skryf nie. Dit het ons wel nege ure gevat maar het grootliks bestaan uit ry, ry, nog ry. Gesoek na vleis. Gesoek na drank. Stop vir apple stroedel. En dan nog baie ry.
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Just got back from a 5700km Nam trip last week, up the Eastern side and out via the West.
We felt that this year the C's were generally quite bad, the D's were much better. Much more sand than last year, the D707 had 40km of sand compared to 10km last year. Piet Swiggers from Klein Aus Vista says its due to the extreem dry conditions this year.
Still great riding mind.
8)
We felt that this year the C's were generally quite bad, the D's were much better. Much more sand than last year, the D707 had 40km of sand compared to 10km last year. Piet Swiggers from Klein Aus Vista says its due to the extreem dry conditions this year.
Still great riding mind.
8)
Salty
Pack Dog
Hello Mickey T.....some unfinished business here!
MickeyT
Race Dog
**** - Sorry guys. Where were we?
Day 5.
We were getting accustomed to waking up with a babbelas by now. Well – that is in hindsight now. At that stage I reckoned it was my sinuses that were acting up. Again…
That morning we had an extra curveball thrown at us. If your tent’s fabric is pushed to a couple of centimetres from your face, you know that it is a tad more than a fresh breeze outside.
While trying to hang on to my tent, and looking over my shoulder to the others also doing the Fandango in the wind, I was reminded of a bunch of kite-surfing noobs. I must admit that I was at some stage so gatvol, that I just wanted to let go of the flaps with a hearty “then piss off then!!” but immediately I ran the possibilities of bunking with one of my mates in their tents… Definitely not ABie – ****, that tent of his is so bloody small as it is, that every time he farts, the whole thing looks like Spur balloon until he opens a zip. Salty will not take spooning in the early hours of the morning in his stride. Kobus will try and spoon as soon as we close that zip. Willem… Quite frankly – I’m too bloody scared to enter that tent! So after that mental image, I dragged, no – I flew my tent to a spot behind the closed off toilet and bundled it up into the drybag.
Then we were off. Now look – we’re used to ride in wind. We stay in Fish Hoek – the bloody wind is MADE there, but that morning we all battled. If you tried to stand up, you were blown across the road in two seconds flat. I also broadened my vocabulary of the English tale quite deliciously (not that I will ever be in a position again that will warrant the use of those colourful words) by listening to Salty over the comms. He was NOT impressed with the wind. Even Abe could be seen at all times. Needless to say that we were k@kking off BIG time.
Luckily we only endured about an hour of hectic side winds. Thereafter great scenery and then boring straight gravel. Now here I have to say – we had about 600km of riding that day, so we decided to take easier roads. I know, I know – we were pissies, I admit.
The only section that caught us off-guard, was the 10km before Maltahohe – it was like riding on marbles.
14km out of Matahohe we were stopped at the only roadblock the entire trip. But the police were extremely friendly and were more interested about the top speed of the 1200 than anything else: “Eh! You go ovêh two handrêd!?” I thought about getting into a discussion, but rather just smiled. And waived.
We arrived at Canyon Roadhouse tired and thirsty. What a beautiful place…
Day 5.
We were getting accustomed to waking up with a babbelas by now. Well – that is in hindsight now. At that stage I reckoned it was my sinuses that were acting up. Again…
That morning we had an extra curveball thrown at us. If your tent’s fabric is pushed to a couple of centimetres from your face, you know that it is a tad more than a fresh breeze outside.
While trying to hang on to my tent, and looking over my shoulder to the others also doing the Fandango in the wind, I was reminded of a bunch of kite-surfing noobs. I must admit that I was at some stage so gatvol, that I just wanted to let go of the flaps with a hearty “then piss off then!!” but immediately I ran the possibilities of bunking with one of my mates in their tents… Definitely not ABie – ****, that tent of his is so bloody small as it is, that every time he farts, the whole thing looks like Spur balloon until he opens a zip. Salty will not take spooning in the early hours of the morning in his stride. Kobus will try and spoon as soon as we close that zip. Willem… Quite frankly – I’m too bloody scared to enter that tent! So after that mental image, I dragged, no – I flew my tent to a spot behind the closed off toilet and bundled it up into the drybag.
Then we were off. Now look – we’re used to ride in wind. We stay in Fish Hoek – the bloody wind is MADE there, but that morning we all battled. If you tried to stand up, you were blown across the road in two seconds flat. I also broadened my vocabulary of the English tale quite deliciously (not that I will ever be in a position again that will warrant the use of those colourful words) by listening to Salty over the comms. He was NOT impressed with the wind. Even Abe could be seen at all times. Needless to say that we were k@kking off BIG time.
Luckily we only endured about an hour of hectic side winds. Thereafter great scenery and then boring straight gravel. Now here I have to say – we had about 600km of riding that day, so we decided to take easier roads. I know, I know – we were pissies, I admit.
The only section that caught us off-guard, was the 10km before Maltahohe – it was like riding on marbles.
14km out of Matahohe we were stopped at the only roadblock the entire trip. But the police were extremely friendly and were more interested about the top speed of the 1200 than anything else: “Eh! You go ovêh two handrêd!?” I thought about getting into a discussion, but rather just smiled. And waived.
We arrived at Canyon Roadhouse tired and thirsty. What a beautiful place…
MickeyT
Race Dog
Day 5 pics 1
1. Just before we left Sesriem
2. Next to the road
3. It must have been the wind, cause Abe had an extremely productive day watering the rocks
4. Even Kobus had a nervous bladder that day
5. The clouds were a photographer's dream
1. Just before we left Sesriem
2. Next to the road
3. It must have been the wind, cause Abe had an extremely productive day watering the rocks
4. Even Kobus had a nervous bladder that day
5. The clouds were a photographer's dream
