Adriaan5
Pack Dog
Jis that looks crazy lekker! Enjoy!! :ricky:
Transkei Epic
- Thread starter Psteyn
- Start date
Lem
Grey Hound
rooikopweeskind! ons wag!
Swart Baard
Race Dog
Lem said:
Ja nee...kom jong...ek het my fix nodig :ricky:
MINZI
Race Dog
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2011
- Messages
- 1,651
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Krugersdorp
- Bike
- Triumph Tiger 1200 Explorer
Kom nou ons wag vir die res van die RR. :bueller:
Ok! Ok!
I will add some more pics to this slow and drawn out ride report!
Give us a break, we are still thawing out and coming to terms with being back at work :'(
To correct PSteyn............
We actually cant call this the Transkei Epic as we never got there due to a small case of bad weather
Pics to follow
:ricky:
I will add some more pics to this slow and drawn out ride report!
Give us a break, we are still thawing out and coming to terms with being back at work :'(
To correct PSteyn............
We actually cant call this the Transkei Epic as we never got there due to a small case of bad weather
Pics to follow
:ricky:
We pulled out knowing there was bad weather coming but when you book these trips
and get nine guys together, plan a year in advance well a little bad weather cant upset the plans!
Pics of some of the guys in Steytlerville, weather still warm!
Don't the Katooms look oh so pretty!
and get nine guys together, plan a year in advance well a little bad weather cant upset the plans!
Pics of some of the guys in Steytlerville, weather still warm!
Don't the Katooms look oh so pretty!
Attachments
Our first night to together was in Hogsback, this after one rear blowout and a
crazy night ride through the Saturday night revelry of Adelaide, Fort Beaufort
and Alice!
Every town smelling of KFC on arrival!
What is up with drinking, getting pissed then walking in the dark for miles in the road!
This is definitely the national past time of the area.
Or better yet leaving your Cattle (wealth) all over the road to become road kill..........Africa special place indeed!
The ride was faaken scary to say the least, like a computer game with GAME OVER really meaning that!
However we woke to great weather and headed out of Hogsback over some unbelievable passes towards
Tarkastad then north towards Dordrecht for the night.
The weather was definitely worsening and we saw the first snow.....
crazy night ride through the Saturday night revelry of Adelaide, Fort Beaufort
and Alice!
Every town smelling of KFC on arrival!
What is up with drinking, getting pissed then walking in the dark for miles in the road!
This is definitely the national past time of the area.
Or better yet leaving your Cattle (wealth) all over the road to become road kill..........Africa special place indeed!
The ride was faaken scary to say the least, like a computer game with GAME OVER really meaning that!
However we woke to great weather and headed out of Hogsback over some unbelievable passes towards
Tarkastad then north towards Dordrecht for the night.
The weather was definitely worsening and we saw the first snow.....
Attachments
The weather was now worsening by the minute.........locals telling us to get indoors, the sky turning black and
massive banks of snow white cloud (clue there the snow white was..............SNOW!)
So what do three of us do, we head for Tiffendel to go over Volunteershoek Pass into Rhodes!
Three stooges, heading off into the mother of all storms to the highest, coldest point in South Africa.
We may be bloody good looking but on the brains front..............seriously lacking!
I have to say it turned into the single greatest most exhilirating, scariest, stupidest, unbelievable
adventure ride I have had in my ten plus years of adventure riding!
The scenery along Wartrail and the climb up into Volunteershoek well cameras and words just dont capture
what the eye sees!!!!
We arrived at the boom and yip it was open, so no problems or so we thought...
We started climbing the pass around 15h30, as we got higher and higher the temperatures plummeted and the
weather looked more and more ominous.
It ended up being a trail maybe a meter wide in places with either slushy mud or ice with snow drifts to the left of us
and sheer drops to right of us (in some places a hundred meters or more) this went on for several kilometers.
Then on rounding a bend right near the summit there was the mother of snow drifts across the road!
We could see 4x4 tracks that had tried and failed to get through so we knew that route was impossible.
We tried in vain to head straight up off road as the grass and vertical inclines just gave us no traction.
The altitude was also a killer any small exertion and the three of us were heaving and puffing away!
By now it was 16h30 and the weather was closing in fast, it started snowing and darkness was rapidly approaching...
There were rounds of nervous giggles and much OBS passed around for courage (I now know why Rum was so popular
in the trenches!) and the odd "We could die up here!" was muttered.
The worst was knowing we had to do the icy trail back down in failing light, then back to Moshes's Ford and all the way round
to Rhodes in snow and sub-zero temperatures.................as I said earlier we are not that smart :-\
To add insult to injury our Garmins were showing we were only eight kilometers from Rhodes but heading back was nearly a seventy kilometer round trip
This actually turned out to be totally exhilirating and made us feel really ALIVE.....is that not what ADV riding is all about?
We made it back thank goodness with no incidents and I have to take my hat off to PSteyn who did this all without rear brakes
Never has a double Skuimkoppie tasted so good as arriving in Rhodes around 19h00 that evening!
Sadly we did not take pics at the turnaround or of the view on top..........our minds were focused elsewhere!
massive banks of snow white cloud (clue there the snow white was..............SNOW!)
So what do three of us do, we head for Tiffendel to go over Volunteershoek Pass into Rhodes!
Three stooges, heading off into the mother of all storms to the highest, coldest point in South Africa.
We may be bloody good looking but on the brains front..............seriously lacking!
I have to say it turned into the single greatest most exhilirating, scariest, stupidest, unbelievable
adventure ride I have had in my ten plus years of adventure riding!
The scenery along Wartrail and the climb up into Volunteershoek well cameras and words just dont capture
what the eye sees!!!!
We arrived at the boom and yip it was open, so no problems or so we thought...
We started climbing the pass around 15h30, as we got higher and higher the temperatures plummeted and the
weather looked more and more ominous.
It ended up being a trail maybe a meter wide in places with either slushy mud or ice with snow drifts to the left of us
and sheer drops to right of us (in some places a hundred meters or more) this went on for several kilometers.
Then on rounding a bend right near the summit there was the mother of snow drifts across the road!
We could see 4x4 tracks that had tried and failed to get through so we knew that route was impossible.
We tried in vain to head straight up off road as the grass and vertical inclines just gave us no traction.
The altitude was also a killer any small exertion and the three of us were heaving and puffing away!
By now it was 16h30 and the weather was closing in fast, it started snowing and darkness was rapidly approaching...
There were rounds of nervous giggles and much OBS passed around for courage (I now know why Rum was so popular
in the trenches!) and the odd "We could die up here!" was muttered.
The worst was knowing we had to do the icy trail back down in failing light, then back to Moshes's Ford and all the way round
to Rhodes in snow and sub-zero temperatures.................as I said earlier we are not that smart :-\
To add insult to injury our Garmins were showing we were only eight kilometers from Rhodes but heading back was nearly a seventy kilometer round trip
This actually turned out to be totally exhilirating and made us feel really ALIVE.....is that not what ADV riding is all about?
We made it back thank goodness with no incidents and I have to take my hat off to PSteyn who did this all without rear brakes
Never has a double Skuimkoppie tasted so good as arriving in Rhodes around 19h00 that evening!
Sadly we did not take pics at the turnaround or of the view on top..........our minds were focused elsewhere!
Attachments
The idea was to head from Rhodes to Mbotyi in the northern Transkei and have four nights riding north to south.
Well thanks to the weather we were snowed in for two nights in Rhodes and all passes down to the Kei were closed
and for the Jhb boys Van Reenens and the route back to the Big Smoke was closed.....
This left us in Rhodes with food running low! then no electricty.....read COLD!!!!, then no cell signal (God forbid!) BUT!
a well stocked bar.......................and a bar bill of over R8K
Not many riding pics here but it gives you an idea of how severe the storms were and also how beautiful it was!
It really felt like we were in some far off Austrian ski village like Kitzbuhel or Lech!
Well thanks to the weather we were snowed in for two nights in Rhodes and all passes down to the Kei were closed
and for the Jhb boys Van Reenens and the route back to the Big Smoke was closed.....
This left us in Rhodes with food running low! then no electricty.....read COLD!!!!, then no cell signal (God forbid!) BUT!
a well stocked bar.......................and a bar bill of over R8K
Not many riding pics here but it gives you an idea of how severe the storms were and also how beautiful it was!
It really felt like we were in some far off Austrian ski village like Kitzbuhel or Lech!
Attachments
By day two in Rhodes we were getting anxious to get out!
Our livers were failing, our bikes were calling and we desperately wanted the relative warmth
that the coastal Kei offered!
We also at this stage had no TV...............so no Olympic beach volleyball or synchronised swimming! :mwink: :mwink:
The locals all said it was still not possible to leave but as you read earlier we are not that bright and decided
to gap it at the first opportunity!
We saw we had a window of "good" weather around noon to get out to Barkly East, this would also allow
the frozen roads to thaw................or so we hoped!
With much trepidation and jangled nerves we headed out into the whiteout!
It actually turned out to be not that bad, there were sections that were very slippery due to the ice but we
managed to get to Barkly East with no major incidents!
A word of mention must go to Duikroll aka Hannes who manhandled his 1200 ADV out of there on Anakees nog al!
Our livers were failing, our bikes were calling and we desperately wanted the relative warmth
that the coastal Kei offered!
We also at this stage had no TV...............so no Olympic beach volleyball or synchronised swimming! :mwink: :mwink:
The locals all said it was still not possible to leave but as you read earlier we are not that bright and decided
to gap it at the first opportunity!
We saw we had a window of "good" weather around noon to get out to Barkly East, this would also allow
the frozen roads to thaw................or so we hoped!
With much trepidation and jangled nerves we headed out into the whiteout!
It actually turned out to be not that bad, there were sections that were very slippery due to the ice but we
managed to get to Barkly East with no major incidents!
A word of mention must go to Duikroll aka Hannes who manhandled his 1200 ADV out of there on Anakees nog al!
