Virgin Sand In Kaokoland (a post lockdown adventure)

[White Rhino]

Magic!! I'm on board  :sip:

 

[BoskakBruce]

There is fork oil wrong with this ride report so far...

I love it!

 

[Fenderbender]

:happy1:  Ek ry saam .... :thumleft:

 

[ClemS]

:sip:

 

[stroke her]

Eet klaar en tik dammit. Met meer as twee vingers ook asseblief.

 

[Amsterdam]

Rock ‘n Roll!

Are those Motoz Adventures on the rear of the Husky?

Almost. Motoz Tractionater Desert I think. [member=7804]Amsterdam[/member], please chime in.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

Motor Tractionator Desert H/T.  This is my favourite tire for sand.  It makes getting going from standstill a breeze.

 

[Amsterdam]

What Bruce has omitted to mention about the Jeep is not insignificant.  Ten years ago my wife, son and I were going on a family holiday to Namibia.  The Jeep had been a bit troublesome and wife and son declared I could go alone if I insisted on going in the Jeep.  So a new Prado was purchased.  With a hammer and some bloudraad I have kept the Jeep going for another 10 years but it was never meant for a long cross border trip towing 3 bikes.  So it was with some trepidation that I suggested we go in the Jeep, but it was either that or cancel the trip at the last moment.  And apart from a few minor niggles it got us to Windhoek.  I just wish that the failed power steering and the overheating were the only transportation issues that hindered us on this trip.

 

[2StrokeDan]

What Bruce has omitted to mention about the Jeep is not insignificant.  Ten years ago my wife, son and I were going on a family holiday to Namibia.  The Jeep had been a bit troublesome and wife and son declared I could go alone if I insisted on going in the Jeep.  So a new Prado was purchased.  With a hammer and some bloudraad I have kept the Jeep going for another 10 years but it was never meant for a long cross border trip towing 3 bikes.  So it was with some trepidation that I suggested we go in the Jeep, but it was either that or cancel the trip at the last moment.  And apart from a few minor niggles it got us to Windhoek.  I just wish that the failed power steering and the overheating were the only transportation issues that hindered us on this trip.

Sound like there were a good number of transport "niggles". >

 

[Vis Arend]

Brave Heart.  :biggrin:

it was never meant for a long cross border trip towing 3 bikes.  So it was with some trepidation that I suggested we go in the Jeep,

Hats of just there....... :eek7: :thumleft: :thumleft: :lol8:

 

[BoskakBruce]

We woke up at 6am in our lodge at Omaruru to the sounds of birds chirping. Surprisingly, I was cold. I thought Namibia was supposed to be scorching at this time of year!

First things first – COFFEE! I had bought a new camping stove and was trying to come up with a new coffee system that didn’t take up so much space in my luggage.

Instant coffee is out of the question. I cannot drink that stuff. I’d rather drink poison.

I had purchased some paper coffee filters and the idea was to boil the water and pour it over the coffee in the coffee filters.

What I hadn’t thought about was how to hold the paper filter while pouring water over it. Of course, the filter filled up with water, collapsed, then broke and I ended up with moer coffee all over the burner, the table, the cup, my pants and the floor.

Not lekker. That was a spectacular failure and I resigned myself to moer coffee for the rest of the trip. If anyone has a super-small coffee solution, I’m all ears. Remember, I’m on a 500. Packing space is VERY tight, so portable solutions only please.

While the other two were showering and putting on their makeup (I mean bike gear), I ran to my bike (pumped on caffeine) and began attempting to improve her handing before we set off for the day.

The thought of another day of terror fighting the front-end wobble and the fishtailing was too much for me to bear.

Mike [member=4859]superfoxi[/member]  (a suspension specialist in Noordhoek) was helping me on WhatsApp to debug the handling issues… and so one by one, I was trying to implement the suggestions he had offered.

Yesterday, I increased the compression damping, reduced the compression damping, increased the rebound, reduced the rebound. Nothing. Nada. Niks.

The only thing that made a slight difference was removing my toolkit from the front fender and putting it in my Giant Loop bag instead. That helped the front end feel more planted in the fast, sandy tracks.

This particular morning, Mike had suggested I try lowering the forks 10mm in the clamps to balance out the bike.

I borrowed a marker pen from the owner of the hotel and marked the fork bolts so that I could return them to their original torque (because who carries a torque wrench on a 500?).

Note to self: Always pack a marker pen in your toolkit, Bruce!

Then, I saw a tape measure lying about in the garage of the hotel, so roped Jan Lucas into measuring the sag with me. I don’t know what made me think to do this, because just 3 days earlier, [member=4859]superfoxi[/member] and I set the sag to 35mm in his workshop.

Well fuck me if the sag wasn’t 10 bloody millimeters! That’s 300% out.

How the sag went from 35mm to 10mm in 250km is beyond me. I have no idea and I’m not going to speculate. I started to feel some hope. Maybe this was the reason for the bad handling.

Jan Lucas and I set the sag back to 35mm, the three of us ate breakfast and set off for our day of sand.

After a blast to Uis to get petrol, we arrived at Brandberg White Lady Lodge, looked at the map and headed north east into a sea of sand.
I had been waiting so long for this moment.

The track started out corrugated, but we soon hit the soft stuff and off we went. Or should I say, off they went.

Jan Lucas and Marc were flying ahead like demons unleashed. I was a bit timid being that this was only the first time I’d ever taken my new baby offroad.

 

[BoskakBruce]

But I didn’t want to be left behind (or to have them think that I couldn’t keep up), so I opened the throttle and held on for dear life.

My god. The 500 just flies. I was struggling to hold on as the wobbly front end made steering in a straight line difficult, but the grin on my face was still getting wider and wider.

I was giggling like a kid in my helmet.

After about 30 minutes of windy red sand trails, we took a left turn into some deep sand climbing a hill.

I was in heaven. The incline and reduced speed had the 500 instantly handle better and I flew up the hill leaving the other two to drink my dust.

This got me thinking… Hmmmmmm. If I lowered the front end 10mm, and then lowered the rear end (by adjusting the sag back to 35mm), then maybe the problem with the handling is that the front end is now too low. If the sag was the problem, then I’ve probably created another problem by lowering the forks 10mm.

The morning continued to inspire us with the most beautiful desert scenery.

 

[BoskakBruce]

We stopped under a tree for some water, rehydrate, a bite to eat and some much needed rest…

 

[BoskakBruce]

And got back in the saddle continued our journey past Doros crater and towards Desolation Valley.

 

[BoskakBruce]

We screeched to a halt as we spotted a giraffe right in the road in front of us.

 

[BoskakBruce]

Eventually, we took a right turn (north) into the Desolation Valley 4x4 trail (the Eastern Route). The scenery just keeps getting more and more impressive.

 

[BoskakBruce]

My bike’s rear end is definitely feeling better. All the fishtailing has stopped and I’m feeling a lot more confident by this point. The front end was no better, so tomorrow I’ll raise the forks again.

 

[BoskakBruce]

It’s only our first day, so our riding pace hasn’t settled in yet.

By my standards, the boys are still riding like it’s a race. I begin feeling like I’m missing out on opportunities to take photos trying to keep up with them. So I slow down and take pics of them instead.

 

[BoskakBruce]

Damn, she is sexy. I still can’t fathom why Jan Lucas and Marc chose to take the 701 and 690 over their 500.

But too their credit, the gnarly terrain is not slowing them down one bit on the heavier bikes. These guys can ride like the wind.

 

[BoskakBruce]

We meet up to take in a special view of Desolation Valley…

 

[BoskakBruce]

As the boys blast off into the distance, I stay back again to avoid eating all their dust and getting my air filter dirty.

But then, the track opens up into a huge sandy trail and I just can’t help myself.

We’re blasting at 100km/h down the track.  It’s insane fun.