We rode up Penge Pass.....and then some

[Noneking]

We ate some of snacks, drank some water and made our way out of the valley. From this point the climbs were still quite steep, but no more wet rocks meant we had proper traction and we were able manage good pace on The Pass With No Name

 

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The rest of the pass had clearly been washed away quite a bit by the recent rains, but we managed to get to the bottom in one piece, making up for some lost time in the process

 

[Noneking]

We still had another pass to ride from our previous trip. To get to the town of Penge.

 

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[cable tie]

Lyk Lekker! Thanks for sharing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Noneking]

On a technical descent on the pass just before Penge, Mark was running his bike down against compression on a tricky section. When he tried to start the bike, the battery was dead. I had visions of recovery vehicles coming to the nearest access point from the pass and us planning another weekend to ride Penge....The two clever guys in the group assessed the problem and proceeded to get the bike running with jumper cables. I on the other hand, looked for the only spot of shade in the 34deg heat. Lets just say that my function in this group remains uncertain [emoji15]

 

[Sheepman]

Didn’t take a lot of pics, so please watch the video of day 1 of our trip.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJmK-CJ3EAE&t=289s

Great video of day one - tough as hell, as always with you ous  :thumleft:

 

[Noneking]

By the time we reached the town of Penge, it was past midday, extremely hot and I was already down to less than a litre of water from the 3 litres I started with. We stopped at the local shop. Bought ice and water and shared a 2 litre bottle of coke.

Back on our bikes, I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. I’m always nervous before a serious ride, even more so given what has been said and written about Penge Pass. Apart from a few pics and descriptions from Xpat’s reports, I had no idea what to expect, other than the hellish climbs I imagined in moments of self doubt........

We crossed the stream and soon after, things got real very quickly......

 

[Noneking]

We didn’t stop much on our ride of the pass so my pics are mostly screen grabs of the video I took. I don’t think either do it justice. The pass is relentless........ it jus doesn’t let go. Constant climbing over loose rocks to get to the top. A switchback every now and then, mostly with a step up or soccer ball sized rock on outside of the turn to keep you on your toes. As you start descending you’d could be forgiven for  thinking  that things would ease up a bit

 

[Noneking]

 

[Noneking]

We stopped at the little stream to have lunch. The heat was unbearable. I could'nt resist cooling down in the cool tream.....

 

[Noneking]

From Xpat’s report, I knew that the hardest part was still to come. We set off again to see just what that meant.

 

[Noneking]

The inclines became steeper than before and even more rocks covered the path. Penge took hold of us again.......

 

[Noneking]

 

[OomD]

Ek kry hartkloppings net om na jou fotos te kyk! Julle is ysters!

 

[Noneking]

It was clear that we were nearing the top of this brutal climb. All 3 of had fairly a clean run over the pass at this stage

 

[Noneking]

Japie and I stopped at the bottom of the climb before the last switchback to allow ourselves a clean run when Mark gets to the top. Mark seemed to have a good run (no surprises there, very little that he won’t get through or over on that 990) to the top and parked his bike to come and film us and take a few pics

This was the only part of Penge that had all three of us with our feet off the pegs to stay upright. Both Japie and I dropped our bikes navigating our way to that steep climb just before the switch back.

I was really angry at myself for dropping my bike on the final turn off the pass.

 

[Noneking]

To be honest, This has to be one of the toughest rides I’ve done. Mark and Japie were of the same opinion. It’s not that Penge Pass is extremely technical,  All 3 of us felt that we had seen a lot worse, but it just NEVER lets up!  Penge gets hold of you and doesn’t let go until you crest that final climb. I’m sure that if you were to lose momentum on a big bike and come to a stop on one of those steep climbs, it would be a very big challenge to get going again.

Add to all of this a tough morning to even get to the pass and you’d think that we would have a big celebration and call it a day after reaching the end of the pass.......

 

[BLK]

Lucky you did not have any bike trouble like punctures on that pass in that heat.This is maybe a ride for Mid Winter only?I'm sure you guys had a few beers after that day.Cheers.

 

[Noneking]

My Gopro footage of the pass



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGl75LFYTS0