Pom
Race Dog
We did a weekend ride away in the Berg this weekend along with a few other dogs and a few mates.
The trip would have been fantastic were it not for the weather, riding the R617 from Nottingham Road to
Himeville on Saturday, the wind was gale force, it seemed to be coming from every direction and whipping dust, stones, grass and just about anything else that was not strapped down in all directions.
About 20 kays from Himeville we rounded a right handed corner, climbed a small rise in the road and over the crest
of the hill straight into the teeth of the beast blowing from left to right across the dirt road.
The wind was so strong it blew me about 3 meters across to the right of the road and onto the off camber marbles and
straight down an embankment about 3 meters high, once the bike was off line I became nothing more than a passenger, at the bottom of the bank there was a mine field of boulders about the size of basket balls, I can't remember what happened next but I think I hit a rock head on, I was catapulted off the bike high side fashion and landed flat on my back in the rocks. Thank goodness I was wearing the right kit.
Needless to say I got knocked around quite badly, I have bruises all over my back, right hip, right thigh and wedding tackle, plus some really bad swelling around my waist. How I didn't break anything I don't know.
The bike is wrecked, bent rims, bent forks, crash bars, tanks, plastics, exhausts and several other smalls not worth mentioning. Despite all of this we strapped it up with cable ties and I rode it the 700 kays back to JHB.
My statement is quite simple, once the wind got hold of me I was completely out of control, and there was no way I was going to prevent this crash happening, has this happened to anybody else? I now believe that a concious decision should be made about riding in conditons like this, because in almost 30 years riding bikes, nothing like this has ever happened to me before, and I sure won't allow myself to be put in a similar situation again.
Pom
The trip would have been fantastic were it not for the weather, riding the R617 from Nottingham Road to
Himeville on Saturday, the wind was gale force, it seemed to be coming from every direction and whipping dust, stones, grass and just about anything else that was not strapped down in all directions.
About 20 kays from Himeville we rounded a right handed corner, climbed a small rise in the road and over the crest
of the hill straight into the teeth of the beast blowing from left to right across the dirt road.
The wind was so strong it blew me about 3 meters across to the right of the road and onto the off camber marbles and
straight down an embankment about 3 meters high, once the bike was off line I became nothing more than a passenger, at the bottom of the bank there was a mine field of boulders about the size of basket balls, I can't remember what happened next but I think I hit a rock head on, I was catapulted off the bike high side fashion and landed flat on my back in the rocks. Thank goodness I was wearing the right kit.
Needless to say I got knocked around quite badly, I have bruises all over my back, right hip, right thigh and wedding tackle, plus some really bad swelling around my waist. How I didn't break anything I don't know.
The bike is wrecked, bent rims, bent forks, crash bars, tanks, plastics, exhausts and several other smalls not worth mentioning. Despite all of this we strapped it up with cable ties and I rode it the 700 kays back to JHB.
My statement is quite simple, once the wind got hold of me I was completely out of control, and there was no way I was going to prevent this crash happening, has this happened to anybody else? I now believe that a concious decision should be made about riding in conditons like this, because in almost 30 years riding bikes, nothing like this has ever happened to me before, and I sure won't allow myself to be put in a similar situation again.
Pom
