Witkop road on the way to Elisras/Lephelale

[tikkeltokkel]

Well a bud and i went from Jhb to Mokolo dam and he decided at Vaalwater that it would be great to go through to elisras via the "Witkop" road. For us newbies on the dirt track , we found this pretty damn hectic. It hasnt rained there as is the case everywhere for ages and there was some sand that was dune like .... He put the bike down in it once at speed ... He was really testing the "ignorance is bliss" maxim to the max.

I will ad some pics of the ride ( non taken on the 45 km witkop road that took us 2 hours to do)

We left at 6:15 and got to the dam at 3:45 .... Do the math , a tiring as hell day

Anyone else done this ride .... Please tell me you found it pretty challenging too ... We are wondering how you guys, that do this all the time, would "grade" it ... If you want a challenge, then i suggest taking the Witkop road off the the R33

Damn .....!!!!!

 

[m0lt3n]

Subscribed. I have ridden in the area but dont know this route

 

[Flouw]

i currently work and stay in Ellisras. and its our usual sunday ride route.

1st 3 times was on my brothers BMW GS650f.
then on the 125 TS (light bike makes it easy as hell)
and then the XR600R. we didnt go all the way as the other guy had a fuel tank starting to leak.

all i can say, stand up, lean back and use the power.
the sand sections are patchy, so power through the thick stuff, and ease off on the hard surfaces. otherwise it becomes too fast.

when joining the R33, you arent too far from the biltong shop. have a colddrink, and read the paper. then tackle the Beauty road, or Visgat road. both of them challenging with some sand. and scenery. they join onto the Marken road. then head back to town for some beers.

 

[0012]

did it a few times whilst I stayed in Ellisras.

Came off the first time I did it (Transalp) but only ever that one time  ;D

Very fun road, especially to take newbies on.

all i can say, stand up, lean back and use the power.
the sand sections are patchy, so power through the thick stuff, and ease off on the hard surfaces. otherwise it becomes too fast.

 

[NeilF]

did it a few times whilst I stayed in Ellisras.

Came off the first time I did it (Transalp) but only ever that one time  ;D

Very fun road, especially to take newbies on.

all i can say, stand up, lean back and use the power.
the sand sections are patchy, so power through the thick stuff, and ease off on the hard surfaces. otherwise it becomes too fast.

Ja dankie daarvoor 0012.

Ek onthou hoe ek in my helmet gehyg en sweet het soos 'n vettie wat trappe klim. 

Na daai pad was enige ander grondpad rustig vir my.

 

[RobbieJZW]

did it a few times whilst I stayed in Ellisras.

Came off the first time I did it (Transalp) but only ever that one time  ;D

Very fun road, especially to take newbies on.

all i can say, stand up, lean back and use the power.
the sand sections are patchy, so power through the thick stuff, and ease off on the hard surfaces. otherwise it becomes too fast.

Ja dankie daarvoor 0012.

Ek onthou hoe ek in my helmet gehyg en sweet het soos 'n vettie wat trappe klim.   

Na daai pad was enige ander grondpad rustig vir my.

I also did that road, think it was twice? On my superbike  :thumleft:
Benefit: couldn't get up to enough speed to fall down!
ot:

 

[0012]

:spitcoffee:


:imaposer:


baie goeie tye daar gehad    :ricky:

 

[JohnB]

Took it a few times. Came close to coming off almost every time. Even did it at night  once coming back from Marakele  with the ktm. Did not stop to remove the orange light protector  :ricky:

 

[Avontier]

Our farm is halfway up the Witkop road. 

 

[husky28]

My first ever MTB (yes pedalling) in Ellisras was on this road.
From town, out on this road and back on the tar is precise 100km.

Its like fighting with the wife, you only try it again when you think you stand a chance....and fail again.

 

[0012]

50km van witkop op n bi-cycle is seker soos 300km op teer  :imaposer:

 

[tikkeltokkel]

Good to hear that it is tough going for most. I know a bit more about almost all kinds of dirt after these 45 k's . I was fully loaded with panniers , top box and almost slick Metzeler tourances .... Lucky to not have come off i reckon !

The road down to mokolo dam is like a sand dune.....

 

[tikkeltokkel]

.

 

[tikkeltokkel]

.

 

[0012]

Die dam is so leeg ek het dit glad nie herken nie 

 

[tikkeltokkel]

my friend was there 2 years ago and was shocked too when he saw it

 

[husky28]

Wow. Ek moes ook nou eers seker maak julle het die regte plek daar.
Lyk my die laaste bietjie wat van Hans Strijdom oor is, is nou uitgetap.

 

[Piet]

Anyone else done this ride .... Please tell me you found it pretty challenging too ... We are wondering how you huys that do this all the time would "grade" it ... If you want a challenge then i suggest taking the Witkop road off the the R33

Damn .....!!!!!

I do this road relatively often on both the bicycle and the KLR. Once you get used to sand it is not that bad (and up here you get used to sand VERY quickly).  

But in your defense, my KLR is significantly lighter than the 800 GS.

 

[Piet]

My first ever MTB (yes pedalling) in Ellisras was on this road.
From town, out on this road and back on the tar is precise 100km.

Its like fighting with the wife, you only try it again when you think you stand a chance....and fail again.

You have a simple choice - HECTIC corrugation or DEEP sand. That just drains you on the bicycle!

So you need to alternate - corrugations 'til the wrists hurt, then sand 'til the lungs and quads yell at you!  :biggrin:

 

[Minxy]

I have family in Ellisras/Lephalale so we usually take that road every time we go visit. Depending on when you go it can be proper rutted, sandy and loads of fun When we did it after the floods in 2014 the river washed a whole lot of riverbed type sand onto most of the lower section, now that was interesting... I put a video together of the last time we did it on our way back from Ellisras in July last year. It usually takes us 30min or so at a decent pace

Footage from July 2015

[flash=800,600]https://www.youtube.com/v/pFzpY8A984E[/flash]

I'll post some pics of how the road looked after the bad flooding in 2014 tomorrow