What a lekker weekend! Thanks to the organisers who marked the route so perfectly, and to all the riders who participated and made this into such an epic event.
My weekend started at work on Friday morning. Fortunately I was able to leeave at lunch time. The PE gang had left early and were making their way down the Langkloof and Route 62 to L' Agulhas where we were staying with friends of Twe Twe. I chose to ride the N2 being on my own and its the shortest distance. The wind was pumping head on and I soon hit the side roads running parallel to the N2, going via the old Blaauwkrants pass, which is ovegrown with lots of fallen rocks in the road, and then through Natures valley which is closed to traffic as they are fixing some big holes. The DR made short work of an obstacle before Natures valley, then I could see why the road was closed.
At about nine pm I arrived at our accomadation where the rest of the gang were relaxing and braaing.
Early on Saturday morng I was woken with people bumbling about, making cofee and getting ready for the ride. Twe Twe and Chillie set out to ride to Caledon. The rest of us followed along enjoyiong the scenery in the cool morning air.
At some point a massive shadow overtook me, I looked up to see a yellow airplane not twenty metres away, banking and climbing as he shot past the bikes ahead of me and letting out a puff of smoke or insecticide as he passed the bikes. So amazing to see this crop sprayer giving us a fly by.
Arriving at the start the ladies served us cofee and rusks and we quickly completed registration. Twe Twe was suffering from being cold and not dressed warm enough. This was soon sorted and very competently the run began. The first bit of dirt we hit was a tweespoor next to the railway line. It was fun watching and sometimes helping as the bigger bikes slithered and fell in the muddy grass tracks. The roads opened up and the herd thinned out. The views are stunning and I often stopped just to look about. It really is a priveledge to ride this area. All too soon we were at the finish of the ride. It had been an absolute blast of a day. We were fed and watered and soon headed back to L'Agulhas where we stopped briefly to take a few photos at the point of Africa.
On Sunday we split up. Duks, Freedom, Chillie and Mike heading off to the Cederberg and Tankwa. The rest of us making tracks on the N2 back to PE. Quite uneventful excepting for my bike picking up a puncture in the rear wheel.My bike was soon on the backup trailer, and YaYa was kind enough to lend me her XR to complete the journey.
Thanks to my companions, and to all the other folk who made this into such a cool weekend.
Topic: CANOLA RUN - CALEDON 2016 (Read 26518 times)
