Grumpleton
Race Dog
Sorry no Photos ,old timers kicked in and forgot the camera
So it was decided that on Tuesday the 27 November that we would go for a ride.
Reasons for the ride.
1 Ant had to get out of his staffs hair (he tells us it was to test his new second-hand transalp) Honda Transalp
2Harry to have something to do as watching judge Judy all day is getting boring.( Suzuki Dl1000 V-Strom)
3 Grant (also Known as Grumpelton) just needed to get away.(Suzuki DRZ400)
Planning started some time ago with the tree of us wanting to go do 3 passes in one day.
leaving from langebaan and returning back to langebaan.
Day -1 as I was going to be in Cape town all day on Monday I asked my co conspirators to please go and change the tyres on my bike from Off-road to road, because a DRZ400 on knobblies tyres on the road is very uncomfortable, as per normal with Ant, Work got in the way and with a lack of communication nothing was don about my tyres.
The day. Bright and early I contacted Ant, his wife answered and informed us he was ready with all gear attached to the bike and waiting for us to arrive, (I must stress we had not all agreed to ride as yet) Harry was still in bed, and I was still grumpy because my tyres had not been changed, we agreed to go any way.
We left langebaan at about 8:30 with Ant in his usual position at the lead with the GPS on (more about the GPS to come) myself then Harry.
We headed to Malmesbury and then on to Gordon’s bay and went around the point on our way to Kleinmond, I have never ridden this road and this for me was the highlight of the day, what an outstanding bit of tar to ride.
At Kleinmont we stopped for a bite to eat where harry had the last hamburger made with love by the friendly lady behind the counter at the Sasol garage, the snacks on offer at this bakery were very good for a convenience store.
From here we headed out towards Arabella and the Highlands Pass, ant started on the dirt very slowly as he has never ridden the new (second-hand) transalp on the dirt, as he got the feel of the bike he started to speed up and left harry and myself in the dust.
Now this is where the GPS went all wrong and we ended up going around in circles (I must stress this happens on a regular occurrence when we all ride together we spend a lot of time turning around). eventually Harry took over the lead and took us to the Viljoens Pass near Grabouw, by this time the temp had got up and we were all feeling the heat, the navigator more so as he was now lost without that confused GPS.
We stopped for a bit on the bridge over the Theewaterskloof dam and then headed for the Franschhoek Pass
Wow what a lovely pass to ride, Harry was in his element and at a pit stop in Franschhoek he explained how in his younger days he would scrape his foot pegs around the corners , I was a little unsure on the corners as the knobblies on my bike were not the great for these corners.
So there we did 3 passes in one day, from there we headed through Paarl to Riebeek Kasteel and then on home to Langebaan arriving safely but tired after having done approximately 550 km I was still vibrating at about 8:30 last night from those knobblies tyres.
Lesson learnt don’t rely on your friends to prepare your bike, rather do it yourself and then you know it’s done. There are some great tar roads in the Western Cape but I still prefer the dirt roads
So it was decided that on Tuesday the 27 November that we would go for a ride.
Reasons for the ride.
1 Ant had to get out of his staffs hair (he tells us it was to test his new second-hand transalp) Honda Transalp
2Harry to have something to do as watching judge Judy all day is getting boring.( Suzuki Dl1000 V-Strom)
3 Grant (also Known as Grumpelton) just needed to get away.(Suzuki DRZ400)
Planning started some time ago with the tree of us wanting to go do 3 passes in one day.
leaving from langebaan and returning back to langebaan.
Day -1 as I was going to be in Cape town all day on Monday I asked my co conspirators to please go and change the tyres on my bike from Off-road to road, because a DRZ400 on knobblies tyres on the road is very uncomfortable, as per normal with Ant, Work got in the way and with a lack of communication nothing was don about my tyres.
The day. Bright and early I contacted Ant, his wife answered and informed us he was ready with all gear attached to the bike and waiting for us to arrive, (I must stress we had not all agreed to ride as yet) Harry was still in bed, and I was still grumpy because my tyres had not been changed, we agreed to go any way.
We left langebaan at about 8:30 with Ant in his usual position at the lead with the GPS on (more about the GPS to come) myself then Harry.
We headed to Malmesbury and then on to Gordon’s bay and went around the point on our way to Kleinmond, I have never ridden this road and this for me was the highlight of the day, what an outstanding bit of tar to ride.
At Kleinmont we stopped for a bite to eat where harry had the last hamburger made with love by the friendly lady behind the counter at the Sasol garage, the snacks on offer at this bakery were very good for a convenience store.
From here we headed out towards Arabella and the Highlands Pass, ant started on the dirt very slowly as he has never ridden the new (second-hand) transalp on the dirt, as he got the feel of the bike he started to speed up and left harry and myself in the dust.
Now this is where the GPS went all wrong and we ended up going around in circles (I must stress this happens on a regular occurrence when we all ride together we spend a lot of time turning around). eventually Harry took over the lead and took us to the Viljoens Pass near Grabouw, by this time the temp had got up and we were all feeling the heat, the navigator more so as he was now lost without that confused GPS.
We stopped for a bit on the bridge over the Theewaterskloof dam and then headed for the Franschhoek Pass
Wow what a lovely pass to ride, Harry was in his element and at a pit stop in Franschhoek he explained how in his younger days he would scrape his foot pegs around the corners , I was a little unsure on the corners as the knobblies on my bike were not the great for these corners.
So there we did 3 passes in one day, from there we headed through Paarl to Riebeek Kasteel and then on home to Langebaan arriving safely but tired after having done approximately 550 km I was still vibrating at about 8:30 last night from those knobblies tyres.
Lesson learnt don’t rely on your friends to prepare your bike, rather do it yourself and then you know it’s done. There are some great tar roads in the Western Cape but I still prefer the dirt roads
