The Crater

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sidetrack

Grumpy Mutt
Joined
Jan 30, 2006
Messages
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Location
Pretoria
Not withstanding Krazy's rock damage and Baldy's KLR damage it was a very enjoyable ride. Lots of new faces, I think we were 16 people in total but I may be wrong. Within the firts couple of km's some guys got lost :lol:

The ride started at the Wimpy with freezing temps to be had. On my way to Harties my fingers and face was freezing, damn it was cold. I'm not usually a coffee drinker but I had to get something warm :shock:

Shark led the way towards Brits and from there we took a couple of shortcuts with dirt sections. Waiting for the second group to arrive

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It was not far until we reached the first long dirt stretch, it consisted of some good dirt mixed with some sandy patches which made life interesting. A little wiggle here and there, it's all good and alot of fun !

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My latest Frankenstein conversion. KTM headlight with a Hella squeezed on top for good measure. I like this setup, lite but bright 8)

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The dirt was pretty much top gear stuff, easy to sit at 90 - 100 km/h. The terrain was bushveld type. As mentioned before some parts we rode through De Wildt where some guys had fun on their enduro/mx and quad bikes. Looked like fun tracks, would like to try it someday. I marked a few of the cool spots on my GPS for future reference. Some of these roads went through townships and this is where Krazy's KTM came face to face with a rock thrown by a local villiage idiot :evil:

Eventually we reached the crater, some info on it -

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"Some 220 000 years ago a blazing stony meteorite the size of half a football field slammed into the earth?s crust. The impact formed a huge crater, 1,4 km in diameter and 200 m deep.

This crater, known as the Pretoria Saltpan (or Zoutpan), is situated 40 km north to the northwest of Pretoria. It is one of the best-preserved meteorite impact craters anywhere in the world.
"

I think they must have hit record attendences on the day as all of us stood in line and payed our R15. Riding into the crater was quite an experience, nice to see the crater close up. As we were riding down Baldy hit a trence that ran across the trail and went down. Not a high speed crash so luckily he and the bike was ok.

Louis jnr (Wian) posing with dad's bike after stopping to help Baldy

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The road into the crater

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At the bottom there were some more soft sand and the KLR went down for a second time, the clutch lever snapped right at the pivot point :shock: Note to everyone, bring spare levers or as Wino said, don't fall :D

Bosberaad to discuss ways of getting the KLR back to the main entrance

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Luckily KLR rider of note, Shark said he would ride it up out of the crater where Baldy arranged with a friend to bring a bakkie to fetch him and his bike. Hope to see the KLR back on the trail soon Baldy !

A couple of pics of the crater

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The road coming down into it

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Then it was time to go, everyone made their way towards the main entrance

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And a final shot before heading home

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All in all a great days ride, thanks Shark for the route and everyone who was there :thumbright:
 
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