3 crazy guys in KZN/Lesotho last Sunday.......

[JonW]

We then set off going northwards, in the direction of Bushman's Neck, but for me this is where the trip went wrong.

On the pic below the blue line is the route that i drew on Google Earth that we should have followed, as you can see it goes inside the red line, which is the border fence. The pink line is our actual track, taken off Ian's GPS, and the yellow line is the Lesotho border according to Google Earth.

[dirtyXT]

  next time in heading to Lesotho this the route!!!  well done fellas. those pictures actually capture some of the incline. not 61 degrees mind you. but fantastic! 

 

[JonW]

Anyway, from there on the riding for me became a fair bit more difficult. We were following off camber contour paths which I never cope well with. We were riding on very thin single track, with a steep slope rising to the left and massive drop off to the right, so you knew, (well I did, Ian and Trevor coped fine), that if you went wrong, you and your bike were going to roll a long way down the mountain. I took a few tumbles and the effort of picking my bike up on the side ot the steep slope plus battling to kick start it again started taking its toll on my energy levels.

Unfortunately from here on I didn't take many pictures, I think I had by this stage gone into survival mode 

[JonW]

After riding just on the South African side of the fence for quite a way, we came to the base of a pretty steep rutted climb. By this stage Trevor was battling with the altitude on his SE, it was misfiring quite badly and stalled a couple of times. Ian went off up the hill on his WR and made it without too much fuss. Trevor then said his SE will not make it up the slope with the way it was running, so I took the easy way out and said there's no point in me following Ian up the mountain if we going to have to come back for Trevor anyway.

Whether I would have made the climb or not is another matter alltogether, but at that stage I was pretty knackered anyway, so I was fairly relieved not to have to do it.

Ian then came back down and joined Trevor and me, and we had a fairly uneventful ride back down the way we had come, except of course I took another fall 

So although it was actually a great ride and should have been really enjoyable, I came away with a sense of failure that we hadn't completed the ride and come down the pass that I had found.

Oh well, I guess that is not all bad, as it means I gotta get back there and finish the ride.

[trevorwb]

The jetting on my SE was way out and it was coughing and spluttering on one lung along the top.I actually attempted the last hurdle but the bike just ran out of steam a third of the way up.The scenery along the top was breathtaking.The last hill that Ian went up was more than just a hill.I am sure we will try it again

[trevorwb]

A few more

[KTM11]

Looks like an awesome route.......

BUT a dual sport ride on a WR250, that's just cheating 

[JonW]

Looks like an awesome route.......

BUT a dual sport ride on a WR250, that's just cheating 

Ja I guess it could be seen as cheating, but if he can look himself in the mirror afterwards then I guess it's all good 

[DRAZIL]

beaut views and discovering new ground  +1000
thanks

[IanTheTooth]

QUOTE: Ja I guess it could be seen as cheating, but if he can look himself in the mirror afterwards then I guess it's all good  

I've looked at the mirror, mirror on the wall and it tells me that I'm the fair.......what a handsome man I am BUT especially how clever I am to bring the right bike to the right place! It did have number plates, lights & a licence. What are you whinging about? Ian

[EssBee]

Shoo....nice RR guyz...thanks for sharing!

[wilddoc]

True Jonw trip.
Looks like I will have to get myself another bike to join you chaps

[IanTheTooth]

Wildoc. Another Bike? remember n+1 and s-1. Might be closer than you think! Your wife is quite a sweet old thing.

 I went to the KTM dealership in Gateway today to see if there would be a more powerful KTM than the 1000 odd cc of Trevor's SE that would be able to crest our hill. The salesman told me that the 1190cc model would be much, much, much more powerful with much, much better bits than the rubbish, older models and that he could do a really good deal for me with the bank. He tried to show me how you would dial in the electronic suspension for a climb of 2,400m to 2,500m at a gradient of 1:1 strewn with rocks of between 100mm and 200mm but the menu choices were very confusing and I really needed a pair of loupes to read the tiny little screen anyway. I asked him if you could have a suspension that just worked anyway but he told me that was not what dual sport/adventure riding was all about. Stupid me. Whatever was I thinking!

My friend Clive suggested that perhaps a turbocharged 1190cc might be able to do the trick!

[Wooly Bugger]

well done!
respect.

 

[andrew5336]

This is an awesome part of KZN / Lesotho - we do a trail run often here.

There's a place called Jonathan's lodge near the top of Bushman's Nek Pass - it's incredible. Right in the mountains.

Anyone keen to make a weekend of it using existing roads / tracks sometime in March?

Either up Sani and across or up a pass near Swartberg that a friend has mentioned before - he goes in a Hilux so it can't be horrendous.

[Brucekzn]

Andrew, I'm definitely in!

[trevorwb]

Andrew pls keep me posted

[IanTheTooth]

Vernon Perry is doing a trip through Lesotho staying at the lodge on the 21st March. The advert should be in the papers this weekend. Ian

[andrew5336]

Awesome, I'll look into that as an option!