Mark Hardy
Grey Hound
Thursday morning the phone rings.......
Clockwork Orange says" Hi Mark,feel like a little early morning technical ride"
"Hell yes, where when"says I
" Lets go ride Kaboefs Pappegaaiberg early Saturday morning,leave at 6.00am, beer by 10.00am" says CO.
I say "excellent"
And that is bacisally how it was decided to go for this little ride and unbeknown to us at the time, it would be one full of falls
laughs ;D and good times >
We meet at the traffic circle in Bothasig.There was Myself, XT660R(Andy),CO and his friend Kevin (KTM640ADV). CO is running a bit late because of the night before and only getting to bed an hour or two before the 6.00am metting time ;D. Once all the smokes were smoked and intros done we shot off to meet Kaboef at the Bros in Stellenbosch, he was our guide for the morning, and boy did he guide us.
After a little watercrossing under some trees and a couple of off camber corners that has the back wheel spinning and slidding around we make our up onto the hill.
Kaboef stops and points ahead........there in front of us is a 300m rutted steep climb.
Ye bady this looks like fun and it did not fail to live up to it expectations. Co had one look and said " Ok i'm going up". Kaboef reminds CO about the step half way up and so we sit back to watch what happens. All is going well, CO and his 950 are in controland looking good,then he reachers THE STEP, front wheel hits something,back wheel spins, things start to look interesting. More spinning and zig zagging and then the dreaded lose of forward movement.Bike and CO start slidding backwards and down she goes.
Cameras come out in true Wilddog style while good natured laghter fills the air. We watch while CO negoiates turning the bike to face down hill and starts to pick the beast up. I think the night before is catching up with him because he leaves her lying on her side, takes the helmet off and looks down at us, we hear this far off laugh and we join in. ;D
Still no one has left to help CO and so Andy being the nice person he is takes off up the hill too offer a hand, leg and whole body to get CO back on the bike.
The pics don't do justice to this climb,it is steep,especialy after THE STEP and is very slippery. The gravel is loose and it's like walking on marbels, thousands of them.
CO and Andy man handle the bike to the step and CO then mounts up and carries on down to us,
minus left mirror and indicater.
Mean while Andy is having thoughts of his own......" Maybe I can carry on up from the step and make it to the top. As I have said, from THE STEP things get very steeep and slippery. We watch Andy go for it, loose traction, go off course, loose more traction and down they go. Out come the cameras and more laghter. Nice bunch of guys aren't we >.
Down they go
Andy gets himself all sorted out and back to THE STEP
and all this time I am thinking " well now it's my turn to show how myself and the bike can part ways". Off I go, 1st gear and turn on to the track going up, "look up pick your line, and steady on the gas, don't fall"is the mantra going through my head. Get toTHE STEP and through that and now its the last 100m, back wheel starts to spin, throttle off for a heart beat and back on the gas nice and easy and before I know it I'm over the lip at the top and I feel like the King of the world. This feeling would not last the day ;D
View from the top
Andy rode back down and turned the bike around too give the hill another go and this time all went well, shortly followed by CO who came storming up.
CO making it look easy 2nd time around
Two very happt Dawgs
We did alot more riding around on that hill, found some up up-hills and down-hills.
The one up hill was my down fall. Twice. :-[ ;DI kept getting myself into this one rut which would spit me and the bike sideways and down. I think CO got it on camera and what he said was so true. Target fixation, I remember looking at the rut and thinking " must keep left but would end up riding right into it.
Well that means I will just have to go there and do it all again. >
The other guys will surly add their comments and pics but all I have to say is Thanks Kaboef to the introduction to this hill and will be back for more.
Cheers
Clockwork Orange says" Hi Mark,feel like a little early morning technical ride"
"Hell yes, where when"says I
" Lets go ride Kaboefs Pappegaaiberg early Saturday morning,leave at 6.00am, beer by 10.00am" says CO.
I say "excellent"
And that is bacisally how it was decided to go for this little ride and unbeknown to us at the time, it would be one full of falls
laughs ;D and good times >We meet at the traffic circle in Bothasig.There was Myself, XT660R(Andy),CO and his friend Kevin (KTM640ADV). CO is running a bit late because of the night before and only getting to bed an hour or two before the 6.00am metting time
;D. Once all the smokes were smoked and intros done we shot off to meet Kaboef at the Bros in Stellenbosch, he was our guide for the morning, and boy did he guide us.After a little watercrossing under some trees and a couple of off camber corners that has the back wheel spinning and slidding around we make our up onto the hill.
Kaboef stops and points ahead........there in front of us is a 300m rutted steep climb.
Ye bady this looks like fun and it did not fail to live up to it expectations. Co had one look and said " Ok i'm going up". Kaboef reminds CO about the step half way up and so we sit back to watch what happens. All is going well, CO and his 950 are in controland looking good,then he reachers THE STEP, front wheel hits something,back wheel spins, things start to look interesting. More spinning and zig zagging and then the dreaded lose of forward movement.Bike and CO start slidding backwards and down she goes.
Cameras come out in true Wilddog style while good natured laghter fills the air.
We watch while CO negoiates turning the bike to face down hill and starts to pick the beast up. I think the night before is catching up with him because he leaves her lying on her side, takes the helmet off and looks down at us, we hear this far off laugh and we join in. ;D
Still no one has left to help CO and so Andy being the nice person he is takes off up the hill too offer a hand, leg and whole body to get CO back on the bike.
The pics don't do justice to this climb,it is steep,especialy after THE STEP and is very slippery. The gravel is loose and it's like walking on marbels, thousands of them.
CO and Andy man handle the bike to the step and CO then mounts up and carries on down to us,
minus left mirror and indicater.
Mean while Andy is having thoughts of his own......" Maybe I can carry on up from the step and make it to the top. As I have said, from THE STEP things get very steeep and slippery. We watch Andy go for it, loose traction, go off course, loose more traction and down they go. Out come the cameras and more laghter. Nice bunch of guys aren't we
>.
Down they go
Andy gets himself all sorted out and back to THE STEP
and all this time I am thinking " well now it's my turn to show how myself and the bike can part ways". Off I go, 1st gear and turn on to the track going up, "look up pick your line, and steady on the gas, don't fall"is the mantra going through my head. Get toTHE STEP and through that and now its the last 100m, back wheel starts to spin, throttle off for a heart beat and back on the gas nice and easy and before I know it I'm over the lip at the top and I feel like the King of the world. This feeling would not last the day ;D
View from the top
Andy rode back down and turned the bike around too give the hill another go and this time all went well, shortly followed by CO who came storming up.
CO making it look easy 2nd time around
Two very happt Dawgs
We did alot more riding around on that hill, found some up up-hills and down-hills.
The one up hill was my down fall. Twice. :-[ ;DI kept getting myself into this one rut which would spit me and the bike sideways and down. I think CO got it on camera and what he said was so true. Target fixation, I remember looking at the rut and thinking " must keep left but would end up riding right into it.
Well that means I will just have to go there and do it all again. >
The other guys will surly add their comments and pics but all I have to say is Thanks Kaboef to the introduction to this hill and will be back for more.
Cheers
