MuttsNutts
Race Dog
As promised here is my first trip report.
3 bikes, 2 dakars, xt 660 left Somerset west for Grabouw Saturday morning,at Grabouw we met with a mate who dragged his enduro bike in a vito
I had a Google earth map taped to my tank with a planned route that I reckon was about 30Km, a basic round trip of the plantation, our plan was to then how to take it from there
All I can say is wow what fun it was, this was the first time I had really had a good distance and length of time to take the Dakar through some paces ? I was impressed but it took a while to get used to the weight, the solution pick up the speed
Then came the sports, there is no demarcations between the MTO forest and Cape Nature so we in-advertently strayed into Cape Nature turf, we found a road running further up and into the Hottentots Holland mountains and naturally we went up, this took us right to the top of the mountains almost to the Helderberg basin
What a great ride but I bent my front rim slightly
Our run in with the law was a rather pleasant one, they explained that no bikes we allowed after which we pleaded innocent to any wrongdoing(there are not signs anywhere)
We had a permit for the MTO plantation(courtesy of the other Dakar rider, scouting for film locations). Apparently Cape Nature are by law allowed to confiscate unauthorized vehicles, doesn?t sound correct, does anyone know?
On Sunday when we went back the roads in the plantation we a mess, a group on 2 enduros and quads had messed the road up and had even gone through the delicate environment between the trees in places. Every ranger was out and of course thought we were the guilty ones. Speaking to one of then he said bikes are now completely banned there because of this, anyways that it sad because it is really a great spot
Some Stats
Total distance done in day ? 105 Km,
Altitude variance ? Bottom 329 Meters Top 1052 Meters,
Total time 6 hours
Difficulty rating: I don?t know ratings but one level above beginner is needed I would say
But not really technical
Below are some photos, will post more tomorrow night
Here is a aerial shot/map of the plantation ? The miracles of google earth ? we should have trail finding competitions ? anyway back to my point, check out all the paths
The cage opens but the beasts still sleep ? It was **& cold at this point
At the Eikenhof dam near the bottom
At the top end of the plantation
Also near the top, that XT660 was a great bike , really goes nicely
At the start point of bike confiscation territory, Cape Nature country
The very top, Theewaterskloof dam in the Distance
This is a another part of the reserve and the point I almost saw my nought, We had just taken a break before this and upon getting on I forgot to disable ABS(and on Dual purpose tyres), I went over a blind rise after a nice straight and bang there was a helluva step section of sand with a dead drop at the end, in I flew with no going back and when I hit the brakes my bike actually felt like it went faster
Now remember if I couldn?t stop I was going over the edge so I gotta try something right, Halfway done by hook or crook I get the back wheel round and stop the bike on a ridge where I switched off the ABS and continued down, it was at this point we ran into Parks board and they told us our future
3 bikes, 2 dakars, xt 660 left Somerset west for Grabouw Saturday morning,at Grabouw we met with a mate who dragged his enduro bike in a vito
I had a Google earth map taped to my tank with a planned route that I reckon was about 30Km, a basic round trip of the plantation, our plan was to then how to take it from there
All I can say is wow what fun it was, this was the first time I had really had a good distance and length of time to take the Dakar through some paces ? I was impressed but it took a while to get used to the weight, the solution pick up the speed
Then came the sports, there is no demarcations between the MTO forest and Cape Nature so we in-advertently strayed into Cape Nature turf, we found a road running further up and into the Hottentots Holland mountains and naturally we went up, this took us right to the top of the mountains almost to the Helderberg basin
What a great ride but I bent my front rim slightly
Our run in with the law was a rather pleasant one, they explained that no bikes we allowed after which we pleaded innocent to any wrongdoing(there are not signs anywhere)
We had a permit for the MTO plantation(courtesy of the other Dakar rider, scouting for film locations). Apparently Cape Nature are by law allowed to confiscate unauthorized vehicles, doesn?t sound correct, does anyone know?
On Sunday when we went back the roads in the plantation we a mess, a group on 2 enduros and quads had messed the road up and had even gone through the delicate environment between the trees in places. Every ranger was out and of course thought we were the guilty ones. Speaking to one of then he said bikes are now completely banned there because of this, anyways that it sad because it is really a great spot
Some Stats
Total distance done in day ? 105 Km,
Altitude variance ? Bottom 329 Meters Top 1052 Meters,
Total time 6 hours
Difficulty rating: I don?t know ratings but one level above beginner is needed I would say
But not really technical
Below are some photos, will post more tomorrow night
Here is a aerial shot/map of the plantation ? The miracles of google earth ? we should have trail finding competitions ? anyway back to my point, check out all the paths
The cage opens but the beasts still sleep ? It was **& cold at this point
At the Eikenhof dam near the bottom
At the top end of the plantation
Also near the top, that XT660 was a great bike , really goes nicely
At the start point of bike confiscation territory, Cape Nature country
The very top, Theewaterskloof dam in the Distance
This is a another part of the reserve and the point I almost saw my nought, We had just taken a break before this and upon getting on I forgot to disable ABS(and on Dual purpose tyres), I went over a blind rise after a nice straight and bang there was a helluva step section of sand with a dead drop at the end, in I flew with no going back and when I hit the brakes my bike actually felt like it went faster
Now remember if I couldn?t stop I was going over the edge so I gotta try something right, Halfway done by hook or crook I get the back wheel round and stop the bike on a ridge where I switched off the ABS and continued down, it was at this point we ran into Parks board and they told us our future
