Day 02 (Sat 19 Nov)
(Again, forgot to activate my Garmin initially.)
Distance (actual): 171 km
Distance (recorded): 132 km
Time (recorded): 04:21:58 (30 km/h)
Moving time (recorded): 02:51:00 (46 km/h)
The Kaya by morning:
A day-ride to Garies was on the cards. Froggy decided to give it a miss thanks to his wrist. As a result of my nutty riding style of the previous day, where I had seemed to stay on board mostly through sheer luck, Geoff had told the others that if they wanted to watch something interesting, they should watch me. If anyone took him up on this advice, they would be sorely disappointed. My last nerve fled in the morning, along with my resolve and my ego. Those 7 km are awfully long if you paddle…
When free of the cloying sand, the rest of the route was real fun. It did have sand, but the red, softer stuff, which seems to mesh better with my brain. Again: no pictures of the route itself, which is a pity, because the ride out to Garies was really beautiful and interesting.
The standard 650’s definitely don’t have enough suspension travel at the back, because I’m constantly busting my bike at the back when the number plate catches onto my wheel’s knobblies. This time round it wasn’t that serious and only required strapping up with someone’s tie-down (if that someone reads this – I still have your tie-down!).
In a
subsequent ride to this trip, the back was damaged badly due to the same issue, locking up my rear wheel when the tail-light section snapped off and was dragged forward until jammed solidly between wheel and swing-arm. I’m currently having my bike’s rear modified to avoid this in future.
I think it was on the way out to Garies that the second big incident occurred: someone lost it around a corner and ended in a ditch. Straps were required to get the bike back out of the ditch. A smiley (similar to the one on the 650) and bent stanchions meant the end of the ride for this bike.
We were not to have lunch at Garies Hotel today, because the place seems to have taken a disliking to bikers - or the idea of having customers? Therefore Garies simply served as a refuelling pit-stop. We were to have boerie braai lunch back at the Kaya.
The temperatures climbed into the “getting-unbearable” range. At this point, I was right at the back of the field, but BJ took to babysitting me.
BJ - one of my many babysitters on this ride:
At least, we were at the back until Gerhard got a puncture. Gerhard is one of our usual little group of 4 that goes on rides together (Ilse was sitting out this ride due to knee damage and Lance had yet to join the ride).
Gerhard and me:
BJ and I set off, once the back-up vehicle and help arrived at Gerhard, but we had to stop shortly afterwards at a fork in the road, in order to make sure that the back-up chose the correct route. BJ and I waited in the blazing heat. Even the signboard was not throwing any usable shade.
Toasty:
Eventually all was well and we were able to set off. My falls on the Sand Road of Doom numbered at least 5 today. All incredibly low-speed falls. But this meant that I’d usually get tangled in my bike and need someone to lift it from me. In other cases I was more than happy to help with the lifting, though I was starting to flag. My baby-sitters noticed this and forced me to rest. They would not let me set off again until I downed an Energade and was breathing normally.
Charles (on the right), one of my other baby-sitters:
I finally completed my paddle epic to the Kaya. Yet another bike was trailered to the Kaya: Christian’s bike gave up the ghost. It would idle, but the moment the throttle was engaged, the bike died. That meant two bikes on the trailer from today’s ride, but yet another non-working one waiting at the Kaya (the 650). Three is not a feasible number. Yet MacGyver had plenty energy left and got to work on Christian’s bike. Andy, usually the combined medic-and-fixer-of-bikes, could have a break from his usual duties. The diagnosis from Christian’s bike: the throttle potentiometer was the problem. MacGyver managed to fix the issue and we were back down to two non-working bikes (and one non-working person).
What made this year different from previous years was that we had lunch (steak, wors and salad) at the Kaya and an entire afternoon to loaf.
Many disappeared for a snooze. I sat happily chatting to Cecil, who enlightened me as to the function of a potentiometer. It “tells” the bike the position of the throttle. If it is damaged and gets the message wrong, your bike won’t go. Bikes seem to be full of stuff that does this…
Towards late afternoon / early evening, people started appearing again. Perhaps they were lured by the smell of the starters, which consisted of absolutely delish deep-fried bites of crayfish.
Meanwhile Lance was making his way towards the Kaya. He came from the south rather than our northern path, which meant that he had virgin sand all to himself.
Due to the heat, he was wearing the body-armour he usually wears on his plastic. The other bit of attire was less conventional. His story was that his usual top was dirty and torn. I’m not sure why he felt that was a problem. Regardless, he arrived garbed in a smart white shirt over his body-armour. I don’t have a good photo of it, but this would give an idea:
It was a no-holds-barred supper tonight, with seafood bisque (my favourite meal of the whole trip – a soup with big bits of mussels, calamari, etc.) followed by the traditional crayfish.
Day 03 (Sun 20 Nov)
Distance: 407 km
Time: 08:51:33 (46 km/h)
Moving time: 05:46:33 (70 km/h)
The morning dawned chilly, but the bikes were warmly wrapped.
It may seem incredibly weird to cover a bike on an off-road trip, but this is a good idea when so close to the ocean. A bike just needs to look at sea air and it will rust. Lance’s bike lives in a garage. Mine lives outdoors but under a bike blankie. Yet Lance’s bike has more rust. The reason: he rides it along the Blouberg coastal road on his daily commute.
Breakfast at the Kaya consisted of coffee and rusks:
Another one of my babysitters: Steve.
There was an Alan and a Steve on this trip. Anyone familiar with the BBC’s clip featuring funny talking animals will realise why this was cause for great hilarity on the trip.
<![CDATA[<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/xaPepCVepCg" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/xaPepCVepCg</a>]]>We would have pictures today. Lance testing out the GoPro’s placement on his helmet:
We left the Kaya on the route Lance used the previous day – towards the south. Froggy had someone else ride his bike on the sand. He’d take over on the tar. I spent most of my time paddling when on the thick sand and clocked only one fall.
At least I wasn’t alone in my struggles:
Some managed:
And some excelled. Gerard was not focused on survival, like the rest of us, but on having fun; creating bow-waves of sand where-ever he went. And who knows where Kellan was. Somewhere up-front terrorising the local fauna at warp speed no doubt.
Gerhard on the right:
Charles and BJ were my main babysitter today. Lance would disappear periodically and then re-appear with his GoPro.
The road eventually widened. This was something I could manage. Plenty “dancing” room! I hit into high gear and cruised along easily.
The road changed yet again, this time to thick red sand. I slowed down a lot, but still found this type of sand easier to deal with than the beach-sand tweespoor, aside from when it got incredibly thick (then paddles were deployed) or presented lots of sand on a corner. I still don’t like corners. Adding sand doesn’t help either.
Beautiful scenery:
Lance kept branching off to explore the side roads:
Sometimes with Gerhard in tow:
Lance discovering a cove where the 4x4 set play:
Pick a route!
Some human interest shots:
Gerhard having fun:
We had lunch at Eland’s Bay, after which people went their separate ways. It was boiling hot at this point, so a bunch of us decided to hug the coast on the way back. The rest returned via Piketberg. We thought we had it bad, with temperatures in the high 30’s, but the others had to deal with a maximum of 44°C.
Needless to say, it was an epic trip. Obviously I still need to work on those sand skills. The fear is pretty much gone, but the finesse is not there. Maybe next time I can bring my sum total of roughly nine falls down a bit, for there will definitely be a next time!
Topic: Jurg se Kaya: tackling West Coast sand (Read 3146 times)