PONTA LONG WEEKEND RIDE

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NEON DEON

Race Dog
Joined
Dec 20, 2017
Messages
510
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0
Location
Kempton park
Bike
KTM 1190 Adventure
Over the past long weekend we visited Ponta as in my planning I wanted to go as the tar road was just about done .
On wednesday we left at 13hoo for our halfway pitstop in Piet Retief . nice ride , huge accident 30 ks out of Delmas , Coal truck headon with a small car , both burnt out and a big backlog of traffic , but on the bike it was no problem and the hold up was not even a min . In Ermelo we stopped for a late lunch and then by 16h00 we were back on the road . I could see the clouds roll in , cold front and it was not long before we were riding in very cold wet mist . Just after 17h00 we arrived in Piet Retief , found our lodging , booked in , changed out of the riding gear into some jeans and went for dinner . On the way in I had my heated grips on as well as the spotlight . Parked the bike and went to bed , as we wanted to get a early start for the border , up at 5 and its raining , light but raining , we decide to leave but take it easy , as it was still dark , fixed the pannier and top box to the bike , pushed it out of the garage and thumbed the start button , Horrors my battery is not cranking the motor , now what ????
I don't have jumper cables on the bike , we decide to push it around the corner to a petrol garage and hopefully they  would be able to help . no battery but a truck driver say he will help , The garage assistant fetched a new jumper cable from stock and we tried to jump start the bike , no luck , found that the cheap chinese cable does not want to do the trick , we stuck ,public holiday and we mite have to wait to find a spares shop that will open , but that could be 2 hours later . I ask around , no jumpers , Then a elderly gent came in to fill up some petrol , Asked him , sure he has a jumper at home and he will go get it , but I have to accompany him , beggars cant be choosers , sdo I leave my madam with the bike and we go to his house , get the cable and return , hook up and the bike starts. Thanked him and  We are on the road again , 1HR 15 lost but we are riding again, rain was not bad and as we neared Pongola it cleared up . Great ride up the mountain to Jozini , and then on to Mangusi it started to drizzle sporadically . Fueled up in Mangusi and off to the border . Craze as their must have been close on 500 people crossing , in the que for about a hr and we were done .
Met up with our friends that was joining us for the weekend , they traveled by jeep . We decided to have a drink at the watering hole just as one gets on to the new tar road . Had one drink and then decided to head for camp to book in . As I turned on the to Ponta road it started to rain again , then stop , then drizzle . Tar road is very nice , it than ends but the road building is good so no problem . Then the nice part ends and one has to ride on a side road , fortunately this was hard pack . As one approached Ponta , maybe 1.5 ks out of town the hard pack stops and its beach sand track .And here the drama starts , did not ride 20 meter before the tires where clogged with sand and the bike had very little traction or direction , came to a stop and dropped the bike . My buddy said i must take the panniers off and put it in the back of the jeep , did so , start bike paddle paddle , no traction , no direction stop drop start again . Sweating like a dog in the rain I made it past the market and on to the hard pack . AWESOME  :laughing4: . Have another kilo to go to the campsite , head out first 200 meter  wobbling but ok , then it starts again , sand fills the tire , no traction , no direction and istop and fall over , drop the bike on it  side as i cant hold it up . 5 times later no more energy a helper says he will ride the bike into the camp site noe 200 meters away . I am bushed , my riding gear is soaked I agree for him to ride my bike but hope he does not get brave and go fast and crash it , not 10 meters away and he nearly drops the bike , but catches it in time . parks the bike in the camp site. We made it , booke in take my wet kit off have a shower and put on some dry clothing and go for a beer . After that I went back and rinsed off my bike . party started and we first stop was Ferandos for some R&R . CRAZE PLACE  :3some:
Weather was not kind to us so we did not get to go for a  swim , but we did support the local economy by pub crawling the rest of the weekend in the Jeep .
Recollecting the events that led to the battery going flat , I did not turn off the spot or the heated grips the night before so when I tried to start the bike the battery still had to power the spot and grips , my mistake , and as for dropping the bike more in one day than in 37 years of biking I don't think there is any solution , I did not deflate my tires , did so on sunday morning but dont think it would have had a better result in preventing the tires becoming sand logged .
As for going to Ponta by bike , the place is a bikers haven , lots go their but dont always advertise the fact .
The road making process is going very well , the sandy bit that I battled with on thursday , had a hardpack side road built by sunday , made the return trip a breeze , and I recon by month end the road works will be completed to the market , by december the tar road will be done .
all in all we had a great time . 
 
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