GKG 2019 - Rooiberg Lodge - Van Wyksdorp

[Maverick]

It is always difficult to decided whether you had a good bike trip or a incredible camaraderie and experience enjoyed by like minded individuals, any day out on the bike beats a day in work after all. My personal experience over the years also tends to lean towards the less time I had to take photo's on a trip equated to being to busy having a good time with friends and bikes. So this is a ride report but a very short one with very few pics.....I can almost just stop here and not go any further but being me I will bore you with inane ramblings from a Karoo dust filled mind 

The last Airhead Great Karoo Gathering I attended was also at Rooiberge in 2015. Met so many cool guys I knew over several years on the forum and as their forum persona's they actually weren't to kak in real life either 

So this year I had the pleasure to ride with @Fudmucker who stayed with us overnight on Thursday before we headed over the Swartberg on Friday morning. I invited my father-in-law to ride with us as he needed an excuse to get out of the house and we picked up another airhead at Kobus se gat.

Fuddy coming up the Swartberg



followed by FIL on his 1150 ADV that's been through Africa and the America's....with him on it. He just turned 69.



It does not matter how many times I have driven/rode over this pass I just don't get tired of the spectacular views of the Great and Klein Karoo



We followed the Kruisrivier/Groenfontein gravel road that travels along the foot of the Swartberg towards Calitzdorp. I last cycled this route about three years ago and was shocked to see how dry it has become. It is still incredible beautiful surroundings but the drought has taken it's toll.

At Kruisrivier







It is so dry the driffies has gone underground clearly posted by these warnings



Calitzdorp dam is critically low and this used to be a very good camping and fishing spot on the water. You can spot the previous water level on the far side of this pic. Does not seem to bother the flintstones with their rock caravan as they used to all sorts 



Had a nice lunch at Die Dorpshuis in Calitzdorp and was almost worried we ate to much being only about 40km and one Rooiberg pass away from our destination.



Heading off past Boplaas onto the gravel enroute Rooiberg Lodge

https://photos.smugmug.com/GKG-2019/i-P8qhwM3/0/710ee4f1/XL/FOCD6291-XL.jpg



It's Friday, I need a beer so tbc.......

[barabas]

Short and sweet!
I can see it was a jol... thats what our riding is all about.
Jeeeerlik!

[Maverick]

Heading up the Rooiberg pass from Calitzdorp side catching some dusty pictures riding at the back. I again realised for some reason I am just not into my GoPro which is a shame as it looks so easy when the youngsters slap together a video and clips 



The pass scattered full of rocks but fortunately not many ruts. Back in 2015 when I came over the pass on my own around 18:00 I managed to lose my mini compressor, tube and a tyre lever. So naturally I scanned the surrounding veld for something shiny awaiting my rescue......as you do 





I love the change in surrounds as you ride along and exchanging the rough with some really smooth bits without any real sign for the reason it would be so rough and so smooth almost from a line in the sand





The drop towards Van Wyks Dorp on the other side seems to be well maintained.



Louis checking something that's rattled loose over the pass





Very close to Rooiberg Lodge and the scenery starts to get greener and you can sense you are close to the coast. The couple of hours with my mind locked in my helmet I get to clear my mind of all the everyday routine and pressures. As we dropped down into the valley I could feel myself smiling about nothing and just generally being in a happy space. Biking the great equaliser of man's mind 



And so we arrive at our venue for the weekend, incident free and everything still intact. Fresh mind and dusty bodies.



Priorities getting out of our dusty gear and meeting up with familiar faces and bikes, The evening was enjoyed with a burger of note which you could pimp further with bacon/cheese etc. With an old favourite band Akkedis blasting out good old fashioned rock 'n roll and a variety of beverages I stumbled to bed and could not remember when last I slept this good.......and happy.

[ChrisL - DUSTRIDERS]

Sitting with bent legs on a 1150 GSA one must be tall.

[Maverick]

Sitting with bent legs on a 1150 GSA one must be tall.

Chris die "ou man" is 6'8" . Hy laat omtrent 'n 1150 soos 'n peewee lyk 

[eberhard]

Great stuff!!

[ChrisL - DUSTRIDERS]

Sitting with bent legs on a 1150 GSA one must be tall.

Chris die "ou man" is 6'8" . Hy laat omtrent 'n 1150 soos 'n peewee lyk 

en ek wed jou hy het nog nooit sy kniegkoppe teen die pods gestamp

[LouiST]

Hey Dirk, thanx vir die Ride Report en fotos, was lekker om saam met julle te ry!
Ek het ongelukkig nie nog fotos nie.
Cheers
Louis

[Chairman Meow]

Nice one Maverick... Was great to have you there as always.
As you've come to realise over the years, Airheads are not really ones to post much ride reports... Hell, the event is not even advertised anymore and only via private invite anyway... A real secret handshake society..... As if it didn't even happen. 

.. 50 people... 39 bikes... What a nice turnout... Next year will be the 10th...who knows we're the roads will lead us. 

[Maverick]

Hey Dirk, thanx vir die Ride Report en fotos, was lekker om saam met julle te ry!
Ek het ongelukkig nie nog fotos nie.
Cheers
Louis

Louis lekker om jou en jou twin te ontmoet en jou twin 

[Maverick]

Nice one Maverick... Was great to have you there as always.
As you've come to realise over the years, Airheads are not really ones to post much ride reports... Hell, the event is not even advertised anymore and only via private invite anyway... A real secret handshake society..... As if it didn't even happen. 

.. 50 people... 39 bikes... What a nice turnout... Next year will be the 10th...who knows we're the roads will lead us. 

As if what happened  Did something happen.....when.....account hi-jack. 

[Maverick]

Saturday morning was another beautiful day and for a bigger part of the group the feeling was to do as little as possible for as long as possible and then some overtime 

After a brekkie of note groups of airheads were making their way to different places to visit and explore the gravel roads of the Klein Karoo. I decided to stick to my plan and do as minimal as humanly possible and wander about looking and chatting about .....bikes.

Some true gems and unfortunately I did not spend enough energy to take more photo's of the 38 bikes of which all were truly unique in their own way.









We somehow gathered some momentum and decided to hit the mall.....Van Wyks Dorp Mall that is



Rush hour in Van Wyks Dorp on a Saturday morning



The wold famous mall run and owned by Heidi where you can buy anything from a Wilson toffee to bicycle patch and solution



We had something cold and then moved onto the Spekboom restuarant run by  Lauretta (moet haar nie tannie noem nie) and Gerhardt. The curry lamb was really good and almost thought I overdid it as it was 14:00 and the GKG Big Bad Braai was still looming 



Back at the lodge preparations were beign put in action to get a group shot of all the bikes later the afternoon. Now let me tell you something about getting a group of airheads together. You would think with the fine German precision of our machines and the elitism of airhead ownership this is as simple as right guys half circle tightly together bish bosh bash done - nope  It's like herding a flock of cats and WAIT for it.......imagine you had a German streaker in the mix, true story 



Just something about an airhead with half it's side cover mounted on the fender isn't it







It only took about two hours to get 39 bikes into this position, streaker out of the picture, shadows out of the pictures and then everyone to their bikes for another picture. You get the picture? Imagine you could have a flying camera on an event like this, let's call it a DRONE. Now that would solve some issues 

Couple of beers in and we moved to the BBB (Big Bad Braai) and again the food was outstanding with meat and meat, salads, potato bake and to top it off Malva pudding and custard



More laughter, piss take and drinking took us over midnight where most retired to their beds before turning into pumpkins 

[gser]

 Lekker , baie lekker  . . . !

[Maverick]

Right I have another 10 minutes spare to finish this very short report 

Sunday morning another great breakfast spread from the Lodge kitchen. @Fudmucker recommended the trip back to Prince Albert via Ladismith and some tar. I have a natural apprehension for bikes and tar and prefer to travel as little via tar as possible. Farewell's and last minute tips and jokes out of the way we were ready to go



Looking at the Walvis "aptly named after a Kaoko trip and lying down in the sand.....alot" I realised the time has come to give the GS a good old fashioned make over in the months to come. It is still perfectly good for getting me from A-Z via J but it deserves a bit of special treatment and not just a dust covering 

Richard ready and visible......from Mars 



We made our way out towards Van Wyksdorp and headed onto the R327 towards R62 and Ladismith



Long open spaces and wide gravel roads







Onto the tar and a fair amount of traffic coming from the KKNK in Oudtshoorn heading back to Cape Town



Ladismith for a quick fill up and on our way towards Calitzdorp



I suppose not all tar roads are dreadful if you have stunning scenery around



Deserted Caitzdorp on a Sunday



I was taking Richard via Lategansvlei towards Swartberg which runs next to the very dry Wynandsrivier. I have done this route a couple of times as it is incredibly scenic with farm land and old farm houses. I did not realise how bad the drought has affected this area and sadden to see everything begging for a bit of water.





Picked up a local dice with another two wheels on dirt





As we turned right onto the road following Swartberg from Lategansvlei I stopped quickly getting rid of the 1/2 liter coke that's been hassling me the last 30km's. Richard turned around and stopped when his bike died suddenly. We managed to get it bump started and headed off to the Swartberg pass. He overtook a car on the pass very slowly and as I was about to overtake the car I just saw him riding in the ditch on the drop side of the mountain and thought ohhhhh F%$! but he managed to get out of it only to then nearly highside with the rear of the bike bumping over the rocks. How he managed to save it I don't know but VERY relieved as it wouldn't of been pretty 

On Prince Albert side as we stopped at the T-junction heading to town and the other way where we stay his bike cut out again and would not start.



By pure chance my wife came past that very moment and took him to his car and trailer whilst I waited. Bike loaded and strapped Richard had a long drive back to Pretoria and myself dusty and still smiling of enjoyment getting out on a gravel trip for a weekend headed the 5 minutes down the road back home.



Great event, soul food in many respects with friends, bikes and nature. Can't wait for the next one 

[ChrisL - DUSTRIDERS]

Great to see people looking after and riding the old bikes of years ago.

[Bliknêrs]

Thanks for taking the time to do the RR. Really enjoyed it and the photos.

[Maverick]

Thanks for taking the time to do the RR. Really enjoyed it and the photos.

Absolute pleasure, it's been an interesting journey for me as I used to slap together a ride report so easily even after work riding in heavy traffic I could magic something up with a few pics from my phone  As you get older you become really lazy taking pics and getting down your thoughts never mind writing the actual report 

[daveh]

Thanks for sharing. You certainly take more photos than I normally do. Did some of those roads in December and it is always nice to reminice. So the ride report section is not dead, just that we do not always reply or thank the person that has taken the effort to report!

[Baches]

Thanks for sharing. Would love to restore one.

[Brakenjan]

Wat 'n aangename verrassing!! Hopelik kan ek jou nog eendag join by 'n GKG. 

Ps: Ek sien uit na nie Walvis se make over.....