Eastern Freestate (GAGSC 2006 Under Cover)

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SGB

Race Dog
Joined
Feb 4, 2006
Messages
3,157
Reaction score
11
Location
Bloemfontein, SA
Bike
BMW R1200GS
The GAGSC is for BMW riders, but this year it happened to be near my home city, Rosendal, in the Eastern Freestate. We were going to visit ouma for the long weekend, bikes going with as usual. We are familiar with the routes, and decided that we will not harass the BMW's but still do some good riding around the area. I wished all my BMW friends a safe journey on Wednesday, and single handedly kept the inflation rate down for the rest of the week. We left Durbs on Friday after the schools closed. Despatched the wife and kids in the car with my 525 and son's X-Moto in tow. I followed about an hour later on the 990. Had an uneventful drive / ride there, went past the GSC venue on the way, just to confirm that all was OK.

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Spent the evening at our farm, my boet Bees and his wife also arrived, and we were out and about early on Saturday. Mr G came from the GSC to say hello with GS12ZN and wife, and he decided to come with me and Bees for the day. We had a quick look at a map and started off with the day2 GSC red route, special stages only. Bumped into some friends there, from the Country Trax advanced course - said that they decided to re-do the day 2 route, too busy on the day 3 which they were going to tackle when they got back. It was interesting to note that most places where the sandstone made a bit of a step en route, some plastic from indicators, number plates and the like was lying around. Theses routes gave some okes good value for money....

We proceeded to the Lesotho border and along the Caledon river, which is a scenic stretch with nice riding.

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There was a bit of mud and some water crossings, which made the ride enjoyable.

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Rode back to Fouriesburg, and filled up the tanks, then off to our own "special stage" to a "Holkrans" on a farm owned by Bees's father in law. This is always a good ride, keeps you awake but off the normal dirt roads, no traffic and some good technical riding over sand, mud, sandstone slopes and water crossings.

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I had a puncture earlier, the fix did not work too well and we had another go in front of the Slabberts bottle store in the shade. This repair worked a lot better!

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Then back home, took a quick shower and removed all visible clothing with KTM logo's. With my Nissan shirt, we set off to Moolmanshoek by car to watch the last day of the Skills challenge. Sneaked into the venue and viewed some superb skill displayed by Hein Kumm and the 10 finalists. It was good to watch, all those guys know how to ride a scooter. Hein is an exceptionally good rider, amazing to watch! The course was great and the guys were tested to the limit!

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The venue looked good with all the tents, and we stayed for a quick beer, said hello to some of the friends in the BMW camp, most of whom appreciated my Nissan shirt...., including Jan himself..... (I am goin to be in even bigger trouble on my next Country Trax course....)

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The workshop area was a bit of a sorry sight, lots of damage after the day 3 red route.

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We left quietly, and woke up Sunday morning for some more playing. The team was now made up of me, Bees, GS12ZN. We rode off to show GS12 some more of the Freestate beauty.

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In the afternoon we took some of the girls and kids for a bit of pillion riding, by now Kev and Hilda joined the fun too. Ended the day with technical ups and downs and mud crossing in the donga, just to keep the brain sharp and complete our fair donation of sweat for the day.

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Monday morning, another outing around the area, rode a track through a couple of farms, just some more lekker riding.

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The kids had a good time too!

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The weekend was over far too quickly, and we had to pack up and take the long haul back. Had some fuel filter issues with the car along the way - must have taken in some bad petrol somewhere, but eventually all the riders and drivers arrived safely.

Filling up at Estcourt Ultra City. The wind was strong, and threw us around quite severely on the way down.

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Life is great! We had an excellent time in the Freestate, I continue to go back and enjoy the area of my youth. Thanks to all the friends for all the assistance on the road!! And to Ouma and Oupa for the accommodation and food and koeke and terte!
 
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