Getting to know the PE dogs...First Ride Report

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Wabbit16

Race Dog
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
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Location
Port Elizabeth
Bike
AJS (all models)
This will be my first ride report, so hopefully everyone enjoys it. Comments welcome :thumleft:

Where: Elandsfontein & surrounds
When: 31 May 2009
Distance: Approx. 245km
Fuel used: Approx. 11l
Avg. Fuel Consumption: 22km/l
Route:

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What first started out as just a little ride between Carlos and myself, turned into a great outride to Elandsfontein and surrounds, with a group consisting of Carlos with his brand new XT660R, Big E on his KLE500, Jman with his Suzuki Freewind, Bakkie with a KTM640 Adv, Q8 on a KTM 950 Adv, KT-emmer707 on a KTM 950SE, Thump and his KLR650 and myself on the XT550. I reckon I was the most excited of the lot, since it was my first outride with the fellow Dogs and my first time I'd take the XT on a long trip (longer than 50 kays). I was initially a bit skeptical (and rightfully so) about the range I'd get from my little 11l tank, but I made it back to the garage on fumes.

Big E, Jman and I left the Kragga Kamma Spar at 07:15, and we headed west on the road to Cow's Corner. We took a right turn onto a dirt road that went into the bushes, and that's where my XT gave up the ghost. First I thought I was out of juice, but I knew I had a few liters left. Very odd. Then it came back to me – one of the wires from the stator came loose a while back and that's the first thing I checked. And so it was...the wire sheared off again. Silly 1983 electrics :pot:. Big E lent me his toolkit, and Jman worked his magic with his Leatherman. 10 minutes later and we were off :ricky:

The roads we took were new to me, as I don't go west very often, except to Seaview on the odd day that I cycle. I'm gonna have to study those maps sometime :D. After following Jman and Big E, we came to the Caltex garage near Greenbushes to fill up. I still say the attendants were a bit dof, gesuip or just plain fast asleep on the job. My attendant managed to spill about half a liter of liquefied dino over me, my bike and the floor. Slim kind. Gave her the cash, and we left again on our way to Uncle Freddie's. There we met up with some more dogs, and after some coffee and snacks, we hit the road to...to wherever we went to. All that I know is that those Michelin AP-10's don't like tar roads :pot:. Honesty gets you far in life, so I'm gonna be honest – that road we took scared me sh!tless. We were fortunate to have the coldest day of the year, and plenty of sand. More like powder if you ask me. I couldn't help but sing 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica in my head over and over again. The road there wasn't that bad, but my rear knobbly was pumped too hard and my front had a slow puncture. It made for very interesting handling. The few times we stopped to regroup I was very grateful, and wearing an open face helmet didn't help much...

Chasing Q8 and KT-emmer707 with my 550 was fun, even though I didn't come close to catching them :biggrin:.  Ag what, it's the thought that counts. Only thing I hit was a suikerbekkie, and I think he survived the ordeal with my headlight. When we got to the mountain/koppie-met-die-toring, all I could do was compare it with Barkly East. Dit was regtig kark koud daar bo. And that's not even talking about the wind. I think with the wind-chill it came close to negative numbers on the thermometer. To make matters worse, the wind tipped my bike over! The wind didn't suck, it blew. Bugger. After the guys stopped there for a smoke break, Big E headed off to Patensie and the rest of us took the side road to the river. Going down wasn't so bad, but I almost took out a hoekpaal on a steep downhill (Bakkie had a good couple of laughs there). I hate stones...but next time I'll aim better and take it home as a memento :D.

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Near the radio transmitter

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View from the top

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In die wolke :)

We had a small river crossing before the braaisite, and Jman and KT-emmer707 hit ground zero there. After we all got to the site, we had a lekker braai with a makeshift braairooster and a very interesting 'griddle' that peculiarly resembled a rock I saw lying in the river when we crossed it. The food also came in all shapes and sizes, from phallic boerewors to M&M's and even hard-boiled but soft-smashed eggs. I got to know some of the PE dogs, had some good meat for brekkie and even witnessed a meditating session on a wall-to-wall carpet. Cool beans!

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Water! Beef!

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The makeshift 'carpark'

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Overview of the site

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Q8 and the wall to wall carpet (glo baie lekker om op te meditate)

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Wys my jou wors!

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Family gathering

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Jman taking on the water

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Me taking it slower the 2nd time round

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Thump just thumping along

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Bakkie taking charge

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KT-emmer707 attacking with much grace

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Don't blink...

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Q8 going at it, foot-ups style

The way back was very lekker, but we ran into some light rain and combined with the powder-sand, it made visibility a bit bad. Okay, very bad. To make matters worse, I forgot to open my fuel tap and I couldn't understand why my bike was bogging so. Later on, I made the mistake of wiping my goggles off, and everything looked like an oil painting done by a dyslexic octopus afterwards. Cleaned it off and we were off again. About 4km from Uncle Freddie's, I ran onto my reserve tank. That didn't do my ego any favours, as I was hoping I'd get a bit more than 245km's from 12 liters. Oh well, I wasn't riding exactly slowly, either.

The rest of the okes went to Out of Africa, and I filled up at the Excel garage opposite Uncle Freddie's. I met up with them at Out of Africa, and after talking kark Jman, Thump and I went to go looking for the Ford test track. We met up with a 214 and Tyger, and they showed us some tight track that went down onto the valley somewhere. I unfortunately had to head home again, and Jman lead me back to Lorraine (the suburb, not a chick). The ride back was a bit jarring, since the wind picked up and I lost all electrical power on my bike. I managed to get home sans indicators, brake lights, a headlight and a hooter. I got home a tired man, but the day was well worth it. To all the guys that joined, 'n moerse dankie aan julle :thumleft:.

'Wabbit :ricky:
 
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