Tau's epic victory in Koes and very bad fall.

Okay I'll add more detail later but let me tell you a few things.

1. Tau is an off-road riding god.
2. He is also mental.
3. Hence point #1.
4. He is farking hard.
5. He nearly died on Saturday.
6. He'll be back. See points #1 and 2.

Now some time ago I said I was going to the Koes Rally for work for the magazine and I got hold of a lekker new 140 kW TD Navara. Being a fellow HP2 rider and someone who has already expressed interest in going it came about that Tau went with me.

I collected him at home in Tulbagh and we loaded his YZF450.

On the way there we njarra-njarrad a bit about this and that. It transpired that the guy has "raced some enduros" and that he has also done the Koes Rally before. According to him, he had bad luck through punctures and missing markers previously.

So on Friday they had the main Rally, consisting of 5 laps of 37 km. Tau started in 5th position as riders are released at intervals.

Well fook me, the first oke to come flying past after one lap was Tau. In fact, he came in about 4 min before the next bloke. Eventually he won the race by, I think 20 min. After hitting a kwat in the dust and another kwat riding over him.

The next day he entered the Mini Rally, a 5 lapper of about 3 km of flat-out pan riding and serious dune steeking and sandy tracks. When they came past the first lap Tau was leading by about 10 seconds going flat taps over a moerofa dune. The local hero was behind.

People were saying "hierdie mannetjie ry so mooi" when disaster struck. He hit some kind of hard graspol and his bike's rear shot up in the air, launching him in the air. He was steeking it then and travelled quite far, coming to a stop about 20 m further.

When the first paramedic arrived he was not breathing anymore and his airway needed to be cleared. This done, he started coming by but being very incoherent. We uploaded him onto a scoop stretcher and took him to the clinic in Koes. You must see this dive. Anyway, hunting pals of his dad were also at the event and they organised that he could be taken to the (state) hospital in Keetmanshoop in the back of a Prado.

There they said they "couldn't see anything wrong on the x-rays" and he was discharged and spent the night at someone elses home while I cleared up his belongings and loaded his bike back in Koes. Early on Sunday I went through and picked him up. Mentally he was the old Tau, but he looked like he'd been scrummed by a Mack truck. More bruising and swelling and discomfort in his shoulder and back.

Long story short he's now in Paarl Medi-Clinic. Spoke to his wife. He has hurt a few vertebrae in his back and neck (no spinal damage luckily), farked some ribs at the back, broke a few teeth, damaged his jaw, cut his tongue and he has a hematoma (ruptured vein causing lots of swelling due to bleeding) under his jaw.

The good news is that he is one tough c*nt and hopefulle be alright. He has an appointment left with a mouth and jaw surgeon, but he's out of serious danger. I nearly cried when I saw him lying there after the fall. Hy was nou goed opgefok.

Oh, and I found out later he was WP Enduro champ last year. Which explains his speed. But not his farking mental riding.

I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, here's a few photies.