A Wet New Years Day at Verneukpan ( 1/1/11)

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Rynet

Grey Hound
Joined
Nov 13, 2008
Messages
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Location
Cape Town
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BMW R1200GS
Warning . Do not attempt to ride at Verneukpan after or during the rains. It is wet, muddy and slippery ! And we were told afterwards that our tyre marks will scar the pan for up to two years. Apologies to the ones who come after , the tracks we made are not pretty.  And we risked having a very long and hot walk for help and to inconvenience someone else to tow us out . Anyway I cannot put the toothpaste back in the tube so I might as well share it. Toothpaste anyone? ……………So …….Mark 660  and I had just finished the 2 Jacks and  Jill trip through the Karoo which ended at the Kenhardt Hotel with the Wilddogs New Year’s Bash .
( See https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=62115.0 )

We said a sad good bye to our fabulous travelling companion up to then , Bie,  who left for Jansenville , and then a little later Mark 660 and I left the Kenhardt Hotel camping spot just before 8 am intending to ride dirt as far as possible to Cape Town as both our rear tyres were pretty shot. Our plan was to ride from Kenhardt PAST the Verneukpan turn –off and ride DIRECTLY to Williston . Riding through Verneukpan was not even a speck of dust of an idea on the horizon of my brain, , but it seems that Mark and my impulsive ( reckless ) nature got the better ( or worst) of me………………

It rained for most of the 24 hours we spent at Kenhardt , the weather gods stopping pouring just long enough to be kind to us while we packed up camp.

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We entered gravel just after we left Kenhardt and road was unbelievably muddy and slippery, especially in the red clay bits , and we started struggling almost immediately. Just then it started to rain again and we stopped so I could put my rain suit on.

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I would have preferred riding in front because Mark was going much slower then I would have, and in addition making deep ruts for me to fall into or over , but my curiosity got the better of me and I plodded along at the back quite happily ,amusing myself as he slipped and slid along in some places . I also created some pretty wild snakes, but of course it was more fun watching someone else doing it  . The best was when he did a spectacular snake up an embankment and made a rather hasty exit of the road  , but to his credit and my amazement he did not fall.

Mark has only been riding for 6 months and has not done any riding courses. He has not learnt the “correct way “ to ride i.e. to ride with your feet and body, but clearly he was born with talent, common sense and a steadfast resourcefulness as he just kept that Tenere 660 of his steady and upright in almost all  circumstance. And admittedly the further I rode behind Mark the more I appreciated his sensible slower speed in the wet muddy conditions . I noticed that I had much better control to be able to prevent falls and even to stop a slide once it started , and we had no offs ……………..until the Pan that is .

I also saw fresh tyre tracks from a car having left the road reminding me that even cars were not immune in this kind of slippery conditions.

But I was not worried. I am  an eternal optimist ( illusionist?) as long as there were no very steep down hills or thick sand. So I was enjoying the ride and the challenge of staying upright and feeling quite restful and unrushed and in control .  The red clay was slippery as hell and caught you out at unexpectedly, but we were doing great at our own sedate pace .

Just past the turn –off to Verneukpan we stopped .

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Unbeknownst to innocent lil (big) me , naughty Mark had been toying with the idea of riding through Verneukpan all along. It must have jumped from his head to mine by osmosis, because as I sat there staring at the Verneukpan turn-off the thought of actually crossing the Pan popped into my head from nowhere. Perversely I savoured the thought , and turned it round and round in my head as a tongue would do to a loose tooth. Much as one would re-play a nasty bike crash , watch a Matador being gorged by a raging bull or watch a violent force of nature like a name brand cyclone or earthquake wreck destruction in its path . The thought repulsed me and attracted me at the same time. But since it was just a thought I thought I could just flirt with it in my mind and remain free to not engage .  But of course thoughts lead to ideas and ideas lead to possibilities and once that mind of mine engages in a reckless idea only lightning is faster. Mark did no more than pick up the butter knife. He only uttered two short sentences in that calm voice of his, being :” if the road is really bad we could always turn back”….. and the deal clincher: “we only get to live once” and before his words were even cold I had made a U- EE and was at the starting blocks raring to go ride  The Verneukte Pad. So much so that all along the ride I thought it was my idea! It was only when we down –loaded the photographs yesterday that he admitted it was on his agenda all along. Clever man Mark for making me believe it was my idea , which made me work harder at wanting to succeed in finishing it.

We  knew upfront that that there would be at least two places on the way to the Pan that would  be impossible to ride through, as there were thick and deep ruts, but when we rode it the day before there were alternate detour routes off the path. Easy Peasy !?? Ha! Not !

Ok , first gate and first mud. So far so good. We outwitted the first bit of water and crossed it and recrossed it ,as we couldn’t turn in the water and the gate was in the way.

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The alternate route was very muddy also, but nothing toooooo serious. Nothing to warn us of our little mis-adventure to come . We innocently carried on and did another detour and then a few more . I did notice that the detours seemed to get just a tad muddier and sticker and mmmm just more difficult, but it was a subtle change . Verneukpan once again conspiring savouring the chance to cheat and verneuk another human being out of a life or limb or bike .

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BACK ON THE TRACK

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My freebie boots of a year was the first thing to go

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But Duct Tape is always handy :

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At some point Mark stopped to take a photo and of course not having his superior Selous Scout sixth sense of what all the different coloured terrain meant, I stupidly rode right into the waiting arms of the enemy without suspecting a thing and instantly the trap closed around me . I got stuck and started sinking , the wheels , the bike , my feet…..my heart ……. Everything. The mud quickly turned into a mass of quivering quicksand. It was alive . The more I tried to leave , the more it grabbed  me. I rolled backwards and revved to try and get out , but every backward roll just caused me to sink back more ! .I was going nowhere but down  .Mark rushed up and pushed and pulled, but to no avail , the tractor she was well and truly stuck. I gave Mark permission and we threw her down and dragged her around on her pot , (you know she secretly quite likes being manhandled , that one)  , but even after getting her up we struggled with finding a dry spot and I kept getting stuck and she kept being thrown down till at last she made it. By this time we were drenched in mud and sweat and blood ( me from trying to put thorn branches down underneath the tyres )

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Luckily clever Mark could avoid the troubled spots and took the higher dryer way.  This little mishap cost us at least an hour and loss of valuable energy and many liters of  body fluid . At this point we both decided  it may very well actually be easier to ride IN the water ( which used to be a road -at least till yesterday . You may not believe it but its true -I saw it with my own two good eyes just yesterday  ) We figured ( rightly as the owner Louis told us afterwards ) that IN the water we had the least chance of getting stuck . Everywhere off the road is a Death Trap . And the further away from the road the worst it is . You can’t believe your eyes . What looks like drier land is actually the worst quicksand ! Its Verneukpan verneuking you .Veneukpan hadn’t had a victim this year, but she was determined to start the year off by having having us.  In the road you don’t have any grip on the tyres ,let alone on our bald tyres, but that was better than sinking in mud as thick as raw chocolate cake mix and being devoured alive by the Mud Monster .Swimming- sorry I mean riding – in the road leads to risk of falling every meter you ride  , because it is so soapy slippery that in most places you can’t even walk without falling, but at least it’s a nice soft landing and still the lesser evil compared to the Monstrous Mother of all Mud.

Looking a tad tired there ?

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