HennieF
Pack Dog
Over the hills and far away,
she prays he will return one day.
As sure as the rivers reach the seas,
back in his arms he swears she'll be.
[as performed by Nightwish]
Prologue
To start this ride report I will have to start somewhere and that would have to be right in the beginning. No not on the day I first lay eyes on this world in June 1980. But first I must also ask you to show a blind eye to my abuse of the English written language.
I will start in January 1997. This is the year that Model C schools cease to exist and the flood gates opened up. Overnight our little school turned from 200 learners to 2000. My parents thought it best to transfer me to a school in the city as my sister and brother was at university anyway. It’s here that I first came into contact with the BMW motorcycle. First time I saw a 650GS was in an Auto Trader and from then on I would regularly walk past Speed Bike Bloemfontein to do some window shopping. One day I promised myself I would own one.
Jaun and I met while attending Technikon together in Bloemfontein. I probably should have spent more time behind my books and less exploring the areas in and around Bloemfontein. Thus Jaun finished before me and I had to stay behind a little longer to tie up a few loose ends.
This is me mister exploration himself.
And meet Jaun the social one and loved by all.
In 2005 our paths crossed again and while working together on a construction project in Zambia. I introduced him to my idea of exploring more of our country and surrounding areas by means of motor bike. He was immediately hooked. Unfortunaly with a very busy work schedule our dreams became only a reality in late 2008. A gap opened up in Jaun’s busy social life and I was busy in JHB on another project.
By now the F800GS was around for a year but still hard to find. Dealerships had 6 months long waiting lists. I phoned the different BMW dealerships and my name was put on a couple of lists. The closest chance I had to become an owner of a F800GS was in Bloemfontein where I was no. 6 in the queue. As fate would have it two weeks later the machine that I was saving for stood in my garage bought from the same dealership that I have done window shopping from years ago. Unfortunately the gap in Jaun social life closed sooner than anticipated but when it opened up again late in 2009 he did not let grass grow under his feet again. He bought a second hand F800GS and our first trip together was set in motion.
This all happed before my introduction to the Wilddog forum and various training courses to which I was only introduced to during 2010. So with limited knowledge but with great expectation we set off on our December 2009 trip. I always wanted to explore the West coast from top to bottom. However our planned 7 day trip quickly turned from 7 to 5 days. A lot of lessons learned were taken away from our experience in the West coast sand.
Lesson 1: Someone will have to show us how to ride sand.
Lesson 2: It does not help to travel 1000km on tar. Do the whole route in 1day. Then have to travel the same 1000km on tar all the way back again. The trip supposed to start at home.
Lesson 3: Do not pack any food. Travel as light as possible. You can buy food on route.
Lesson 4: There is no need to carry extra fuel while traveling inside South Africa. It is just more unnecessary weight that needs to be carried along.
Lesson 5: To do a long trip like this you need more time. 900km a day for 5 days is way too much. A trip is not supposed to be race. Keep your daily scheduled routes down to 400km and stop more often. Enjoy the small things.
In July of 2010 we finally attended our first riding course in Bloemfontein. I guess now would be a good time to mention to you that myself, Jaun and SGB had worked together at the same company in the past. This was mainly the reason for travelling all the way out to Bloemfontein to attend our first Country tracks course. I thought I would be more comfortable to learn the tricks of the trade from a familiar face. Jaun had no say in the matter he just had to come along.
Pic by Nelus Bandjes
Pic by Nelus Bandjes
On this day I had a slight off and the word doctor was mentioned a couple of times. I am not a big fan of doctors and believe that injuries will heal themselves over time. About two months later I could finally put weight on my shoulder again and four months after the incident I could move my left hand again without any discomfort.
Lessons learned from our 2009 trip and trough all our experiences during 2010 would help to make what our December 2010 trip came to be.
she prays he will return one day.
As sure as the rivers reach the seas,
back in his arms he swears she'll be.
[as performed by Nightwish]
Prologue
To start this ride report I will have to start somewhere and that would have to be right in the beginning. No not on the day I first lay eyes on this world in June 1980. But first I must also ask you to show a blind eye to my abuse of the English written language.
I will start in January 1997. This is the year that Model C schools cease to exist and the flood gates opened up. Overnight our little school turned from 200 learners to 2000. My parents thought it best to transfer me to a school in the city as my sister and brother was at university anyway. It’s here that I first came into contact with the BMW motorcycle. First time I saw a 650GS was in an Auto Trader and from then on I would regularly walk past Speed Bike Bloemfontein to do some window shopping. One day I promised myself I would own one.
Jaun and I met while attending Technikon together in Bloemfontein. I probably should have spent more time behind my books and less exploring the areas in and around Bloemfontein. Thus Jaun finished before me and I had to stay behind a little longer to tie up a few loose ends.
This is me mister exploration himself.
And meet Jaun the social one and loved by all.
In 2005 our paths crossed again and while working together on a construction project in Zambia. I introduced him to my idea of exploring more of our country and surrounding areas by means of motor bike. He was immediately hooked. Unfortunaly with a very busy work schedule our dreams became only a reality in late 2008. A gap opened up in Jaun’s busy social life and I was busy in JHB on another project.
By now the F800GS was around for a year but still hard to find. Dealerships had 6 months long waiting lists. I phoned the different BMW dealerships and my name was put on a couple of lists. The closest chance I had to become an owner of a F800GS was in Bloemfontein where I was no. 6 in the queue. As fate would have it two weeks later the machine that I was saving for stood in my garage bought from the same dealership that I have done window shopping from years ago. Unfortunately the gap in Jaun social life closed sooner than anticipated but when it opened up again late in 2009 he did not let grass grow under his feet again. He bought a second hand F800GS and our first trip together was set in motion.
This all happed before my introduction to the Wilddog forum and various training courses to which I was only introduced to during 2010. So with limited knowledge but with great expectation we set off on our December 2009 trip. I always wanted to explore the West coast from top to bottom. However our planned 7 day trip quickly turned from 7 to 5 days. A lot of lessons learned were taken away from our experience in the West coast sand.
Lesson 1: Someone will have to show us how to ride sand.
Lesson 2: It does not help to travel 1000km on tar. Do the whole route in 1day. Then have to travel the same 1000km on tar all the way back again. The trip supposed to start at home.
Lesson 3: Do not pack any food. Travel as light as possible. You can buy food on route.
Lesson 4: There is no need to carry extra fuel while traveling inside South Africa. It is just more unnecessary weight that needs to be carried along.
Lesson 5: To do a long trip like this you need more time. 900km a day for 5 days is way too much. A trip is not supposed to be race. Keep your daily scheduled routes down to 400km and stop more often. Enjoy the small things.
In July of 2010 we finally attended our first riding course in Bloemfontein. I guess now would be a good time to mention to you that myself, Jaun and SGB had worked together at the same company in the past. This was mainly the reason for travelling all the way out to Bloemfontein to attend our first Country tracks course. I thought I would be more comfortable to learn the tricks of the trade from a familiar face. Jaun had no say in the matter he just had to come along.
Pic by Nelus Bandjes
Pic by Nelus Bandjes
On this day I had a slight off and the word doctor was mentioned a couple of times. I am not a big fan of doctors and believe that injuries will heal themselves over time. About two months later I could finally put weight on my shoulder again and four months after the incident I could move my left hand again without any discomfort.
Lessons learned from our 2009 trip and trough all our experiences during 2010 would help to make what our December 2010 trip came to be.
