Buff
Grey Hound
The Cape Endurance Rally 2011
Although the rally was only scheduled to start on Saturday morning, it effectively started for us on Thursday afternoon already when we had to clock into the Dros at Tyger Valley and have the odometer calibrated by doing a 30km ride around Durbanville via Contermans kloof. It turns out Yamaha has managed to get right what the German’s have struggled with for years… accurate distance calibration
The GPS route was 30.0km and my bike did exactly 30.0km’s on the odo :mwink:
Riel totally puzzled that the Japs got it so accurate ;D
Friday evening saw us back at the Dros for the riders briefing and collecting of the way points to be visited, provided in the form of a .gdb file for our Garmin GPS. Riel also supplied us with a printout of the general descriptions of the all the points to be visited but saved giving us the questions to be answered until the next morning in case some folks decided to get adventurous and head out into the dark looking for locations > We were also each given a really neat cloth badge for our participation :thumleft:. The atmosphere was electric as we sat around a long table, sampling a cold one while Riel went through riders briefing. Our minds were already running riot at what would be the optimal route with the most points.
I’d be doing the event with my wife Cathy as pillion. We’d wanted to do something like this for ages after watching the Gumball rally and various other TV programs based on a similar concept. When Riel offered this event in CT on bikes, it was a “no brainer” for us.
We’d come prepared so when every one else had left the Dros, we settled down at a table, ordered drinks and chow and set up the laptop ready to start our trip planning. There was 56 points to chose from, ranging in values from 10 points (Paarl Courts) to 2500 points (Joubertinia) and they were scattered all over the Western Cape.
Cathy doing distance/time planning
Selecting the optimal route took careful and meticulous planning and it was time consuming. You had to select a route between waypoints, trace it out in Map Source, score the points values and do time and distance management.
At a quick glance we were sure a route up the West Coast to Lamberts Bay via Paternoster and return via Piketberg was the way to go. We were also excited at the prospect of re-visiting a little sea food restaurant in the Lamberts Bay harbour that we’d discovered on a previous trip. I could already taste the Galjoen :drif: However, after doing the trip planning we realised the route was over ambitious and the points value not as high as initially anticipated :'(
We then selected a route up the East Coast to L-Agulhas via Gordon Bay coastal road but also discovered that wouldn’t work out well.
We were also at a slight disadvantage in that although the rally ended at 4pm, I needed to get Cathy home at 3:00pm latest so she could collect our children from the baby sitters. She would then drive through to Franschoek by car so we could enjoy the prize giving together. It was critical for us to work in that extra stop into our route planning and still leave me enough time to get to Franschoek.
Bear in mind that each minute you are over the deadline you loose 50 points and after 30mins you are disqualified, so getting in late really isn’t an option.
The third route option was a long hop to Sutherland (750 points) via the N1 and straight back, collecting points close to the N1. However, sticking “close” to the speed limit would also make this a tricky option for us and the prospect of pounding out kilometres on the N1 on a big thumper (our bike is a Yamaha 660Z Tenere) with a pillion wasn’t my idea of fun. We were also up against guys on BMW 1200 GS, KTM 990 and BMW K1200, bikes that could eat the long miles for breakfast compared to our 660.
“Points for jam” were a scheduled lunch stop of 1 hour (200 points) and an accurate fuel log (400 points) so it was critical not to skip either. Besides, with 8 hours in the saddle lying ahead, a 1 hour stop would be most welcome
After much debating, Cathy eventually convinced me that if we want to win this thing we need to do the hard miles and hit the N1 to Matjiesfontein and back via Ceres and Bainskloof. This route had a number of big point bonuses and it would allow for us to drop Cathy off at home. She also pointed out a 312 point bonus on the top of Franschoek pass that I could possibly collect if I made it to Franschoek ahead of time. GAME ON !!! :ricky:
The route was planned in sectors between waypoints, distances and time noted, allowing more time for having to go through towns and less for open road and then the route file was uploaded onto our Garmin Oregon GPS.
We eventually crawled into bed at 11:30pm, excited as school kids anticipating their very first school outing.
here's our initial route layout.
To be continued...
Although the rally was only scheduled to start on Saturday morning, it effectively started for us on Thursday afternoon already when we had to clock into the Dros at Tyger Valley and have the odometer calibrated by doing a 30km ride around Durbanville via Contermans kloof. It turns out Yamaha has managed to get right what the German’s have struggled with for years… accurate distance calibration
The GPS route was 30.0km and my bike did exactly 30.0km’s on the odo :mwink:Riel totally puzzled that the Japs got it so accurate ;D
Friday evening saw us back at the Dros for the riders briefing and collecting of the way points to be visited, provided in the form of a .gdb file for our Garmin GPS. Riel also supplied us with a printout of the general descriptions of the all the points to be visited but saved giving us the questions to be answered until the next morning in case some folks decided to get adventurous and head out into the dark looking for locations >
We were also each given a really neat cloth badge for our participation :thumleft:. The atmosphere was electric as we sat around a long table, sampling a cold one while Riel went through riders briefing. Our minds were already running riot at what would be the optimal route with the most points.I’d be doing the event with my wife Cathy as pillion. We’d wanted to do something like this for ages after watching the Gumball rally and various other TV programs based on a similar concept. When Riel offered this event in CT on bikes, it was a “no brainer” for us.
We’d come prepared so when every one else had left the Dros, we settled down at a table, ordered drinks and chow and set up the laptop ready to start our trip planning. There was 56 points to chose from, ranging in values from 10 points (Paarl Courts) to 2500 points (Joubertinia) and they were scattered all over the Western Cape.
Cathy doing distance/time planning
Selecting the optimal route took careful and meticulous planning and it was time consuming. You had to select a route between waypoints, trace it out in Map Source, score the points values and do time and distance management.
At a quick glance we were sure a route up the West Coast to Lamberts Bay via Paternoster and return via Piketberg was the way to go. We were also excited at the prospect of re-visiting a little sea food restaurant in the Lamberts Bay harbour that we’d discovered on a previous trip. I could already taste the Galjoen :drif: However, after doing the trip planning we realised the route was over ambitious and the points value not as high as initially anticipated :'(
We then selected a route up the East Coast to L-Agulhas via Gordon Bay coastal road but also discovered that wouldn’t work out well.
We were also at a slight disadvantage in that although the rally ended at 4pm, I needed to get Cathy home at 3:00pm latest so she could collect our children from the baby sitters. She would then drive through to Franschoek by car so we could enjoy the prize giving together. It was critical for us to work in that extra stop into our route planning and still leave me enough time to get to Franschoek.
Bear in mind that each minute you are over the deadline you loose 50 points and after 30mins you are disqualified, so getting in late really isn’t an option.
The third route option was a long hop to Sutherland (750 points) via the N1 and straight back, collecting points close to the N1. However, sticking “close” to the speed limit would also make this a tricky option for us and the prospect of pounding out kilometres on the N1 on a big thumper (our bike is a Yamaha 660Z Tenere) with a pillion wasn’t my idea of fun. We were also up against guys on BMW 1200 GS, KTM 990 and BMW K1200, bikes that could eat the long miles for breakfast compared to our 660.
“Points for jam” were a scheduled lunch stop of 1 hour (200 points) and an accurate fuel log (400 points) so it was critical not to skip either. Besides, with 8 hours in the saddle lying ahead, a 1 hour stop would be most welcome
After much debating, Cathy eventually convinced me that if we want to win this thing we need to do the hard miles and hit the N1 to Matjiesfontein and back via Ceres and Bainskloof. This route had a number of big point bonuses and it would allow for us to drop Cathy off at home. She also pointed out a 312 point bonus on the top of Franschoek pass that I could possibly collect if I made it to Franschoek ahead of time. GAME ON !!! :ricky:
The route was planned in sectors between waypoints, distances and time noted, allowing more time for having to go through towns and less for open road and then the route file was uploaded onto our Garmin Oregon GPS.
We eventually crawled into bed at 11:30pm, excited as school kids anticipating their very first school outing.
here's our initial route layout.
To be continued...
