On Saturday I had the oppertunity to ride with Runner and his friend Gerhard towards Thabazimbi and surrounds. Never been to Thabazimbi so this was a ride I was really looking forward to ! I can honestly say that SA has bucketloads of dirtroads waiting to be ridden, at least 80 % of this trip was offroad. Our trip started at seven as we made our way north catching the rail road towards Hammanskraal and onto Pienaarsriver. The three amigo's just outside of Pta. DRZ 400 (DD), XR 600(Gerhard), XR 650(Runner).
Heading towards Pienaarsriver on some good gravel. The weather was great, certainly not as cold as a couple of weeks ago. I also had one big moment when I jumped a whoop only to come crashing into the nexnt one ! I never saw it was actually a five meter wide gulley, I swear I used up all of my suspension travel and was almost shot off the bike when the forks recoiled. I did my best superman impression on that one
Gerhard and his XR 600 sporting a longrange tank which would come in handy later on.
The trail led us past Radium where we saw lots of quads and dirtbikes gathering for a ride. The area looks like it has lots of potential, maybe a mini De Wildt ? The roads proved to be very dusty, some places we rode three abreast just to stay out of the dust. Worked great untill a Toyota bakkie almost took out Gerhard in the right lane :shock: I decided to ride at the back and just hang back and keep out of the dust as much as possible. Shops and fuel are few and far between here in Limpopo, we came across a little shop and decided to stop and have a coke or two.
Not sure if this area qualifies as bushveld ?
After some 120 km/h sprints across the dirt roads we reached a small town called "Rooiberg". I have never heard of it and because it had a total of two streets and about five shops I was not surprised. The butchery only had wet biltong so we bought some snacks at the local "tuisnywerheid" who also happened to sell lingerie :shock:
The countryside was dry but being away from the city was priceless. Our plan was to get to Rankin's pass which I think Welsh wrote about in a previous report.
Runner checking to see if his XR still has enough grunt, it can do this from fourth gear :shock:
We got sidetracked, the gps showed this trail lead straight to the passes that lay ahead. It looked way to much fun to pass on. The sand and jumps made it an enjoyable little stretch.
Unfortunetly it ended at a closed gate so we had no choice but to turn back, all part of the fun though you never know were these roads might lead you. The run towards Rankin's had two other passes before it. This was the first although I cannot recall the name.
Another little rest at the top, this was just before a very enjoyable Trichards pass which winded down the Waterberg mountain ranges skirting the Marakele national park.
Fig tree clinging on for dear life.
Secluded little valley
Runner and Gerhard noticed that their fuel level were getting low and with no fuel around for some 100 k's things were looking bleak :?
On our way to Rankin's pass they had to stop a couple of times to lay the bikes over and get some left over fuel to the fuel tap. The DRZ had plenty left but not enough to get three bikes to a filling station.
On the way to Rankin crossing a little billabong as the Australians would say
Gerhard looking around for some fuel :lol:
Running on fumes we made it to the well not a town but rather a shop called Rankin's pass. Bad news their were no fuel and as it was Saturday the next town, Alma, were closed on weekends :evil: At least Rankin's had beer, gotta love Africa :lol:
As luck would have it a farmer pulled up to bring back some empties to the shop, we told him about our predicament and he said he can bring us some fuel to get the two XR's to Warmbad er Bela Bela. Sure enough he returned with two containers, about three and a half litres for each bike. One still had some premix but Runner said that his XR can run on anything Because of the time and fuel problems we had to pass on Rankin and make for Bela Bela, maybe next time.
Big thanks for helping us out :salute:
With the sun setting we scraped into Warmbaths again having to tilt bikes and ride at a economy run pace but we made it. From there we decided to the tar to Pta, with the help of the XR 650 I got the DRZ up to 155 km/h. Yes I was bored and the road was dead straight. At seven I made it home, nearly half a day of riding. Had a great time, new places, faces and dirt roads. Big thanks to Runner for leading the way and nice to meet you Gerhard.
PS Masehare the GPS worked great ! Very usefull indeed.
Heading towards Pienaarsriver on some good gravel. The weather was great, certainly not as cold as a couple of weeks ago. I also had one big moment when I jumped a whoop only to come crashing into the nexnt one ! I never saw it was actually a five meter wide gulley, I swear I used up all of my suspension travel and was almost shot off the bike when the forks recoiled. I did my best superman impression on that one
Gerhard and his XR 600 sporting a longrange tank which would come in handy later on.
The trail led us past Radium where we saw lots of quads and dirtbikes gathering for a ride. The area looks like it has lots of potential, maybe a mini De Wildt ? The roads proved to be very dusty, some places we rode three abreast just to stay out of the dust. Worked great untill a Toyota bakkie almost took out Gerhard in the right lane :shock: I decided to ride at the back and just hang back and keep out of the dust as much as possible. Shops and fuel are few and far between here in Limpopo, we came across a little shop and decided to stop and have a coke or two.
Not sure if this area qualifies as bushveld ?
After some 120 km/h sprints across the dirt roads we reached a small town called "Rooiberg". I have never heard of it and because it had a total of two streets and about five shops I was not surprised. The butchery only had wet biltong so we bought some snacks at the local "tuisnywerheid" who also happened to sell lingerie :shock:
The countryside was dry but being away from the city was priceless. Our plan was to get to Rankin's pass which I think Welsh wrote about in a previous report.
Runner checking to see if his XR still has enough grunt, it can do this from fourth gear :shock:
We got sidetracked, the gps showed this trail lead straight to the passes that lay ahead. It looked way to much fun to pass on. The sand and jumps made it an enjoyable little stretch.
Unfortunetly it ended at a closed gate so we had no choice but to turn back, all part of the fun though you never know were these roads might lead you. The run towards Rankin's had two other passes before it. This was the first although I cannot recall the name.
Another little rest at the top, this was just before a very enjoyable Trichards pass which winded down the Waterberg mountain ranges skirting the Marakele national park.
Fig tree clinging on for dear life.
Secluded little valley
Runner and Gerhard noticed that their fuel level were getting low and with no fuel around for some 100 k's things were looking bleak :?
On our way to Rankin's pass they had to stop a couple of times to lay the bikes over and get some left over fuel to the fuel tap. The DRZ had plenty left but not enough to get three bikes to a filling station.
On the way to Rankin crossing a little billabong as the Australians would say
Gerhard looking around for some fuel :lol:
Running on fumes we made it to the well not a town but rather a shop called Rankin's pass. Bad news their were no fuel and as it was Saturday the next town, Alma, were closed on weekends :evil: At least Rankin's had beer, gotta love Africa :lol:
As luck would have it a farmer pulled up to bring back some empties to the shop, we told him about our predicament and he said he can bring us some fuel to get the two XR's to Warmbad er Bela Bela. Sure enough he returned with two containers, about three and a half litres for each bike. One still had some premix but Runner said that his XR can run on anything
Because of the time and fuel problems we had to pass on Rankin and make for Bela Bela, maybe next time.
Big thanks for helping us out :salute:
With the sun setting we scraped into Warmbaths again having to tilt bikes and ride at a economy run pace but we made it. From there we decided to the tar to Pta, with the help of the XR 650 I got the DRZ up to 155 km/h. Yes I was bored and the road was dead straight. At seven I made it home, nearly half a day of riding. Had a great time, new places, faces and dirt roads. Big thanks to Runner for leading the way and nice to meet you Gerhard.
PS Masehare the GPS worked great ! Very usefull indeed.
