I am the night rider

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Red Adventure

Race Dog
Joined
May 13, 2011
Messages
1,038
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0
Location
Durbanville, Cpt
Bike
BMW R1150GS
See here for route planning and more detail.

I left Durbanville by 4am Wednesday morning to a setting full moon. It would have been great if the moon could light my way but seeing it set behind Paarl rock as I climbed Du Toits Kloof Pass was worth so much more. If only I had the camera equipment to have captured that sight the way it was.

01Fullmoon.jpg


I got to Robertson by 5am for my first cup of coffee for the day and to adjust all the niggily things, I also took a picture of the tyres for further reference purposes.

02Robertson.jpg

03Tyres.jpg


Got to Barrydale on time and filled up with +-16L giving me a consumption of +- 15km/l
Not bad considering that I was pushing for time. At this point I realized that my odermeter had stopped working and I was so thankful that I remembered to reset the one on my GPS.
Got off the bike to take this shot, there is a bit of magic in the background for those that know their mountains here.

04Somethingmagic.jpg


Another fuel stop at De Rust as Outshoorn was a buzz with KKNK preperations so I just pushed through.
Just before getting to De Rust I stopped to take a picture of these beautiful red sandstone mountains.
Just for interest sake, I stopped at this exact spot on my way to Colcolan last year too.

05Sandstone.jpg


A short distance past Willowmore as your pass through the mountains the landscape becomes bushveld, just like in Mpumalanga but only lasts for a short while till you out of the mountains. This picture just doesn’t do it justus.

06Bushvelt.jpg


Last year the Beervliedam was almost complete full, but now it was just bushes with a thin muddy stream running through the middle.

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I got to Graaf Reinet by 11:15am and decided to have lunch at the local Wimpy. Strange that none of the petrol stations have eating places. It’s amazing the attention one gets when you park your bike packed with gear right out side a restaurant that you’ve just walked into. While there I got hold of Mr T and confirmed that we could meet up the next mornint to do Sani together.

After filling up with fuel it was a long stretch without stops to get back on schedule by the time I got to Queenstown as the Wimpy wasn’t all that efficient. Plan was to get to Queenstown by 2:30pm and I pulled in just a tad early. I love it when things workout.
Usually I’d just play it as it comes but I didn’t want to get stuck ridding in the dark through the old Transkie.

09Queenstown.jpg


In Queenstown I filled up with +-19L giving me a consumption of 15.5km/l.
Man I love this bike…
The last time I’d been through Cala, it was gravel all the way from Lady Frere till the R56.
But now that has been tarred and what an awesome pass that climbs out of Cala. Awesome switchbacks and a good surface too.

10Cala.jpg


Actually the road all the way from Queenstown till Matatiele was good ridding as long as you missed the few potholes. The flower on the side of the road mixed with the end of the day were a warm welcome at Matatiele.

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12Matatiele.jpg


1340km behind me I got some supper made arrangements to meet Mr T and his group and left my number for Noble Stead to contact me in the morning. Unfortunately in my tired state I gave him the wrong number.  :-[

Leaving Matatiele at 6am with the sun rising in my face was one thing, but that on a road full of potholes traffic and mist made quite an interesting start to the day I tell you.

13LeaveMatatiele.jpg


The plan was to take a short cut from Cedarville to Swartberg, but the resent rain was still lying like lakes on the ground across the road. So it was all the way to Kokstat and then on the Underberg to meet Mr T and company by 8am which I just managed to do. Although the areas out not covered by mist made for a beautiful morning’s ride.

14Underberg.jpg


As I was saying I met Mr Tand company at the Shell in Underberg where we filled to the brim but still no sign of Noble Stead so the decision was to get to the South African border post and wait a while there again. The new tar section towards the pass really looks good but I’m sure it’s still going to be a long time before they get to the SA border.

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This is what the road looks like that still needs to be tarred.

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I decided to ride on ahead as the slower speed that Mr T was ridding made me feel all stuffy. I got to this beautiful waterfall and took some picture while waiting for the others.

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18MrT.jpg


Then when they arrived I decided to push on to the border.

19SABorder.jpg


Here we did the formalities and for the first time of many that I’ve crossed out of South Africa, my licenses disc was inspected.  ::)
We chatted for a while and then pushed on to tackle what lay up ahead. Again I rode on ahead till the first of the high hairpin bends.

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As I wanted to launch off, a taxi came round the next hairpin bend so I backed off into the turn to let him pass. He rode right up to me before turning making me feel quite uncomfortable knowing there is a huge drop just behind my back wheel.

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Two bends later I needed to let the clutch cool again, not to mention trying to catch my breath. Man this altitude gets you quick. See the three bikes just below.

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With this still ahead.

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The last turn and a bit is easier because the surface is more compacted. What a relief to be at the top. It really feels like the top of the world.

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With Sani’s highest pub just over there.

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I stood just before the Lesotho border talking to one of the officials for quite at while when finally he said I better find out if my friends were not in some trouble. So I decided to go through the boarder to get to Sani Top Chalets hoping to be able to see them from the wooded deck. This I could do and there was a spot with phone reception so could call Mr T just to be sure all the bikes were mechanically fine. Actually we could just shout down to each other thats how close they were to the top. See them in the picture.

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I got my self a cold coke sat back chatting to two guys that cycled up the day before. They had to stash their bikes next to the road where the hairpin bends started for fear of the border closing before they got there. They then caught a lift down to fetch their bikes while I waited a while longer before I heard the sound of a 1200GS picking up speed as it came over the top. ;-)
I then made my way back to meet them at the border as from here we would be going separate ways and my day was still long ahead of me.
I came across two couples on Dakars that were heading for Sani and then Thaba Tseka the next day.
Well knowing now what that ride is like I wonder if the ever made it to Thaba Tseka two up and with all that gear.

Just after turning off the A1 onto the A3 I came across this gorge where I could see the road coming up the other side. I took a picture from both sides so you can see where I was taking the picture from, marked with a red cross.

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Down below it the bridge over the river that runs through the middle.

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Further on I passed St Jame’s Camp, took a picture for reference of what it looks like. It the building with the red roof, “camp”, yea I know?!?!

31StJamesCamp.jpg


A while later I was starting to feel a little light headed so I decided to stop just over a ridge. Now I had already ridden a bit of the way down before I stopped. When I got off the bike I felt that breathlessness like on Sani, so checked the altitude on my GPS. Then I realized why I felt that way.

32BeforeKhorong.jpg


Down below in Khorong and although still far off I could hear some nagging wife and kids shouting at each other.

33Khorong.jpg


Just as I passed Linakeng I was reminded of why I was rather on my bike than in a taxi.

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Down below is a river that flows into the great Thaba Tseka River, across the banks was some kid shouting, “Give me money”. How he thought I would get it to him fascinated me.

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Next was the Thaba Tseka River itself. The picture just doesn’t allow you to see how big this river is up there.

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At this point the road became pretty good and for the first time in Lesotho I was using 5th gear. But it didn’t last long as at Thaba Tseka I turned off the A3 to head for Katse and the road instantly became rocky again. I stopped to chat to another two cyclists that were cycling to Sani. What is wrong with these guys???

Thaba Tseka was busy so I rode through and stopped on the road out for a break.
I was now 3:20pm, to early to stay there but the 50km to Katse would take me over and hour more. I ate an energy bar while I decided what to do.

37ThabaTseka.jpg


While the sun was shining strong the road was easy to read, you can see where the taxis drive and that is where less potholes are.

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But when it gets darker it becomes more of a guessing game.

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So I decided to push through and spoil myself at the Katse Lodge for the night and then at least the next day would be tar all the way.
It started to rain hard about 10km from Katse but I managed to get just ahead of it at the dam. Just enough time to take a photo of the dam and unload my bike before it showered for another hour again.

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As I had paid for the bed more than I wanted to and the fact that breakfast was also included, my supper a bit more simple.

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This was the view the next morning from my room.

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And breakfast was better than last night’s supper.

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A picture below the dam wall, see it in the top corner.

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And a picture from above the dam wall

45KatseDam.jpg


I’d been told about the road from Katse and how one can just scrape it all the way with the unending bends all the way. Well two back wheel step outs and I was ridding like wussy. The roads surface is rough so you can’t see if there is loose grit on it and then you come into a corner to find something like this

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Or even this…

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I had come too far without a single fall over to throw it all away now, so I choose a good pace and just enjoyed the scenery.
When I saw how huge this bridge was I then reminded myself that this is something like 25km from the dam wall.

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Just to put in perspective how deep the water is here I found this picture on the net.

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Here’s the bridge from the other side, if you look carefully you will see a taxi just to the left of the bridge.

50Bridge.jpg


Every vehicle that came from the front while I was climbing the back of the Mafika-Lisiu Pass smelled like a train as their breaks were burning away. At the lookout there is a sign indicating 3090m

51Mafika-LisiuPass.jpg

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Getting to the bottom valley I checked my GPS again and it showed 1875m, this was still on the road and not down at the river.

I then pushed through to the border picking up a Lesotho traditional hat for my daughter along the way. Whenever I go away for a few days she demands something from the place I’ve been to. (Sometimes she just gets a rock because there was nothing else there).

Filled up at Ficksberg very happy that the GS made it all the way on one tank, but not happy that I had bought the fuel bag unnecessary.
400km with a moving average of 47km/h, you can ignore the total time and overhaul average as the GPS was switched off over night.

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Got the CMA National Rally by 2pm

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That evening the Rally officially started and we had a great time.
The main tent.

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And the band warming up for some good stuff.

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Saturday morning they had the CMA stunt guys who didn’t fail to thrill the crowds gathered. Local aunties with their little cameras too.

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Note the bottle on the ground that he landed the back wheel on.

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Back at the camp I was not at all sure what this bike was meant to be…

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But there were some better looking bikes too, any of you there?

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Saturday night we had and awesome steak and pup for supper and then chatted around and awesome bonfire till late.

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Sunday morning I left after the morning sermon at about 11:30am heading for Wepener.
Just outside Wepener I got onto the gravel road to Smithfield that passes the Welbedachtdam.

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Then on to Smithfeild

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Where I got onto the R701 to Bethulie to refuel again.

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Followed the R701 to Gariep Dam. I would love to have a boat here with a lot of fuel for exploring this piece of water.

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And then admired the Dam wall.

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As I left Colesberg on the N1 I noticed the weather up ahead and a call to home confirmed that it was raining hard. The problem that I sat with was that if I turned off to Victoria West where I was to over night, I could possibly be faced with a muddy R356 the next day.
This 500km piece of gravel road had already see lots of rain the other day so I decided to cut my trip short a day and leave the 356 for another.
I reached Beaufort West at 6:30pm and decided to get some supper while the sun went down.

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30km before Laingsburg it started to rain really hard and continued to do so all the way to Worcester but I was blessed with an open sky to ride the pass instead of that hot stinky tunnel

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1200km From Clocolan for the day and I pulled into my garaged at 11:20pm

3100km over 4 days of ridding giving and average of 775 per day, what other bike can do this and ride up Sani pass I ask you.  :ricky:

Many people along the way asked me if I wasn’t worried to be travelling alone, each time I just replied – “Romans 8vs31”  :3some:
 
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