Amageza Holiday

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Kamanya

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Location
Cape Town, deep in the lentils
Bike
KTM 990 Adventure
The 2012 Amageza Sutherland Rally. It was something that I wanted to do and was a selfish holiday of sorts to be totally absorbed in something for myself and forget about the real world for a while.

I was keen but wasn’t so sure that I’d make it. On the business front I was super busy. Added to that I had chosen to refresh my 950. (if you want some background… 2004 950 Refresh ) This was it beginning of Jan



I thought I’d be done by end of March but bad postage and business got me to the point of phoning Mrs Amageza - Marissa with 3 weeks to go and asking if anyone who wanted to go but couldn’t afford to would like my ticket. I wanted to donate it rather than sell it. In a final rush I got the thing almost finished along with a quick 60k jaunt to Macasser to see if anything fell off.



I still was waiting on the brake rotors when I ran out of time. I was going with the old ones on.



The bike was loaded and just as I was putting the final touches on the tie downs, the postman arrived with.



So off the trailer, change rotors and back on with the new ones. Cruiser packed, I just needed some padkos and some odds and ends and I could be on my way.



69k before Maitjiesfontein turn off, happy as Larry! The weather wasn’t. It wasn’t long and it was bucketing down. I knew some would be riding up, glad I didn’t have to do that.





An old memorial to some British general killed in the Boer war caught my eye



It was a quiet place, good for reflective stuff.



Once in Sutherland, a massive cloudburst with lightning and hail – you can see on the bonnet.



It soon cleared and with no one to talk to, I headed out of town to find out how the rivers were doing;











I dislike mud and don’t have a taste for riding in it. Being a semi desert area, I hoped that the route would dry out by the time I had to ride it.

It was here, I found Rickus and Chris coming from the Frazerberg side with stories of flooded rivers and detours. Ha! I had found someone that I could at least talk and drink with. It was not long that I was in the Jupiter Room – a really nice place run by Theo. The inevitables pitched not long after that and a good night was had. At least I had qualified a few months earlier and didn’t have to ride the Friday qualifier so Friday for me would be a lazy one.





Mother and Daughter or were they married?





Theo the owner, it’s him that’s blurred not the camera



I slept in the hostel for the first night – there was a 10pm curfew. I made it in 15 minutes late. It brought back many smiles wandering through the place. I spent my high school in one. Once safely in the hostel a great evening was polished off by a good bottle of red with Wolfmother and Kreef.

I had barely opened my eyes when Johan (Wolfmother) came in, fully dressed to do the qualifier, asking if I knew how to hotwire a 650 X Challenge? Between Lainsberg and Sutherland boys hostel, he’d lost his key. “Of course! I have internet, a hangover, a fertile imagination and have never owned a BM, shouldn’t be too difficult”.



Johan is one of those individuals who when should be and is fully justified in being in a state of huge panic, only looks and sounds mildly challenged. It wasn’t long before we had that BM purring. I had managed to call Alex to tell him of the state of affairs, he said he’d be right over. Johan was given a lightening briefing from Alex. He hadn’t been able to get his GPS to the checkin table and didn’t have the tracks loaded. The instructions were, “go to the end of the town, turn left and follow the tracks.”



Johan made the qualifier, but there is more on his key saga later.

In the meantime I had to relocate to the main parking area



and register and get through scrutineering. Registering was easy. Scrutineering wasn’t. You had to pitch for a full kit inspection; Your weapon of choice had to be suitably marked and legal… ish, with all your riding gear on along with all the safety gear.





Camp Kommandant Alexander the Great.







If you can’t read Kalahari body language then I’ll translate, “Heirdie donerse ronfokkery met all jou klere en goed sonder om erens te ry is snert”, in English it doesn’t translate well, but I’ll try; “I could be drinking”



Mom’s obviously worried, shops at Woolworths and thought sonny would be hungry during the day?!



“Any health issues we should know of?”

“Um… No allergies but a broken neck, pericarditis, 2 broken arms and leg (but that was when I was in school)… oh yes and a vasectomy. Should that do?”



“Ok!”

Kalahari Zen techniques to impress the nurse…



Remember Johans key issue? Well he qualified but now had the problem of getting fuel into his tank. Nothing a KTM mechanic with a big screwdriver can’t fix though. Now all Johan needs to turn his bike on and fill with fuel is a screwdriver.





I wasn’t keen to camp on the rugby field so elected to sleep in the cruiser.



My neighbours and span bestuurder – Bob. None other than Legedema fame sporting a slightly modified leg that was in the process of healing. Weskus, or DeWalt, his nurse.



Once through all the admin and seeing as I was dressed up, I thought I would go for another little shakedown. Since the rebuild, I had the grand total of 60k’s on the clock and zero on the new brakes. Stupidly I hadn’t thought to bring the old rotors with me in case the new ones didn’t work. Fortunately everything seemed sharp and great. Except I was having hassles changing gear.





Fortunately it was just the gear selector bolt coming loose. That it all seemed to work was a great relief. It was also an opportunity to test the accuracy of my trip meters. I rode for 10k’s on gravel by the GPS. My trip meter said 10.1km apparently this was not too bad. The KTM can only set the wheel sizes to change the calibration. As the only options are 18, 19, 20 and 21 inch, the accuracy I had would have to do.

4pm was a mass ride for a photo. I felt good to be on the bike and not watching from the side. I was feeling great and keen.



Sadly the moment overtook one of us and in a highside brought on by a little too much wrist, (something that many of us so easily could have done) one collar bone was done for. His rally was over and he’d not even made the start.



Lot’s of photo’s and music











That’s my beanie and hat in there I swear!





Jeez these look like fun…





The meal and briefing was great. We aslo got given our road books. I’ve never used one so a lot of the symbols and info was a bit of a mystery. I went and sat next to Neil of Bluebull fame and learnt a few things that came in handy.



My palace for 3 nights. It was a fairly early evening. I was sure I had everything loaded and ready. It was plenty cold that night.



Tomorrow, Day 1 waited.

 
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