Torque Curve
Race Dog
Myself and Ndlovu left from Mount Pleasant at 8am in very fresh conditions. Our aim was to visit Terra-Pi north of Kareedouw to check out their fascilities first hand. We rode via Maitlands to Rocklands and onto The Elandsrivier Road. After koffie at Padlangs we took the gravel road (orange) towards Humansdorp.
The wind was moderately strong most of the way until we reached the turn-off onto the red route. As the day went on the wind also increased in intensity and with it the chill factor! The advantage of wind is of course that no one rides in too much trailing dust.
Some friendly farmers and later a man trapping through the mountains were very helpful with directions to Terra-Pi, except that only the last guy knew that the name had recently changed to Hartsfontein. This after we had already passed the place twice and turned around at the gate becuase it did not say Terra-Pi!
Anyway, years ago my approach to biking was to get lost ASAP and then always amaze myself at the beautiful roads I could discover in my attempts to get home. Although we were never technically lost, just misdirected, we did thereby stumble onto a lovely hidden kloof where the Baviaans Conservation sign is very faded and still carries the old SAL sponsorship logo. This road carries on far into the mountains where it seems to become a single track on Google Earth. It does end at two derelict homesteads almost halfway to Baviaans Kloof. Maybe a challenge for lighter bikes or heavy bikes with light-headed riders? :3some:
We agreed that our quiet kloofie was ideal for a braai or picnic venue as part of future day-rides. The icy wind that raged over the mountains around us was absent from the kloof and the winter sun was very inviting on a patch of soft grass next to one of the gates we had to pass through. The need for warm food and drink was stronger now than the desire for an afternoon nap. We headed back via the Essenbos Road and took the tar back to PE. The wind had now become very unpleasant and coupled with the cold resulted in very tiring riding conditions. By the time we turned off at Mondplaas we had already travelled over 300km and I was in dire need of a hot pie and coffee. This little shop came to our rescue with pies to write home about. They also do mooi vetkoeke and roosterbrood, all freshly baked in-house!
2 pies + 2 large coffees = R39. Bargain!
Total milage back to Mount Pleasant was 406km. Both our bikes returned 22km/l and loads of grin-factor for the day.
The wind was moderately strong most of the way until we reached the turn-off onto the red route. As the day went on the wind also increased in intensity and with it the chill factor! The advantage of wind is of course that no one rides in too much trailing dust.
Some friendly farmers and later a man trapping through the mountains were very helpful with directions to Terra-Pi, except that only the last guy knew that the name had recently changed to Hartsfontein. This after we had already passed the place twice and turned around at the gate becuase it did not say Terra-Pi!
Anyway, years ago my approach to biking was to get lost ASAP and then always amaze myself at the beautiful roads I could discover in my attempts to get home. Although we were never technically lost, just misdirected, we did thereby stumble onto a lovely hidden kloof where the Baviaans Conservation sign is very faded and still carries the old SAL sponsorship logo. This road carries on far into the mountains where it seems to become a single track on Google Earth. It does end at two derelict homesteads almost halfway to Baviaans Kloof. Maybe a challenge for lighter bikes or heavy bikes with light-headed riders? :3some:
We agreed that our quiet kloofie was ideal for a braai or picnic venue as part of future day-rides. The icy wind that raged over the mountains around us was absent from the kloof and the winter sun was very inviting on a patch of soft grass next to one of the gates we had to pass through. The need for warm food and drink was stronger now than the desire for an afternoon nap. We headed back via the Essenbos Road and took the tar back to PE. The wind had now become very unpleasant and coupled with the cold resulted in very tiring riding conditions. By the time we turned off at Mondplaas we had already travelled over 300km and I was in dire need of a hot pie and coffee. This little shop came to our rescue with pies to write home about. They also do mooi vetkoeke and roosterbrood, all freshly baked in-house!
2 pies + 2 large coffees = R39. Bargain!
Total milage back to Mount Pleasant was 406km. Both our bikes returned 22km/l and loads of grin-factor for the day.
